October 9 is celebrated each year countrywide to commemorate the day Uganda attained her independence from the British government. On October 9, 1962, the union jack was lowered and the Uganda National Flag was hoisted as a symbol of independence. But neither the Uganda Flag which was hoisted nor the Union Jack that was brought down can be traced in the records of the country’s history.
Rose Mwanja Nkaale, the Commissioner for Museums and Monuments, says the flag doesn’t appear anywhere in the National Museum’s registry. She insists that if the there was need to preserve a cloth it would have been under her department. URN visited the Uganda National Archives in Entebbe and the flag couldn’t be found there either. Alex Okello Ajum, the Government Archivist, says that he has also doesn’t know the whereabouts of both flags.
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The National Archive has items like the 1900 Agreement between Uganda and the colonial government, photographs of members of the first Ugandan cabinet, traditional kings, a copy of the original music of the National Anthem, and a copy of the 1995 Constitution among others.
Okello says that all other items of national heritage that don’t appear in the national archive should be archived in respective government departments. He admits though that Uganda has not done enough to preserve its national heritage.
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Okello says that the National Archives received US Dollars 6.8 million from the World Bank to build a new repository in Kampala next to the Ministry of Health Headquarters.
