Yet beyond the natural resources, no city in Uganda offers so much in rich architecture and heritage tourism than Jinja city. Jinja was once Uganda’s gateway to the rest of the world, hosting the Jinja pier, a terminal of Uganda’s first railway, the Busoga railway constructed in 1912, and then the Jinja Railway bridge running over River Nile constructed in 1926. Just imagine for a moment a railway bridge over the Nile in 1926. 1926!
JINJA TODAY
The current township was symmetrically planned and designed by the colonial government in 1906 along unapologetically racial segregation and stereotypical sentiments.
While the Asians and Europeans were allowed to construct and own premises within the city centre, Africans were sent away to the peripherals, away from the best business and activities.
Even the city’s re-planning in 1948 by German architect and planner Ernst May only airbrushed the racial segregation even further as the Africans were prohibited from the residential estates on the outskirts of the city centre, built for the ruling class.
The dilapidated buildings left behind in 1972 by the Asian community when then-President Idi Amin chased them out of Uganda point to just as much. Amin was uncomfortable with the social and financial segregation that had been carried on by the Asians into the post-colonial era.
Somewhat and amazingly, the departed Asians’ properties have remained unoccupied to date, partly due to the strong and powerful Asian community here, hence retaining their original architectural designs. But there are emerging indications that the land grabbers Buganda sub-region is so weary of are breathing down this beautiful city’s neck.
The subtle racial undertones also clearly still exist. The locals say, the Indians, despite having been wholly accepted and assimilated by Ugandans, still prefer to keep to themselves in their castles and inter-marriages between them and the Africans is considered an abomination.
The Asian attachment to Jinja, nevertheless, remains strong. Jinja is host to their Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) temple constructed in 1926, which has the monument that is home to some of the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi; the rest of his ashes were spread on River Nile as he willed before death.
THAT JINJA TOUR
Who can forget that for Ugandans of a certain generation, school was not school until you went on tour of Jinja and its then many factories?
On Women’s day, I got to revisit that euphoric feeling. The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda in conjunction with Kiira Motors organized a guided tour of Jinja city aboard the eye-candy and zero-emission Kayoola electric bus at Shs 50,000 per person.
About 18 of us local tourists turned up at the National Theatre in Kampala, setting off at 9 am. The first stop was of course at Namawojjolo for the authentic roast chicken, before heading to St Joseph’s cathedral on Jinja College road.
The cathedral was built in 1939 by Catholic missionaries, the Mill Hill Fathers. Like most Catholic churches, St Joseph is also dedicated to a saint, Joseph whose statue is curiously missing because it is buried in the church compound.
Apparently, the statue’s head was hit by advancing soldiers who assumed it was a person, during the battle of Jinja in the 1979 liberation war between Tanzanian and Idi Amin soldiers. The church also still bears some hallmarks of that war.
From the cathedral, we headed to Jinja’s first discotheque, Silver Touch, which was the place to be back in the day. It is now an abandoned petrol station. The Main (Art) street is home to shops selling all sorts of art accessories and apparel. Here, there are lower prices for the locals and higher prices for visiting tourists – mzungu or not.
The shops have everything from wristbands, country flags, scarfs, head wraps to shoes, pots, drums, bows and arrows, African shirts and dresses. The red metallic street posta box still exists on the corner of Main street and is adjacent to Jinja police station, constructed in 1928, retaining its original architectural design and grey colour.
We then drove to Jinja’s first storeyed building owned by the Madvhani family. It is still standing. Constructed in 1919, it would easily fit and tick all the boxes even in today’s modern architectural and engineering toolkit.
Following their expulsion, the Madvhani family members were some of the early Asian returnees in 1985 and have since rejuvenated their business empire in Jinja and Kakira. The non-functional post office has now been turned into a tourist centre and hotel, with several tour and travel companies hosting their offices there.
At the municipal offices, constructed in 1958, there was not that much to write home about especially with unwelcoming staff who claimed we were disturbing their peace.
The trip was capped with an emotional trip to the Jinja Commonwealth war cemetery located on Baxi road. The cemetery is home to 127 casualties of East African Forces who died while serving in the two World Wars that did not concern them; fighting for their colonial masters, the British.
For Atibu Juma, a sergeant who died on February 3, 1947, his tombstone indicates he was ‘buried near this spot’ meaning his exact grave location is not known.
For the rest, some of whose names appear alien to Ugandan tribes, their remains are buried symmetrically here. Previously, access to the cemetery was limited and one needed to get access to a code to unlock the padlock by calling Nairobi, Kenya, but not anymore.
The locals say, the commemoration activities at the cemetery have also fizzled out over the years with the death of the generation that held an attachment to the deaths of their colleagues or parents.
KAYOOLA BUS ATTRACTION
With its snow-white exterior and well-illuminated interior, we the 18 local tourists onboard became the ‘tourist attraction’ and envy of other motorists along the jammed Kampala-Jinja road.
Built for city urban trips, the bus can make 300km before its next one-hour full electric charge according to Kiira Motors business development manager, Allan Muhumuza.
As long as the bus is not moving, no electricity is lost, according to Muhumuza. With its low suspension, though, the bus is not overly comfortable especially on Uganda’s potholed roads. Muhumuza said the next buses to be assembled will have the capability to adjust their suspension levels depending on the comfort of the road for a better passenger experience.
And yes, to answer that burning question on every Ugandans’ mind, Kiira Motors just assembles and does not manufacture cars in Uganda. Muhumuza says there is nothing shameful about assembling vehicles because, in the automobile industry, thousands of parts that make up the car are made from different countries.
On the return journey when the bus made a calculated stopover at Shell petrol station in Lugazi, the locals gathered around it asking whether it was really electric and whether it really was Uganda-made?
They were excited, with some taking pictures and physically examining it just to confirm that there is actually no fuel tank.
STREET FOOD
There may be no documentary evidence, but the general consensus is that Uganda’s most authentic street food, the rolex, originated from Jinja.
In fact, way before it was adopted by the rest of the country, the rolex was used to reinforce the tribal stereotypes about the Basoga and how they used to bizarrely roll eggs in a chapatti.
Now, Jinja has taken the rolex a notch higher. Think you have had enough rolex already? Then you have not been to the Rolex Joint on the gastronomy Gabula street, where they serve the ‘triple S’ or ‘Spice Diana’, which is a normal rolex enhanced with shreds of chicken and meat.
Then there is the malipo or tigatiga rolex, which is filled with offals! It is a ‘heavy-duty’ rolex; only have it as your first and only meal of the day, because it is too heavy and may ask questions of your stomach later.
The Nyege Nyege festival that had totally redefined Jinja city in recent years may be down for the count due to coronavirus, but this eastern Uganda city has so much to offer a visitor.
And this is not even delving into the exploding hotel industry, serene, wide-road suburbs, or the sad story of what became of the numerous industries that once defined this city.
fkisakye@observer.ug
