Where would we anchor Uganda’s National Anthem?

I am a patriotic Ugandan. And actually would have won the bid to establish patriotism clubs, had this been advertised, since I am an old hand at this…ask anybody who was with me in high school.

A new double opportunity has come in the form of ‘reviewing’ our National Anthem. It is a double opportunity since it will enable me make my contribution to my motherland (or fatherland…? patria, la patrie, the etymological roots for patriotism, actually mean fatherland); while earning some good cash. Shs180 million is not small money by any standards. And I’m winning double soon.

For starters, my working research question was ‘What informs or inspires a national anthem’? An illustration may help here: One of the most enduring and inspiring anthems I have read about is La Marsellaise.

This is the national anthem of France, composed during the revolutionary years to rally citizens against the exploitative monarchy as well as the invading foreign forces. Its opening verse, Aux armes citoyens, ( run for your arms countrymen), still sends cold chills along the spines of their modern-day neighbours, whose ancestors were among the targets of that rallying call and war cry.

Applying this to Uganda’s political history, I set out to sample different generations of Ugandans spanning eight decades back: one generation before independence and four generations into independence. The reason behind this is that we need a national anthem that will arouse emotional, sentimental feelings and a sense of attachment to the motherland among all Ugandans.

Generation I: The advent of education
And here, my mother’s favourite song as we grew up beat the rest to the gold. To all the pre-independence generation out there, here comes your stanza in the National Anthem:
…Obwana bwa kare bukafeerwa…reeba mbubwo omu nguuto, nibwenaganaga nk’obutamanya…
...itwe abeegyesibwe itwe, twegire Orujungu, turamusya ‘Good Morning’, Oruswahili ‘Jambo’
The lyrics are in praise of education, pitying earlier generations which did not get the education and can only roam the roads, while the educated ones walk with their heads high, greeting ‘Good Morning’, and ‘Jambo’.

Generation II
Generation II runs from October 1962 to January 1971. Many events and milestones, but the winning one was Uganda’s independence from Britain, on October 9, 1962. The stanza for this generation comes from a favourite primary school song, whose lyrics I could only mimic from my big sisters in the early 70s:
…okwetegyeka, okwefuga, okwerema,
…Uganda will live in freedom forever…
…independence forever, Cherie….
…tunafurayi for ever…
The song combines five languages, with the opening verses shouting ‘independence’ in three languages.

Generation III

This belongs to the most controversial era in the history of our dear Uganda. As expected, respondents in this generation had the highest number of divergent life highlight events and memories.
They ranged from ‘pamba alin’omugaso…pamba alin’omugaso’, the opening tune for the farmers’ programme on Radio Uganda then, extolling the importance of cotton in our economy; to ‘twakubakuba Abayindi badduka,babilekawo ebizimbe makeke…, hailing the economic war that chased away the Asians; to ‘orutaro rwa Mutukula, …tukahemura obwojo bwa Tanzania…’, which praised the heroic acts of the Uganda Army defeating the Tanzanian army at Mutukula.

After a series of eliminations, compromises and horse trading, we settled for one of the favourite school songs in the late 70s:
Refrain:
…Uganda my home in Africa…
…Evergreen equatorial zone…
…One land and one nation…
..Oh Uganda my home…
Stanza 1
…Lake Victoria at Entebbe…
..As our major airport...
…Kampala our beautiful capital city…
Oh, Uganda my home…

Refrain

Stanza 2
..Long live our [ Dada] Dear President...
…Long Live the People of Uganda…
…Abide in God and Serve Him…
…Oh Uganda my Home…

Refrain

Stanza 3
Namirembe the Church of Protestants…
…Rubaga the Church of Catholics…
…Kibuli the Mosque of Muslims…
…Oh Uganda my home

Refrain

We had an animated debate about the last stanza in the current religious context, but we all eventually agreed that this applies to that generation, and after all, these three religions remain the mother religions of all other denominations and even sects.

Generation IV
If the previous era was controversial, this one proved the most explosive and divisive.

It spans the period from April 1979 to October 1995. We could only get a cacophony when we requested respondents from this generation to sing what each felt was their memorable and eventful episode in the political life of Uganda over that period. Here is what we managed to transcribe from the recorded cacophony:
…Amin amefunga virago, ameenda Libya….kagyende, akagyenda nk’enzigye
…Saba Saba, ebyooma mushanju…Saba Saba ya Nyerere
These two are celebrating the departure of Amin, running to Libya, chased by Nyerere’s seven-barrel gun, Saba Saba.

….Moyo gwa Moshi….Moyo gwa Moshi…(bis)
This is the radio tune on Radio Uganda that replaced the one of the Amin era. It extols Ugandans to uphold the Spirit of Moshi. Moshi is the Tanzania town where desperate Ugandan exiles met to agree on the future of the country as the Amin regime was on the verge of defeat. Is it still the same tune today? It replaced ‘Oyonkye nkusherekye Kasherebende…ndoosire omuhiigo guri Bukanga…which was the tune during the Amin era.
…Bazooka n’ekizinga kya moto…mwebare okurwana n’okubinga abazigu….bakagyenda beekoreire emikono…
Another celebration of Amin’s fall, but was more popular during UPC II rather than immediate post-Amin era. It praises bazooka, one of the guns that chased Amin
…Uganda, Oh Uganda, Uganda, we are moving forward….UPC we are moving forward….
…DP egumire, ata leo, egumire, ata kesho, egumire, kila siku egumire…
…owa DP talifuga….nobu alisoma natuuka mu diguli, …
…Obote na Uganda oyee, Obote na Africa oyee, Africa na Uganda oyee, Obote na UPC…
…UPC yongeza omuliro, tunuulira goolo era nga bw’oteeba…
…Eeeh, hee chama chetu….the Congress of the people…
The above songs are principally in praise of Obote and UPC, reigning during UPC II, 1980-85, with a particular one denigrating DP: asserting DP will never lead Uganda; even if its leaders read and obtain all the degrees! DP on its part, asserts it is ever strong.

…Fellow gentlemen and ladies in the struggle, our country Uganda must be free…
…Moto umewaka…Kapeeka, Masaka, Lwamata, Kiboga…..
…Abanya-Uganda ka baingi, ababonaboine omu ihamba…
…Agawalagana mu nkoola….mwetuliwangula tulibazimbira obusiisira…
These songs were the rallying call during the 1981-86 bush war that brought the NRM in power and ushered in a fundamental change.

Generation V
This generation stretches from 1995 to-date. Joachim Buwembo’s maid has beaten us to the composition for this generation, and in the good tradition of literary men and women (including amateurs like myself); we salute her and welcome her entry for the competition.

As for my team, we unanimously agreed to submit the Generation III primary school song as our national anthem. Upon winning the tender, we shall modernise it by removing ‘Dada’ and inserting ‘comments from the panel of judges’.

Our final song came after a heated debate that had even suggested adopting a musical tune with no lyrics, like Spain and other three countries do have. In the case of Spain, the Catalans, Basques and other tribes, can never agree on the words for the anthem, thus the wordless musical tune for an anthem.

Uganda has the famous Okello Tune, which, one team argued, can become our anthem, with each stakeholder and interest group inserting their own words, from their own perspective of what Uganda means to them.

Yes. Uganda needs a new national anthem. One anchored in a context and situation that arouses sentimental, emotional attachment to the country. The issue of languages shall be addressed as Phase II of the Anthem Contract: we get key language experts to translate and musicians in each language to provide the voice. The tunes need not rhyme. As it is now, we are the only misfit in East Africa, to bubble our anthem in a foreign language.