THE NAMCA I KNEW: A CALL TO RESTORE PURPOSE AND LEGACY – ERIC MUKHWANA

By Our Staff Reporter

Los Angeles, California – A prominent member of the North America Masaaba Cultural Association (NAMCA) is issuing a frank public challenge to the organization’s leadership, warning that the association has drifted from its founding mission and calling for urgent renewal before its legacy is lost.

Eric Mukhwana, a Los Angeles-based Bamasaaba community voice, says NAMCA once a respected intellectual powerhouse uniting professors, PhD holders, and seasoned professionals across North America — now risks irrelevance.

“Today, I must candidly admit that NAMCA appears to have lost much of the brilliance that once defined it,” Mukhwana writes. “The organization seems to have drifted from its founding mission, leaving many members questioning whether it is still pursuing the ideals that inspired its creation.”

A Platform Reduced to Forwarded Messages

Mukhwana points to the organization’s principal communication platform the NAMCA WhatsApp group as evidence of the decline. What was once a space for intellectual engagement and strategic planning has, he argues, become “a repository for forwarded messages, obituary announcements, and political disputes imported from home.”

He raises pointed questions: Where is the promised unity? How has NAMCA empowered the Bamasaaba community in North America and back home? What measurable impact has it made in strengthening cultural identity or improving socio-economic well-being?

Of particular concern, he says, is the tendency of respected scholars to be drawn into debates that deepen cultural divisions — including narratives that pit North Bugisu against South Bugisu weakening the very identity NAMCA was established to preserve.

The Opportunity Being Missed

NAMCA’s founding vision, Mukhwana notes, was clear: to build a united, empowered, and culturally grounded Masaaba diaspora that preserves its heritage, strengthens community identity, and contributes meaningfully to socio-economic development in North America and Masaabaland.

He argues that the organization’s talent base makes the stakes even higher. With its concentration of advanced degree holders and professionals, NAMCA should be leading conversations on investment, education, cultural preservation, youth empowerment, research, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development.

As a concrete example, Mukhwana proposes that mobilizing just 1,000 committed members, each contributing USD 500, would generate USD 500,000 enough to establish a permanent NAMCA Resource Centre in Masaabaland.

He also questions what became of that very project, previously proposed within the organization. “The answers matter,” he writes, “because they reflect the organization’s commitment to delivering lasting impact beyond annual conventions.”

A Call to Renewal, Not Despair

Mukhwana is careful to frame his message as a call to action, not a eulogy.
“This is not a message of despair,” he writes. “It is a call to renewal.”
He argues that NAMCA still possesses the intellectual capacity, professional expertise, financial potential, and cultural influence to reclaim its standing as a model diaspora institution but only if its members choose visionary leadership, strategic focus, and accountability over personality-driven politics and endless debate.

“The Bamasaaba people deserve an organization that unites rather than divides; that builds institutions rather than personalities; that inspires action rather than endless debate; and that leaves behind a lasting legacy for future generations.”

His closing words carry both a challenge and a commitment: “The future of the Bamasaaba diaspora will not be defined by what we once were, but by what we decide to become today. The conversation begins now. I am in.”