By John Masaba
Visiting American actor Terrence Howard is set to visit Toro Kingdom as part of his itinerary in Uganda.
Together with his wife, Mira Park, the celebrity is expected to interact with royals, including Toro king Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.
Frank Tumwebaze, the agriculture minister, said the aim of the visit is to showcase the beauty of Toro, as part of Uganda’s promotion of tourism.
“Come and receive the guest at our King’s Palace tomorrow and we showcase the beauty of our Toro,” he shared in a short message on his Twitter handle while responding to a comment on Thursday.
“When Terrence visits Buganda Road and buys crafts, our young ladies earn. When he goes to Kibale, our tour guides earn. Some of us look at these and do everything we can in our means to make Uganda win, other people’s biases notwithstanding.
“It helps our tourism traffic. Other countries pay them heavily to promote their countries’ tourism. If we are lucky to have some of them visit out of their love for our country let’s celebrate it,” he tweeted.
Howard on Wednesday, July 13, met President Yoweri Museveni at State House, where he promised to invest in Uganda.
“I’ve heard about Uganda most of my life… and so I went out to explore a new way of understanding how the universe works and I was able to find the grand unified equation they’ve been looking for and put it into geometry,” the actor said in a video tweeted by Museveni.
“With that geometry, I was able to put props into that and now we have invented a new form of light that I would like to bring to Uganda to replace drones, helicopters and the planes. We have all the funding necessary,” he added.
The actor also said he plans to invest in the ICT, entertainment and real estate sectors in Uganda.
On his part, the President wrote: “I had a fruitful discussion with American actor and technopreneur Mr Terrence Dashon Howard and his wife Ms Miranda Pak.”
“I welcome the couple and their team to the Pearl of Africa and wish them a pleasant and memorable stay.”
Howard becomes one of a growing number of celebrities to visit Uganda in the last few years. Some of these include US rapper Kanye West, who visited with his then wife Kim Kardashian in 2018 and rapper Akon, who visited in 2021.
During his visit, Akon pledged to build a smart city in Uganda.
He has since been granted land in Mukono, although there is little on the ground to show that this ambition will materialise.
