National ID, but what is our national identity?

This week, the country was rushed toward the deadline of April 20 as the date by which to have verified our phone numbers using our national identity cards.
The deadline was extended to May 19.
Amid the debate and complaints about the chaos of the process or the lack of sufficient time to have all 17 million or so numbers verified, one important question was not addressed: What is the national identity of Uganda?
We have an official language, English, but because it is the language of instruction in school, it is not as widely-spoken as a national language should be.
The nearest to a national language we have is Luganda, but even then it is not spoken across the entire country. Because of Uganda’s history, any effort to legislate Luganda as the national language most likely would trigger off protests.
Uganda has failed to embrace the regional language, Swahili, which not only would bind the population into one common identity but make Uganda feel truly a member of the East African Community.
While the name Uganda is derived from Buganda, over the last 70 years or so the name Uganda has taken on its own identity so distinct from Buganda that the origin of the name Uganda no longer matters.

In fact, since the mid-1960s, Buganda has had at best a strained relationship with the entity that takes six of its seven letters.
Uganda in most people’s minds has very little to do with Buganda.
It is the country of their national identity, the birthplace of most of the population and the place where most will be laid to rest when they die.
Its violent history has left nearly all tribes that form Uganda with a bitter taste in their mouths whenever they think of Uganda.
There has never been a peaceful transfer of power from one head of state to another, so there is always some illegitimacy hanging over every government since independence.
Large sections of the population find common ground in their membership or support of the major political parties of the day. From the early 1960s to about 1992, the two main parties were the Democratic Party and the Uganda Peoples Congress party.
Today, it is the National Resistance Movement and the Forum for Democratic Change. The drop in national support for the DP and UPC shows how little allegiance to and understanding of political parties there is.

The hold on the population by the DP and UPC was not enough to last into the 21st Century.
The Roman Catholic and the Anglican faiths, Islam and an increasingly vocal and visible Evangelical (or “born again”) movement shape the spiritual lives of most Ugandans.
The belief in witchcraft is almost as powerful as the belief in the above monotheistic religions.
There is a strong degree of loyalty expressed toward one’s former secondary school or schools, although it usually starts and stops at online bragging or is expressed on visiting and anniversary days.
In practical terms, the attachment and commitment of personal resources to these schools once we leave them is rather weak.
Ultimately, the Ugandan feels or realises that he is or she is on their own and that might explain all the corruption and other acts of dishonesty in public matters.

The official status of the country is that Uganda is a republic; but within this republic are large and important ethnic and geographical areas that look up to a monarch as their final authority, often viewing the monarchy as more legitimate than the national head of State.
On the other hand, most Ugandans are content to live within the country as a republic and their main problem with the State today is its failure to deliver on key public services, organise free and fair elections and clamp down on corruption.
Because of this, some of the declared allegiance to the various monarchies might be more a part of the general political protest than an expression of core belief in monarchical rule.
Kampala city is another entity that binds the country.

It is important as the centre of commerce, national administration, government and politics and because about 70 per cent of the national economy is based in Kampala, even the majority of Ugandans who live upcountry look to Kampala for direction and resources.
That is why at weddings or burials in the village, “the people from Kampala” are usually served food and drinks first and are seated under a separate tent.
The hired motorcycle or boda boda is now the most common and most convenient modes of transport across the country.
The national sport is football and increasingly that includes European football as well. The Uganda Cranes men’s national football team and the occasional Olympic athlete bind the national sentiment during times of top-level competition.

In the best position to explain
The people in the best position to explain what it means to be a Ugandan are the thousands who live, study or work abroad. It is they who feel daily what it means to be a foreigner.
However, they are like their compatriots on an equally shaky footing when it comes to national identity. The best-known community of foreign-based Ugandans is the Uganda North America Association (Unaa).
They hold annual conventions but, going by news reports, the Unaa is very much like the Uganda at home. The same petty political bicker and posturing and the lack of inner conviction dominates the conventions.

When all is said, the Ugandan national identity is one of an underdeveloped, mostly agricultural, mostly rural-based (and rural-minded even when urban-based) society.
There is very little institutional strength and identification of the society with institutions.
So what does it mean to be a Ugandan?
It means to have this mild, lacklustre national temperament with little conviction, low economic and personal productivity and with tradition still dominant a force in our lives.
Foreign powers and influence shape the country and take the decisions that matter most. That is the true national ID.