By Kateregga Uthman
Over the years, I have paid keen attention to the level of sophistication among Ugandans—whether rich or poor, urban or rural—and I have arrived at a rather uncomfortable conclusion: as a people, we are generally not sophisticated. This is not simply a matter of wealth or education. Even the well-to-do city elite often fall short when it comes to taste, refinement, and design.
When you step into Kampala or Mbarara, you will find individuals who have amassed immense wealth and built massive houses. Yet, upon closer inspection, these homes often lack aesthetic harmony and thoughtful design. The grandeur is there in scale, but the elegance is absent in detail. A multimillion-shilling mansion ends up looking like a poorly thought-out structure, filled with mismatched furniture, awkward layouts, and a lack of deliberate artistic expression. That’s why the Ugandan will find it very difficult to pay a professional Architect millions of shillings for a huge house he is going to spend billions to construct. He would rather pay 2 million to the municipal draftsman. Sophistication is not in us sadly.
This lack of sophistication seems to be cultural and historical. In my travels, I have observed a striking difference between countries colonized by the British—Uganda included—and those colonized by the French, Italians, or Portuguese. The latter tend to have a stronger sense of style, artistry, and taste. In places like France, Italy, or even Mozambique and Angola, sophistication is expressed in food, fashion, architecture, and lifestyle. People pay attention not only to utility but also to beauty, detail, and experience.
By contrast, Ugandans often approach life from a purely functional perspective: food is for filling the stomach, clothes are for covering the body, and houses are for shelter. The deeper pursuit of refinement—the deliberate attempt to create beauty, harmony, and distinction—is often neglected. Perhaps this stems from colonial heritage, where the British influence emphasized order, administration, and practicality, but not necessarily flair, artistry, or aesthetic depth.
This is not to say Ugandans are incapable of sophistication. On the contrary, we are immensely creative people—our music, humor, and resilience are proof of that. But culturally, we have not cultivated sophistication as a value. Until we begin to consciously embrace refinement in our everyday lives—from how we dress and eat, to how we build and design—we risk continuing in a cycle where wealth grows but taste lags far behind. No wonder someone said we Ugandans are villagers.
The Author is a marketing and communications expert.
