By Frank Kamuntu
By noon last Saturday, hundreds of invited guests from different countries in Africa had started flocking the lush green BreezeVille Park Gardens in Mukono, Uganda to attend the wedding of Gashegu Muramira and his longtime fiancée Iryn Mutesi.
Gashegu, a passionate African integration journalist, is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Integration ThinkTank (AfITT), and the African Integration News Agency (AfINA). Both are non profit organizations that do advocacy, research and awareness on matters of integration of the African continent.
Gashegu, commands over 15 years experience in journalism, writing about integration, covering the East African Community and COMESA. He was once the Chief Correspondent of Rwanda’s NewTimes newspaper at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and the East African Community secretariat. He’s also a former EAC Youth Ambassador appointed to champion integration in East Africa.
He is currently a member of the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) Business Reporters Platform.
On the other hand, Gashegu is a youthful politician who doubles as the Office of the National Chairman (0NC) Coordinator for Greater Mukono districts of; Mukono, Kayunga, Buikwe and Buvuma. He is also the current Mukono District NRM Youth League Chairman.
It was a heartwarming wedding full of pomp and glamour, yet accommodative of different categories of people, religion, political affiliations and African tribes.
Muramira is born to a renowned former educationist, M.G Haajje Gashegu who is fondly remembered in Uganda and Rwanda as a selfless philanthropist in all communities he lived in. His father, who passed on in 2011, actively participated in the liberation struggles of both Uganda and Rwanda, and is a former head teacher of so many Ugandan old schools which include; Kitante Hill School, Bishop’s Senior School Mukono and Muntuyera High School – Kitunga among others.
Muramira ‘s father was a firm believer in the union of Africa, and frequently spoke against religions brought by the white man that have further divided the African people.
Back to the wedding, the newly wedded couple had earlier taken their vows of marriage at Ttakajjunge Holy Trinity Church, a church where Gashegu’s deceased grandfather Rev. Daniel Gashegu, a renowned Anglican evangelist, is a respected founder.
The ceremony was graced by Mr. Austin Makani, who flew in from Tanzania to attend the ceremony. Mr. Makani is an Executive Member of the African Integration ThinkTank, who represented the ThinkTank Chairman Mr. John Bosco Kalisa at the wedding. Mr. Kalisa is also the Executive Director of the East African Business Council (EABC).
In his sermon, Rev. Godfrey Sebiina thanked Muramira for honouring his grandfather’s church, and called on the couple to put God first in whatever they do, if they are to have an ever-lasting marriage.
At the reception, the couple was welcomed to their eagerly waiting guests by P-Square’s ‘Forever song’ released in 2011. The song got Muramira and his bride dancing majestically to the joy of hundreds of their guests.
The highlight performance of the night was from Afrigo band’s all time female musician Joanita Kawalya who performed her all time African classics like, Jim Wange, Mundeke, and Wololo which got many of her loyal fans standing up to dance with her.
The guests were thereafter treated to a tasty buffet, with lots of drinks amid performances from a 40 member- Impundu Kinyarwanda traditional Troupe.
Zimbabwean musician Olive Mtukudzi’s ‘ Mai Varamba’ classic left the guests yearning for more of African classic music.
The couple’s guests included; Hon. Diana Mutasingwa, Uganda’s Minister of State in the Office of the Vice President, Col. Joseph Rutabana, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Steven Asiimwe, the Executive Director of the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda among others.
Others in attendance included; Justice Allan Paul Nshimye, a Judge of the High Court, Hon. Fred Mukasa Mbidde, a former legislator of the East African Legislative Assembly.
It was indeed a beautiful and memorable African traditional wedding.
At Swift News, we wish the love birds nothing else but fully packed nights of endless marathons till we see twins.
