Bagisu Imbalu to be copyrighted

By Ben Musanje

31^st May 2023

There is a plan by entrepreneurs on behalf of the Bagisu traditional group to secure a copyright of the Bagisu Imbalu ritual celebration in efforts of preserving the cultural heritage in the Elgon Region.

This has been disclosed by the Town Clerk Lwahakha Town Council in Namisindwa district, Eddie Wesonga who is also the District Agent for Gudie Leisure Farm while addressing the press in Najeera, Kampala ahead of a business symposium and cultural immersion dubbed the “Elgon Region Spotlight” slated for the 11^th and 12^th of June this year.

Wesonga says the initiative of securing a copyright is intended to save the Bagisu Imbalu public circumcision rite from people with bad intentions that could own up and change its meaning.

The Bagisu community strongly believes that the ritual defines the day a boy becomes a man.

He adds that besides the copyright, they have modernized the ritual by dropping activities perceived as human rights violations; like beating, abusing and exposing private parts of the circumcised participants.

However, Dr. Gudula Naiga Basaza, the Managing Director of Gudie Leisure Farm, a social enterprise providing various agribusiness development services, says that the symposium will expose to the nation the opportunities that the region offers in terms of tourism and potential investments in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and heritage.