HAJJI SEBAGALA NEEDS LANGUAGE LESSONS TO REPRESENT UGANDA

On a serious note, Nasser Sebagala has been appointed to a Ministerial Position, however, the appointing authority ought to be aware that the guy's language is bad.  Sebagala needs serious language classes to enable him transform his crude and mechanical English to the polished type that is expected of a guy in his position.  What is most unfortunate about Sebagala when he is expressing himself, he more often than not emphasizes points when the language is very wrong.  Government should help him get training to master the language expected of a person of his status.

William Kituuka Kiwanuka 

Does Speaking English fluently measure someone’s intelligence in Uganda?

 Dear readers,

Some Ugandans have been criticizing Vice president,Dr.Bukenya’s fluency in the English language, particularly when he appeared to be struggling with English at a business forum in India as indicated in the youtube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNdb1n4MyWM&feature=related. The same group have called for president Museveni’s press secretary,Tamare Mirundi’s head, because he cannot also express himself properly in English during press conferences. Others have also been mistakenly praising the president of one of the DP factions, Norbert Mao’s oratory skills for intelligence. Some have even, out of ignorance, said that Mao is more intelligent than the Mayor of Kampala, ‘illiterate’ Sebagala . But what is the truth in whole this?

Normally a person growing up just hearing a language will not speak it as a native speaker or someone that language is a mother tongue. However, if one begins speaking a language on a regular basis, one usually keeps an accent all their life. For instance, some of us have developed funny accents because of the regions where we live in Britain but does it mean that we can express ourselves better than Bukenya or Tamare Mirundi(presedential Press Secretary)? The answer is ‘no’.

For all practical purposes, a person speaking a language at mother tongue level is a native speaker. Therefore, Dr.Bukenya cannot speak English in the same way as an English man or like some Ugandans who have been abroad for ages. A native speaker may once have meant “native” in the original sense of the word, i.e. born in that country, but now it just means a person who grew up speaking that language – which is the only way to get perfect in one language.

Indeed, a lot of people that pass through educational institutions in Uganda can express themselves in English, but are not (and may never be) as good at English as a “native speaker” or someone who has lived abroad for years. So when Tamare Mirundi speaks English, he represents a large group of elites in Uganda, and this is ok as long as people understand what he is trying to say.

Again, it is not just about grammar. Understanding the various regional differences of English or American English can be quite challenging as well. For instance, I can bet several Ugandans would not understand a thing when they hear an English man from Yorkshire or Liverpool(UK) addressing them because of the accent. In the UK itself they accept people that know how to express themselves in good English but they don’t demand them to be from Anglophone countries, or speak English fluently. This means that Dr.Bukenya or Tamare Mirundi can get any job they want in the UK with their level of expression in English.

I am no expert on all these matters, but my personal experience is that there are really big differences between individual people. There are  those who live in a country for more than 20 years and still speak the local language with a heavy accent while others are really hard to identify as non-native speakers after only three or four years. I don’t know what the reason for this is.

But of course it does not often happen that people have to be perfect in the language, and I don’t really think this is necessary. If we want an open society in Uganda, we have to be more tolerant against people not perfectly speaking our languages or any foreign language such as English. For instance, there are many people who are native Luganda speakers by birth, like me, but who speak a highly ungrammatical language that is not really rich on vocabulary. Many non-baganda beat their level of language.

It can also be proven that even a native speaker’s fluency is his/her own language can diminish given enough time in another linguistic environment.  There has been several notable Ugandans example of this, but I won’t go into it.

Is Ssebagala Illiterate?

Let me also correct people one thing: Ssebagala Nasser is not an illiterate man as he can read and write. He can read and write Luganda fluently. He can read English but cannot speak it fluently. So their use of the word ‘illiterate’ is totally misplaced. But then again, history has shown that illiteracy is not in any way a measure of one’s intelligence. For instance, according to Islamic scriptures, prophet Muhammad (SAW) never knew how to read and write but he managed to spread Islam under very difficult conditions, and Islam today has got second biggest following after Christianity.

Wealth and intelligence

It is true that wealthy people are generally more intelligent than average all over the world. But this is not the same as saying that the current Mayor of Kampala,Hajji Sebagala, is more intelligent than  Mao, but it is very possible. I don’t know, but it’s very possible, since intelligence is very difficult to quantify.My argument here all hinges on the word “generally,’ and I hope some people don’t equivocate on the meaning of that word. Yes, there is a distinct subset of wealthy people that are less intelligent than average but overall the rich tend to be smarter. That is a fact!

Alhajji Ssebagala, James Mulwana and most rich Kampala men are more street smart than the likes of Mao, and they are probably more intelligent than the likes of Mao. Probably, if Ssebagala had decided to invest more of his time in first acquiring more degrees before business, ‘theoretical’ elites would now be calling him so intelligent, because their definition of intelligence is on how much qualifications someone has got.

Look, Uganda, unlike USA or UK, people just don’t become rich through stockbrokers and mutual funds. One has to be ‘OMUYIYA’(creative) to make it to the top. Those who make it through straightforward means: acquiring education, getting a job, and becoming rich, are not many. But Pessimists are people who believe in elites and governments. They believe that famous college professors are smarter than ordinary men and women, which is totally wrong.

Education and intelligence

There is this false idea that education = intelligence. Education may lead to understanding of intelligence, but it can just as easily lead one away from their real abilities.   We must not confuse education and intelligence with cult of education and intelligence.  In many ways, an illiterate Ugandan peasant knows more about human nature, economics, and moral values than some highly educated Uganda bureaucrat steeped in Marxist theory, dialectical materialism, and historicist mumbo jumbo.  A person can be highly educated with all the false ideas and idiocies.  Only the CULT of education says that a person is more intelligent simply because he’s read more books, has earned a Ph.D. and given lectures.

For instance, I know a lot of uneducated men in Bugerere at Kisega Village, including my grandfather, who act more intelligent than this crop we have now got from Makerere university. For 1000s of years, the most highly educated Chinese believed that business was dirty and exploitative, and so China did not make economic progress like the West.

One can study for years and years, but if the ideas are false or misleading the educated can be more stupid, naive, and ignorant that those who learned of reality through everyday experience. Norbert Mao saw Ssebagala losing the trust of Ugandans by leaning himself more towards president Museveni and NRM, but the ‘intelligent’ Mao has been publicly praising president Museveni several times. The ‘intelligent’ Mao thinks that  a fragmented opposition can stop NRM from leading Uganda for more 30 years.

That’s why I discourage people to go for postgraduate studies for the sake of beautifying their CV. One needs to find himself before going for further studies. We have all got abilities which we never exploit just because we are rushing to impress the society and those around us.

Is Mao more intelligent than Ssebagala?

Intelligence can’t even be quantified, let alone measured – and I see zero evidence anywhere that Mao is more intelligent than Ssebagala. If we define intelligence in terms of “success,” then Ssebagala has done well for himself than Mao.Speaking English fluently does not make Mao more intelligent.For instance,the computer with an NLP software understands plain English -but it is only as intelligent as its rules & database allow it to. It cannot acquire intelligence or use common sense.

Overall, we should all respect each other and never to make a mistake of measuring one’s intelligence, perfection or literacy depending on their fluency in a language. Yes, English is very important and we should all strive to learn it because the prevalence of English as a language of commerce and of technical communication easily connects us to the global village and global opportunities. It’s one of the reasons why I have been advocating for its promotion in East Africa at the expense of Swahilli.

Byebyo ebyange
By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Who will be Democratic President?

Source:  http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?newsCategoryId=12&newsId=710557

Friday, 19th February, 2010

DP presidential candidates Nasser Sebaggala and Nobert Mao during the delegates conference in Mbale

By Jude Kafuma
and Daniel Edyegu THE Democratic Party (DP) national delegates' conference for party elections opened yesterday amid tight security at Mt. Elgon Hotel in Mbale municipality.
Only 750 delegates had been registered by 9:00am when the conference opened, out of the 1,500 delegates expected to attend.
A faction of the party leaders led by national chairperson Prof. Joseph Mukiibi and deputy secretary general Dr. Bayiga Lulume has boycotted the conference.

Former DP president, Paul Ssemogerere was conspicuously absent. He had unsuccessfully tried to reconcile the two main DP factions.

�We have deployed personnel and manpower since yesterday until Sunday when the conference ends,� said the Superintendent of Police and officer in charge of operations in Mbale district, Muhammed Sapwe.

Among the area security operatives at the venue were George Koire the deputy officer in charge of operations in Mbale and Hamuza Kayongo, the Eastern region operations officer.

regional operations officer.
The party will carry out elections for its leaders ahead of the 2011 elections. Among the most contested seats is the Party president general�s post mainly contested for by Gulu LC5 chairman Nobert Mao and Kampala Mayor Hajji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala.
While campaigns for the party leadership kicked-off months ago, by the time registration started on Thursday evening, several delegates were arriving chanting slogans of Obama referring to Mao as their favorite as others were busy putting up more posters in favour of Sebaggala.
Sources said Mao has uphill task to prevail over the City mayor Sebaggala who evidently has invested heavily in the process and mobilised aggressively. Sebaggala has several coaches in Mbale that ferried delegates from various parts of the country.
Sources disclosed that Sebaggala is funding a big percentage of the conference cost. �The total budget for the conference is sh400m. The foreign donors through the Deepening Democracy Programme have provided sh50m. Outgoing DP president John Ssebaana Kizito has also contributed about sh50m. It is said the remaining sh300m has been raised by Sebaggala.

Saturday Vision learnt that the organisers were forced to shift the event to Mt. Elgon Hotel after Sebaggala booked the entire Mbale Resort for himself and his supporters.

Sebaggala then accommodatedsome delegates who were supposed to spend the night in a tent at the Mt. Elgon Hotel and were stranded because the organizers had not provided mattresses as had been earlier planned.
On Thursday evening, Sebaggala's campaign team headed by one Mulyanyama, Dan Matovu, Issa Makumbi and Bumba Ssebagala were ferrying delegates who were stranded at the venue and offered them accommodation.
Some delegates were taken to Sadina Inn outside Mbale town and were accommodated in tents.
Sebaggala's camp has eight campaign managers representing the north, east, west and central regions.
"I have traversed the country and convinced people to vote for me because DP deserves change," Sebaggala said moments before the conference started.

Sources also said Sebaggala had an edge over Mao because he (Sebaggala) enjoyed the backing of two key players in the conference, the Party secretary general Matia Nsubuga and Jinja mayor Baswale kezaala.

Nsubuga previously worked as Sebaggala�s political assistant while Kezaala has significant following within the young party leaders who were active in the Uganda Young Democrats.

The boycott by the faction led by Bayiga could work against Mao. The faction includes a big number of the party's elite who were more inclined to support Mao, whi is a lawyer by profession.
Mao's camp that was overshadowed by Sebaggala's team was confident that their candidate would take DP leadership. His campaign team led by Vincent Mayanja the Kampala district DP chairman included most of the high profile officials of the party.
"We've campaigned rigorously and asked delegates to vote for us the way we are, not because of what we have. It is qualities, capacity and ability to lead the party that matter,"Mayanja said.
Attendance
DP MPs: Joseph Balikuddembe, Issa Kikungwe, Matia Nsubuga, Mohammed Kawuma and Ssebuliba Mutumba.
Contestants: Kenneth Kakande, Jude Mbabali and Mwesigwa for who are vying for publicity secretary, and Moses Kalungi for deputy treasurer. Issa Kikungwe wants to become treasurer, Francis Bwengye chairman, Mukasa Mbidde national vice-chairman, Wasswa Ziritwawula chairman central region, while, Francis Katabalwa and Erasto Kibirango are standing for the post of legal advisor.
This week, a section of the Party's national executive committed led by the national chairman Prof. Joseph Mukiibi, and deputy secretary general and MP Dr. Michael Lulume Bayiga announced the expulsion of Sebaana, Nsubuga and Kikungwe.
'NEC has not endorsed or called this meeting and it will not be involved in the activities at Mbale,� read the Statement issued by Bayiga's faction.
The faction said the vice-president, Rainer Kafire, had replaced Ssebaana Kizito as president, said the statement signed by Mukiibi, Bayiga and Kafire.
Others in the boycotting faction include outspoken party spokesperson, Betty Nambooze, the Central division MP and party legal advisor Erias Lukwago. They argue that Matia Nsubuga, who has convened the Delegates Conference, is no longer the party secretary general.
However, political analysts argue that the faction opposed to the Mbale conference is against election of either Mao or Sebaggala as party president.
DP is the oldest party, having been formed in 1954.
It has not held power, except for a brief period in 1961 when Ben Kiwanuka was elected chief minister.