{UAH} Is Buganda’s call for secession feasible? By L'Oluma Loican-Mam-Epasi

1. 
   
   

   
   

   There were riots in different parts of the country after the Kabaka
   was denied entry to Kayunga

   The Buganda Question

   BUGANDA'S power and status struggles don't seem to ever come to an
   end. Joshua Kato traces the roots of Buganda's secession talks and
   asks an important question, who will be Buganda's ally this time?

   Museveni has always said if a jigger is in the foot the best solution
   is to remove it. Some people in my constituency have suggested that if
   the Government has failed to adhere to democratic rules, we should
   fight and overthrow it," Makindye East MP Haji Hussein Kyanjo argued
   during the Buganda conference on December 17. The following day The
   New Vision headline read: "Kyanjo sounding the war drums."

   His predecessor, Yusufu Nsubuga Nsambu, for the many years he
   represented the constituency, also sounded war drums occasionally.
   Either the people there want to hear them (war drums) or they want
   war.

   Nsambu has repeatedly sung the song of Buganda's secession for nearly
   the whole of his political life. "If they can't give us all our
   things, let us separate from Uganda," he proposed at the height of the
   central government and Mengo stand-off in September. This was after
   the Government irked Buganda by blocking the Kabaka from visiting one
   of his counties in Kayunga District.

   In a way, both Kyanjo and Nsambu think Buganda can no longer fit in
   Uganda, hence the calls for succession. And probably what Kyanjo is
   saying is that Buganda should fight and become independent in order to
   be free from the injustices brought on it by the rest of the Ugandans.
   Or at least, be granted a semi-autonomous status within Uganda to
   insulate itself from the influences of other cultures and the
   Government.

   Buganda's crave for a special status couched today as federo, is a
   hereditary clarion call for being distinct? It is passed on from one
   generation to another. Previously, not much attention was paid to it
   but as militant voices pick the campaign, the rest of Uganda gets
   concerned.

   Consequently, Kyanjo's and Nsambu's gospel is creating a gulf between
   Buganda and the rest of Uganda. A Muganda following the political
   history of Uganda and Buganda points out: "The dislike of by other
   Ugandans increases whenever the word 'war' is used threateningly by
   Kyanjo." "They want to chase us away from Buganda is what members of
   other communities are beginning to think." Preferring anonymity, he
   reminds the young radicals like Kyanjo who are newcomers in politics
   that Baganda have an age-long tradition of being an accommodative
   tribe.

   Sounding a warning to old politicians like Nsambu, who is in the
   evening of his political life, he points out that the struggle for
   power should not kill that tradition. But the quest for special status
   is not new in Buganda. For 113 years, it has been on its agenda. It
   first appeared in the resistance against the colonialist let by Kabaka
   Mwanga in 1899. About 54 years later, Kabaka Frederick Muteesa II was
   exiled over resisting the East African Federation proposed by the
   colonial government. After independence, the special status accorded
   to Buganda failed to work leading to clashes between Buganda and
   Uganda government in 1966. Muteesa lost and found himself in exile
   where he later died.

   Before Independence, the 1900 agreement gave Buganda special status.
   For example, while the affairs of other regions and colonies were
   being handled by the Colonial Office in Britain, Buganda's affairs
   were in the docket of the Foreign Affairs office.

   Buganda was not simply gifted this special status. It was earned by
   supporting Britain in colonising Uganda, including fighting Bunyoro.
   But relations with Britain gradually changed when in 1905, Buganda's
   affairs were transferred to the Colonial Office.

   Buganda, led by the three regents was not happy. And soon the struggle
   to regain the past relations with Britain and become an autonomous
   state started dominating the 1920s– 1940s. The protest that included
   boycotts and strikes culminated in the 1953 crisis, when Kabaka
   Muteesa II was deported.

   According to the Chief Minister of Buganda at the time, Paulo Kavuma,
   in his book Crisis in Buganda, the deportation of the Kabaka was a
   culmination of Buganda's unsuccessful demand for more responsibilities
   from the British.

   The Kabaka returned two years later, after making several concessions,
   including one that accepted having Buganda delegates in the
   Legislative Council (LEGCO), which was discussing Uganda's national
   independence, rather than having independence discussions unilaterally
   with the British. A few years later, however, agitation for more power
   came up again. Several committees were set up to find ways for
   "Buganda's Independence under the rule of the Kabaka."

   As the rest of the country fought for independence, Buganda also
   fought for her own independence. A Buganda delegation went to Britain
   and finally a neo-federal status was agreed upon for Buganda. On the
   eve of Independence Day, Buganda was given her own "Independence" by
   the British. For many Baganda, this was understood as giving them a
   state that was autonomous from Uganda.

   The independence constitution gave Buganda powers that elevated its
   status making it different from other Kingdoms in the country. Buganda
   had it own parliament (Lukiiko), indirectly elected MPs to the
   national parliament, judicial system and ministers. The Kabaka was
   entitled to a maximum of 300 armed guards. However, Obote, the
   Baganda's ally, soon started going back on his promises. He concluded
   that Buganda had got more than she could chew. He then moved to curb
   some of these powers.

   But even with the enviable status, the Baganda felt that they had got
   byoya bya nswa (hot air), especially as far as powers of the king were
   concerned. For example, although the King of Buganda, Muteesa, was the
   President of this country, he had less authority than Milton Obote,
   the Prime Minister of Uganda.

   The impasse resulted into the infamous 1966 crisis, whose echoes are
   still stinging the country's ears up to today. The 1966 crisis reached
   boiling point after elements of the Buganda Lukiiko ordered the then
   Obote government to "leave their soil". Obote responded with an attack
   on the Lubiri, sending Muteesa to exile.

   1980-2009

   Buganda has been a pot of water, simmering away. The riots over the
   stopping of the Kabaka from visiting Kayunga in September were just
   the peak of more than two years of simmering conflict between the
   central government and Mengo.
   A year earlier, the Kabaka had been stopped from visiting Buruuli. In
   2008, three Baganda officials were arrested and charged with sedition.

   "Tukooye okujoogebwa mu nsi yaffe," (We are tired of being humiliated
   in our country) said Omutaka Nakirembeka, a fiery Buganda official, in
   the wake of the September riots. The opposition took the standoff as
   an opportunity to drive a wedge between the Government and Buganda.
   Some Buganda officials and subjects who also have links in the
   opposition want to benefit from the fight between the two.
   These officials, mainly dominated by Democratic Party (DP) and Forum
   for Democratic Change (FDC) including seasoned politicians like Joyce
   Ssebugwaawo, Ssebowa Kagulire, Betty Nambooze, Erias Lukwago, Husein
   Kyanjo, Betty Kamya and others have amalgamated well with free talking
   Medard Lubega and Daudi Mpanga to propel the opposition as the only
   remaining 'saviour' of the kingdom.

   In 1962 when Kabaka Yekka, a Buganda-leaning party, wanted to stop DP
   from taking power, it they allied with UPC. Later the alliance broke
   and Baganda vowed to teach UPC a lesson. The chance came in 1980
   elections and subsequent war in Luweero.

   The anger of 1966 was still fresh in people's minds. Most Baganda
   turned around to support DP, which they hated in 1962, in a bid to
   defeat Obote. DP was the most popular party in Buganda. However, the
   elections were rigged and their only hope of defeating Obote faded.

   When President Yoweri Museveni went to the bush, he tapped into the
   anti-Obote sentiments and mobilised the Baganda to take out the UPC
   government.
   Fighters like Haji Abdul Nadduli insist an agreement was signed to
   grant Buganda federo. But Museveni maintains no such agreement was
   signed.

   However, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi visited Museveni in 1985, but
   this was long after the NRA had established themselves as a big army.

   At the end of the war, Mutebi abandoned exile and returned to be
   crowned as Kabaka in 1993. From then on the Government embarked on
   correcting past mistakes by returning confiscated properties by the
   Obote government. The restitution of traditional rulers was not
   without opposition, but Museveni managed to persuade the National
   Resistance Council and the army's high command.

   Among the key things returned is the Lubiri of Mengo, and the area
   around it, other palaces in Banda, Kireka and Bamunanika, the Kabaka's
   350 square miles of land. Buganda also got back the buildings that
   formerly housed Masaka Technical Institute in which Mutesa II Royal
   University is now housed.

   Some of the former Saza and gombolola headquarters that were once
   occupied by the local governments have also been returned.

   During the making of the 1995 Constitution, the federal question was
   one of the most contentious. It was however defeated, largely because
   Buganda delegates did not mobilise well enough. A loose status, called
   charter was, however, put in the Constitution. And a provision for
   decentralisation of power from the centre to the districts was
   included.

   This was seen as the beginning of the journey to a federal
   arrangement. It was further improved with the regional tier where
   districts agree to form a regional government. Some Baganda embraced
   this.

   During talks between the central government and Buganda between 2002
   and 2005, Katikkiro Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere and several other
   officials signed the regional tier agreement. However, it was later
   deemed as "unacceptable" and trashed. On second thoughts the Baganda
   rejected the provision of an elected Katikiro. But they are in
   agreement with all the others.

   The Government has now moved on implement the regional tier system,
   but Buganda still insists it is not right because "it is oppressive"
   to them.

   Who will back Buganda?
   When Buganda attempted to secede on December 31, 1960, it discovered
   that it lacked the political, economic and military muscle to do so.
   That has not changed.

   Fighting for secession is a dream, but one that is capable of causing
   trouble in Uganda. In his previously secession proposals three years
   ago Hussein Kyanjo, suggested the central Government vacates Buganda.
   Kampala, Uganda's capital, is located in Buganda. It has grown on
   national taxes contributed by all Ugandans.

   Therefore, it is difficult for the central government to vacate
   Kampala. Instead Buganda should be proud that it hosts the seat of the
   Government. But according to Kyanjo: "Whoever has contributed to
   Buganda's development can be compensated."

   What he does not say is how the compensation can be done and where the
   money to compensate them will come from.

   His other proposal to rid Kampala of government is war. Historically,
   however, Baganda has never fought alone. They always seek support of
   allies against their enemies.

   In the late 1890s, they had the British. In the fight towards
   independence, they formed Kabaka Yekka against Ben Kiwanuka and had
   Obote's support.

   Against Obote, they had Museveni in the 1980s. The question is who
   will be their partner in the war to secede?

--

*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy

 

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