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The festival kicked off last Thursday, drawing partygoers from all around the country as well as tourists from different parts of the world.
Although there were heightened security concerns leading up to this year’s festival, the showrunners, say the bumped-up measures taken to ensure the safety of all revelers have proved very effective.
Aly Alibhai, the CEO of Talent Africa, one of the Nyege Nyege organizers says the security issues which came up shortly before the show, motivated them to make it much more secure.
Responding to an advisory issued by the US Embassy in Kampala earlier in the week, warning its citizens not to attend the festival in Jinja, Alibhai said this had no bearing at all on the success of the festival.
“That was just a precautionary measure taken by the embassy to ensure the safety of their people, but for us, those security alerts made us work even harder to ensure a safe and secure event,” he said.
“It pushed the UPDF and the police to come much stronger, and I think this has been the most secure event that we have had. There has been such a big presence of security and people feel generally very safe.”
The US Embassy advisory followed the October 17 attack and brutal murder of two tourists and their driver in Queen Elizabeth National Park by ADF terrorists.
But President Yoweri Museveni earlier this week came out to give assurance about the security of all people going for Nyege Nyege.
This year’s festival was held on five different venues spanning over 100 acres on the banks of River Nile in Jinja.
On several different stages, the festival had scores of music performances from local and international artists along with amazing cultural performances and an array of fun activities for the revelers.