Amos Wekesa doesn’t do quiet.
The Great Lakes Safaris founder and one of Uganda’s most outspoken tourism voices has written directly to Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, the NRM and PLU endorsed Deputy Speaker expected to retain his seat in the next parliament. The message is simple: let’s bring tourism into Parliament for a week, and let MPs see what it actually does for Ugandans on the ground.
It sounds like another polite proposal. It isn’t. If it happens, it could be the first time in years that Parliament sits down with the people who actually create jobs outside Kampala, and learns how to stop killing those jobs with bad policy.
What Wekesa Is Actually Proposing
The letter lays out a practical week-long program:
Engage MPs on tourism as a poverty exit route. Not as a speech about “potential,” but as a case study of how a lodge, a tour guide, or a marathon in Kasese puts money in a household’s hands.
Bring the private sector into Parliament. Exhibitions, one-on-one meetings between MPs and tour operators, hoteliers, transporters. No middlemen, no speeches through a microphone.
Map attractions and teach wealth creation. Go constituency by constituency and show MPs what they have. A waterfall in Zombo, a crater lake in Kabarole, a cultural site in Soroti. Then show them how it becomes revenue.
Talk about MP investment in tourism. Wekesa wants MPs to put their own money where their mouth is. His target: every leader should be able to employ at least 50 people from their private investments.
Take MPs to Kasese during the Rwenzori Marathon. Let them see 5,000 runners, 20,000 visitors, and a town that makes money for 5 days what it usually makes in 3 months.
Tayebwa’s reply was short: “Sounds interesting Amos. I will share with my Senior Hon. Oboth Oboth so that he can guide.” That’s politician for “I’m not rejecting it, but I need cover.” With NRM and PLU numbers, Oboth Oboth as Speaker and Tayebwa as Deputy are expected to win. So the idea is already at the door of power.
Why This Matters to the Ordinary Ugandan
Most Ugandans don’t care about Parliament procedure. They care about whether their brother gets a job, whether the road to their village gets graded, whether the school fees get paid.
Tourism does that, but only when MPs stop treating it as “wildlife for mzungus.”
In Kasese, the Rwenzori Marathon has turned a town that most people only know for conflict into a destination. Hotels fill up. Boda riders make a week’s money in a day. Women sell crafts. A porter who spends 6 months idle suddenly has 200,000 shillings in his pocket.
Multiply that by 50 districts with real attractions. Multiply it by MPs who actually understand how to remove the 12 different licenses and fees that kill small tour operators. That’s where Wekesa’s “50 jobs per leader” idea comes from. It’s not charity. It’s math.
If a Tourism Week forces MPs to meet the porter, the craft seller, and the lodge owner in one room, they can’t hide behind budget papers anymore.
The Elite Angle: Why Tayebwa Should Care
For Uganda’s political elite, tourism is either a photo op or a foreign exchange statistic. Both are useless if you’re trying to keep your seat in 2026.
Here’s what Tayebwa and Oboth Oboth get out of this:
Political capital at zero cost. You can’t buy the goodwill that comes from bringing jobs to Kasese, Kabale, or Karamoja. A Tourism Week gives MPs stories to take back home that aren’t about handouts.
Policy that actually works. Right now, many MPs legislate on tourism without ever speaking to a safari company owner. The result is laws that look good on paper and kill businesses on the ground. One week of direct contact fixes that faster than 5 committee reports.
A legacy beyond roads and schools. Every MP promises roads. Few promise a functioning local economy. If Tayebwa becomes the Deputy Speaker who institutionalized a Tourism Week, he owns that story.
And for the private sector, it’s a chance to stop begging and start negotiating. Right now, tourism operators spend their time fighting UWA, URA, and district councils separately. One week in Parliament puts everyone in the same room.
The Real Obstacle: Will MPs Show Up for Something That Isn’t Money?
Let’s be honest. Parliamentary “weeks” often become photo ops. MPs sign attendance sheets, take lunch, and leave. The reason is simple: if there’s no immediate money or political mileage, the room empties.
Wekesa’s proposal only works if it’s built differently.
First, make it mandatory for MPs from districts with tourism potential to attend. Second, tie it to constituency reporting. Every MP should leave with a one-page plan: “Here’s the attraction in my area, here’s what it needs, here’s what I will do.” Third, bring in buyers. Invite Kenyan, Rwandan, and European tour operators to sit in. When an MP sees a foreign buyer asking about Murchison Falls, they pay attention.
Without those teeth, this becomes another Kadaga-era event that everyone claps for and forgets.
Kasese as the Proof of Concept
Wekesa keeps coming back to Kasese and the Rwenzori Marathon for a reason. It’s the clearest example in Uganda of tourism creating a local economy without waiting for government.
In 2024, the marathon brought in over 4,000 participants and an estimated 15,000 visitors. Hotels in Kasese and Fort Portal were full. Local farmers sold food. Artisans sold crafts. The district earned revenue it hadn’t planned for.
If MPs spend 48 hours in Kasese during the marathon, they’ll see what a functioning tourism economy looks like. No PowerPoint. No consultant. Just people spending money. That’s harder to ignore than a budget line item.
The Bigger Question: Can MPs Become Investors, Not Just Regulators?
Wekesa’s most controversial point is that MPs should invest and employ 50 people each.
On paper, it’s conflict of interest. In practice, Uganda’s economy is too small for leaders to sit on the sidelines. In Rwanda, you’ll find ministers with stakes in hotels and farms. The difference is transparency and execution.
If an MP invests in a lodge in their district, they have a direct incentive to fix the road, secure the area, and market the place. They stop being a spectator and become a stakeholder.
The risk is that it becomes another way for the connected to grab land and push out locals. That’s why the Tourism Week needs civil society and community leaders in the room. The goal isn’t to create MP landlords. It’s to create MP employers.
What Happens If This Fails
If Tayebwa and Oboth Oboth ignore the letter, nothing changes. Tourism stays underfunded, overtaxed, and misunderstood. MPs keep thinking tourism is only about animals, and animals don’t vote.
But if they run with it, they set a precedent. For the first time, Parliament would be using its convening power to connect policy to payroll. That’s how you start shifting Uganda from a consumption economy to a production economy, one district at a time.
Conclusion: A Week That Could Matter More Than a Budget Speech
Uganda doesn’t have a tourism problem. It has a leadership attention problem.
Amos Wekesa’s letter gives Tayebwa and the next Parliament a chance to fix that in 7 days. No new law needed. No foreign loan. Just a room, some exhibitors, and MPs who are forced to listen to the people who actually employ Ugandans.
If it happens, watch Kasese, watch Kabale, watch Mbale. You’ll see what happens when the people who make laws finally meet the people who make jobs.
And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll know that even after an election, the gap between Parliament and the real economy is still 500 kilometers wide.
