Albert Bakasara, the TAA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – CEO, says that the cancellation of the event is a painful but necessary decision. He discloses that of the over 320 people that had been expected to attend, several had already purchased their convention tickets and the association is going to refund all their registration money.
The Tooro American Association - TAA Convention 2020 has been
cancelled due to Coronavirus outbreak. The convention had been scheduled to
take place from March 22 to 25 in the United States.
The annual event brings together Batooro and friends of Tooro in North America
to strengthen their community ties through networking, empowerment and
supporting each other; support the development and charitable programs in the
Tooro sub-region and to foster a cultural understanding and restoration of
Tooro values and traditions through education and support of Tooro’s cultural
institutions and programs.
According to a press release dated March 9th by the association’s Events
Coordinator and Publicity Secretary Tatyana Owampuro, the State of Maryland in
the U.S, the venue of the event, declared a state of emergency on March 6 to
deal with the virus.
“Travel advisory and restrictions are in place in many countries including the
U.S and Uganda, and now U.S Federal Government health experts are asking older
Americans (and those with pre-existing health conditions) to stay indoors,”
reads part of the press release.
Owampuro says that given this situation, the association’s board concluded that
it was impossible to hold the event this year, and it will communicate when and
where the next TAA convention will take next year.
Albert Bakasara, the TAA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – CEO, says that the
cancellation of the event is a painful but necessary decision. He
discloses that of the over 320 people that had been expected to attend, several
had already purchased their convention tickets and the association is going to
refund all their registration money.
He also says that the cancellation has caused them a serious financial loss as
they had already spent thousands of dollars on reserving rooms for the invited
guests and paying advances on meals.
“The association had also paid for other expenses like online and print
advertising (about 1,000 US Dollars); Soccer field reservation fees of 330 US
Dollars for the Tooro United versus Buganda Bumu soccer match that was
scheduled for May 24; and other small costs on printing, postage, etc. Those
costs we will not be able to recover,” Bakasara says.
From Tooro, some Members of Parliament, religious leaders, and five Kingdom
officials that were to be led by the Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Bernard
Tungakwo, had been invited.
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2019, many local, national and
international events scheduled to take place in different parts of the world
have been either cancelled or postponed. They include the G77 Summit that was
to take place in Uganda from 16-19, 2020 at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
From around the globe, over 96,000 people have tested positive for the
Coronavirus while up to 3,300 have died mostly in China.
Guest
Bureau Chief, Tooro Sub-Region
