Last summer when I travelled to Uganda, I was very happy and impressed with the newly refurbished Entebbe airport terminal building. It was sparkling and made me proud. I visited the toilets and was actually able to brush my teeth from there because of the high level of cleanness and hygiene.
The uniformed immigration and customs officials were courteous and fast while executing their duties. The atmosphere in the building was welcoming and made me proud to be Ugandan. The high standard exhibited by the staff was comparable to Europe or other developed places.
When I returned to Entebbe last week it was a different story. Inside the arrivals hall was all chaos! There were different colored arrival forms to fill in without any explanation about the difference. (Later when I asked I was told there was no difference!)
The arrivals hall looked so ugly painted in Barclays bank logo and colors! You get the impression that you are in a bank! All the walls, columns and floor are covered in blue. The Barclays bank advertisements don’t mention anywhere that you are at Entebbe airport or in the arrivals section of Entebbe, or that the airport is run by the Civil Aviation Authority. It is not far fetched to assume that Barclays bank owns the place.
When my American colleague tried to pay for his visa, his dollars were rejected because they were printed before the year 2000! He pleaded with the office that this was legal tender accepted by all banks internationally, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The officer was adamant. He asked Ben (my colleague) to go to the cash machine and draw cash.
After the clearing with immigration we went to get our luggage from the belt. And my…! The place looked like a Coca-Cola warehouse or worse still a bar! The Coca Cola advertisements on the floor, wall and roof made the place look so ugly!
I don’t know how much was paid by the advertisers to make the place look so ugly! But in my opinion it is not worth it. May be it would tolerable if the two companies had endeavored to renovate the place then place their ugly advertisements. But waiting so many years for the government to invest billions to make the place look beautiful and welcoming then make it ugly again is unacceptable. The Civil Aviation Authority should reconsider their action for the sake of people of Uganda.
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