The Indian Association Uganda has elected new members to its Board of Trustees
Tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia who was first elected to serve on the board in 2019, retained his position as the association elected seven members in Kampala on Sunday.
The elected members include; Sudhir, Munnangi Sita, Goutam Das, Dharmesh Patel, Ashwin Kumar Patel, Chacko Babu and Koduvayur Parasuraman.
Indian Association Uganda has for more than 100 years led the Indian community in Uganda.
In 2003, there were an estimated 15,000 people of Asian descent (majority Indians and Pakistanis) living in Uganda compared to approximately 80,000 before they were expelled by dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
Many returned to Uganda in the 1980s and 1990s and have once again gone on to dominate the country’s economy. Despite making up less than 1% of the population they are estimated to contribute up to greatly to the country’s tax revenues.
In 2017, members of the community asked to be officially recognised as a tribe.
A senior member of the community said the group was lobbying the Ugandan Government to follow the lead of neighbouring Kenya, which declared Indians an official tribe in 2016.
