Good people,
Some of you may recognize that my name Angelo
Opi-aiya Izama is similar to that of Angelo Adalla Izama, the late
paramount chief of Madi. The late Izama is my grandfather and I think my
middle name Opiaiya - refers to the scattering of that authority or put it
differently responsibility.
Am aware of the renewed interest in redefining cultural meaning of
traditional institutions driven mainly, in my view, by elite accommodation
of the recent politics of political patronage. There is nothing wrong with
this. Political organisations by their nature are opportunistic and if
there are some who argue that creating a Kingdom status for the Lugbara has
advantages- well, they should be allowed to make their argument.
It has however to be an intellectually honest process. West Nile's
egalitarian nature what has been described by Ambassador Harold Acemah as
institutionalized traditional republicanism has always for me been a higher
calling than some of the pretensions to European style monarchy that go on
in Central and South Central Uganda.
Opi boronji ( or the sons of chiefs) as is my humble heritage was not a
status that needed pampering by anyone but was a call to service as the
historiography attests. In Ma'adi cultural tradition where the Opi and the
Ojoo are summoned to constitute structures of need during crisis - its done
so that there is leadership never as an imposition of rule as some have
suggested. There is something special about this system that places a
premium on responsibility and not entitlement, on power deriving from
authority and that authority itself based on a position of responsibility.
I have two arguments to make here. Firstly to the claim that political
institutions are flexible. Its true that colonialism and before it ethnic
intercourse restructured political institutions over time. But luckily
today and with hindsight, political institutions that are culturally
relevant can be arrived at by deliberation and by choice.
Secondly a society for cultural heritage and revival can be political.
Politics is about constituency. What we should be careful about is to
resurrect , through creative interpretations of history, institutions that
are not anchored on the value that our societies in West Nile have placed
on the freedom and independence ( and responsibility) of individuals.
I have offered the same advice to my friends in Buganda who are trapped in
the institutions of the past ( hard power institutions based on the near
absolute power of the Kabaka) and failed to transition into today's times.
Cultural soft power is malleable to politics yes but it is a different
perhaps more humane, intelligent form of institutional formation.
best wishes
Angelo Opi-aiya Izama
On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 12:59 AM, Charles Male <cdm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For those who haven't seen it here is Acemah's article published in
> the Monitor (June 20, 2013).
>
>
>
> http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Quest-for-Lugbara-chiefdom-is-nothing/-/689364/1891142/-/oe9392/-/index.html
>
> ++++++
>
> Today, your columnist has decided to go native, for once; after all,
> charity begins at home, but should extend beyond home and end
> elsewhere.
>
> My attention has been drawn to an article published in the Saturday
> Monitor of June 1, 2013 titled, “Lugbara recognition for chiefdom”.
> According to the article by Clement Aluma, the quest for Lugbara Kari
> (chiefdom) to be recognised like other cultural institutions in the
> country is gaining momentum.
>
> Several meetings have allegedly taken place between the line ministry
> and a Lugbara council of elders to discuss the matter and the
> spokesman of the Lugbara Kari, Haruna Ndema, told the Saturday Monitor
> that they were awaiting government’s response.
>
> The article ends by lamenting that, “several correspondences between
> State House and the cultural institution, seen by the Saturday Monitor
> show that attempts by the leaders to meet President Museveni have all
> failed”.
>
> Contrary to the allegation that the quest for the recognition of a
> Lugbara cultural institution is gaining momentum, this was the first
> time yours truly and many others whom he randomly sampled had learnt
> of the existence of a Lugbara chiefdom!
>
> The quest for a Lugbara chiefdom could be an attempt to take advantage
> of Article 246, Section 3 and sub- section 6 of the Constitution of
> Uganda which defines a cultural or traditional leader such as the
> Kabaka of Buganda and the Omukama of Bunyoro as follows:
>
> ‘For the purposes of this article, “traditional leader or cultural
> leader” means a king or similar traditional leader or cultural leader
> by whatever name called, who derives allegiance from the fact of birth
> or descent in accordance with the customs, traditions, usage or
> consent of the people led by that traditional or cultural leader’.
>
> Against this background, I was amazed by the demand made by some
> elders for recognition of an institution which does not exist and has,
> in fact, never existed since time immemorial.
> In this regard, I welcome the silence of those who have assiduously
> and vigorously promoted the fragmentation of Uganda into small and
> worthless cultural and administrative entities to suit their grand
> design to divide and rule Uganda in perpetuity.
>
> I hope and pray they continue to turn a blind eye to the quest for a
> Lugbara chiefdom which will add no value to the wananchi of the West
> Nile region. We must resist the temptation to dance to a conjurer’s
> tune whose lyrics we do not comprehend.
>
> According to one of the foremost authorities on the Lugbara of Uganda,
> John Middleton, the Lugbara are what anthropologists call a segmentary
> society who have no central authority.
>
> In his book, Tribes Without Rulers: Studies in African Segmentary
> Systems, John Middleton argues that the Lugbara, whose ancestors are
> the Madi, were traditionally a segmentary people and occupy parts of
> northwestern Uganda and the Orientale province of DR Congo. They had
> no traditional chiefs; the county or saza chiefs were created by the
> British colonial authorities to help them rule the natives and
> administer then West Nile district.
>
> The Lugbara believed that all men are born equal and are created by
> God with similar rights and responsibilities. We had clan heads who
> were chosen on merit by the elders to act as spokesmen in times of
> need and were not hereditary.
>
> Honesty, integrity and hard work were and still are the cherished
> traditional values of the Lugbara.
>
> Why would anybody wish to abandon such an egalitarian and republican
> system in favour of a system which promotes inequality, class
> formation and is moreover not based on meritocracy? I hope the people
> of West Nile will, in their wisdom, not accept such a move.
> I am advised that Mr Jason Avutia, a former tutor at Arua Teachers
> Training College, is the interim “Agofe” or paramount chief of the
> Lugbara, while Mr Haruna Ndema is the interim prime minister.
>
> My humble and honest advice to all who are agitating for the
> recognition of a non- existent cultural institution is to stop the
> process because the vast majority of the Lugbara people of Uganda do
> not need a chiefdom or a kingdom!
>
> Let us instead promote unity in diversity in West Nile, in greater
> North and ultimately the whole of Uganda. We respect the desire of
> those Ugandans who have opted to revive or establish kingdoms or
> chiefdoms.
>
> I believe we can all coexist peacefully and happily in a united and
> prosperous Uganda. May the Lord have mercy!
>
> Mr Acemah is a political scientist, consultant and a retired career
> diplomat.
>
> hace...@gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/20/13, samuel andema <andema...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Dear Caleb,
> >
> > Thank you for inviting us to respond to this very important subject
> > regarding the institution of Agofe among the Lugbara. Unfortunately, I
> seem
> > not to have read the articles by my elder brothers Mr. Acema and
> > Hon. Dr. Okuonzi or if I did, I never paid much attention to them to be
> able
> > to respond to the specific arguments they have made. I will therefore
> limit
> > my response to their two claims that you have alluded to, namely: 1) that
> > those seeking Agofe are self seekers, 2) that the Lugbara were
> egalitarian
> > and believed in equality.
> >
> > In the first place the claim that those seeking Agofe are self seekers
> > without providing sufficient evidence is disrespectful to people like
> Mzee
> > Jason Avutia (Chairman, Lugbara Elders' Association) who played crucial
> role
> > in averting a potentially serious armed conflict between National
> Resistance
> > Army (NRA) and the soldiers who had retreated to West Nile and regrouped
> to
> > resist the NRA under the leadership of Brigadier Go Wilson Toko. The
> > soldiers were itching to fight but when Toko convened a meeting with
> > the elders from Arua District to seek their approval and blessing a war
> > against the advancing NRA, they insisted that war was not the best
> option.
> > Instead the elders offered to go to the front line with white flags
> > to negotiate a peaceful entry of NRA into West Nile. As a result NRA
> entered
> > West Nile without a single bullet which saved us from bloodshed and
> > destruction of property. Had the elders not intervened and had Toko not
> > listened
> > to their wise counsel, our situation would have been worst than the
> > suffering that the people of Gulu have endured for decades.
> >
> > It was against such a background that the need for a more structured
> > cultural institution among Lugbara elders arose to facilitate
> coordination
> > and mobilization to respond to common challenges and threats. It is
> > important to appreciate the historical context in which Agofe evolved to
> > constructively discuss its merits and demerits. This is not to say that
> > there can be no self seekers in such an organization. Definitely like any
> > organization there will always be some individuals who would want to take
> > advantage of such an institution to advance their selfish interests at
> the
> > expense of a common good. With time such self seekers and their selfish
> > schemes will be exposed. In my view, the question should be how we as
> young
> > people can build on what the elders have done but not to tear it down for
> > equally selfish reasons. We should be discussing how we can make the
> Agofe
> > more democratic, transparent, and all inclusive. The constitution of
> Uganda
> > recognizes cultural institutions as legitimate institutions to play
> > complementary roles in promoting unity and service delivery. The Agofe
> can
> > play an important role in resolving conflicts and fostering unity,
> > preserving our institution memory through artifacts, promoting our
> cultural
> > identity, promoting tourism, developing language etc.
> >
> > While I agree with Acema and Okuonzi that the Lugbara were generally
> viewed
> > as an egalitarian society by the dawn of colonialism, I do not subscribe
> to
> > the notion that social formation among the Lugbara communities was static
> > and the institutions of leadership would not have grown beyond clans. In
> > fact to the contrary, colonialism came in as a disruption to state
> > formation among communities of West Nile as Ahluwalia (1995) and Leopold
> > (2005) accurately describe in their books entitled "Plantation and the
> > Politics of Sugar in Uganda" and "Inside West Nile" respectively which I
> > encourage those interested in the history of our people to read. Copies
> of
> > these books can be found in Aristock Bookshop in Kampala. Our challenge
> is
> > that we have a poor reading culture which limits our ability to
> objectively
> > examine documentary evidence to make plausible arguments.
> >
> > I would like to conclude by suggesting that the executive of this forum
> > should consider organizing an event in form of a workshop or a
> conference in
> > which people with strong views about the notion of Agofe can be invited
> to
> > present alternative views based on research evidence. I would be willing
> to
> > offer my own perspective to the discussions.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Sam
> >
> >
> >
> > Subject: [WestNileNet] Do the Lugbara need a traditional Chief
> >
> >
> > Some time ago, Ambassador Achema Harold, opined in one of the dailies
> that
> > those seeking Agofe are self seekers, that the Lugbara were egalitarian
> and
> > believed in equality. Hon Dr. Okuonzi MP Vura rebutted the same, and
> > supported the idea, it is not the most pressing issue we have, Sam Andema
> > and father Ruffino and others what is your take on this matter.
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> > _______________________________________________
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>
--
Angelo Izama
Writer, journalist, analyst, consultant
+256 712 666 999
angeloizama.com
Skype: opiaiya
Twitter: @opiaiya
aiz...@stanford.edu
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