United Ugandans Association of Colorado Togetherness is Our Strength
UNITED UGANDANS ASSOCIATION OF COLORADO MEETING
DATE: October 30th, 2022 at 5:15 P.M
Attendance:-
Twenty three distinguished representatives were present including some members of the Administration
The current administration of the United Colorado Community org
1. President—Mr. Charles Lwanga ✅present
2. Chairman, Mr. D. C KIYEMBA
3. Secretary, Mrs. Rachel Musisi
4. Youth leader, Mr. Tony Mukasa✅present
5. Treasurer: Mr. Musa Kyambadde
**Board members**
1. Esther Lyles✅present
2. Florence Mwagale
3. ✅Grace Kijjambu- present
4. Milly Byandaala
5. Dan Muwanga✅present
6. Victoria Kyakuwa Mbabaali ✅present
Agenda
1. Brief description of the Constitution as it stands. Followed by thoughts/recommendations
2. Describe the current structure (hierarchy)
-Thoughts/recommendations
3. Describes Membership dues and purpose
4. Preview how to transfer power peacefully
5. Describes and Craft the Voting process if any.
6. Set a timeline of events
***Program***
-Introductions: -Welcome words by Esther Lyles thanking everyone for coming to the meeting.
-Moderator opened up the meeting
-Uganda National Anthem
-Prayer by a Pastor
-Welcome Remarks/Open meeting by President Charles Lwanga
—Moderator explains the process.
—Brief History of UUCC, current, future (Mr. Charles Lwanga)
—Moderator opens the floor for discussion by following the agenda.
—Closing Prayer by a Haji
*****Refreshments served *****
Item #1
Pres. Lwanga gave a brief History/background of UUAC:-
-First President the Late Apollo Mugomba
-The second President was the Late Daniel Nsimbe
-Third President John Kalema
The community of Ugandans in the State of Colorado, particularly those living in the Denver metro area got together in 1999 and decided to start an association. It was agreed that the name of the association is United Ugandan Association of Colorado. This was registered as a non-profit corporation in Colorado, (501) ©, with several goals. Please refer to the Website
http://www.coloradougandans.com/ugandans-in-colorado/
- The Uganda community continued to grow from around 15 people to the current figure.
- Mr. Lwanga has struggled to maintain the Association Registration over the years.
- President Lwanga mentioned that his biggest challenge was to collect membership fees to sustain the Association. The Registration Fee is $50 but the Payment Portal is closed right now.
- He explained the difference between The United Ugandan Association of Colorado and the Uganda Community of Colorado:-
–The Association is an entity that should have paid up members—ours doesn’t
–The Ugandan community is anyone from Uganda that lives in Colorado.
- He also mentioned that the Constitution was really written for a very big organization. He thinks that it needs to be tailored to our needs as a smaller entity.
- He mentioned that the President duties should include running the daily activities of the Association.
Discussion items/recommendations/ Ebiteeso
1. Let’s have either the President or Chairman position to avoid duplication of efforts.
2. Let’s go back to the drawing board and call upon the community to participate and carry on the necessary functions
3. Let’s mobilize the Membership registration drive.
4. No organization can function without funds.
5. We should instill the philanthropic spirit in our people to volunteer instead of expecting monetary gain. This is a Non-Profit organization
6. One member recommended to raise the membership fee to maybe $75
8. Apparently the Association has no members currently so President Lwanga had been running it on a community basis. Therefore, it is recommended to first consult the community so that we can build the membership group to revive the Association.
9. There was a concern that we didn’t notify others about this meeting. It was also suggested that we to start some sort of project to kick off the revival. It is believed that followers always jump on the band wagon when there is a project in motion.
10. Most people were of the opinion that the Association is the organizer of the community and that they should be mobilized to revive the Association. The benefits of being a member should be outlined or revised.
11. We need to set up a timeline, deadlines and goals.
12. Some members want to dissolve the Association and start afresh. They want this meeting to be a genesis of new beginnings to come up with a common goal, cause, and proper representation.
13. Recommendations to make sure all sectors of our society are represented, for example, the elderly, youth, cultural groups, and religion.
14. One representative wants to see an association that gives back to the community.
15. All Ugandans with an address should be contacted and listed by the administration.
16. Another recommendation is not to start afresh but to keep what is working and add on what works better and also solicit feedback from people.
17. One rep was just thrilled that we are having a conversation about our concerns and that where there is a will, there is a way. Let’s keep deliberating.
18. One rep mentioned starting with a discovery stage, start with baby steps, divide the community in sectors, basically start with the community to build the Association and rules.
19. There was encouragement that we are headed in the right direction. First things first. We need to be practical and set realistic goals and timeline.
20. We need someone with a legal mind to review the constitution with.
21. Objectives, rules, Articles of Incorporation have to be reviewed.
22. It was suggested that people need to hear a voice from a leader about what is acceptable and tolerable. People go astray when there is no leadership.
23. We all agreed that our Ugandan society is divided and we need to rectify the situation. We should pick a leaf from other societies like the progressive Kenyans and see how they operate.
24. It was also recommended to add a Women department to the Constitution
25. It was recommended to add Three Youth leaders covering the different age groups
26. Peaceful transfer of Power will be through a voting process after attaining paid up membership.
***Voting should take place every Three years per the current Constitution***
CONCLUSIVE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE MEETING
Whereas community volunteer “members” who attended the meeting deeply appreciated the founding fathers and mothers of the United Uganda Association of Colorado (UUCA) and the current leaders such as the President – Mr. Charles Lwanga and other committee members for initiating and sustaining the spirit of association through difficult times and seasons in order to achieve intended objectives, it was agreed therefore, that the following recommendation be presented to the larger Uganda Community in Colorado for vetting and final approval.
1. The Community vs. the Association.
After a lengthy discussion and deliberation, it was recommended that we focus first on reviving and reuniting the Ugandan Community in Colorado rather than reforming the already existing UUAC association. To that end, participants in the meeting agreed that we should focus on rebuilding the Ugandan Community in Colorado first before we revive and rebuild the association and its leadership.
In a nutshell, it is recommended that UUAC be put on hold. This does not mean that UUAC was dissolved. No. It still exists but not our main focus right now.
2. Community Leadership:
a. Members recommended that the current UUAC leadership under the supervision of the President Mr. Lwanga should be given an opportunity to continue participating as volunteers in the leadership of the Ugandan Community if they are still interested. Current UUCA committee members who are no longer interested should communicate their resignation to the President in writing or via text message (to show evidence…just in case).
b. Community members who attended the meeting (and others who were recommended but missed the meeting for one reason or the other) will temporarily continue to serve as volunteer community leaders representing all people groups: Elders, women, youth, Muslims, Christians, Northern region, Western region, Eastern region, Buganda region, business owners, etc. until a formal community leadership team is selected. Community leaders will discuss and come up with a comprehensive representation list (just to make sure that no community member is left unpresented).
3. Community Mobilization and Registration
It was agreed and strongly recommended that we should have a clear community mobilization strategy which among others should include the following:
a. Selection of the community regional/area representatives for every location/city in Colorado where Ugandans reside.
b. In order for (a) above to happen, community members should (though WhatsApp and other forms of communication) indicate their interest and the areas/locations they would want to represent. Note: This is purely on a voluntary basis.
c. In addition to the regional/area representatives, it was recommended that we should also identify representatives for each people groups (as mentioned in 2b above) …groups such as elders, youth, women, business owners, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. These special group representatives will help identify and mobilize fellow Ugandans and other well wishers and invite them to participate in the community organized activities.
d. It was also recommended that these representatives (as mentioned in 3a, 3b, and 3c), should be responsible for identifying and registering Uganda Community Members using all forms of communication such as WhatsApp, Text messages, phone calls, emails, etc.
e. Each regional/area/group representative will compile a list of Uganda Community Members and submit that to the community leadership team. This information will be used for planning, communication, fundraising, and mobilization purposes. It was recommended that people’s information should be kept private and should never be used for any other purpose other than disseminating information to the community members.
4. Financial Support for the Community
Running and conducting community activities based on the agreed upon objectives takes time and money. However, participants in the meeting recognized the fact that funding through individual membership fee contributions proved to be an uphill task in the past. It was therefore recommended that:
a. We should register all Ugandans in Colorado without requiring them to pay a membership fee of $50. In other words, the members fee was postponed again. The membership fee will be reactivated after reforming the association and it will only be for the interested members.
b. Community members and well-wishers will be encouraged to contribute toward the organized activities out of free will (Kyeyagalire).
c. It was recommended that Uganda Community activities should NOT be politicized and commercialized for personal benefit.
d. Community leadership will discuss and agree how to manage, control and account for all financial and other resources.
5. United Ugandan Association of Colorado (UUCA) Revival.
As indicated in recommendation # 1 above, UUCA was to be put on hold but not dissolved. Therefore, it was recommended that after the Ugandan Community has come together again and there is a sense of unity, togetherness, active participation, and engagement, community leaders will discuss and agree on the steps that will be taken to revive and reestablish the association. These will include among others:
• Registering association members (membership to this association will be optional).
• Payment of the membership fee as part of the registration process.
• Reviewing and amending the current articles of association/constitution.
• Nominating and electing new association leaders based on the provisions of the new constitution (only registered and paid-up members will have the right to vote, to be nominated, and to be voted for).
**Points of interest and Notable comments by Mr. Lwanga’s responses***
- UUCC is not a business to generate income. It is a nonprofit organization.
- WhatsApp group doesn’t represent the voice of all Ugandans therefore we should ignore some of the comments on it.
- The personal quarrels and disagreements between members of our society will always exist but that should not deter the Association from going forward.
- Women representation was only 22%
- Once the paid-up membership body is established, then it has to go through the Association to appoint new leadership by voting otherwise it will be considered a Coup d’état.
- Representation was from the elderly, youth, Northern, Eastern and Central region. No one showed up from our sisters/brothers from Western Uganda even they were invited.
ACTION PLAN
- Secure a venue for the Community meeting
- Mobilize and sensitize the community members
- The community members will identify leaders in different sectors
- Device a plan to mobilize the membership drive
- Open up the payment Portal on our website.
- Set up timelines, deadlines and goals to elect new Administration.
- Set up the Voting process. members will elect members of the Governing body