President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni yesterday met and held discussions with the Lango Paramount Chief (Won Nyaci) Eng. Dr. Michael Moses Odongo Okune and clan leaders. During a meeting held at State House Entebbe, Museveni warmly welcomed the guests urging them to promote the local language, culture, education, health, transform the society through development and create peace. “I was supposed to be campaigning today, but I said I needed to go to cabinet because there were some issues there but also to meet the cultural leaders. I’m happy to receive you here,” President Museveni said.
“In the Republic of Uganda, we use English as the official language and Swahili as a regional language. Nobody has banned the local languages but who is promoting them and taking care of them? This is where the cultural leadership comes in because in the school system, they are not very clear. In the past they used to teach in schools’ vernacular, I don’t think it’s taught these days so the cultural institution can definitely look at that angle of the language when the government may not have time to do it and I can see some gaps there,” President Museveni emphasized.
He went on to urge the religious leaders to promote cultural leadership and abandon some of the traditional cultures which are not good and to audit the good ones like marrying outside the clan, and the issue of inheritance. “I have already audited the Banyankole culture because the Banyankole culture was suppressing the girl child, the girl child was dependent all her life. When she was a girl she would depend on the father, when she gets married, she depends on the husband, when the husband dies, she remains a widow and depends on the son and the children. I said my daughters must have their share, they are my blood,” he asserted.
President Museveni also called upon the people of Lango to generate wealth by transforming the society through developmental activities. “We need modern wealth based on money, depending on the land holding, choose the right enterprise for the family. This is where coffee passes because with coffee, if you do a little bit of irrigation, you can get Shs18m from an acre in a year and fruits have also got some good money, in one acre you can get quite a lot of money sometimes even as much as Shs30m,” he added.
“Therefore I want you to help me, that land of yours is not fenced, it’s just open like that ,if we all speak the same language they will change, the moment they settle down and fence that land as families or clans then we shall have controlled agriculture then we shall have to speak about irrigation, use of fertilizers and pasture development,” President Museveni said.
Museveni further requested the leaders to help in promoting education and health by dealing directly with the people. He further encouraged the people of Lango to promote peace amongst themselves. The President also thanked the people of Lango for the love and support they showed him while campaigning in their region.
On his part, His Highness Odongo Okune commended President Museveni for the peace and security he brought to the Lango sub-region. “You rid Lango of state-inspired violence of the 1970s and early 1980s, cattle rustling and numerous insurgencies like those of Kony, Lakwena that had caused death, and mass internal displacement of communities,” he said.
“Lango is grateful to Your Excellency for the developments you have brought to the region.” He also thanked President Museveni for the wealth creation projects in Lango which have helped the people to develop themselves.