{UAH} SECRET DEALS CAN'T SOLVE THE BUGANDA QUESTION

Secret deals can’t solve the Buganda Question

By Mwambutsya Ndebesa 

Posted  Friday, August 9   2013 at  01:00

On August 2, President Museveni and Kabaka Mutebi signed a Memorandum of Understanding secretly. The process leading to the signing was equally secretive. Among the terms of this MoU is return of Buganda Kingdom properties by the central government and the two parties to desist from engaging in public debate about each other.

The Museveni/Kabaka secretive negotiation process leading to signing agreements or treaties concerning the relations between Uganda and Buganda and between citizens and the sub-state of Buganda is not new. It has a lot of parallels in the history of Buganda unfortunately without resolving the Buganda question.

The first agreement or treaty was signed in 1893 between Sir Gerald Portal, a British commissioner, and Kabaka Mwanga. A similar treaty was signed in the same year in 1893 between the embattled Mwanga and Col Colvile in which Mwanga accepted the so-called Buganda protection by the British. In 1900, the well known Buganda agreement was signed by the regents of the then four-year-old Kabaka Chwa and Sir Harry Johnston, another British commissioner.

The 1900 Agreement was sort of amended in the 1955 Buganda Agreement. The above agreements were further amended in the little known 1961 Buganda Agreement. In 1962, the then president of UPC and later Prime Minister of Uganda, Milton Obote, had a secret meeting with Kabaka Mutesa II and a gentleman’s agreement was reached to form a UPC/KY (so-called unholy alliance). We were also told that in the early 1980s, there was a secret understanding between the then guerilla leader Museveni and some Buganda monarchists to help each other in the Bush War in return for the restoration of Buganda Kingdom and its properties.

Today, 120 years since Mwanga and Gerald Portal signed a secret treaty, we are witnessing yet another secret agreement signed by a representative of the central government and that of Buganda.

There are two key characteristics that all central government/Buganda agreements share. One is that there is a travesty of democracy and justice reflected in the process and manner of reaching these understandings. In all cases, the process was leadership centred and not citizen centred. Two, some clauses in these agreements denied or will deny some citizens their fundamental human rights and as such these documents have not and may not stand the test of time.

Take the case of the 1893 agreements between Mwanga and the colonial commissioner. In the protection clause, Mwanga signed off the sovereignty and independence of Buganda. Of course, the embattled Mwanga had no option. The 1900 Agreement further eroded the right of Buganda for self determination but also took away land from Bunyoro and handed it over to Buganda. 

The 1955 Agreement, signed between Governor Andrew Cohen and some Baganda notables, denied ordinary Baganda citizens the right to directly participate in the debate in the run-up to independence. It was an agreement secretly negotiated in Namirembe. In the 1961 Buganda Agreement, an undemocratic understanding was reached where the Buganda electorate was denied an opportunity to directly elect their representatives to the National Assembly. The Lukiiko would seat as an electoral college to elect 24 members to the National Assembly. This was a travesty of democracy.

There are the so-called gentleman’s agreements between Obote and Mutesa in 1962 and Museveni and Kabaka Mutebi in Luweero in the 1980s. These too did not involve citizens.

The recent MoU was negotiated secretly by President Museveni and Kabaka Mutebi, perhaps with a few officials in attendance. This is likely to have two contradictory consequences. One, it may facilitate understanding between Museveni and Mengo and mutual understanding between NRM and Mengo, but not Uganda and Buganda. Two, the MoU may leave behind a bad taste in the body politics of Uganda.

Scenario two is most likely to happen because I do not see a case where Mengo officials and those who speak for Buganda will stop engaging in public debate on Buganda matters as the MoU demands. Buganda and Mengo officials are citizens who should not be denied the right to challenge government plans and policies.

Similarly, the MoU is trying to achieve the impossible to say that the government should not comment on Buganda Kingdom affairs. But the government and Mengo have the potential to abuse their power and it’s important that the two check each other.

Lastly, it should be noted that a MoU is not a legally binding document and is not enforceable in the courts of law. Also, where will the current tenants of Masaza land, including local governments, go? Where is the justice for the tenants on such land? These and many other questions are still unanswered and a secret deal such as the MoU between Museveni and Mutebi denies Ugandans the opportunity to resolve the Buganda question democratically.

Mr Ndebesa is a senior lecturer, History & Development Studies Department - Makerere University. ndebesam@yahoo.com.

 

 

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