Anita Rukundo Tayebwa presents Letters of Credence as Honorary Consul of The Bahamas

KAMPALA — Anita Rukundo Tayebwa, wife of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa, on Thursday evening presented her Letters of Credence to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Amb. Adonia Ayebare, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala. The ceremony formally confirmed her as Honorary Consul of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Uganda.

The appointment was first announced in May 2026 by Jerusa Léa Ali, Ambassador and Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas. Ali said the relationship that led to the posting was formed on the margins of the G77 and Non-Aligned Movement summits hosted by Uganda in 2024. The Bahamas does not maintain a full embassy or career consulate in Kampala, so the honorary post is the country’s local channel for representation, business contacts and consular support.

At the presentation, Rukundo Tayebwa said her priority would be tourism and private-sector cooperation. She pledged to connect tourism businesses in the two countries and to help Uganda draw on The Bahamas’ experience in destination marketing, hospitality and resort development, visitor experience, investment, branding and promotion.

She pointed to a wide gap in tourism performance. The Bahamas, far smaller than Uganda in land area and population, received more than 12.5 million visitors in 2025 and earned about US$5.27 billion from tourism. Uganda recorded 1,642,215 international arrivals and about US$1.62 billion in tourism receipts over the same period, according to figures cited at the ceremony and by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities.

“We hope to bridge the gap between The Bahamas and Uganda. We hope to promote tourism. With this relationship, we hope to attract more people to come and visit Uganda,” she said. “We are looking at how we can have the private sector get into The Bahamas and vice versa. With the ministry’s support, we are assured we will be able to achieve this.”

She said her office would also work with Ugandan operators on complementary packages that pair the two destinations, and on attracting higher-spending visitors by marketing Uganda’s distinctive products, including mountain gorillas and chimpanzees.

Ayebare welcomed the appointment and said Uganda expected practical results from it. “The figures speak for themselves; we will count on you to tap the best practices from them. Uganda will benefit immensely from your representation,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said he was pleased to see his wife take the role in her own right, and described her as the person who runs the family’s businesses behind the scenes. “The public doesn’t know that she is the mover behind the scenes, running the businesses. I know her potential when it comes to execution,” he said. He added that men should support their spouses in such roles.

An honorary consul is a private citizen appointed by a foreign state to promote its interests where it has no resident mission. The work is normally unpaid and part-time, and typically covers trade and investment promotion, tourism links, limited consular assistance to nationals of the sending state, and representation at selected official functions. Both Uganda and The Bahamas are Commonwealth members.

Tourism investor Amos Wekesa said the new consul could help Uganda develop water-based tourism, especially around Lake Victoria. King Ceasar Mulenga, Honorary Consul of Vietnam to Uganda, said he expected the posting to strengthen trade and people-to-people ties between the two Commonwealth countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the appointment should help step up investment, trade, tourism and wider business contacts between Kampala and Nassau.