Teso cultural head calls off festival over funds
Oct 25, 2019
That call off was announced by the Teso cultural head Emorimor Augustine Osuban to his cabinet. The event that is held every November was postponed to next year.
CULTURE ITESO
SOROTI - The annual Teso cultural gala will not take place this year due to lack of funds, the deputy information and documentation Minister Iteso Cultural Union (ICU) Jonathan Maraka has revealed.
That call off was announced by the Teso cultural head Emorimor Augustine Osuban to his cabinet. The event that is held every November was postponed to next year.
The event has always attracted the "Ateker" community. Ateker is a grouping of communities with the same origin and the same language across the borders of four countries.
The community includes the Jie and Toposa in South Sudan, Turkana in Kenya, Karamojong in Uganda and Nyantom in Ethiopia.
A lady in the Turukan cultural wear during the 2018 cultural celebrations in Kumi town. Photo by Godfrey Ojore
"Papa Emorimor advised that since we have no time to collect funds yet the time has approached, he directed that the cultural celebrations be postponed to November 2020," Maraka told New Vision.
Kumi district hosted last year's celebration and it was graced by President Yoweri Museveni as chief guest. Much of the financial support that was used to organise the event came from political leaders.
It has been difficult to raise funds due to the infighting in the Emorimor's cabinet in which the cultural Prime Minister Paul Emolot is accused of staging a coup to oust Emorimor.
Last Saturday Emorimor called an emergency meeting of the cabinet in Soroti with the aim of dissolving it but it was pushed to November 9th when the new council will be installed.
Though Emolot denied taking part in ousting Emorimor but Emorimor is reported to have got evidence indicating how Emolot was operating undercover to mobilize people to vote him as the new Emorimor.
"Those are baseless allegations aimed at tarnishing my name. I am a humble servant of Papa Emorimor," Emolot told our sister paper Etop last week.
Emorimor was installed in 2000 and in the recent past, he made an announcement that he wanted to retire due to medical conditions and age but the council rejected his appeal. He is now 85 years old.