According to his lawyer, Robert Friday Kagoro of Muwema and Co Advocates, he had been sick for some time and was first admitted at Nakasero hospital in Kampala some days ago before he was referred to Nairobi.
Born on July 31, 1944, Kamya began his early education at Kasenene Primary School, owned by his father the late Siriri Basajjasubi. He also attended Kyabakadde Primary School, Nyenga Seminary, and Namilyango College where he completed his secondary education. He then proceeded to University College of Nairobi where he attained a Bachelor (Hons) in Architecture.
He then started his professional life working with architectural firm Cobb Archer and Partners, Nairobi, before being transferred to the Kampala office. After this, he joined Tudor and Power as an Associate Partner in Kampala.
In 1972, Kamya opened his own firm, Associated Architects, which became one of the most successful firms in the country at the time where he opened a branch of his practice in Nairobi. He returned to Uganda in 1986.
Over the 1990s, he became Senior Consultant Architect for United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for 10 years, based in London, designing buildings for them across many African countries including Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Zambia, Somalia, and Mozambique.
He designed and supervised the construction of many notable buildings in Kampala including Uganda Development Bank (UDB) Towers currently occupied by MTN (Mobile Telecommunications Network), the Civil Aviation Headquarters at Entebbe International Airport, the Cotton Development Authority Building, and others.
From 2000 onwards, he embarked into the area of real estate development and successfully designed and built the iconic Simbamanyo House on Lumumba Avenue and later Afrique Suites Hotel in Mutungo, Kampala.
As a laity of Our Lady of Africa Catholic Church, Mbuya in Kampala, he was commissioned to carry out expansion of the church in order to meet growing numbers of the congregation.
In the tourism fold under Chairman Kamya, UTB was not to be left behind as the sector was entering the dotcom era.
The Uganda Tourism Board website was launched as was a single email address. The board was also transitioning from posting brochures by snail mail or replying via facsimile to replying all information requested by email with website details.
He steered the board while tourist arrivals were less than 150,000 in the mid 90s as the tourism sector was facing revival and as the country was in a renewed sense of optimism after years of political instability. This was the period of liquidation of the government parastatal “Uganda Hotels” under the Public Enterprises Reform and Divestiture (PERD) instigated by World Bank and International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment Programs.
New products such as white-water rafting were launched for the first time on the Nile after Kamya led a private sector delegation and the UTB marketing team in November 1995 to World Travel Market Exhibition, Excel London. The board invited rafters from Adrift – New Zealand who had come to pitch at the Uganda stand to scout the Nile, and since then, the sport has become the leading adventure activity on the Nile for any adrenaline junkie.
Bird watching was also popularized as the board stepped up promotion of the destination at the British Bird Watching Fair (BBWF) in Rutland. A new tourism VHS video, “The Magic and The Mystery,” was launched for the first time bringing footage of the alpha male silverback and his family of mountain gorillas to the eye catching screens of the Uganda stand at WTM London, ITB Berlin, BIT Milan, Vakantie Netherlands, and TUR Sweden where the board exhibited regularly with the support of EU – UGSTDP (Uganda Sustainable Tourism Development Program). CD ROM was cutting edge technology then and soon became the next Uganda Tourism promotional tool.
Capacity building of staff was priority and several staff in the sales and marketing department, including yours truly, were awarded Austrian sponsored scholarships to Schloss Klessheim, one of the top tourism institutions in Europe, as the country’s universities and tertiary institutions had no tourism courses on offer well into the late 90s.
When Kamya finally left the helm of the board, he had set in motion a tourism board that would meet 21st century standards that we now take for granted, where the launch of a website was deserving of a grand cocktail complimented by one of chairman’s signature speeches on the lawns of the Sheraton, Grand Imperial or Nile Hotel Gardens (currently Kampala Serena).
His former wife, Joan Else Kantu, had established a successful tour and travel business where one of his sons, Alfred Nsamba, continues to sell tourism on behalf of the company in Europe where he is based.
Kamya was laid to rest on Sunday, December 11, in Kalagi, Mukono, East of Kampala. He is survived by his current wife, Dr. Margaret Muganwa Kamya, several children, and grandchildren.
(eTN): Uganda Tourism Board pioneer chair passed away | re-post license | post content
