Kampala — THE outgoing country director of the British Council, Richard Weyers, has hailed the Ugandan government for successfully hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala last November.

With just a few weeks left to mark the first anniversary for the historic summit, Weyers said the event catapulted Uganda onto the world stage and is still much talked about.

"I'm an outsider but I must say that whoever I talk to commends Uganda for CHOGM. It's one of the best CHOGMs ever. Uganda repositioned itself and I'm proud to have been part of it," he said at a farewell party organised for him by the British Council at his Nakasero residence.

Uganda hosted CHOGM, the biannual summit of former British colonies from November 23 to 25, 2007. From then on, President Yoweri Museveni became the chairman of the Commonwealth until the next summit in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009.

Weyers congratulated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for pulling off an excellent summit.

The envoy cited the pioneer 'Peoples Forum', an initiative by Uganda, as a milestone for which the country will be credited each time CHOGM is hosted.

"It's just a few days to the Kampala CHOGM anniversary. What stands out from the memory is that it was the first time ever to bring free speech to the people (at the people's forum). Everybody I speak to says the event was an organised affair," he said.

Weyer's posting to Uganda is the fifth in his service for the UK government overseas.

His next destination is Sudan where he began his career while still a fresh graduate years ago.

The British Council is the UK's international organistaion for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

Weyers said that Uganda's education system has several challenges but still boasts of high caliber young graduates who are results oriented.

He said it was always painful to turn away scholarship seekers at the British Council, but observed that it was expensive to sustain funded programmes.

Weyers also said the British government preferred networking with local educational institutions, leadership and continuous training.

Scholarships, he said, discourage growth of local higher education institutions.

"We do not believe in handouts. I wish I could print the words 'no scholarships' on my forehead," he said.