As Uganda joins the world to mark International Labour Day on Friday, May 1st, the Lango Paramount Chief, His Royal Highness Eng. Dr Michael Moses Odongo Okune, has called on his subjects, especially the youth to reclaim the sub-region’s age-old trademark of hard work and honesty, warning that laziness and the lure of quick wealth are eroding Lango’s proud identity.
The Won Nyaci me Lango, whose cultural jurisdiction covers Lira City, Lira District, Kole, Alebtong, Apac, Amolatar, Dokolo, Otuke, Kwania, and Oyam, said Labour Day is not just a public holiday but a moment for Lango to audit its work ethic against the values of their ancestors.
Drawing from the words of Thomas Edison (1847-1931), one of the most famous inventors in history and an American businessman who said that “opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”, the Won Nyaci said too many Lango youth are walking past opportunity every morning.
“I walk through our trading centres and urban places, I see some able-bodied young men from morning to evening seated under trees and shades on betting machines/halls, on phones, playing cards waiting for miracles, meanwhile gardens are bushy and elderly parents hire labour from elsewhere, this is not the Lango I have known”, he laments.
Our (Lango) Granaries Were Never Empty.
He said from time immemorial, Lango people have been known across Uganda as hardworking, honest and straight forward, and that the granaries (dero kec) were never empty because the hands were never idle.
“A Lango man, a Lango woman, or youth woke up with the sun to the garden, to the cattle, to the forge, to the market, we tilled, we herded, we traded, we were born to work, not to beg which led to the coinage of the phrase acan akwo kwo ilwete” (a living poor man is sustained by the work of his hands”), HRH Odongo Okune said in his Labour Day message released from his private palace at Senior Quarters in Lira City.
The Won Nyaci, an acclaimed civil engineer by profession specializing in bridge-building, said this trademark industry built Lango’s resilience through wars, cattle rustling, and economic shocks. “Even when we lost everything, we did not lose our hands. We rebuilt. That is the Lango spirit.”
Youth Urged To Shun Idleness, Betting, Quick Wealth.
The Paramount Chief said Labour Day 2026, held under the national theme “Safeguarding Uganda’s Progress: Empowering the Workforce and Promoting Decent Work for Competitive Enterprises,”, must speak directly to Lango’s young people.
“Empowering the workforce starts with the will to work. Decent work starts with honest work. You cannot have competitive enterprises when the owner is asleep and the worker is gambling,” he said.
Industry Must Marry Honesty.
HRH Odongo Okune emphasized that Lango’s industry must be paired with “apor/anyut aber”, honesty and integrity if it is to produce lasting progress.
“Our fathers taught us: ‘Awackom camo owara’ loosely translated to mean a lazy man eats empty honeycombs, but he who toils never shames. Today some youth want wealth without sweat, offices without toil, harvest without planting. That is not Lango. That is not sustainable.”
He urged clan leaders, elders, and parents across the nine districts to use the Labour Day week to convene youth barazas and re-teach the Lango work ethic: early rising, respect for elders’ enterprises, apprenticeship, and dignity in all honest labour, whether farming, welding, boda-boda, teaching, or vending.
Government Jobs Not Enough, Create Your Own.
The Won Nyaci cautioned against over-reliance on government employment. “Lango has thousands of educated sons and daughters, but government jobs will never be enough, our ancestors were not employed, they employed themselves, they employed the land and they employed their skills.”
Quoting from the Scripture (2Thessalonians 3:10 in which St. Paul taught that “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” the Won Nyaci asked parents and guardians to instill the spirit of hard work in their children irrespective of their social status in society, even in families that lack nothing.
In the text, St Paul wrote to the Church in Thessalonica because some believers had stopped working expecting Christ’s return any day. He rebuked idleness and commanded everyone to earn their own living.
“Hard work is not a punishment for the poor. It is Lango identity. It is dignity,” HRH Okune said and strongly condemned a lazy spirit he has observed among some young men who have formed a loose club they call “Rich Men In The Waiting.”
These are reportedly sons of wealthy men who wake up and gather in bars or hotels from morning and begin eating and drinking, apparently waiting and wishing for the demise of their parents so that they inherit wealth which they have not worked for.
He warned that such entitlement erodes Lango’s brand of industry and resilience that rebuilt Lira City after years of conflicts spanning decades from the time Amin took power until the Northern Insurgency.
“Let no child in Lango grow up thinking inheritance is employment. Let every child have a skill. Let every child till, trade, or create. Even the son of a chief must know how to hold a hoe,” he said.
He hailed Lango entrepreneurs in Lira City’s produce lines, hardworking and ethical business community in Lira City and other towns, Amolatar’s fishing enterprises, Oyam’s commercial farms, and Apac Municipality’s metal works, saying they represent the “true Labour Day heroes.”
HRH Okune noted that Lango people rebuilt their lives, homes and towns like Lira City, now referred to as the Northern Commercial Hub attracting investors and traders from as far as South Sudan, India, Pakistan and DR Congo through hard work and resilience, with trading centres sprouting everywhere.
“In Lira City the catchphrase is hard work and you can see boda-boda, women waking up riding bicycles as early as 5am daily and basically everyone in Lango is always in a hurry to do something productive. In Lira you see Uganda because people from all regions and languages are here,” he added.
“To the young man with one acre of land in Otuke, or Oyam or Dokolo that is your office. To the young woman with a sewing machine in Dokolo that is your factory. Start small, grow honest, employ others tomorrow,” HRH Okune said.
Cultural Institution To Partner With Districts On Skilling.
The Won Nyaci disclosed that Lango will partner with district local governments, State House and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development plus other government departments and ministries to scale up skilling for out-of-school youth across the sub-region.
He says focus will be on agriculture value addition, metal fabrication, carpentry, tailoring, and digital skills.
“We shall use our clans and chiefdoms to identify idle youth and link them to the Lira City-based skilling hub and other partners or stakeholders. A Lango must have a skill,” he said.
He also appealed to investors in Lira City and the Lango sub-region to prioritize local labour and uphold decent work standards timely pay, safety, and respect in line with the national Labour Day theme.
Labour Day Is Thanksgiving For Workers.
HRH Odongo Okune paid tribute to Lango’s farmers, teachers, health workers, boda-boda riders, market vendors, builders, and civil servants, calling them “the backbone of our sub-region.”
“On May 1st, as President Yoweri Museveni leads national celebrations at Bishop Nkoyoyo Primary School Matale Grounds in Buikwe district, here in Lango we shall bow our heads for every hand that feeds us. We shall also kneel and pray for those whose hands are idle, that God gives them the fire to rise and work.”
Lango’s Brand Is Industry — Let’s Not Dilute It.
He concluded: “When Uganda thinks Lango, let them think industry. When investors come to Lango, let them find workers, not spectators. When our children ask what it means to be Lango, let the answer be: ‘We work. We work hard. We work honest.’”
“Happy Labour Day to all Lango. Happy Labour Day to all Ugandans.”
“Tekwaro Lango, Tic Atek Kun Icamo Ikwoki, Jojok Amalo.”
