Shs60m monthly funding from govt is a welcome bail-out to cultural institutions

In the preamble of Uganda’s Constitution, the State pledges to promote and preserve the cultural values and practices which enhance the dignity and wellbeing of Ugandans and the recent pledge by government to allocate Shs60 million per month to every cultural institution may be calculated at activating this constitutional directive.

Under international law, the doctrine of Pacta sunt servanda says that those who make promises must honour them. The available cultural research statistics indicate that about 95  percent of the present cultural institutions in Uganda have financial burdens in one way or the other.

Therefore, the idea of Shs60m as a monthly payment will go a long way in helping these infant institutions to fulfill many of their cultural agendas.

Recall the institutions have many officials performing different tasks but with no enabling budget framework yet the only person paid a retainer by the government is the cultural leader. The rest of the officials use personal funds or go on begging sprees to execute tasks allocated to them.

In Bugisu region, local government leaders led by the district chairperson had already pledged to make an annual contribution of Shs   10m per local government. These include the districts of Bududa, Manafwa, Namisindwa, Mbale, Bulambuli, Sironko and Mbale City, including their sub counties and town councils. Once fulfilled this effort will enable the Inzu Ya Masaba Cultural Institution to breathe financially. It may make sense to inform our readers on what culture is. Culture is what we eat, what we dress and how we even walk and communicate to others. A formal definition of what culture is can be extracted from the Uganda National Culture Policy 2019 which sums it as the ways in which society preserves, identifies, organises, sustains and expresses itself. The funding from the government will help us preserve our different cultures.

Cultural institutions are the creation of the law, specifically under the Constitution, the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act 2011 traditional and cultural leaders Act 2011, the Local Government Act 1997, and Uganda National Culture Policy 2019. Government funding of cultural institutions is news that has been well received by every institution because they exist to deliver certain mandates and without such funding their existence may be irrelevant.

Secondly, many of the said institutions are young in terms of existence and many thrive on the goodwill of the local governments. For example, the Mbale District Local Government houses the Bugisu Cultural Institution. We are overwhelmed by this level of solidarity from the government and pledge to put the funds to good use on receipt to respond to development programs, such as the Parish Development Model, and develop ourselves too.

The funding from the government will also help us to expedite the preservation of our languages, literacy arts and cultural monuments.

Mr Steven Masiga is a researcher from Mbale City and the spokesperson Inzu Ya Masaba Cultural Institution