A cross section of vehicles that have ferried the Ugandans have now been abandoned after running out of fuel
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I The spirit of pan Africanism will probably not save more than 300 Ugandan youths who are stranded in Tanzania after their three-week Twende Zetu Butiama Pilgrimage Safari ran into financial difficulties, leaving them without fuel, money and food as they seek a way back home.
The delegation travelled to Tanzania to celebrate Nyerere Day in honour of the country’s founding president, Julius Nyerere, and promote the Pan-African ideals associated with East Africa’s independence leaders.
However, what began as a regional journey to celebrate African unity has turned into a desperate appeal for government intervention after vehicles broke down, ran out of fuel and forced participants to spend nights on the road.
Brian Muhumuza, executive director of Share Joy International, the Ugandan non-governmental organisation that mobilised the delegates, said the group was now stuck at a Tanzanian university with no clear arrangements for returning home.
“We are over 300 Ugandan delegates who came to celebrate Nyerere Day as part of the Pan-African dream that is spearheaded by the President of Uganda. But to our shock, we have not received any funding. When we were coming, we slept on the road as the vehicles broke down and ran out of fuel,” Muhumuza said.
According to Muhumuza, the delegation’s vehicles are currently parked at the university without fuel, while the participants face uncertainty over their accommodation as the institution prepares to reopen for a new semester.
The youths have reportedly been accommodated in separate blocks, with girls sleeping in one block and boys in another. However, their continued stay is threatened by the imminent return of university students.
“Girls are sleeping one block and boys in another block, but the university semester is commencing soon and students will be reporting back. We have nowhere to go,” Muhumuza said.
The organisers have appealed to the Ugandan government for emergency assistance, including fuel and transport to facilitate the delegation’s return.
Muhumuza said attempts to contact State House Uganda had not yielded assistance, while efforts to reach Uganda’s diplomatic mission in Tanzania had also failed by the time of the appeal.
The Ugandan government and its embassy in Tanzania had not responded to the organisers’ claims at the time of publication.
The situation has become particularly concerning for participants who travelled without sufficient personal funds, believing that the costs of the journey would be covered through government support.
Muhumuza said parents paid $100 for each participant after organisers assured them that other expenses would be catered for by the Ugandan government.
With the trip stalled, some youths have reportedly started making individual arrangements to return home, including travelling on commercial motorcycles, commonly known as bodabodas, towards the Ugandan border.
“Some of the team members have resorted to riding bodabodas back to the Ugandan border, but some do not have money and they were entrusted to us by their parents,” Muhumuza said.
He also questioned whether the delegation’s earlier visit to Akokoro, the birthplace of former Ugandan president Milton Obote, had contributed to their predicament.
“We are now wondering if we are being ignored because we went to Akokoro. Are they punishing us for this?” he asked.
No evidence was provided to establish a connection between the visit and the reported funding difficulties.
The Twende Zetu Butiama Pilgrimage Safari was organised as a three-week journey through East Africa to commemorate the region’s founding fathers and promote Pan-African solidarity. It was scheduled to run from October 1 to October 23, 2026.
Participants from across the region travelled through Tanzania before Ugandan delegates joined the programme at Makerere University in Kampala on October 4.
The group subsequently visited Parliament on October 5, travelled to Murchison Falls National Park and Akokoro on October 6, and attended Uganda’s Independence Day celebrations in Kampala on October 9.
They departed for Butiama, Nyerere’s birthplace, on October 10 and participated in Nyerere Day activities on October 14.
The itinerary also included a planned visit to Bondo in Kenya’s Siaya County to explore sites associated with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Raila Odinga, followed by a visit to the burial site of Kenya’s founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, before the programme concluded in Eldoret during the country’s Mashujaa Day period.
However, the financial and logistical difficulties in Tanzania have thrown the programme into uncertainty.
The immediate priority for the organisers is to secure food, fuel and transport for the stranded youths, many of whom were entrusted to them by their parents.
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