By The Kampala City Carnival is officially returning this year, resurrecting Kampala’s famed street fiesta after a temporary break. The revived event will underscore urban culture, community unity, and celebrate recent citywide improvements.
At a media briefing at the Uganda Media Center on Monday, KCCA Executive Director Hajjati Sharifah Buzeki confirmed that Kampala’s signature carnival will be staged in the upcoming financial year, coinciding with major civic transformations across the city. “This year, the Kampala Carnival is back. It is not just an entertainment event but a celebration of Kampala becoming a livable, modern, and inclusive city,” she said.
The event supports KCCA’s broader agenda, which saw significant milestones in the 2024–2025 financial year including the acquisition of a 230-hectare site in Nibuyala for a modern waste management facility, the decommissioning of the overstrained Kiteezi landfill, and the completion of the acceleration of road and drainage infrastructure across Kampala.
Launched in 2012 as part of Uganda’s 50th independence celebrations and modeled after Rio de Janeiro’s carnival, Kampala City Carnival quickly became East Africa’s largest street festival.
By 2017, attendance had ballooned from about 800 participants in year one to over 50,000 by the sixth edition.
Featuring well-known acts like Diamond Platnumz, Bebe Cool, Chameleone, Sheebah, and local cultural performers, the event has been powered in part by sponsorship revenue and charity proceeds used to rehabilitate city schools.
