President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called on cultural institutions across Uganda to take a leading role in promoting local languages, education, and social transformation.
The President made the appeal during a meeting with the Paramount Chief of Lango (Won Nyaci), Eng. Dr. Michael Moses Odongo Okune, and several Lango clan leaders at State House Entebbe. The discussions focused on culture, education, development, and peace in the Lango subregion.
President Museveni praised the Lango cultural leaders for preserving their traditions but urged them to go further by actively promoting local languages in communities and schools.
“In Uganda, we use English as the official language and Swahili as a regional language. Nobody has banned local languages—but who is promoting them? That’s where cultural leadership comes in,” Museveni said.
He noted that in the past, vernacular languages were taught in schools, but this practice has declined over time. The President encouraged cultural institutions to help revive language education, saying that language is key to identity and unity.
President Museveni also asked traditional and religious leaders to re-examine cultural practices, keeping those that promote progress and discarding those that hold communities back.
He gave an example from his own Ankole culture, saying that it used to discriminate against women by denying them inheritance and independence.
“I audited the Banyankole culture because it suppressed the girl child. She depended on her father, then her husband, and later her son. I said my daughters must have their share—they are my blood,” Museveni explained, stressing the need for gender equality and fair cultural reforms.
Turning to development, the President advised the people of Lango to embrace modern, money-based enterprises rather than relying on traditional subsistence farming.
“We need modern wealth based on money. Depending on landholding, choose the right enterprise for your family,” he said. Museveni encouraged families to use irrigation, fertilizers, and organized farming to increase productivity.
“With coffee and irrigation, one can earn up to Shs18 million per acre annually, and fruits can bring in even more—up to Shs30 million,” he said. He also advised communities to fence their land to improve security and effective land use.
President Museveni urged cultural leaders to continue promoting education, health, and peace among their people. He also thanked the Lango community for their consistent support to government development programs.
In his remarks, Dr. Odongo Okune, the Paramount Chief of Lango, thanked President Museveni for his role in restoring peace and stability in the region.
“You rid Lango of the state-inspired violence of the 1970s and early 1980s, cattle rustling, and insurgencies like those of Kony and Lakwena that caused death and displacement,” he said.
He further commended the government’s wealth creation programs, which he said have helped improve livelihoods and reduced poverty in the subregion.
The meeting reaffirmed the partnership between government and cultural institutions in promoting peace, education, and sustainable development. Both sides agreed that strengthening cultural identity and language is vital for building a united and prosperous Uganda.
