Thousands participate in the 66th Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi birthday run 2021

By Jjunju Francis

28^th Nov 2021

The Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II has graced this year’s Kabaka’s Birthday Run at the Mengo Palace in commemoration of his 66th birthday.

Kabaka Mutebi himself flagged off 200 participants who were allowed at the official event held under the theme; Men Against Aids to Save the Girl Child at Mengo Palace.

Participants in the Birthday run were divided between the 5km, 10km, 21km and 42km race.

Despite limited numbers at the main event at Mengo Palace, hundreds of Kingdom subjects gathered outside the palace this morning and along the Royal Mile to participate in the run. These were seen welcoming the Kabaka on his way to the event and on departure. Kabaka Mutebi briefly stepped out of his car and walked to the gathering that stood excitedly along the road.

Most of the participants held the marathon virtually from their respective counties, sub-counties and homes in a bid to follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Ministry of Health to control the spread of Covid-19.

This year, the Kingdom targeted 70,000 participants from Buganda and other parts of the country and sold out kits at 15,000 Shillings each.

This year’s event was supposed to take place in April but postponed due to the Covid-19 restrictions that were issued by the government. This makes it the second consecutive year that the event is not happening in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also the second year that the event is held under the theme of fighting HIV/Aids.

The Kabaka was in 2017 named a Good Will Ambassador by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDs (UNAIDS) for East and Southern Africa.

In his speech, the Katikkiro of Buganda Kingdom, Charles Peter Mayiga said that the Kingdom is committed to fighting the disease until it is wiped out by 2030.

According to statistics by UNAIDs, 1.4 million people are living with HIV in Uganda but only 84 percent of people living with HIV know their status, 72 per cent were on treatment and 64 per cent were virally suppressed.