Museveni warns cultural communities on tribalism
President Museveni and Mr James Tumusiime (R), the director of Igongo Cultural Centre, tour Igongo Country Hotel in Mbarara District at the weekend. PHOTO BY Alfred Tumushabe.
What you need to know:
The President says the practices are harmful since they are characterised by wars.
Mbarara
President Museveni has cautioned cultural institutions and communities against promoting tribal, religious and gender chauvinism and sectarianism, saying they were weaknesses of the traditional society.
Speaking at the inauguration of Igongo Country Hotel and Biharwe Eclipse Monument at Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara District at the weekend, the President said while traditional societies had positive aspects like rich foods and culture, they had weakness in governance and leadership characterised by raids and inter-tribal wars.
“Peace has been achieved because we did not accept tribalism. You talk about tribes you are an enemy. Yes, tribes are there but I can’t promote Banyankore chauvinism,” Mr Museveni said.
The director of the hotel, Mr James Tumusiime, said the monument is an embodiment of important history of the area.
The hotel is an auxiliary to Igongo Cultural Centre that houses antiquities for Ankole and Kigezi communities’ cultural heritages and promotes cultural tourism.
Mr Tumisiime, also the chairperson of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), said cultural tourism is the way to go. “This model reflects the new trend of tourism investments worldwide where culture has superseded nature as the main source of tourist income around the world,” he said.
He said according to Stanford Research Institute 2014, cultural tourism globally fetches between $800b and $1.1trillion, compared to eco-tourism which fetches between $325b and Shs480 billion.
