O'lusoga Situation in Uganda...

LUSOGA LANGUAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY UGANDA

BY

JACOB WAISWA
PEACE AND CONFLICT CENTER,
FACULTY OF ARTS,
P.O. BOX 7062,
MAKERERE UNIVERSITY KAMPALA (MUK)
UGANDA, EAST-AFRICA
EMAIL: jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug

Lusoga is spoken by Ugandans in Eastern Uganda; 50 to 100 miles off the central region (Luganda speaking). With over 3 million Ugandans who speak Lusoga, it turns out to be one of the major languages in the country next to English, Luganda, and Swahili. Basoga speaking people are surrounded by Lake Victoria to the west, Lake Kyoga to the north, and Mpologoma rive to the East. The colonial legacy did not go without blemish. It played a big role of subjecting Lusoga language into an endangered one. For their selfish ends, they appointed prominent people from the central region to spread imperialism and so-called civilization in Eastern Uganda.

According to Zeda.org (2007), there was no paramount chief over the whole of Basoga. They were organized into principalities or chiefdoms under the sovereignty of Bunyoro and later of Buganda . In the early times, the death of a chief was first reported to the Mukama of Bunyoro –who would send the funeral bark cloth and all the necessary requirements for the burial rites.

On several occasions, he used to appoint the heir or send back the son of the deceased chief if the son happened, as was usually the case, to be at the Mukama’s court in Bunyoro. Their origins can therefore be traced, like other Bantu groups, to the Katanga region of Central Africa. Originally, the Basoga were a disunited people. They could not unite even in the face of a common enemy. This explains why they were incessantly prone to foreign influence first from Bunyoro and later from Buganda.

Well, they (colonialists) can be appreciated for the contribution towards environment conservation through planting of durable tree species in that past of the region (eastern). Much of them still stand to date. Very damaging though was importation of Luganda culture and civilization based on ability to read and write in Luganda –an impact that is still visible today.


The Challenges:
It is very easy to a Musoga –a person who speaks Lusoga to dance and write in Luganda while the experience is very opposite in as far as making similar expressions in Lusoga is concerned. Besides, blending their administrative structures to suit Baganda’s (people who speak Luganda language) centralized one –making Luganda a symbol of civility and the central region the most developed with best schools, best hospitals, and best of other development infrastructure fastened extinction.

It was more pride-searching to live there and speak Luganda than live in Busoga and speaks Lusoga –then associated to ‘backwardness.’ Until now there are so many Basoga –who found new life in Buganda by engaging in petty business like chapatti selling. In fact, they are renowned for that and people there appreciate the amazing taste of chapattis made by them. However, though, in the teams of 2 to 3 people they speak Lusoga, but for how long will the original dialects be conserved without dilution from the big Luganda-speaking environment?

It is not amazing that the only surviving Lusoga language is back home; in the near Eastern part of Uganda among the elderly and the weak in rural areas. It is even worse for a Musoga who has lived in Buganda for over 15 years where languages spoken are either Luganda or Luzungu (English). If he or she ever went back to Busoga (the reserve place of Lusoga), he or she will be taken for someone from another region of the country trying to learn Lusoga.

They will keep laughing at the fellow’s dialect and accent. In that lack of leadership is another outcome of the colonial legacy and exacerbated by post-colonial administrations in Uganda. Before the interruptions of colonialists, Busoga cultural administration rested in the hands of clan leaders –who conserved the language and culture.

As an effect of the colonial legacy, administrative arrangements were made for Busoga to be similar to that of Buganda. After a long period of political upheavals, cultural leadership was banished in favor of republican arrangement –which set the country onto the path of westernization until now. And when cultural institutions were restored in the early 1990s, the Kyabazinga (title head of Busoga King) did not have power and leadership stamina to direct Busoga cultural property (the language). He was very old and weak; so much power was reserved by the king of kings (the country’s president).

When he died the struggle for succession ensued until now –simply because kingship was alien to Busoga. Busoga now suffer from lack of leadership –a situation where every Musoga is for himself or herself and the gods for them all. At individual levels, they pursue interests that undermine culture, learn and associate with new languages as their ideal worlds -whilst unguided and as further disrepute of Basoga is reinforced by other communities. E.g. Statements like 'Basoga's intellectual maturity clocks at 40.'

The lack of leadership in the region has continuously led to economic stagnation, so partly the statement above could be married with the challenges of socioeconomic and political nature the region is facing.

Tribal invasions mainly came from Buganda, who during the reign of King Mawanda cruelly terrorized Basoga to establish control. And there is no evidence that authorities in Buganda apologized for their misdeeds.

While Kabaka Mawanda and his armies were driving Abagerere through Bulondonganyi into Bukuya, they became attracted to and invaded the rich states of Busoga. At the time the Basoga states were militarily weak and not united. (Kiwanuka, M.S.M. 1971: 76). The Basoga were organized in loose confederation of clans, each of which were not only independent but also jealous of each other and engaged in frequent warfare.
Professor Kiwanuka, himself a Muganda, tells us that the victories of the Baganda "were sullied by deeds of atrocity, and marked by dreadful slaughter and arson. The terror which Mawanda's armies struck has left the impression that an army of professional brigands could not have behaved worse."(Kiwanuka, S.M. 1971: 76-77).

The name of Mawanda unleashed terror and horror among the Basoga, giving rise to the Lusoga (adjective from Busoga) saying " Omuganda Mawanda olumbe lwekirago lwaita mama na taata " (Mawanda, the nefarious Muganda, slaughtered all our mothers and fathers.) (Kiwanuka, M.S.M. 1971: 77). So when you hear Baganda making a lot of noise about Ebyaffe, much of it is not actually theirs but what they grabbed with terror approaches against other communities neighbouring them. They keep on moaning about how their Kingdom was ran over by Amin under instruction of Dr. Milton Obote forgetting the ruthlessness of The Kabaka then who had several years back grabbed Bunyoro land and become so chauvinistic that he wanted his reign to be felt throughout Uganda. While demanding sympathy from the rest of the world, those are issues Baganda royalists never want to talk about.

Before 1906, although it was often called a ‘Kingdom’, it was debatable whether ‎Busoga could really be classified as such. Unlike its western neighbor, Buganda, ‎Busoga did not have a central ‘all-powerful’ figurehead (King or Queen) until 1906, at the behest of the British colonial powers. Prior to this, ‎the Basoga were organized in semi-autonomous chiefdoms, partly under the ‎influence of Bunyoro initially, and then later on, under the partial influence of Buganda.‎

The British appointed a Muganda ‎from Buganda , Semei Kakungulu as the ‎President of the Lukiiko and he became Busoga’s first leader, although the British ‎refused to give him the title of 'King', as they did not regard him as a real king.‎ Eventually, in 1918-9, the title of Isebantu Kyabazinga was created and one ‎of the chiefs, Wako took the throne. Busoga Lukiiko were elected representatives – two ‎from each of the then 55 Sub-counties in Busoga. –who elected king from among the different chiefs from rotating order. By virtue of their common history with the Banyoro and similarity in dialect it is argued that the Balamogi are rightful claimant of the Kyabazinga throne.

Today parents sent their children to boarding schools at very tender ages; they never have adequate time with their parents or guardians to interact in their mother tongue. In boarding schools –where much of the time is being focused on mastering English and orienting to multiple languages, diminishes entirely not only the culture uniqueness of Basoga but the language among affected pupils.

The period when Lusoga flourished in its original form was in the federal system of government (Uganda before 1967); but with most political and economic power radiating from the centre today, the future of Lusoga is far worse. Without leadership a lot of statements are made that bring the language to disrepute like being associated to obscenity and primitiveness –without deference and protection from a defined Busoga cultural institution or its leadership.

In famous schools all over the country, Luganda is the only item on the curriculum pursued by all –regardless of the language the pursuer speaks. Lusoga is out of it and unthought-of as important ingredient in children education development. It can be noted that it is at this level that language can best be grasped and spoken effectively, but now is the level the child is denied a chance to explore his ir her heritage –earliest in life. With Lusoga part of the syllabus –regardless of the number of beginners attending to it will be one way to save it from extinction. Otherwise, there is no any book written in Lusoga on the market apart from the dictionary.

Language education with special emphasis of Lusoga for all people wishing to relate with Busoga in a certain way –which may be research, intermarriage, investment and tourism would mean lots of positives for Basoga. For example; language education will call for trained teachers who find jobs in the sector. The same is true of tourism as several tourist promotion agencies open around town to provide hospitality services to foreign visitors.

Lusoga Language authority has made efforts to conserve Lusoga through numerous publications. Accessibility and promotion work is however a challenge. The so called literatures are not as popular and easily seen as Luganda books; not even a Lusoga news paper can be found (Wikipedia.org, 2011).

Final Remarks:
It is true that history can be blamed for Lusoga extinction characterized by weak leadership, greater disunity and lack of initiatives among opinion leaders in the region (Busoga) to redirect Lusoga to originally, usage and conservation as a means to promote eco-tourism and fight the unemployment problem, and for bright futures of the generations to come.