{UAH} "Mayiga and Agha Khan hit back at Mrs Mpanga"

Mayiga and Aghan Khan Fight Back Against Mpanga

By Buganda Today

Joyce Mpanga has been heralded as a savior of the Mengo Palace after her passionate although outdated views on the redevelopment of the palace. The palace sitting on 260 acres of prime land in Kampala is mainly idle and full of outgrown bush. Apart from the area where Twekobe stands today, the rest of the Mengo palace commonly referred to as the Lubiri is in a sorry state and eyesore to Kabaka Ronald Mutebi and all right thinking Baganda.

On January 30^th this year, Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga presented proposals for the redevelopment of the Lubiri to the Buganda Lukiiko. The plan includes building a new Twekobe (main palace house) and turn the current one into a museum, build a new modern education complex to replace the current dilapidated buildings, build a modern recreational centre — again to replace the muddy and dusty grounds used for exhibitions and other events today, and finally build a modern teaching hospital. Mpaga opposes all these developments preferring that the Lubiri remains as it is today—a bush and a source of shame and ridicule to the Kabaka and the Baganda.

Joyce Mpanga at a recent Buganda event. She opposes the redevelopment of the Lubiri because she suffers from self-entitlement. As you see in the photo, she has staff on her beck and call. 

It is similar arguments that had kept Masengere undeveloped for 40 years until a right thinking Katikkiro came and said enough was enough. Today, as Joyce Mpanga is chauffeured into the Bulange area in an air-conditioned 4×4, she is always seen with a wry smile when the blue glasses that dot Masengere reflect in her saucer-sized rimmed pair of eye glasses!

Apart from a teaching hospital, there are no new proposals for the Lubiri. However, Mpanga and her supporters oppose modern structures and development. Of course Joyce Mpanga is a very privileged person. None of her grand children can study at the current school at the Lubiri in the state it is. Her grand children go to the elite international schools where fees are paid in US dollars with all the amenities the majority of Baganda can't even imagine. Her grand children also go to elite universities in the US and United Kingdom. Makerere is too low for them.

When her children, grand children, and daughters in law fall sick, they are treated in elite hospitals in Kampala and if the modern hospitals here can't handle the ailment, they fly out of the country. She is that privileged and out of touch with reality. She lives a life of complete abundance. It is understandable for her to oppose the building of a hospital, herself and immediate family will never have a need for it.

One of the things the Mpanga family is bitter about in Uganda is because Mpanga the man died because the Amin regime, specifically Moses Ali as Minister of Finance couldn't issue them with the notes needed to buy dollars and fly him out of the country for specialized treatment. That is how privileged they have always been.

Unfortunately for Joyce Mpanga and her ilk, Kabaka Mutebi is a leader who appreciates the challenges his people face. Kabaka Mutebi unlike Joyce Mpanga is in touch with reality. He knows that 99% of his people will never afford the specialized treatment in the western capitals the Mpangas enjoy hence the push for a modern hospital. After all, in the new plan, the Twekobe will occupy 70 acres. Compare that with Buckingham Palace in the UK, which is on about 40 acres.

Joyce Mpanga claims that she lost relatives in the 1966 attack on the palace. That is true but that can't be her claim to be the alpha and omega of Kiganda norms. She isn't the only one who lost close relatives when Obote attacked the palace. It doesn't give her any reason to oppose the development of the palace. She claims that people will die in the palace when a hospital is built there but she conveniently forgets that all palaces have a gate where dead bodies are existed. That has been the norm for centuries. She claims no drop of blood can be found in a palace. Many years ago, women used to give birth in the palace. So what is really her problem?

She doesn't give any strong reason why the Mengo palace should occupy 260 acres when Kabaka's people have no access to affordable medical care. The answer is in her sense of self entitlement and privilege. It is not a big issue for her, she can fly wherever whenever she needs serious medical attention.

Mpanga also claims to have a cache of letters opposing the development of the Lubiri. Clearly, she has no idea how many letters exist in support of the development of the palace. For every letter or call opposing the development of the palace, there are 100 supporting the plans.

The Katikkiro as a leader must therefore listen to these vague and outdated ideas from Mpanga and her team of cheerleaders but he should never think for even a minute that what Mpanga presents in opposing the redevelopment of the palace makes any sense in the 21^st century.

Mpanga is out of touch with reality and should do the Kabaka and the Baganda a favour and resign as a member of the Lukiiko. She should concentrate on what people in her age group do — take care of her grandkids instead of misguiding them.

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