“It is a general problem. My tribe is even smaller than yours, but we are having the same problem with people leaving the villages. Now that am looking for a job, I cannot hold anything against them. All job opportunities are in major cities, like Kampala. You have to leave to get a job and then after that, you have to try to live as close to your workplace as possible. It is either culture, on the one side; or urbanization, education and development, on the otherside. You cannot have both. That is what I now think.” (Emily Kadondi’s reaction to “Iteso rich culture and civilization getting extinct.”)
“It is either culture, on the one side; or urbanization, education and development, on the other. You cannot have both.” I beg your pardon?
This perception held by Kadondi should concern us all. And I dare say, it is not unique to her. It is normalized in the attitude of official communiques and documentation; and is a belief widespread among millions.
The belief that we cannot attain urbanization or education or development or all three without loosing our African-Ugandan cultures is a cancer that pervades wide and has colonized the minds of many – Ugandans and otherwise.
It is that bad, to the extent that the President of the Uganda Law Society, Isaac Ssemakadde, has issued EXECUTIVE ORDER RNB NO. 12 OF 2026, which in part reads:
“Abolition of Feudal Honorifics: The following titles and forms of address are abolished with immediate effect: Your Lordship / My Lord; My Lady / Your Ladyship; Your Worship; and any other honorific that implies lordship, worship, or feudal superiority.” Archaic culture of ritualised civility, including bowing, scraping, and the compulsory use of feudal and colonial honorifics such as “My Lord”, “Your Lordship”, “My Lady”, “Your Worship”, and like titles that elevate judicial officers above citizens who are in reality their employers.
It is in this context that I suggest that on matters our Ugandan culture, he considered a “brutal villain and ruthless dictator,’ the third president of Uganda, Awon’go Idi Amin Dada Oumee (RIP) did have a good point.
“Idi Amin’s views on Ugandan culture were defined by an aggressive brand of “economic liberation” and cultural nationalism. He promoted an “Africanization” of the country that sought to purge foreign influences and elevate local traditions.”
Disclaimer: This post MUST NOT be misconstrued to suggest that I endorse evil actions credited to and associated with the third president of Uganda. Not at all.
I am simply advocating that decolonization of our minds is way overdue.
Action is urgently need to rid our nation of language, traditions and practices which necessarily dehumanize us; rendering us undignified.
In which regard, I salute the President and the Governing Council of the Uganda Law Society for actioning their Radical New Bar Campaign pledge to executive a decolonization agenda.
Featured photo @ Amazon – Book cover “Idi Amin: Hero or Villain?: His Son Jaffar Amin and Other People Speak.”
the Humanist view 
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