The Ugandan authorities announced on Monday that they had maintained the Nyege Nyege electronic music festival, one of the largest in East Africa, which was banned last week by parliament on charges of “promoting immorality”.
The festival, which in previous editions has welcomed some 10,000 people including foreign tourists, is due to be held for four days from 15 September in the south-eastern town of Jinja.
On 6 September, parliament banned the festival, accusing it of “promoting immorality”. “We don’t want this immorality in our country,” Rose Lilly Akello, minister of ethics and integrity, told reporters.
But Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said on Monday that the festival could go ahead after all because of the “benefits it will bring”, especially in terms of tourism.
However, minors will not be allowed to attend the festival and “orgies and nudity are forbidden”, as are “drugs and contraband”, the minister stressed.
“If these rules are violated, the police will stop the festival and order everyone to leave,” he warned.
The phrase “Nyege Nyege” means an irresistible urge to dance in the Luganda language, but can also have sexual connotations in other dialects of the region.
In 2018, a previous ban on the festival by former Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo was lifted after it sparked controversy on social media.