Dear all, this is a healthy discussion. Is it possible to involve the district
Councillors in charge of community development involved? These representatives
may help us put together some useful information to triangulate the two strong
opposing opinions. On Sunday 14/07/2013, a colleague of mine and I were
invited to address St. Joseph's College Ombaci students cultural group hailing
from Terego county on, embracing a culture of hard work as the only way out of
poverty, at Cilio Primary school and here we encountered an amazing who
narrated to the audience the origin of the Terego and many other "groups" in
West Nile. I personally asked the Councillor of Oriama sub-county (Mr. Saka) to
organise to capture this story on vedio. At this point I also recalled my
experience at the national museum where I noticed that many of our (Lugbara)
artifacts were missing. To cut the long story short, I think we need to take a
deliberate step to piece together our
history and origin. This is good for us and our children. I now call upon
anthropologists, sociologists and historians among us to take up challenge as a
matter of urgency. Once again I want to thank all of you on this forum for
this constructive debate. I appeal to all of us to keep it health and remain
open minded. Thank you.
________________________________
From: samuel andema <andema...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: Caleb Alaka <calebal...@yahoo.com>; A Virtual Network for friends of West
Nile <westnilenet@kym.net>
Sent: Sunday, 21 July 2013, 9:40
Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Do the Lugbara need a traditional Chief
Hi Caleb,
Thanks for appreciating our humble opinions. I would also like to thank our
brothers Mr. Acema and Hon. Okuonzi for initiating this debate. Let others feel
free to give their perspectives to the issues being raised in order to enrich
our understanding. Such debates are healthy because they help us to understand
ourselves better.
Thanks.
Sam Andema
From: Caleb Alaka <calebal...@yahoo.com>
To: samuel andema <andema...@yahoo.co.uk>; A Virtual Network for friends of
West Nile <westnilenet@kym.net>
Cc: A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile <westnilenet@kym.net>
Sent: Saturday, 20 July 2013, 14:29
Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Do the Lugbara need a traditional Chief
Sam and Aggrey, what a treatise, it is not only informative, since Ambassador
Harold is on this forum, I request that he posts his two articles for further
deliberations. We need to understand our past in order to appreciate the
future. I would also appreciate further alternative views.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 20, 2013, at 8:21 PM, 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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