Museveni warns cultural leaders on partisan politics

Gulu- President Museveni has warned cultural leaders not to engage in active politics for purposes of peace and harmony in the country.

He also cautioned cultural leaders against creating a foundation that grooms politicians.
Mr Museveni clarified that while he supported the restoration of cultural institutions, their core purpose was to preserve and promote culture “and not to pave way for political mobilisation,”.

“Cultural institutions should not interfere into politics because we already have a lot of politicians. We don’t need additional politicians through culture,” Mr Museveni asserted.
“We have LCIs, LCIIs, and Members of Parliament; they are so many… we are so rich with politicians,” he said.

Mr Museveni made the remarks while addressing locals and stakeholders at the grand Acholi cultural festival on Saturday at Kaunda Parade Grounds in Gulu Municipality.
The three days’ cultural festival that opened on Thursday attracted thousands of locals from the Acholi Sub-region.

It was organised by the Acholi cultural institution and marked under the theme “Kwero Deyo pa Acholi” (celebrating the beauty of Acholi).

The president also warned cultural institutions against fueling tension in the country.
He cited the weekend tribal clashes in Tororo Municipality in which police intervened by firing teargas to disperse the group of protesters from the Jophadola community as they demonstrated against the decision by the Iteso to hold their cultural festival.

About the Iteso
The Iteso were holding their first heritage day celebrations, which kicked off Thursday at King George Memorial Stadium but the Jopadhola, under their umbrella association, Padhola Cultural Union, vowed to disrupt the function.

“The Iteso carelessly tried to organise a cultural event yet there are two tribes there or more….they almost killed each other,” Mr Museveni said.

He noted that Tororo is fast becoming a modern place because of so many sprouting factories “but the cultural leaders are busy breeding hatred among themselves”.

Mr Museveni said conflict cannot be promoted because of culture, adding that cultural leaders must ensure they promote unity.

Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Acana II in his address called on the Acholi people to embrace their culture and preserve the norms for future generations.

He noted that a number of Acholi people, especially the youth, have fallen in love with the western culture and have thus deviated from their own.

“I urge the youth to embrace culture, if we use our culture well, it can cause a fundamental change in our lives and the region. Other countries are selling their culture to the world and developing from it and this can be done in our region too,” Rwot Acana said.

Rwot Acana urged parents and school authorities to ensure that children are taught the luo language so that they are not taken up by English language.
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