Mayiga decries poor reading culture
Jul 21, 2017
“On many occasions when I am on an aeroplane, I see our brethren from Europe and the US very busy reading books and searching information on the internet, on their laptops.
The Katikkiro (Premier) of Buganda Kingdom, Charles Peter Mayiga has asked the kingdom's subjects and all Ugandans to develop a zealous culture of reading books. He expressed concern over the lukewarm reading attitude that is typical of many Ugandans and Africans, referring to it as "a big factor of our backwardness."
"On many occasions when I am on an aeroplane, I see our brethren from Europe and the US very busy reading books and searching information on the internet, on their laptops. Meanwhile we the Africans are just watching movies and making requests for drinks. Why should you request for beer at 1 pm," he said.
Mayiga was opening a two-day book exhibition at Bulange, Mengo, on Thursday. The exhibition, which was the first of its kind, was organized by the Buganda Kingdom ministry of Research.
Mayiga encouraged Ugandans to develop the passion for writing books, to be able to preserve Africa's rich culture, traditions, history and languages, and also, to share their knowledge with others. Mayiga thanked Princess Sylvia Mazzi Kakonge, the kingdom's Research minister, for organizing a successful exhibition.
The exhibition attracted celebrated authors, publishers, bookshops and organizations like the National Library of Uganda, Vision Group, Angelina Bookshop, Gusaro Book Centre, Marianum Press, Bible Evangelism Ministries, the Uganda Bible Society, Nabagereka Development Foundation and, Buganda Royal Institute of Business and Technical Education.
The exhibition ran under the theme: Researching, writing, reading and keeping literature is the source of development.