Poland in Kenya

Historical view
In March 1963 New York’s Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL – Polska Republika Ludowa), Bohdan Lewandowski conducted talks with the Ugandan Prime Minister, Milton Obote, which resulted in the agreement to establish diplomatic relations. The diplomatic relations were officially established on 8th of April 1963. In May of the same year, Janusz Lewandowski, charge d’affaires of the PRL, became the first Representative of Poland accredited in Kampala.

Political cooperation after 1989
Polish-Ugandan relations have been correct. In 1995 Kampala was visited by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stanisław Szymański, who sought Uganda’s support in the election for a Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council. The Polish Honorary Consulate headed by a parliamentarian and the current Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Prof.  Ephraim Kamuntu, has been operating in Kampala since 1998. In 2018, Minister Beata Kempa, responsible for humanitarian aid, visited Uganda. Min Kempa visited the Bidi-Bidi refugee camp and met with her Ugandan counterpart Minister Hilary Onek. Uganda since 2004 (with a disruption for the years 2015-2018) has been a priority country for Polish Aid. The memory of the Polish Siberians, the refugees living in the country between 1942 and 1950 has been still alive in Uganda. The Embassy of Poland in Nairobi takes care of the Polish cementary in Kojja. The Polish church in Masindi was renovated with Polish funds. In 2017, Senator Maciej Łuczak took part in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Siberians to Uganda. Senator Łuczak also met with Keith Muhakanizi, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance.

Uganda has significant deposits of natural resources, so far subjected only to preliminary research, including gold, copper, minerals and oil. The production of the latter will probably start in 2021 and the construction of a refinery is also planned for the coming years. Despite this, agriculture remains the most important sector of the economy, employing the majority of Ugandan labour force. In 2018, the value of export from Poland to Uganda amounted to 15.4 million euros. The above classifies Uganda as 118th in the ranking of the main export markets and 111th in the ranking of the main import markets of our country (data from the report of the Ministry of Enerprise an Technology “Synthetic information o Polish export and import in the period from January to December 2018”).

In Koja and Nyabyeya, in the consular district of the Embassy of Poland in Nairobi, there are two cementaries of Polish Siberians deported by the Soviet Union from Eastern Borderlands to Siberia in the years 1940-41, and then, after the creation of the Army of General Władysław Anders, arrived to East Africa. In Nyabyeya, apart from the cementary, there is also a church built by the Polish Siberians, there are houses that were once part of the Polish community camp, and currently are taken over by the local population. The Embassy takes care of memorial sites in Uganda, in Koja we traditionally carry out development cooperation projects – we support the expansion of the Health Center, which was built on the initiative of Polish refugees and opened in November 2017. The Health Center in Koja is named after Polish Siberians. We regurarly organize occasional meetings and cultural events in Uganda.  In November 2017 the Polish Embassy in Nairobi organized a conference dedicated to the Siberians in Uganda and the current situation of the refugees in Uganda. In 2018 the Ugandan Polonia met with Minister Kempa during her visit to this country.

In 2018 cooperation was established between the Wincenty Pola Higher School of of Social and Natural Sciences in Lublin and the International Health Science University in Kampala, in the field of paramedical education, within the framework of the EU Erasmus+ programme. It provides for study visits of the academic staff and exchange of students on the basis of scholarship benefits. In 2017 researchers at Makerere University in Kampala participated in the global conference of librarians in Wrocław. There is growing interest in studying in Poland among citizens of Uganda, every year more than dozen people take up studies in our country on a fee basis. No Polish citizen is currently studying in Uganda.

Recognition of academic qualifications
Academic documents from Uganda are recognized by the  Polish universities, provided that they are legalized at the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Nairobi.

Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sport