President Paul Kagame on Saturday evening joined Ugandans living in Rwanda to celebrate Uganda’s 50th Independence anniversary at Kigali Serena Hotel.

The event in Kigali was celebrated ahead of the main event slated for tomorrow in the Ugandan capital Kampala, to mark 50 years since the country got its independence from the British on October 9, 1962.Speaking at the colourful event, Kagame said the event was like similar anniversaries celebrated across Africa, as Rwanda celebrated its golden jubilee back in July."Today the question is 50 years on, what lessons have we learnt and what does the future hold for you Ugandans celebrating 50 years of Independence? It is the same question for Rwanda that celebrated her own a few months ago,” he noted."I am saying this because there is a tendency always to look back and focus on what went wrong during the past half century, it is even true to say that in some areas, Africa has not made significant progress during that period.”Kagame explained: "Although we cannot ignore our past, we should learn from past mistakes, but by and large there is no denying the fact that Africa is on the move. This is true of Uganda; it’s even true of Rwanda and many other African countries.”He emphasised that there is no reason why Rwanda and Uganda cannot work together to maximize the speed and the level of the achievements to tackle these challenges.He added: "The integration route we have embarked on is a step in that direction but the integration should not just be in theory, it should be in real practice and I think the reality is beginning to happen.”"The movement of Ugandans to Rwanda and Rwandans to Uganda is shooting up every day and that is how it should be, and that is how it should have been in the first place,” Kagame explained."We want to encourage that and do more and make sure that happens and continues to happen to the point that our people should even be able to take it for granted,” the President added.There are many lessons and experiences we can learn from each other, the Head of State said. He said mistakes and weakness that occasioned the last 50 years should be a lesson to move fast and develop nations and people in the next half century."In Rwanda, we join you as members of one family to celebrate this anniversary. We are a family,” Kagame noted."So I will be celebrating with you twice – the first one is this one and there is another one coming next week, so that is an indication that we have already embarked on the journey for the next 50 years.”The glamorous event, which was attended by, among others, the members of business community and senior government officials from Rwanda and Uganda, was spiced up by thrilling performances from Uganda based Rwandan musician Lilian Mbabazi and her band, the Sundowners.Ugandan parliamentarian Jim Muhwezi and his wife, Suzan, also attended the event.At the occasion, Robert Kabushenga , Managing Director of Vision Group, a Ugandan media organisation, gave the President a book entitled, ‘Uganda: Building of a Nation’ published by the Vision Group.Richard Kabonero, Uganda’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, thanked President Kagame for honouring the Ugandan community’s invitation to the event."Uganda has no greater ally than you Mr. President and the people of Rwanda,” he said.Kabonero stated that it’s been 50 years of challenges and opportunities but what has come through over the 50 years is the resilience of the Uganda people.See related pictures in Pictorial