OF KING CHARLES III CORONATION ECONOMICS AND POOR US

By the time you read this the pageantry surrounding the coronation of King Charles III will be done and the UK will be enjoying a public holiday to extend the festivities or to work off their hangovers.

At the time of writing, it was estimated that the coronation would cost the British tax payer $125m (sh465b). But that was small fry compared to the estimated one billion pounds (sh4.6trillion) in inflows that will ensue as a direct result of the event. Observers have it that London hotels were enjoying 96 percent occupancy in the lead up to the event and tourism in general and the pubs in particular expected a £337 million (sh1.6trillion)....

I like to think that these are conservative estimates. In the heat of all the euphoria I suspect budgets – personal and public will be thrown out the window and the British economy may very well – for a few weeks, pull itself from under the dark cloud that has economy for the last two or so years characterized by the growing cost of living fueled by historically high inflation.

The party poopers – never far behind, also point out that the extra public holiday today, May 8^th will cost the economy 0.2 percent of GDP.

Just like in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned the UK is in need of optimism. Seventy years ago, the UK was still a bombed-out shell following the Second World War, as result was rolling back its empire and the coronation, which was filmed in scratchy black and white, brought some cheer back to the British Isles.

This coronation was beamed to the four corners of the world in real time, high definition colour. More significant changes have happened to Britain in between the two coronations, not least of all how the British economy has changed beyond all recognition.

In 1953 manufacturing accounted for a third of the British GDP but today that figure is less than 10 percent with services being the major driver of the economy. At last count services – retail, finance, tourism, hospitality, social services, accounted for 79 percent of the economy.

The shift away from manufacturing to services seems the logical progression in development. The UK attained parity in the share between manufacturing and services at the end of the 19^th century.

"The just witnessed coronation ceremony is more than symbolic of the trend, where economic activity is now dominated by the intangible and ephemeral. The western economies have mustered the art of taking events and turning them in to money spinners....

Meanwhile they have shifted most of the low value manufacturing abroad or abandoned it all together for higher tech processes.

The shift can not happen by mistake but is a function of a more educated population and government sensitive to the shifting trends and looking to enable innovation.

The English Premier league is one of the biggest export of the British Isles. Though accounting for only £8b (sh38trillion) of the £3trillion economy, shows how big the services sector is.

 For countries like ours which are pre-industrial the coronation should focus to take a look at how to maximise the potential of events, not just see them as items to tick box.

I am particularly excited about the Rwenzori Run, the second edition of which is set for September this year. The Rwenzori mou3ntains has been with us forever, but we are only just creating an even to leverage its history and mysticism now in the 21^st century.

What will happen when someone looks through similar lenses at Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, our various Kingdoms and numerous natural endowments. And that is only just sports/adventure tourism.

What would happen if the trick to improving our education and health services, would be to get it into somebody’s head the billions of dollars we can earn in foreign exchange from people coming to study here or health services?

What would happen if made Uganda regional or even continental filming hub? Our natural endowments would look absolutely stunning in HD.

The trick is to first create a narrative, that projects the country in the best possible light or not.

"When King Charles forefathers were running around the world empire building, far from the romanticized version of summer holidays in Kashmir or the idyllic lifestyle of the white settlers in Kenya’s rift valley, the empire was forged with steel, blood and a liberal doze of racism....

But with having to cede control of the empire in the last century, the brutality of colonialism was washed over and a more romantic narrative has emerged, no, generated. At the center of it is the royal family and the reality show that they are.

The house of Windsor is not only powerful in keeping their citizens the hard questions about their relevance in the modern world but are useful too for keeping our eyes on the UK.

I don’t know him personally, but I am willing to bet if King Charles could do away with all this fanfare he would. But he has been brought up to recognize, his role in the larger scheme of things, among which is to put appositive spin on Great Britain.

It is simple but not easy. We need to seat down and generate our own narrative (mindset change would help) on a strategic level and be more opportunistic in taking advantage of our natural endowments.