Kadaga to market Karamoja in USA

Kampala.

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has advised the Karimojong to get organised and start producing beads and other cultural jewellery in bulk to be exported to the United States of America.

While opening the annual national cultural exhibition on Sunday at the Uganda Museum in Kampala, Ms Kadaga who represented the President, said the Karimojong are gifted with the talent of making beads and jewels that summarise Uganda’s cultural heritage. This, she said, Ugandans should be proud of because Kenyans are doing it, so are Nigerians and other African countries.

“The attires you see Nigerian chiefs wearing are real. During working hours, they (Nigerians) wear suits, and Kwame Nkrumah (RIP) always wore traditional wear in all official photographs. President Kenyatta always has the Kenyan flag somewhere,” Ms Kadaga said, urging the Karimojong to produce beads with Ugandan national colours which should be promoted and marketed as Ugandan national symbols in AGOA.

“I am going to promote and sell the Kaiamojong beads to the AGOA market but the problem may be the quantities. The problem we have as Ugandans is that we never treasure our cultures. We are not proud of our country and even when we are singing the national anthem, we do not seem to be proud of it,” she said.

Last weekend, the ministries of Tourism and that of Gender, hosted the inaugural national cultural exhibition at the Uganda Museum which, much as it was poorly marketed, exposed hidden traditional food, dressing, footwear, defensive wear and other household items which showed the innovativeness of various tribes in the country. The exhibition addressed social issues such as education, agriculture, aggression and poverty.

Cultural festival
Next year Uganda will host the East African Music and Cultural Festival which will attract cultural institutions from Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan to exhibit culture.