Museveni Meets Lango Paramount Chief, Urges Promotion of Local Languages

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni yesterday met with the Paramount Chief of Lango (Won Nyaci), Eng. Dr Michael Moses Odongo Okune, and clan leaders at State House Entebbe, where they held discussions on culture, education, development, and peace.

Welcoming the delegation, President Museveni commended the cultural leaders for their role in preserving language and tradition, urging them to take an active role in promoting local languages, education, and societal transformation.

“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 is where cultural leadership comes in,” he said. “In the past, vernacular was taught in schools, but that is no longer the case. Cultural institutions can fill that gap.”

The President also encouraged cultural and religious leaders to review certain traditional practices, keeping the positive ones while discarding those that hinder progress. He cited the Ankole culture’s treatment of women as an example of a tradition that needed change.

“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,” President Museveni said, emphasising the importance of gender equality in cultural reform.

Turning to development, the President called on the people of Lango to embrace wealth creation through modern, money-based enterprises. He advised families to utilise their land more productively by adopting irrigation, using fertilisers, and practising controlled agriculture.

“We need modern wealth based on money. Depending on landholding, choose the right enterprise for your family. With coffee and irrigation, one can earn up to Shs18 million per acre annually, and fruits can fetch even more—up to Shs30 million,” he said.

He added that fencing land would help promote organised farming and effective land use.

President Museveni also urged leaders to promote education, health, and peace within their communities and thanked the people of Lango for their continued support.

On his part, His Highness Dr Odongo Okune praised President Museveni for restoring peace and security in the Lango subregion. “You rid Lango of the state-inspired violence of the 1970s and early 1980s, cattle rustling, and insurgencies such as those of Kony and Lakwena, which caused death and displacement,” he said.

He also expressed gratitude for the government’s wealth creation programs that have improved livelihoods in the region.

The meeting reaffirmed the partnership between cultural institutions and the government in promoting social transformation, peace, and sustainable development across Uganda.