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M7 might ‘kill’ Buganda, but it won’t die - not yet



Two months ago, a phone discussion and email exchanges I had with the untiring Andrew Mwenda, chief of the newsmagazine The Independent, ended as an article in his magazine (and got the juices of the CID up, as they felt I had “insulted” the President with my choice of words).



In there, I argued that going on to 2011, Museveni had the option of courting anti-Buganda feeling in parts of the country, to find new sources of support for his president-for-life project. Anti-Buganda feelings, surprisingly, remained quite raw in several parts of the country, but Museveni’s regime cleverly stoked them up, by appearing to give the region preferential treatment in his first few years in power.



Anyhow, quite a few people wrote in, puzzled at how exactly Museveni, who based his rebellion in Luweero, the heartland of Buganda, and whose electoral “victories” in the past were delivered by the massive support he enjoyed in the region, could ever end up in an Obote-type relationship with Buganda.



With the arrest of three Buganda kingdom officials on the weekend, and the expectation that more will be picked up in the days to come, there are now fewer puzzled people. All this is truly remarkable because one of the people arrested, lawyer Charles Peter Mayiga, was once considered “too soft” in negotiations with Museveni by hardliners in Mengo, and some of whom even labeled him a traitor.



So is it Museveni who changed, or the likes of Mayiga? The radicals in Buganda were always seen to be too crude, even “ungrateful”, in the demands they made upon Museveni for “federo” (a watered down form of federalism), the return of Buganda’s vast tracts of “crown” land, and what they saw as Kabaka’s diminished status.



The moderates were thought to be better positioned to negotiate concessions from Museveni, and they promised that a gradual approach would eventually deliver Buganda the goods. But Museveni granted them nothing. Even the little they had, he took away. In disarray, moderates like PM Prof. Apolo Nsibambi joined Museveni, and were consigned to a life in political limbo.



Others like Mayiga became louder in their complaints about the central government stabbing Buganda in the back, and outspoken critics in the media. How did we come to this? Since Uganda’s independence, and especially Idi Amin’s time, the north (especially Acholiland) and Buganda have occupied a complex space in Uganda’s politics. It’s Buganda’s that has changed the most.



Conventional wisdom and stereotype used to have it that Buganda was relatively economically more developed than the rest of the country, so its elite would be reluctant to be engaged in violent politics because they would lose too much property. Also, that because it was the most modern region, its leaders were “corrupted” and so given to cutting deals, they would do a deal with the devil.



After the disputed December 1980 election, all that was proven wrong and thrown in the rubbish bin. It became apparent that it was, in fact, easier to mobilise an armed rebellion in Buganda precisely because it was once very prosperous.



People who were once rich, feel the pain of dispossession and poverty more than those who were always wretched. Buganda also poses a challenge that other regions don’t. For all the claims that Ugandan politics is tribal, in several respects, Buganda doesn’t fit the bill. Some of Buganda’s grievances are legitimate broad issues in democracies that have moved beyond tribal politics.



Its land rights claim are much like what we see in parts of Asia and Latin America. In Europe, especially in the former Soviet bloc, we are seeing the same cultural arguments about their past kings as we hear about the role of Mutebi. And Buganda’s “federo” is more or less the same form of self-determinationist demands one hears from Scotland, Northern Italy, and the Basque regions in France and Spain.



To compound matters, Buganda is aware that it has things every president in Uganda wants - votes, and rich lands. In the 2006 elections, for example, one in every five voters in Uganda came from just four districts; Kampala, Wakiso, Masaka and Mukono. The votes in these four districts, all of them in Buganda, were much higher than all the votes from the northern region.



Because Buganda is, relatively “modern”, it has demands that cannot be resolved purely by whoever is in State House giving it “tribal” gifts. It requires the kind of reforms, and policy actions that the Museveni government is incapable of, and that others failed to muster in the past.



Also, Buganda is the one part of the country that has nearly a whole two generations of exiles, as the trek begun in the mid-1960s after the ouster of Kabaka Freddie Mutesa.



The result is that the Buganda Diaspora is Uganda’s largest and provides a back-up for the region outside the control of the Uganda government that only the broader north is beginning to establish.



For Museveni, this means you can arrest all the Mayigas but you cannot really break Buganda’ political back.


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Good to arrest Mengo ministers, says Tinyefuza Print E-mail

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Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda

Wednesday, 23 July 2008 20:30



[Gen. David Tinyefuza]



Gen. David Tinyefuza

Senior Presidential Advisor and intelligence coordinator, Gen. David Tinyefuza, has said the July 18 arrest of three Buganda officials is a good thing. Charles Peter Mayiga (Minister of Information), Medard Lubega (State for Information) and Betty Nambooze Bakireke (Civic Education Central Committee chairperson) face terrorism charges, sedition, promoting sectarianism and inciting violence.

“That is purely a Police matter and I am not a policeman,” Gen. Tinyefuza said on phone this week when asked to comment on reports that he was behind the operation.

The General described as “fertile imagination” claims by some Buganda officials that the humiliating manner in which the ministers were arrested resembles tactics he usually employs. “They are crazy,” he said.



Tinyefuza added that while the arrests were a Police matter, intelligence and armed forces usually complement one another.

But Tinyefuza also approved of the arrests, saying that he would not have minded doing it.



“I wouldn’t mind doing it. Actually I would do it. It is a wonderful thing, very good and you can quote me,” he said.

Asked why he was celebrating the arrest of Buganda ministers, Tinyefuza said he would substantiate that later.

Below, excerpts from the interview.



On mobilizing tenants



Reminded that during a recent tour of Kayunga he incited tenants (bibanja holders) against land owners, Tinyefuza said, “I said more than that.

I told them that if the law cannot protect them, they should protect themselves. You see peasants being thrown away. It is unacceptable. “I don’t know why people treat tenants differently from the way they would treat shop-keepers. Chasing someone from kibanja is like chasing someone from his shop, then you go behind the counter and begin selling his merchandise. States don’t run like that.

“The reason I get involved is because these are potential areas of conflict. As a person who heads security, we must act before these things spill over. We must make sure that these matters don’t escalate into insecurity.”



Does the law allow soldiers speaking out on such matters?



“The law doesn’t allow any soldier to speak.

But other than being the coordinator of intelligence, I am a Senior Presidential Advisor on Security and I can speak in that capacity. Just like I can go to Parliament and speak as an army MP, an ordinary soldier cannot do that. I speak because for me I am assigned. Other soldiers have been appointed or seconded; for example former Chief of Staff Brig. Sam Nanyumba was in Rwanda as an ambassador and would address press conferences”.



Arrest of Mengo ministers good?



“As long as they have a case and Police has evidence. If they were breaking the law, it is good they were arrested. We don’t want anarchy. These are very weak states which we are trying to mould. You make a mistake and they go on fire. We don’t want to slide back to the days of duka duka, it is very expensive, and you cannot believe it man”.



Why move Mengo ministers to Ibanda, Kyenjojo?



“The question should be how they are treated. Are these places in Congo? Are they in Yugoslavia? This is not inter-territorial shifting. Are these places in Sudan? How does Police investigate? I would not accept a Ugandan being shifted out of our territory. A suspect can be shifted to any place in the country. This (Ibanda, Kyenjojo) is not Kinshasa! Is it not in Uganda? Complaints against shifting detainees to other places in the country makes the point, why Gandanise the arrest? For example, Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi was arrested (reminded that Jim has actually pointed to his ethnicity Abahororo).

That Bahororo thing is just stupid. Where does Mukula come from? I had problems the other day and I went to court; I didn’t say I was a Muhima. Does Buganda have a Police? It must be the state. If a Munyoro minister commits a crime, we can’t touch him, if a minister in the government of Rukidi Kabamba the king of Tooro commits a crime, we can’t touch him, Tinyefuza is related to Prince Barigye …

Then we better go back to the small states before the colonialists came and even build walls like those of the Chinese and then be happy. I find it a bit … Besigye has been on charges of terrorism. You need to look at these young people may be they were getting excited”.

Fate of Mengo ministers

“They are going to be charged in courts of law. They will be treated fairly. I don’t think people should worry. The whole thing is satire. People like Lukwago who is an actor like Bakayimbira are taking advantage of the arrest to gain political capital. You know Baganda say amaziga gente lye sannyu lye mbwa. He (Lukwago) is really acting, sad story. They want to make political capital. They will be treated humanely”.
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Oboth James

July 24, 2008

82.196.41.196

Votes: -8





I have no regrets over the Mengo officials arrests in fact even Betty Kamya should have been among them.The problem i have with Baganda is that they think they are a superior tribe and are unatouchable.These people are promoting secterianism and very soon we shall see the a repeate of what happened in Rwanda.

Let me remind Mengo that political parties like FDC are using them to gain popularity and Mengo stands to lose.

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Apophia

July 24, 2008

196.0.22.8

Votes: 6





Oboth, if you have no origins to talk about, others have and are proud of them. The best you can do to show that Baganda is not a superior tribe is to isolate it and move back to where you came from. But the more you pour yourselves into Buganda and fail to develop your areas, the more will Baganda feel proud and look at you as migrants who do not feel comfortable with your areas of origin. It is amazing to see that even educated non-Baganda do not differentiate between bad governance on the part of government and arrogance on Buganda's part. Buganda is not the problem but the failures and inefficiencies of the ruling group. Wake up from your long slumber.









Kasule

July 24, 2008

170.194.32.36

Votes: 2





Wasn't Tinyefuza rotting in jail just ten years ago and Baganda gave him their support? Wasn't it a Muganda lawyer who pleaded his case and won his release? Ebirwa byelabirwa!!!



His turn will come, like Kaziini's and Tumukunde's. The same guns of their master M7 will torture them.

ABATEMU baateeze omusuubuzi w’omu kibuga ky’e Mityana, Lawrence Kayabula ne bamusindirira amasasi agaamuttiddewo.



Kayabula alina amaduuka abiri ag’amaanyi agayitibwa ‘Mugano gwa Nswa’ agasuubuza ebintu ebikozesebwa era alina n’ekibanda ekiwaanyisa ensimbi z’amawanga ag’ebweru.



Yatemuddwa ku Ssande ekiro ab’emmundu bwe baamuteeze ng’adda ewuwe e Buswabulongo.



Aduumira poliisi mu Mityana, Ben Mubangizi yategeezezza nti bafunye amawulire aganaabayamba okukwata abatemu.



Yayongeddeko nti bamaze akabanga nga balondoola omugenzi okutuusa lwe baamutemudde.



Omusuubuzi omulala omututumufu mu Mubende, Kikomeko naye baamulumbye mu maka ge e Kisekende ne bamukuba amasasi agaamuttiddewo.



Kikomeko abadde musuubuzi wa birime mu kitundu era gye buvuddeko ababbi baamulumba ne bamubba, kyokka nga poliisi yasobola okubalondoola n’ebakwata wabula ku luno bwe baamaze okumutta tebalina kye baatutte.



Ku Lwokutaano oluwedde era ab’emmundu basse omukuumi ku ssundiro ly’amafuta mu kibuga ky’e Mityana.







Published on: Tuesday, 29th July, 2008



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The man is vicious,he might be targetting these businessmen in his own way,nga tubikibwa ekifu ku masso mbu bateemu bateemu.Kuba akimanyi nti United we stand,and divided we fall...omuganda omugagga talina kyasalwa kuwayo nga kabaka ayogedde kati lwaki sisoka nezigyawo abo bonna abalina...okugeza enfa ya Semweezi nakati teli kituffu kyali kitukidwako...omugenzi Jimmy Sekasi ..lwaki obulamu bwabaganda buli cheap???

byoyogedde byonna mbi wagira-----jeena-----kariba akakodyo----ati m7 ayina obukodyo bungi olusi noburara bu tulema okulaba naye kati abantu batandise okubutegera----

Kabaka talks to Nambooze, wishes her quick recovery

Thursday, 31 July 2008 12:31
In an unprecedented move, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi yesterday evening telephoned Betty Nambooze to wish her a quick recovery.

Nambooze, the chairperson of Buganda's Central Civic Education Committee, is admitted at Rubaga Hospital, suffering from trauma after having spent six torrid days in detention. She was arrested on July 18 together with Mengo ministers Charles Peter Mayiga and Medard Lubega. Nambooze and Lubega were last week charged with sedition, inciting violence and promoting sectarianism on radio while Mayiga was released on police bond without charge.
Nambooze told The Weekly Observer that in a brief telephone conversation the Kabaka sounded sympathetic about her situation and hoped that she gets well soon. Other prominent people who have visited Nambooze include the Katikkiro of Buganda Eng John Baptist Walusimbi and the former Minister of Ethics, Miria Matembe. Mengo has also pledged to meet her medical bills. Through her committee, Nambooze who is also the DP Spokesperson has been instrumental in sensitizing the people of BUGANDA
against the stupid land law.

Tinyenfuza should go back to RWANDA where he hails from. Annexing BUGANDA won't work this time.
M7 and his TUTSI JUNTA in Kampala are not the first to have stupid designs over Land in BUGANDA.
The British of which M7 is a puppet tried it in 70 years and failed miserably and so will the present day TUTSI
JUNTA in Kampala.
The land is ours not Rwandese.