By Frank Kamuntu
It was pomp and glamour on Saturday 26th August 2023 at Fairway Hotel where Pan African Pyramid (PAP) an umbrella organization for Pan Africanists across the globe, hosted the 6th edition of its awards commonly known as PAP Global Awards and 10th Anniversary Bonfire Dinner, an event that attracted hundreds of Pan Africanists globally to celebrate their forefathers.
The event that saw hundreds of participants proudly clad in their charming African attires was graced by famous Pan-Africanist dubbed Seventh Day Adventist Church Bishop Joshua Marara III Maponga from Zimbabwe and his wife, Cuban Ambassador to Uganda H.E Mrs.Tania Perez, UN Peace Keeping Ambassador to East Africa HE. Paul Flynn, a representative from the family of Martin Luther King Junior, and officials from various pro-African NGOs, cultural chiefs and politicians.
This year, PAP recognized 13 Pan Africanists including;
1. Hon.Thomas Tayebwa (Deputy Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda) (Ugandan) who bagged the African Renaissance Award.
2. Bishop Maponga Joshua 111 Marara (Internationally acclaimed Pan-Africanist and Bishop of the Seventh-day Adventist Church) (Zimbabwean)-African Philosopher Award.
3. Ambassador Paul Flynn (renowned African environmental Philanthropist (African-Irish)-African Environmental Philanthropist Award.
4. Hamis Kiggundu (renowned Ugandan businessman, investor, real estate and property developer, philanthropist, author and lawyer) (Ugandan)African Renaissance & Iconic Dev’t Entrepreneur Award.
5. Kin Kariisa (African IT revolutionist, Pan-Africanist and CEO of Next Media Services) (Ugandan)- African Transformative Leader (Media & ICT) Award.
6. Ms Shanta Rabadiya (Humanitarian] Award) (Ugandan of Indian origin)-Humanitarian [Ubuntu] Award.
7. Fred Mukasa Mbidde (renowned Pan-Africanist and International Rights lawyer) (Ugandan)-African Renaissance [Civil Rights Lawyer] Award.
8. Richard Byarugaba (a renowned African Iconic Accountant and Economist working with Bank of Uganda [BoU] (Ugandan)-African Iconic Economist Award.
9. Tabu Daniel Ogwal (African Renaissance) (Ugandan)-Humanitarian [Ubuntu] Award.
10. Martin Luther King Jr- (Most Distinguished Pan-Africanist Of All Life Times) (African American) Award.
11. E Fidel Alejandro Castro-(Most Distinguished Pan-Africanist Of All Times) Award and;
12. Academic pundit Prof Lawrence Muganga, the Vice Chancellor of Uganda’s mighty Victoria University who scooped Africa’s Revolutionary Educationist Award recognizing his great efforts in revolutionizing Uganda’s higher education and his tireless advocacy for an education system that fits an African child. Watch out for a series of editions detailing why each one of the above was awarded.
At these awards, PAP founding Chairman dubbed Speaker Andrew Irumba Katusabe alerted Africans to wake up and protect their wealthy resources that are currently being plundered massively by those pretending to be peacekeepers in Africa citing UN and West-linked NGOs well known as ‘Development Partners’.
”We must never forget that colonialists left physically, but they didn’t leave. A development partner that takes your gold and uranium worth billions at night and builds a shs500,000/= worth of borehole for the community during the day. He doesn’t want media when he’s looting African resources at night, but he will invite both local and international media, and a heavily guarded convoy to deliver the borehole,” noted Irumba.
The PAP Speaker also had no good words for those ranking Africa as a third continent; ”They use our very own to hoodwink us. They will tell you Africa is 3rd world, Africa is the poorest in the world, and theirs the land of opportunities, fine, but tell them to leave Africa and stay in their land of opportunities and see whether they will.”
Irumba said Africa must come together and unify into the United States of Africa to protect its resources. ”It’s not true that we’re poor, we’re the ones feeding their economies. They can’t survive without us, we can survive without them.”
He also cautioned those mixing Pan Africanism and racism stating that in Pan Africanism they respect the ideology but not the color of the skin.
”For the last 10 years we have been hosting our debates here at Fairway Hotel at free charge, but the owner of this hotel is not dark-skinned, but he is more pan-Africanism than Joseph Kony who is killing thousands of his brothers and sisters. So we should stop bringing racism into Pan-Africanism. If you agree that I have a right to live, eat, and sleep like you, that’s enough to make you my brother and a fellow pan-Africanist,” noted Speaker Irumba.
On his part, Bishop Joshua Maponga called upon African leaders to resist the West’s terrible policies and initiate their indigenous policies that can uplift the continent.
”It’s sad that most of your presidents are in leadership to protect white man’s interests. That must stop! Africa must realize its potential and make reforms in its political and education systems, adopt science & technology, agriculture, and support local entrepreneurs and through this, poverty and unemployment will be no more in our continent thus development,” noted Maponga.
Cuban Ambassador HE. Perez commended Uganda’s friendship with her country noting that the two countries will soon be celebrating 50 years of mutual cooperation. She also thanked the PAP Awarding Committee for recognizing Fidel Alejandro Castro’s contribution to the African continent.
Enjoy The Pictorial Below
