Masengere is a commercial building found in Mengo, Kampala near the Buganda Kingdom’s administrative block called Bulange. It is owned by the Kingdom of Buganda.
Construction
The construction of this building started in the mid 70s during the late President General Idi Amin Dada’s regime to be used as defense offices but it was not yet completed when he was overthrown in 1979. Since then, the building was abandoned even after the restoration of the Kabaka.
In 2014, the new Katikkiro, Owek. Charles Peter Mayiga announced that the building formerly referred to as Bulange Plaza was to be renovated and finished in the phase of his famous Buganda transformation campaign known as Buganda Kuntikko which is facilitated by donations by the people of Buganda in another famous campaign known as Ettoffaali.
The name Masengere
The building was unofficially called Bulange Plaza but during one of his press conferences in 2014, Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga said that the building would be callednamed Masengere, a name that His Majesty the Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II had chosen himself.
The Katikkiro urged Baganda and well-wishers of Buganda to work hard and have the building completed before the Kabaka’s 60th birthday so that they (Buganda) would present it to His Majesty the Kabaka as a birthday present.