President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been crowned as a Luo elder at the closure of the fourth edition of the Piny Luo Festival in Siaya County, Kenya.
At the regional annual cultural ceremony held at the Got Ramogi Hill shrines, H.E. Museveni was crowned alongside his host, Kenya’s President William Ruto, and former Kenyan Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga.
At the crowning ceremony performed by the Ker (cultural leader) of Luo, Odungi Randa, the two Presidents and Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga were handed a traditional seat of the ruler, the crown of leadership, a traditional cloth of an elder, a shield alongside a spear for protection, and a whisk for wishing peace to the people.
Later, the three newly crowned elders and other participants, who included the governor of Siaya County, James Orengo, were taken on a tour of Jaramogi Oginga Mausoleum and the four Luo traditional huts, representing the four sons of Luo.
In his remarks, President Museveni expressed gratitude to the Luo for recognising him for the 4th time, having been recognised before by the Luo in Uganda, who included the Alur, the Acholi and the Lango.
“I thank the Luos for making me an elder in the community. I think this is an honour for the people of Uganda. What you’re doing now is showing the unfairness of these borders, and I’m very happy that you’re showing this,” President Museveni said, adding that the Piny Luo festival that embodies the spirit of unity among East Africans by celebrating their shared heritage, culture, and traditions should also lead to the East African Federation if East Africans are to achieve prosperity in the region.
He said that by 1900 the whole of Africa had been colonized and had been under the slave trade for 600 years, which was a humiliation of Africa, but in 1912 a new group of educated people started the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, which was the beginning of the modern resistance by the African people.
“They had four historical missions of chasing the foreigners and getting independence, creating prosperity for the African people, and ensuring strategic security by ensuring that Africa should not be under threat from anybody. The fourth mission was to use the brotherhood of the African people to achieve the other three missions. Among the four historical missions, we achieved the independence of African states, but integration was forgotten,” President Museveni noted, emphasising that this has dragged the prosperity of East Africa and its strategic security, which can only be achieved through political federation.
H.E. Museveni hailed the past and present leaders, who include the late Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and now President William Ruto, who have been very supportive of the East African Integration process.
He presented a gift of four plaques to Luo cultural leaders, which contained a publication in the Uganda Agus containing a picture of the East African leaders, including former Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta, former Tanganyika President Julius Nyerere, and former Ugandan President Milton Obote, who met in Nairobi on 3rd June 1963 and declared that they would form the federation of East Africa.
On his part, President Ruto expressed his appreciation to President Museveni for gracing the closure of the Piny Luo festival at short notice.
“You have demonstrated resilience. When I requested you to come, you graciously informed me that any event that brings East Africans together you’ll attend without any hesitation, and I’m amazed that you woke up at 5 am to undertake this journey of over 200 km to come here by road. That is friendship beyond the ordinary,” H.E. Ruto said, describing the event as a celebration of culture in the context that the multicultural community of Ugandans, Kenyans, Sudanese Ethiopians, and Congolese is one people.
“And it is the context that we can belong to one community but also belong to different nationalities and that we can belong to different communities but also belong to one nationality. As we celebrate this culture to build our bond and friendship with East Africans, we must use the artificial boundaries that exist not as roadblocks but as stepping-stones and not as hurdles but as bridges for our people, their goods and services to cross borders between our countries because there cannot be a thriving Kenya or Uganda without a successful East Africa,” President Ruto stated.
