Why Uganda must take cultural development seriously

By Oweyegha-Afunaduula

Humanity has been made to think and believe that the only development that matters in any country is economic development. But this is not true. What matters holistic development.

Holistic development encompasses the growth, development and well-being of a person in all areas, including physical, emotional, political, social, intellectual, ethical, moral, mental, ecological, environmental, cultural and spiritual aspects, rather than focusing solely on one area. In other words, meaningful and effective development is multidimensional

It means a country such as Uganda must have people who are adequately developed physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually, ethically, morally, mentally, ecologically, environmentally, culturally and spiritually in a balanced and interconnected manner. If this is not so then we cannot meaningfully talk of development as taking place. When we do so we are just joking and deceiving ourselves.  We deceive ourselves even more when we reduce all development to economic development, which we have done for almost 40 years.

When we talk of holistic development of a country, we mean fostering comprehensive progress across all aspects or dimensions of life, including social, economic, cultural, political, ecological, and environmental dimensions, aiming for a balanced and sustainable future. Unfortunately, our education system, which traditionally emphasises economic aspects and separation of knowledge and practice makes this impossible. Other types of development in the other dimensions are accidental.

In this article I will not spend, time, energy and space elaborating what each type of development means or entails. I will go straight to the subject matter of my article: cultural development.

UNESCO defines culture as “the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, that encompasses, not only art and literature but lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs” (UNESCO, 2001).

Cultureencompasses the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and ways of life of a group of people, shaping their understanding of the world and how they interact with it. Cultural dynamics, which occur on a particular biocultural landscape and involve people and communities of historically, socially, biologically, ecologically and environmentally known identity and belonging. As I wrote before, local culture provides a sense of identity and belonging especially for the rural people and communities.

Culture is not something that belongs purely to the past; it is an integral and inalienable part of what we are today and will become tomorrow. Individuals and institutions consistently create and recreate culture (MacDonald, 1991). Culture opens new social, ecological and environmental horizons to the community or country to which individuals belong. The people’s well-being overall should improve with the passage of time.

Cultural development relates to culture and has been defined as “the enabling or enhancing of cultural activities within a community to make its members more cultured and aware thereby improving their quality of life (National Development Fund, 2023).

Therefore, when we pay attention to cultural development, we are conscious that it fosters a richer, more inclusive society, boosts all round development and creative industries, and promotes understanding and respect between different indigenous groups of people, ultimately leading to a more sustainable and harmonious world. By paying attention to, and incorporating unique cultural values, traditions, and related factors, more efficient and effective development efforts can be achieved.

It seems the immediate post-independence Uganda, under the political leadership of Apollo Milton Obote, was more conscious of the value of cultural development than is the case today. The independence government created a Ministry of Culture and Community Development, initially politically headed by Constantine Baranga Katiti, who was to ensure that cultural development and community development were integrated to make development culturally meaningful.

Idi Amin retained the Ministry of Culture and Community Development and under it innovated the famous Heart Beat of Africa, which marketed the different cultures of Uganda worldwide in an integrated manner as an aspect of tourism development. He saw the value of culture in development and sought to promote it as cultural development. However, Tibuhaburwa Museveni abolished the Ministry of Culture and Community Development and systematically devalued its role in development. Although by policy his government valued conservation, the various biocultural landscapes of Uganda became degraded, especially by environmentally and ecologically empty development and invasive nomadic pastoralists, who only saw grass for their cattle and not the cultural value of the biocultural landscapes.

It is absolutely important that if development is to be of value to Uganda’s diverse biodiversity, biocultural landscape and indigenous groups this century and beyond, cultural development is rediscovered and re-emphasised. Culture enriches our lives in countless ways and helps build inclusive, innovative and resilient communities. However, although the Uganda Constitution 1995 created what it called cultural institutions, it disempowered the cultural groups politically, and dispossessed them of their biocultural landscapes (below and underground), which it placed squarely in the hands of the President of Uganda. The President can do anything he wants to the biocultural landscapes, including politically permitting foreigners to penetrate the landscapes to impose their cultural practices or developments. The so-called cultural institutions are helpless in the face of penetration by foreign cultures.

According to UNESCO protecting and safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage and supporting creativity and dynamic cultural sectors are fundamental to addressing the challenges of our time, from climate change to poverty, inequality, the digital divide and ever more complex emergencies and conflicts. UNESCO is convinced that no development can be sustainable without a strong culture component. Indeed, only a human-centred approach to development based on mutual respect and open dialogue among cultures can lead to lasting peace.

If Uganda takes Cultural Development seriously, then it can also take other types of development seriously instead of reducing all development to economic development, which is the reason we remain trapped in a vicious circle of underdevelopment, poverty and environmental destruction, decay and collapse.

For God and My Country.

Further Reading

Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf (1955). Culture History and Cultural Development.Yearbook of Anthropology(1955), pp. 149-168 (20 pages). Published By: The University of Chicago Press.

Derek R. Peterson (2021). Government Work in Idi Amin’s Uganda. Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2021https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/government-work-in-idi-amins-uganda/E50AE1D0990CE0E8657A78DFE0C4CE43 Visited on 23 March 2025 at 11:29 am EAT

George F. MacDonald (1991). What is Culture?The Journal of Museum EducationVol. 16, No. 1, Current Issues in Museum Learning (Winter, 1991), pp. 9-12 (4 pages): Published By: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

National Development Fund (2023). What is Cultural Development. LINKEDIN, August 15 2023 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-cultural-development-ndf/ Visited on 23 March 2025 at 12:20 pm EAT.

Uganda Constitution 1995.