And how plan to weaken Buganda backfired
Usually, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi’s convoy is smaller than that of President Yoweri Museveni. But it makes up for the deficiency with extravagance and colour. Whenever he journeys out of his palace at Kireka, a Kampala city suburb, the king’s outriders and guards- decked in bright yellow tunics that contrast sharply with their bark-cloth orange wrappers and sashes, faux leopard skins, and gleaming spears- are quite a spectacle.
Unfortunately, for the children who live next to the palace in Kireka, the convoy has not been seen for some time now. Instead, columns of soldiers can be seen patrolling the dusty road climbing uphill to his palace. The soldiers are from a huge force that has camped at the nearby Namboole Stadium since September 10 when riots in support of the king and against President Yoweri Museveni erupted in Kampala.
The new force is reinforcement for the Mbuya army barracks which is just a few metres from the king’s palace. A similar show of might can be seen on Mengo hill, the seat of the Buganda kingdom administration, the Bulange. The Old Kampala Police Station, which until recently was a quiet post is now home to a garrison of men and women not in police uniform but in the green-black combat camouflage of the UPDF soldiers.
2011 has come early. The riots of September 10 riots look like the nightmare many feared would erupt as President Museveni fought off stiff challengers in the presidential elections scheduled for 2011. Instead they have resulted from a minor tiff in a major turf-war between the president and a cultural leader of Uganda’s biggest ethnic group, the Baganda.
On the face of it, blocking the king from visiting Kayunga-Bugerere for the kingdom’s Youth Day celebrations that should have ended on September 12 shows Museveni’s ability to dictate terms to the king. But unfolding events show that if the king is under siege, the President is under pressure too.
As one observer put it, the riots have showed President Museveni that although he has teargas and guns, it is possible that by the time they are deployed the havoc has already been done. Museveni has also been criticised for referring a “national constitutional matter†to be arbitrated by security forces that are dominated by one tribe. On the other hand, the Kabaka now knows the extent of support for him among his people. The challenge is how each of them will use the new found knowledge.
Museveni desperate?
The Independent has learnt that Museveni has for sometime been meeting prominent Baganda opinion leaders, business people, clergy, and cultural leaders. At all the meetings, he has insisted that they carry a single message to Kabaka Mutebi: We must meet or else I will act forcefully against you.
“Even before Kayunga, when the Kabaka wanted to travel to Buvuma (an Island on Lake Victoria, the government wanted to block him,†said an insider in Mengo, the seat of the Buganda kingdom administration.
According to this source, the government attempted to create a “king†of the Bavuma a.k.a. the Ssabavuma but the person they picked declined the job. So why doesn’t the Kabaka want to meet the President?
“We need to put this in context,†says David Mpanga, the kingdom’s Minister for Research and Deputy Attorney General, “Museveni wants to use Kabaka as his tool but when the Kabaka insists on certain interests of the Baganda the relationship goes frosty.â€
Mpanga’s sentiment is echoed among most Baganda. Many Baganda claim Museveni would possibly not be president today if he had not used the Kabaka to rally Baganda behind his bush war in Luweero. But in a pointed rebut after the September 10 riots, Museveni reminded them that he is the one who restored the kingdom and their king.
Apparently, the central government is exploiting an old Buganda traditional norm which dictates that no “two kings†can be in one kingdom at the same time in order to trim the Kabaka’s clout. In line with this practice, if the king is to visit Koki, one of the kingdom’s 18 counties, its “king†the Kamuswaga first leaves. The same happens when the king visits Ssese Islands on Lake Victoria. That is why the government was insisting that the Kabaka notifies the “king†of Bugerere, the Ssabanyala about his planned visit. Unfortunately, Kabaka Mutebi regards the Ssabanyala as an imposed Museveni-stooge. The Ssabanyala, Capt. Baker Kimeze, was even reportedly seconded to the army by former Buganda Katikkiro Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere.
When Buganda refused to notify the Ssabanyala of the Kabaka’s impending visit, President Museveni put his foot down. He ordered Kabaka Mutebi not to travel to Kayunga.
Kabaka warned
The Independent has learnt that as a result, on the September 9, prominent Baganda met and advised the kingdom Prime Minister (Katikkiro) John Baptist Walusimbi not to travel to Bugerere on his so-called mission to assess the situation. But insiders say the Kabaka was not listening to anyone telling him to call off the trip. He was determined to defy Museveni and travel to Kayunga even after the Katikkiro had been blocked and riots had broken out. Another source described how the Kabaka kept monitoring events by telephone and the internet.
“We asked him: `do you want to jump over dead bodies to go and rejoice at the Youth celebrations?’†the source said, “But he wouldn’t listen. He is a brave man. Some people advised him to flee the palace but he refused. It is only when soldiers were deployed to block all roads to the palace that he realised he could not travel. That’s when he called off the journey to Kayunga.â€
The source of this information, who is an elderly and much respected Muganda said the danger in the Kabaka’s stance stems from a misreading of history by his team.
“He is surrounded by yes people who he appoints himself,†the source said, “the Namboozes who are determined to use Buganda as a steppingstone to other things.â€
Such criticism has been levelled at Kabaka Mutebi’s increasing reliance on a small group of young men: David Mpanga, Medard Ssegoona, the deputy spokesperson, Apollo Makubuya, the attorney general; Peter Mayiga, the Information, Lukiiko and Cabinet Affairs minister, and occasionally Kaya Kavuma, the Managing Director of the kingdom radio CBS FM and John Katende, the kingdom’s top lawyer.
Many prominent and elderly Baganda who feel they should be the ones advising the Kabaka, refer to a popular theme of the Buganda Lukiiko saying Mutebi needs to lead a new Buganda in a modern Uganda.
“Why should he still expect to speak and not be challenged,†one of the elders asked during our interview, “When we meet Museveni we argue, disagree, get angry and he does not mind.â€
In an interview Mpanga who is among Mutebi’s younger team, appeared aware of the criticism. “Those accusations are not new and are possibly being made by the usual suspects,†he said, “But the Kabaka consults very widely.†He then reeled of a list of people who have been advising the Kabaka during this crisis. He said as government soldiers rained bullets and teargas all over Buganda, the Kabaka consulted former Katikkiros Dan Muliika and Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere, the Buganda county chiefs, Katikkiro Walusimbi and his Cabinet. He mentioned an advisory committee headed by Bill Matovu and including prominent Baganda like Matia Lubega, Joyce Mpanga, Senteza Kajubi and others.
Still, prominent Baganda have conspicuously refused to publicly condemn Museveni’s actions against the Kabaka. The list of those expected to have spoken out is not limited to prominent politicians like Vice President Gilbert Bukenya, Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi and Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi. It includes prominent and previously outspoken clergy like the Archbishop of Kampala Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.
This contrasts sharply with the public anger and riots over Museveni among ordinary Baganda.
According to analysis gleaned from interviews with opinion leaders across the political and ethnic spectrum, the explanation for this dichotomy reflects the dilemma Buganda and Uganda face in the current crisis.
On the one hand is President Museveni, confident of the support of the Buganda elite and feeling it is time to bring Kabaka Mutebi to his knees. On the other, you have Kabaka Mutebi, independent-minded, stubborn and stanched in the traditional support of his subjects as dictated by culture.
Why Kabaka was blocked
But if he has ringed-off the Kabaka, why was Museveni was so desperate to block the Kabaka? Why did he have to ship in soldiers and big guns from all over the country to block the unarmed king of a small part of the country from travelling?
When Museveni addressed the issue in his speech to the nation on September 11, he said condition number one for the Kabaka to visit Kayunga-Bugerere was that his team must meet and agree with the Ssabanyala. This, according to the Museveni camp, would have been a major coup because the Kabaka would have implicitly recognised the Ssabanyala as a cultural leader.
“Museveni wants Mutebi to fail as a king compared to his ancestors who fought for Buganda,†said a Mengo insider, “he wants history to record that during Mutebi’s reign the kingdom lost territory. Mutebi cannot allow that.†This camp believes that Museveni plans to reduce Buganda from its current 18 counties to the original three of Mawokota, Kyaddondo and Busiro.
Drake Ssekebba, a renowned Muganda journalist with vast knowledge of Buganda’s conflict, in an interview said that to weaken Buganda, Museveni as a man who believes in a strong unitary government started to entertain individuals who claim to be cultural leaders of counties that were either conquered or given to Buganda by the British. Such territories comprise the old counties of the Bavuma, Bassese, Bakooki, Banabuddu, and Bakoome and also newcomers like the Banyala and Baruli. Each of these is ethnically distinct. Museveni, in this case is attempting to rewrite history.
“Museveni may have a point,†says Ssekeba, “but should Uganda be rolled back to the old system of governance through fragmentation?â€Â
It is for the same reason that Museveni has encouraged the Baruli to attempt to break away from Buganda. But Museveni’s ambitions to fail Mutebi, according to this view, are also economic, including blocking investors like Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi who has offered to build the Lubiri commercial complex.
Kabaka wants Federo
Insiders say, as early as February this year, the Kabaka was working on plans to tour other kingdoms of Uganda. The Kabaka has never given up hope on getting a federal status for Buganda,†a Muganda opinion leader at Bulange-Mengo told The Independent, but he wants to work with other kingdoms, except Bunyoro, so that the agitation is not seen as a Buganda-only affair.
The kingdom tours did not take off mainly because the Kabaka was unsure about Museveni’s reaction to them and also because it became hard to decide which king or chief the Kabaka would visit because “Museveni has created so many small kingdoms.â€
Whatever the fallout from the riots, Museveni has won three major trophies from the battlefield. He successfully blocked Mutebi from travelling to Kayunga albeit at high cost; he finally got Mutebi to speak to him after a 2-year long snub; and will hopefully get to meet with Mutebi and have the last laugh.
“They need to meet so that they explain to each other what exactly is making each of them angry, †says former Church of Uganda Archbishop Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, who many believe at one point carried such a message from Museveni to Mutebi.
Although the government speaks as if the meeting is a done deal, interviews by The Independent with people who should know show that no date or place had been decided by the time we went to press.
But when, and not if, it takes place according to Mengo sources, four issues are likely to take centre-stage: Museveni’s insistence on the Regional Tier versus Buganda’s insistence on a federal status within Uganda; Museveni’s insistence that Buganda gets an elected Katikkiro selected from three names sent to the Kabaka, and the Kabaka’s insistence that he sends three names for the post to the Lukiiko to select one; Buganda’s insistence on “justice†relating to its demands, and finally the fate of the voice of Buganda, the CBS FM radio, whose licence the government has revoked. The meetings should also not result in secret deals.
For now, even the most naïve Ugandan knows that the last shot has not been fired in the confrontation between Buganda and Museveni or NRM. If Museveni calculated that by attacking the Kabaka, clamping down on the media, and displaying a brutal show of force early, he will have ample time to clean up before the 2011 elections, then his calculation aborted.
In fact, even after lamenting publicly that Kabaka Mutebi II has, for two years, refused to take his calls, President Museveni will perhaps not admit that he is desperate for a photo opportunity with the traditional leader of Uganda’s biggest ethnic group. Meanwhile, the children of Kireka wait anxiously for the Kabaka’s colourful convoy
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by Daniel .k.kimeze, September 23, 2009
-
- -1
-
-
written by Daniel .k.kimeze, September 23, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by Katamba Rogers Omugave - Luzira 0776998999, September 24, 2009
Therefore i strongly advise all my Baganda-mates to keep on praying to the Almighty God.
-
- +0
-
-
written by SENDEGE HERBERT, September 24, 2009
-
- +3
-
-
written by Thomas Mshonde, September 24, 2009
-
- -4
-
-
written by k. kan, September 24, 2009
this goes to my brothers the baganda and all other tribes in uganda- we are just passing around-this is not our home so mind your actions knowing that one day at the end of this journey you will account to your creator. above all we all have one descendant adman and eve descrimination should not arise.
long live uganda
-
- +1
-
-
written by Imhotep, September 24, 2009
-
- +5
-
-
written by Imhotep, September 24, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by chobs Mbogo, September 24, 2009
I was even surprised for M7 to give a go ahead of cutting down Mabira forest?
We cannot sit down and waite..!
-
- +0
-
-
written by Michael Senyonjo, September 24, 2009
There will never be a meeting between the Kabaka and Museveni as long as Buganda's demands are not met. These include Ebyaffe and Federal system of government. Kabaka Mutebi knows very well that the day he abandons these demands is the day there will NOT be Buganda. It is now clear that the Kabaka is with the majority of Baganda and NOT the prominent ones Mwenda is talking about. CBS can remain closed for as long as Museveni wants. I assure you Baganda will not be blackmailed even with the closure of CBS.
-
- +0
-
-
written by Kalule Mbowa, September 24, 2009
-
- +5
-
-
written by Kalule Mbowa, September 24, 2009
-
- +2
-
-
written by Lakwena, September 25, 2009
-
- +3
-
-
written by Afande Kiboko, September 25, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by M. Kibuka, September 26, 2009
-
- +3
-
-
written by Monica Buyinza, September 26, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by Rev Amos Kasibante, September 26, 2009
-
- +2
-
-
written by john, September 28, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by Ocheto, September 28, 2009
-
- +1
-
-
written by maria, September 29, 2009
Leaving that apart, it is only the courtiers that have not realised that the law of diminishing returns for their man cropped in long ago in 1996. Since then, Uganda has only sen looting and looting from politicians. the difference between Ugandan politicians and those in the developed countries is that while the former join politics as a source of income, the latter join to protect what they have. To people like Nsambu, all I can say id that not all people forget. The words you utter can come back to haunt you decades after you have said them.
-
- +1
-
-
written by maria, September 29, 2009
-
- +0
-
-
written by mike, April 14, 2010
-
- +0
-
-
written by kuteesakwe david bagenda, June 06, 2010
and Kabaka:
-
- +0
-
-
