President Uhuru Kenyatta's Uganda visit draws big media interest

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing a special session of the Uganda Parliament in Kampala Uganda at his host, Yoweri Museveni (left) looks, 10th August, 2015.

The three-day State visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta to Uganda attracted considerable interest and coverage from Ugandan media.

His climax event, the address to the Ugandan Parliament, was broadcast live by some Uganda TV stations while the rest of the media houses gave it prominent coverage.

The same media interest was visible from the coverage of events attended by Uhuru, including meeting business leaders, Kenya diaspora and official meetings with his host President Yoweri Museveni.

President Kenyatta has visited Uganda several times but this time he went for a State visit. In diplomatic terms, State visits are considered to be the highest expression of friendly bilateral relations between two sovereign States, and are in general characterised by an emphasis on official public ceremonies.

Less formal visits can either be classified as official visits, working visits, or private visits in that descending order.

During the State visit, a photo of President's Kenyatta son, Muhoho Kenyatta, shaking hands with the President of Uganda and his wife at State House created a buzz in Uganda and was published in almost all media outlets.

In the photo, Muhoho is seen greeting Uganda's First Lady Janet Museveni, while President Museveni, Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta look on smiling broadly.

The New Vision, the State-owned daily, focused its reports on the improvement of relations between Kenya and Uganda.

But this time, the issue of Uhuru's alleged blood links to the the late King Bunyoro kingdom did not feature as it did when he was elected as President two years ago.

In Apr 12, 2013, The New Vision published a sensational article exploring the possibility of Uhuru being the "grandson" of the King of Bunyoro the late Kabalega.

The theory that the first president of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta was a son of the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara has long been entertained in some circles in Uganda. The theory goes that when the British colonialists arrested the late King in the 1890s, they brought him to Kenya where he met a Kikuyu woman during his two-year stay.