Lango today stands at a dangerous crossroads. We are a people of 2.1 million, spread across nine districts, blessed with fertile land, a resilient spirit, and a proud history of leadership. Yet in health and education, the two pillars that determine whether any community thrives or perishes, we are drifting without direction.
The question that should trouble every Lango elder, elite, and cultural leader is simple but piercing: What exactly are our priorities for education and health, and how far behind have we fallen?
A President in our midst, but what shall we say?
In a few days, the President will set foot in Lango for his first lap of the 2026 election campaigns. He will spend a full week within our sub-region, meeting leaders and communities. The critical question is this: when that moment arrives, what will be our agenda as Lango? What shall we present to him as our collective priorities in health and education, just to mention two sectors that shape the destiny of any nation?
Will we, once again, reduce ourselves to chanting for cattle compensation, “Culu dok a Lango”, while other regions present clear, forward-looking demands that secure scholarships, universities, hospitals, and infrastructure? If all we take to the President is another fragmented chorus about cows, we risk walking away empty-handed while other regions smile all the way to the banks. For once, let us be strategic and organised.
People planning in the dark
The painful truth is that we do not even know ourselves. We lack a comprehensive record of our people, their ages, educational attainment, health needs, occupations, or skills. While NIRA maintains a national identification system, we have not leveraged this resource to build our own database that could serve as the backbone of community planning. Without such knowledge, our strategies are little more than guesswork.
And the consequences are visible everywhere. Across universities in Uganda, our presence is fading. At Lira University, situated in the heart of Lango, fewer than one in ten students are from our own community. Even more alarming, nearly three-quarters of Lango’s brightest medical students are either dropping out or delaying their studies because they cannot afford tuition.
Our cultural institution, meanwhile, continues to table billion-shilling budgets, yet the bulk of this money goes to administration rather than the education and health of our people.
How others are moving ahead
While we hesitate and debate, our neighbours are forging ahead with clarity of purpose. In Teso, the Iteso Cultural Union under Papa Emorimor Paul Sunde Emolot recently secured more than 300 scholarships for its young people, including aviation training slots, science scholarships directly from State House, and tuition discounts negotiated with universities.
The Acholi have also demonstrated strategic boldness, working with private institutions to create bursaries and even exploring partnerships with Chinese firms for development projects.
Buganda, long a master at institution building, sustains the Kabaka Foundation, a body that provides structured scholarships tied to community service. The Banyakigezi, often overlooked, have quietly built the Paulo Ngologoza Fund at Kabale University, targeting the education of the girl-child.
The lesson is stark: while others negotiate, organise, and secure the future of their children, Lango continues to improvise and hope that government handouts or external goodwill will save us.
What we must do differently
The first step is to accept that we cannot outsource responsibility for our destiny. No cultural institution anywhere in the world thrives on external donations alone. Buganda shows us that communities can mobilise their own people through structured contributions anchored in legal frameworks. We must summon the courage to do the same.
Beyond resource mobilisation, we must immediately invest in an emergency education fund to ensure no Lango medical student is forced out of university for lack of tuition. Our cultural leadership must follow the example of the Iteso and meet the Head of State to negotiate dedicated scholarship slots for our children. Teacher development, too, must move from rhetoric to action; without quality teachers, even the best scholarship programs will falter.
In health, we need more than underfunded hospitals and empty promises. Lango must pioneer community health worker training programs, establish functional health facilities across all districts, and negotiate boldly with development partners for equipment and supplies.
Our medical graduates, languishing in villages because the government cannot fund internships, must be supported by our own community initiatives. And in doing all this, we should not ignore the power of our traditional medicine, which, if properly documented and integrated, can complement modern healthcare.
The role of the elite and the diaspora
The educated class of Lango, our doctors, lawyers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and academics cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. Transformation is never driven by the masses alone; it requires vision and sacrifice from those who have had the privilege of education and opportunity.
Our diaspora community, spread across continents, must also be mobilised systematically. Other African communities have built powerful networks abroad that funnel scholarships, mentorship, and investment back home. We cannot continue to treat our diaspora as a disconnected curiosity rather than an integral part of our future.
A time for bold decisions
What Lango needs now is not another abstract strategic plan, but decisive leadership. The Won Nyaci should urgently convene an emergency summit of our MPs, ministers, cultural leaders, and business elites to craft a unified agenda.
That summit must not end with speeches but with binding commitments: a comprehensive database of our people, a properly governed education and health trust, diaspora engagement strategies, and concrete negotiations with State House and international partners.
The President’s visit is a golden opportunity. If we approach it as nine districts moving in nine different directions, we shall achieve little, if not nothing at all. If we come with a united, strategic, and evidence-based agenda on health and education, we will walk away stronger, prouder, and better prepared for the future.
The choice before us
Our motto, “Note En Teko” – “Unity is Strength” is more than a slogan. It is an urgent reminder that history will not wait for us if we do not unite. Either we rise now to craft a clear agenda for health and education, or we condemn another generation of Lango children to the margins of national life.
We must decide whether our legacy will be one of courage and foresight, or one of complacency and regret.
The choice is ours….
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