The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Narrating the ordeal, Katusabe said while in the meeting, he was constantly in touch with the UPDF operations Commander Brig. Brig Peter Elweru and other army officers.
“During the meeting, we were informed that the President had given the King an ultimatum of only two hours to surrender the royal guards. We immediately discussed that and after a few minutes the King agreed. However, he requested that they should be given safe passage and protected because at this time, the whole Palace was surrounded by soldiers,” he said.
Katusabe insists all the guards were waiting for government trucks to evacuate them.
“They were unarmed and innocent. The soldiers immediately ordered us out as the shooting continued everywhere. They wanted us to leave the Obusinga prime minister behind but I insisted that we either go with him or we all die. They accepted and that is how we survived,” Katusabe said.
By end of the attack on the palace, an estimated 60 and 100 people had been killed and 139 people were arrested in connection with the clashes. Sources only one guard of the Omusinga survived. He hid in the ceiling.
Three days later, on Nov.30, Omusinga Mumbere was arraigned in Jinja Magistrates Court and charged with one count of murder of police constable Godfrey Kasimba. The king and others at large allegedly committed the offence on March 24, 2016. Mumbere was remanded to Kirinya Prison, also in Jinja. He becomes the first reigning king in post-independent Uganda to be locked up in prison. The killings in Kasese and the arrest and jailing of the king have sparked questions about whether he is a victim or villain. A sample of public opinion shows strong emotions on each side and little reason.
Many point at the fact that up to this point, Mumbere and Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu have been playing a dangerous game of poke my eye and I poke yours.
When the government proposed to break up Kasese district into smaller districts, Mumbere and acolytes opposed it. They saw it as a ploy to weaken their cultural institution.
But, according to some observers, the Rubicon appears to have been crossed when once again Kasese voted overwhelmingly against President Museveni and candidates of his NRM party. For the first time in 30 year, prominent son-of-the soil Crispus Kiyonga, who had been a minister and member of Museveni’s inner circle, was trounced. Then Mumbere appeared before cameras enjoying a cordial moment with Museveni’s nemesis, opposition leader Kizza Besigye of the FDC.
Another mistake was creation of royal guards. All cultural leaders in Uganda have a semblance of personal traditional guards as part of their entourage. The guards are volunteers who earn no salaries. But they go about their duties in very determined fashion. They refuse to accept a merely ceremonial function. With their sticks and batons,bows, arrows and machetes, they marched around like a real army. King Mumbere also appeared to encourage them when they rejected government provided guards from the national army and police. Images of the guards disarming the regional police commander and a UPDF colonel, who were entering the palace, left the government side feeling humiliated.
