President Museveni Calls on Cultural Leaders to Champion Heritage and Wealth Creation

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called upon traditional and cultural leaders to take a leading role in preserving Africa’s rich historical identity and accelerating community wealth creation. Speaking during a two-day conference held at State House in Entebbe, the President emphasized that cultural institutions hold a vital responsibility to safeguard indigenous knowledge, local languages, and traditional skills that suffered under colonialism.

Highlighting the importance of unity, President Museveni noted that Africa’s shared heritage should serve as a solid foundation for economic integration across the continent. He cautioned traditional leaders against the politicization of cultural institutions, stressing that they should focus on social cohesion, moral guidance, and heritage preservation while leaving formal legislation and public administration to constitutional government structures.

The President underscored that indigenous knowledge—spanning traditional agriculture, livestock keeping, craftsmanship, and local food systems—must be documented and transferred to younger generations. He also reiterated that Africa’s broader development relies on key historical missions, including democracy, economic prosperity, strategic security, and deeper regional integration through frameworks like the East African Community and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

In response, participating cultural leaders proposed robust partnerships with the government to harness Uganda’s cultural diversity for social transformation. Their proposals included offering land for model agricultural farms, establishing community-level agro-processing facilities, launching a Digital Cultural Park, and hosting a Uganda National Cultural Festival to boost cultural tourism and youth employment.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development urged traditional leaders to actively collaborate with the state in tackling pressing social issues such as gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, and poverty, while simultaneously unlocking the economic potential of the creative and cultural sectors.

Read more details on the State House Uganda.