Caleb,
You are too kind.
On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Caleb Alaka <calebal...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well put, I thought you were an oil policy analyst, now your level of
> anthropology is baffling. Kudos
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 21, 2013, at 7:28 AM, Angelo Izama <izama.ang...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
> attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
>
> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
> attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
> _______________________________________________
>
>
--
Angelo Izama
Writer, journalist, analyst, consultant
+256 712 666 999
angeloizama.com
Skype: opiaiya
Twitter: @opiaiya
aiz...@stanford.edu
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