African Traditional Practices, How bad are they?

OUR African traditions have come under fire in many circles. Daily we have so-called learned people, experts in this and that, blaming African traditional practices for a whole lot of things.

African traditions have become nothing but barriers to development, even in the eyes of Africans themselves.

This makes us wonder where we are headed as Africans living in Africa. With this globalization that has come, what will remain of true African traditions?

Slowly, and systematically, African traditional practices are being pushed aside, and out of existence.

Is it not sad that most HIV and AIDS campaigns, using a Eurocentric view of things, have, on a daily basis, lambasted and demonized our traditional practices and our own people have silently condoned this destruction?

Many a time we have been told that this and that traditional practice is bad, that it increases the risks of HIV and AIDS infections or that this practice is some form of women abuse or an undemocratic way of doing things.

One by one our traditional practices have been castigated, demonized and thrown out of the window.

Polygamy has been criticized as a serious driver of HIV and AIDS in Africa. We are yet to see scientific proof and statistics clearly showing how polygamy drives HIV and AIDS. Where are the defenders of our traditions?

True HIV and AIDS is running riot in Africa. But is it because of polygamy?

What is more safe to have two or three wives legally than what we are seeing in the West where people are changing partners every month or year?

We don't hear any condemnation of the popular culture in Europe and Hollywood. Is it because in Africa we are dying in millions? Our teenagers read about American stars dating this star this week and moving to another within a couple of weeks. This behavior seems acceptable, normal. Why? Is it because these celebrities are not dying of HIV and AIDS?

If the idea is about discouraging many partnerships then all forms of multi-partnerships should be denounced.

Many other traditional practices such have been labelled such as inheritance of widows as forms of women abuse and drivers of the pandemic. Again no one has stood up to defend it. Imbalu has been classified under sexual abuse, the extended family has been rejected by many. Our traditional forms of worship and other religious rituals have, for years, been called pagan and demonic.

Sadly, artistes, cultural activists and traditionalists alike have conspired to be silent and not defend our practices. But honestly speaking are the claims about most of our cultural practices facts or mere biased opinions?

Why is no one challenging these assertions? Or are we all afraid that challenging them may be seen as politically incorrect and might lead to one being alienated by the donor community?

Perhaps it's time our artistes, and those that believe the arts and culture are a community or nation's umbilical cod, stood up and began defending our culture and tradition.

We are not, in anyway, saying everything about our culture and tradition needs defending.

All we are saying is we are yet to hear someone standing up and telling us certain traditional cultural practices are crucial to our survival and therefore should not be discarded at the instigation of people of another culture or other traditions.

Certainly there must be certain practices that we should keep to remain true to ourselves, to remain true Ugandans or true Africans.

Honestly, we are waiting for a time when someone will stand up and tell us how we can use certain positive traditional practices in our different cultures to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Surely, all our traditional practices are not that bad, they are not all drivers of HIV and Aids or some forms of women abuse.

If we truly believe that the role of an artiste, or other cultural practitioner goes beyond just mirroring the society, that they are duty-bound to direct society in the direction they see fit, then we must start demanding certain standards, certain levels of thinking and doing things from them.

As a community or a nation we should go beyond measuring an artiste's success by the trips he or she makes abroad, or by the cars or clothes he or she wears, or by the awards he or she wins every year.

Our artistes' success must be measured by the issues they deal with and how they affect the society they live in.

Artistes must be measured by their contribution to the development of their own communities or societies, politically, morally, socially and economically.

This is the time to start standing up and defending our own traditional practices.