‘I was served dog meat at a wedding’ – Gen Sejusa bemoans diminishing culture in Uganda

Gen David Sejusa has expressed concern about the erosion of Uganda’s cultural identity, warning that local languages and traditional practices could disappear within a generation.

Sejusa sounded the alarm during the recent burial of Lay Canon Christopher Kabirisi, warning that in a few years, Ankore could lose its entire culture and language if nothing is done.

He used an experience at an interracial wedding to illustrate how foreign cultures have become part of Ugandan family life.

A friend of his named George, he said, had wedded a Korean woman.

While seated with the groom at the high table, waiters served them a strange starter.

“I asked someone what it was, and it turned out it was dog meat sizzling on the plate,” he said.

“I told George, ‘I am about to eat a dog right now.’ He stepped out, I think to puke. But by the time he came back, I had eaten mine.”

“That is because these are the marriages our children are having,” he added.

Sejusa argued that communities need stronger cultural institutions to preserve their identity. 

He asked President Yoweri Museveni to consider restoring a traditional leadership structure for Ankole.

“Perhaps the President could consider reviving our lost Nkore kingdom or chiefdoms, but there must be some organisation,” he said.

Ankole remains the only one of Uganda’s major pre-colonial kingdoms that has not been restored. Efforts to revive it have faced political and cultural disagreements over its leadership and relevance.

Sejusa warned that the Runyankore language could decline if communities fail to protect and pass it on to younger generations.

“If we remain like this, in 30 years, there will not be a single Munyakore who speaks Runyankore in this land. God help us figure this out,” he said.

Sejusa also criticised changing funeral practices. He said Ugandans increasingly treat funerals as celebrations instead of occasions for mourning.

“People no longer weep for the dead. When Christianity came, it transformed us, but it killed something else,” Sejusa said.

He said the celebration of a person’s life should come after the funeral, while burial ceremonies should allow relatives and friends to express grief.

“When an old man like this dies, people dress well and call it a celebration. But the celebration should come afterwards, not at the funeral. At the funeral, there should be weeping,” he said.

Sejusa recalled that mourners once shaved their heads and tore their clothes as signs of grief. He argued that Christianity should not discourage people from mourning, citing the biblical account of Jesus weeping after the death of Lazarus.