The Ndere Cultural Centre looks positively pristine after a shower in the cleansing Ugandan rain. Come to think of it, the rain left the rest of Ntinda, where the Ndere Cultural Centre is found, glistening in its wake. Ashine in this context, I stepped gingerly across Ndere’s sprawling grounds where design merges with culture to offer a cultural immersion of a kind. The afternoon breeze picked up to elevate the moment as I searched for a place to sit. I could stand, too. But the person I was waiting to meet has done enough standing for the both of us, as it were.
Mr Bernard Mujuni is a poet, author, and a Commissioner of Equity and Rights in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. He is also a creative director of Nyungu Yamwe Forest Park and Cultural Hub. His whole cultural mindset is dead-set against the cultural disorientation caused by a lack of culture.
Ndere’s cavernous dining section plays host to Mr Mujuni and I, as we sit down to a buffet boasting the many-splendored tastes of what you’d get if you simply ordered for “food” at any local eatery. Mr Mujuni has written two books, The Monologue Diary of a Covid-19 Walker and Rabbit On The Pulpit, verse collections which codify our existence while lyricising it, too. I asked Mr Mujuni how he manages to balance the balls of authorship, cultural advocacy and the duties as a Commissioner.
“Civil servants have access to a lot of knowledge, but they restrict their knowledge to policy and practice. They don’t go beyond that to harness the broader aspect of the knowledge economy,” he told me. “Society has provided a lot of opportunities allowing us to still create a lot of knowledge potential, and yet do our daily schedules at work effectively. I also wanted to provide a record of my past as a window to my perspective towards a shared society view,” he added.
Decolonisation project
Mr Mujuni’s literary world is filled with visions of an African past where oral tradition served as a medium, highlighted by fireside village chats, wherefrom cultural norms and values were transmitted through tales of yore. His books seek a return to this innocence by playing a parental role, exposing the young to folk stories. “We are decolonising our contemporary reading because people now read what is trending on their gadgets, not what they identify with from childhood. So we tell our stories in a way that excites children when dealing with their culture or reading about it. We also add value with the digitised enhancement of our writings, using 3D and the like,” he said. He believes that Ugandan literature can evolve to embrace celluloid, as tales about the Bachwezi and other historical fictions are sewn into the singular fabric of a well-woven story.
One that could be screened on Netflix. “The true story about the Bachwezi and how they went underground is a whole movie. If you feel the earthquakes which are always taking place in Fort Portal, Isaza is looking for Nyamiyonga underground. Every time there is an earthquake, he [Isaza] has knocked the wall,” Mr Mujuni said. In the Bunyoro-Kitara legend, King Isaza went to the underworld ruled by Nyamiyonga and never returned, leaving his caretaker, Bukuku, to seize the throne. This event is central to the story of the Batembuzi dynasty and the transition to the Bachwezi dynasty. Isaza’s prolonged stay in the underworld is attributed to his fascination with the underworld and his love for Nyamiyonga’s daughter, Nyamata. “We are writing our own stories as Ugandans in order to decolonise the African mind. Our stories can best be told by us and thereby reflect what we think, independent of how our colonial circumstances dictate,” Mr Mujuni added.
Breaking off
He has a point. Art and culture were used strategically by the United States of America to detach the American personality from its origins in the character of European identity. Many Hollywood movies and much of American literature mythologised Americana. America was presented as a nirvana whose past coruscated with an even brighter future. Allied to this, Hollywood also drew inspiration and stories from Greek mythology. These adaptations were suited to America’s changing self-image, as crafted by its Arts. The use of mythological themes and characters was a basis for America’s subtle narrative on “American exceptionalism”.
That can conceivably be done here, Mr Mujuni believes. Accordingly, he wants to bring the sexy back to African literature through words. But also deeds, too. As creative director of Nyungu Yamawe, a forest park in Kira off Bulindo road that’s also a cultural haven for Africana, he is doing just that. If you consult your history well, Nyungu ya Mawe was the indomitable leader of the Nyamwezi people in present-day Tanzania during the late 19th century. He is known for building a significant military force, the “Ruga-ruga”, and for creating a large polity through conquest and alliances.
African nationalism
The cottages at Nyungu Yamawe are named after different African nationalists, many of whom were slain by imperialists. The idea behind such nomenclature, Mr Mujuni said, is to nurture a spirit of defiance in the face of cultural erosion. Even the recent “Nyash festival”, which was staged at Nyungu Yamawe, is part of the celebration of the superior posteriors found in the vicinity of the Horn of America. It was a statement. In that sense, it was reminiscent of the Boobquake. This was a series of worldwide rallies which took place on April 26, 2010, and served to protest news reports of controversial beliefs blaming women who dress immodestly for causing earthquakes.
It was inspired by blogger Jey McCreight. Identity in the face of the impersonal march of modernity occupies Mujuni’s mind as he ponders, “Uganda is a very cosmopolitan country. It is so diverse. In the grand scheme of things, who are you as a Ugandan? What agency do you hold?” This is a question as old as William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where the phrase “What’s in a name?” is part of Juliet's famous line, “That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” It is a question Mr Mujuni hopes to answer in this lifetime, through the life of his art.
