Uganda has composed an anthem which is expected to be sung by all schools in the East Africa Community (EAC) member states if approved by the council of ministers.
The anthem dubbed the East African students anthem, took six months to compose. It was composed by Col (rtd) Atengi Kasajja, a former commander of the Uganda Airforce who is currently receiving treatment abroad and Mr Robert Kizito, the speaker of the EAC students.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) band played the instrumental for the anthem.
Speaking at an event organised by the UPDF band in Kampala yesterday, the director of the band, Col Moses Sentongo, said the anthem has three stanzas. The anthem is in Kiswahili.
Ms Rebecca Kadaga, the Minister for EAC Affairs, said the other member states are yet to approve of the anthem.
“…we have asked them to produce and record these hymns [on CDs]. We shall take the CD to the council of ministers [of EAC] and ask [them] whether the countries are interested. The innovation has come from the people of Uganda,” Ms Kadaga said.
She added: “It’s Uganda’s idea which I will have to sell outside Uganda. Countries were given themes [to make different anthems]. [After producing the anthems,] they would take them to the council to listen. They [would] play the anthem more than four times to different groups of councils in the member states,” Ms Kadaga said.
Mr Kizito said after producing the National Resistance Movement (NRM) anthem, he was asked to take part in composing the students’ anthem.
“It’s a process which took a period of six months and has 26 steps. Right now we are in the 17th step of testing. The voice was composed by City of Wisdom [Primary School] and the team of 200 UPDF band members who helped us with instruments and composing it in Kiswahili because it’s the official language of all East African countries,” Mr Kizito said.
Source: Daily Monitor