By Henry Mukasa
A TEAM of world heritage experts from UNESCO has inspected the ruins of the Kasubi tombs to assess the damage of the March 16 inferno.
The team, led by Lazare Eloundou, the chief of the Africa unit, also held talks with the Katikkiro (Buganda prime minister), J.B. Walusimbi.
The Katikkiro, flanked by his deputy, lauded UNESCO for their prompt response to the disaster. He said almost every artefact was destroyed by the fire.
The Police are holding three men in connection with the fire, including one man who confessed that he torched the grass-thatched mausoleum.
Walusimbi yesterday said as the kingdom embarks on the reconstruction of the Kasubi site, other tombs housing other Buganda kings would be also be given a facelift.
He cited Wamala tombs in Wakiso, where Ssekabaka Suuna, the father of King Mutesa I, is buried. “I am challenging the experts to come up with a plan for a master-piece; maintaining the uniqueness of the tombs’ original architecture but also capture the era in which we live,” Walusimbi told the UNESCO team.
The organisation’s representative explained that Kasubi was inscribed as a world heritage because of its authenticity and rich history.
“It’s important to take time and plan carefully before reconstruction so that these are not lost. If you run through it, it might affect what made it a heritage site,” Eloundou warned.
He said their inspection report would be presented to the world heritage meeting due later this year in Brazil.
Sebastien Moriset, a French architect, disclosed that the Heritage Fund Management is about to release money for renovation of the Wamala royal tombs.
“We have a plan for Wamala. It’s a future extension of the Kasubi site. We can say Wamala is more strategic than Kasubi for tourism; it has a better setting and gives better concentration than Kasubi in Kampala which suffers from pollution,” he noted.
The New Vision
