World over, independent nations preserve the practice of marking Independence Day, a day on which self-rule and national sovereignty are evoked and celebrated. Except for a few countries like Ethiopia, Liberia, Japan, China and Thailand which were never colonies of foreign powers, majority of global nations mark Independence Day with great pride and pomp. Independence Day is a birthday of nations!
Uganda celebrates many calendar days such as Heroes Day, Women’s Day, Liberation Day, Youth Day and Tarehe Sita, some of which are public holidays. However, no day supersedes Independence Day in terms of importance and weight.
An ordinary young Ugandan would be pressed to understand why Independence Day matters and why six decades later, the nation literally comes to a standstill as leaders and celebrant citizens converge to mark the occasion with pomp, speeches and merrymaking. In the young person’s mind, “we celebrated last year, why celebrate again? Independence of what, from what?” To them, Uganda has always been here and will always be. Stories of colonialism and the ordeals suffered by colonised ancestors were forgotten memories of the old era, faded in the present Uganda of free Ugandans, no less!
It’s for such a generation that Independence Days are commemorated; to keep the gloomy memory of colonialism alive as a reminder that the Uganda of today wasn’t there at some point-as a nation-and that there was a risk of never gaining nationhood.
In that case, we would be a province of the colonial administrators, without the freedom of self-determination and the right to govern ourselves. Colonialism was the height of racial oppression. Breaking free was triumph, indeed!
Furthermore, we celebrate Independence Day to remember the heros that fought for or agitated for the same, because they struggled for our country and some sacrificed their lives. It is the only day when we forget all our ethnic differences and unite as true Ugandans. Independence is also a pageant of Ugandanness, the time we are reminded of our inherent status as citizens who then should do all within in our power to protect and preserve that status.
It is possible to forget one’s “Ugandanness” unless reminded with regular commemorations that emphasise our collective history, the hurdles that stood in the path to our nationhood, current challenges to the same and to consider what the future holds.
Independence Day celebration is a day to recommit ourselves to upholding Uganda and the midst of other nations. It refreshes the purpose for which independence was fought or agitated for and secured. Why was the Uganda flag designed and raised, and who remains to keep it aloft? The current generation going into the future!
Independence reinforces the identify of Ugandans that adds to the diversity of the global population. It’s a call of patriotic duty to nation, beyond reciting and singing the national anthem. Teachers, parents, patriots, on this occasion of marking independence, should endeavour to teach and remind young citizens of national symbols-the national flag and emblem, and interpret for them the message in the grand national anthem, headlined “Oh Uganda, may God uphold thee”.
Independence leaders world over are revered figures. They struggled for our country to make us free. Furthermore, they were the ones that sacrificed for our country and resisted the oppression that had effectively swept us off the earth. Many of our forefathers didn’t survive the brutality and deprivation of the times. It is on this day that we, the beneficiaries of their pain, pay tribute to them. If we forget those heroes, even us, whatever humble contribution we are able to contribute to nation building will not be apportioned to us in posterity. It’s only fair to look back and say: “Thank you, forefathers! We will follow in your footsteps”
On this day, let school assemblies ring with patriotic melodies of young ones belting out their hearts for Uganda. Let them be filled with the anointing of patriotism and definite love for country.
Independence rekindles the zeal to serve the nation! The youths of our country have the ability to serve and change the nation for better. That is to say, to build on what the adults and forefathers have put in place. It is rightly said that the future belongs to and depends on the young generation.
Celebrating Uganda’s nationhood is one way of raising awareness to this objective.
Celebrations involves telling the story of how our country got independence from the clutches of the colonisers and the sacrifices made in the midst of that struggle.
Furthermore, it is also done so that the children may come to know the history of their country, the post-independence leadership problems and subsequent liberation phase which established the Uganda we enjoy today.
When the children are reminded of the different phases in nation building, they identify themselves in the story, looking into the so that they are inspired to be more serious about their future careers and put efforts to make Uganda better, truly independent and to stand firm against attempts by any foreigner to take the country hostage.
Independent Uganda celebrates the gift of its young population into whose the independence baton is being passed onto future generations. As we celebrate, let’s do more to make them prouder of being Ugandan and to guide them that they may not make mistakes of the benighted ancestors under whose watch the colonialists took over our lands.
Happy Independence Day H.E President Yoweri Museveni, Happy Independence Day all patriotic citizens!
The author is the Deputy Presidential Press Secretary
Contact: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
0776980486/0783990861
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