|
|
Uganda: Local Languages Are Being Eroded - Nsibambi
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Vision (Kampala)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Chris Kiwawulo
Kampala
Ugandan languages should be preserved, the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, has said. Nsibambi said most radio presenters cannot speak consistently in one language, but produce an abominable mixture of English and other local languages.
"We cannot pretend to create a nation through language loss or a vacuum. Pretending to speak English that cannot be understood by the English is a fallacy," he added.
Nsibambi's comments were contained in a speech read by energy minister Daudi Migereko at the Kisoro District Development Association cultural festival.
The theme of the function, held at Kitante Primary School in Kampala on Sunday, was: 'Culture and the Bafumbira in the Diaspora.'
Nsibambi warned that local dialects would become extinct, like Latin, if nothing was done to preserve them.
He urged Ugandans to speak their mother tongues, saying there was nothing shameful about it.
Weddings, Nsibambi observed, had been commercialised to the extent that banks offer wedding loans as youth crave to please the public.
"We pretend that we are going through the cultural requirements for weddings, but we end up with huge bills trying to please the public. I urge you to counsel the youth to avoid commercialisation of our culture that will inevitably lead to a cultural void," he said.
Nsibambi commended the Bafumbira for contributing towards Uganda's development.
|
He cited the late Frank Kalimuzo, the first Ugandan head of the civil service and Makerere University vice-chancellor, former principal Judge Justice Herbert Ntabgoba, Bishop Zac Niringiye and the Inspector of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, as some Bafumbira who had worked hard for Uganda.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
