Museveni to Officiate at Bugisu First Ever Royal Symposium Aimed at Fostering Dialogue, Collaboration, Unity and Collective Action Towards a Sustainable and Innovation-Driven Future.  

By Abraham Lincolns

President Yoweri Museveni is set to officiate at the first ever royal Bugisu Symposium scheduled for the first week of October 2025 at the heart of Elgon region Mbale city.

Speaking to The Second Opinion Publications the prime minister of Uganda Robina Nabanja revealed that the president received the invitation and considers attending the royal symposium come October 2025 in Elgon sub region.

The first ever Bugisu symposium is focused on bringing together stakeholders from across Bugisu region of all ages from many walks of life and from astonishingly wide professionals, aiming to foster dialogue, collaboration, unity and a collective action towards a sustainable and innovation -driven future.

In a dynamic display of diplomatic camaraderie and strategic foresight, the first ever Bugisu symposium is to be unfolded in Mbale City, the Eastern Uganda from the 1st to 7th October, 2025 focusing on resonant calls to restore hope, direction, and shared purpose to the people of Bugisu region giving them a sense of ownership in shaping a brighter future.

Under the theme, “Unleashing Bugisu’s Development Potential through Gather Nations Prayer Summit and Bugisu Royal Symposium” the event is to bring together high-level government officials hailing from the region, the 17 cultural leaders of Uganda, the Bamasaaba of Kenya, the 5 regions of the African Continent, the 6 Continents of the Globe and the Bagisu community, in unlocking the full potential of the Bamasaba.

In an interview with The Second Opinion, the Umukuuka of Bugisu His Royal Highness Sir Jude Mike Mudoma highlighted the significance of the symposium aiming at addressing the region’s challenges of poverty, unemployment, limited access to quality education and healthcare, exacerbated by frequent natural disasters, have created a sense of urgency and disillusionment.

The king emphasized that the region has been plagued by negative narratives from people who may not have the region’s best interests at heart, narratives which have hindered its development agenda. The propagation of misinformation and biased reporting on the leadership at all levels has masked the region’s true potential, undermining efforts to attract investment, foster economic growth, and improve livelihoods.

“The once-thriving agricultural sector, the backbone of Bugisu’s economy is rapidly declining due to climate change, soil degradation and limited access to innovation and agricultural research while the youth are particularly affected, as they struggle to find employment opportunities leading to a sense of disconnection and disillusionment among young people, who feel that their potential is being wasted”, HRH said.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate, share challenges, and embrace a long-term perspective to ensure the region’s alignment with the kingdom’s goals of upholding and preserving cultural heritage and promoting the development agenda in Bugisu other than selfishness, greed, individualism, and a breakdown in moral values.

The symposium is to provide a vital platform to take stock of progress in Bugisu, review opportunities for trans-boundary projects, and reinforce collaboration between Bugisu and other stakeholders to power on the Bugisu unique cultural heritage to innovatively cascade the unstoppable trend of people cantered cross-sectoral integration value chain as an enabler to the 68% rural poor that are currently not part of the money economy thus be integrated in the money economy for their increased household incomes.

“If the 68% can get involved in the money economy, then this will improve their effective demand to consume industrial consumer goods, increase the use services such as mobile telecommunication, financial services, energy, piped water, health, education and can inevitably cause a leap of increased sub-region Gross Domestic product (GDP)”, the Umukuuka noted.

With a resounding call for unity and cooperation, the kingdom is looking at the symposium as a tool to illuminate a pathway towards a brighter Bugisu given its heritage endowed with good weather and productive soils and its labour force in the agricultural sector comprising of majority being women and youth that is not involved in the money economy as per national statistical.

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Can the Bagisu begin the path of economic transformation as desired by the Umukuuka?

Through fundamental issues like cultural heritage and identity, social welfare and empowerment, economic development, governance and security, infrastructure and urban planning, education and health, critical regional issues, innovation and technology and environmental conservation, Bugisu is set to address challenges of land tenure issues, population pressure, environmental

degradation and limited economic opportunities largely dependent on agriculture, with limited diversification into other sectors, making it vulnerable to market fluctuations.