Response to Kahuma and Museveni’s perception of Baganda as cowardly, opportunistic and agenda less.



If the Baganda are as cowardly as Museveni perceives them, then why did he not start his war to overthrow Obote from his own area of Ankole? It was the Baganda who paid the highest price for the removal of Obote than Banyankole or any other tribe.



I was in Kampala in January 1986 during the fall of the city, and the first faces I saw of Museveni’s liberators were Baganda children called Kadogos. Museveni and the so called courageous Banyankole were hiding behind these Baganda orphans. These Baganda orphans called Kadogos captured the Lubiri barracks. I used to live in Mengo during the fall of Kampala.



If Museveni despises the Baganda as cowards, then why did he and some Banyankole devise a plot to kill Kaggwa who was their best machine gunner? The answer is because they were afraid of him and because he was a Muganda.The most able bodied soldiers and potential Baganda leaders in the NRM have all been systematically eliminated over the years. The names include Mugabi, who was shot at point blank range by Jack Musinguzi on the orders of Museveni. Ahmed Seguya, Sebyala, Captain Musisi, and many others who were all killed on the orders of the so called brave Museveni. Is the reason for the murder of all these people because they were cowardly Baganda? Not at all. The reason is because these people showed incredible courage in the battle field and Museveni became worried about them as potential rivals.



There is no way Museveni could have come to power without the Baganda’s support. Why did the NRM have to expel nine Baganda military officers all at the level of Captains at one swoop on fabricated charges that they were planning to assassinate the President? The reason was because he was worried about the Baganda. He knows their courage. Those few Baganda who betray their tribe are not real Baganda. Many people call themselves Baganda, but when they are not. Many Banyarwanda and foreigners who came to Buganda in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are now Baganda. Such people cannot have the love for their adopted tribe at heart because they are genetically not Baganda. These are the ones betraying us now.



The easiest way for one to become a Muganda is to call yourself a Mulangira, i.e. Prince or Princess. This is because Balangira do not have a clan, and therefore their lineage is hard to trace. So people like Professor Nsibambi, Tamale Mirundi, Princess Ndagire,Prince Mulondo,the late Mugwanya,Mulwana, may fall in this category.Jealousy and the love for money can be the motivating factor of even close relatives of Kabaka Mutebi like Kakungulu,Mpisi and even Princess Ndagire to betray their King.Offcourse in every tribe there are bound to be Judases. But it is wrong to characterize all Baganda as such.



It is the Baganda who hid Museveni in Luwero.This shows that the Baganda can keep a secret. A Muganda man in Luwero was tortured and even killed , but he never disclosed to the soldiers of Obote where Museveni was hiding.



If Museveni is so courageous and clever as he claims, then he should remove the gun from Uganda politics. He should let the people say what they want without being intimidated and harassed. He should let police and the courts do their work without being tampered with by his intelligence organizations like the CMI.



Museveni being a great coward, he always hides behind the gun. The so called cowardly Baganda are defenceless. But let both sides be equally armed and then see who is a coward and who is not. Had Museveni started his war of liberation in Ankole, and not in Buganda, he would not have succeeded. I know so many Banyankole who were Obote staunch supporters, who used to celebrate with Obote during the heroes day at Bushenyi, who immediately changed sides as soon as Museveni captured power and are now Museveni supporters.



To say that a Muganda will never rule Uganda for a single day is not for Museveni to decide. Man proposes but God disposes. The greatest weakness of the Baganda is their civility. We intended to play the political game according to the rules democracy. The problem is that our enemies are not as civilized as we. When we hope for fair elections, Museveni only thinks about rigging them. I am a hundred percent sure that if elections are held today in Uganda and in a fair environment without intimidation, Museveni can never win any election, unless he resorts to Robert Mugabe’s tactics. If DP and FDC are not allowed to campaign in Kampala, and their supporters are harassed, how can you then turn around and call their supporters cowards?



A coward is the person who points a gun to a defenseless person, and then claims to be stronger than him. Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews, because they were defenseless and not because they were cowards. This does not mean that the Jewish victims of the holocaust were cowards. Let Germany now attack Israel and see if it can defeat it? In the same way Obote humiliated and killed many Baganda, because the Baganda were defenceless.But the army we used to call strong melted away when faced with an equally armed young Baganda orphans called Kadogos.Just our Baganda children called Kadogos sent Basilio Okello and his forces fleeing from Kampala to Gulu.



Museveni’s military victory was brought about by the fearless Baganda children who were orphaned in Luwero and elsewhere in Buganda. Without their courage and sacrifice, Museveni and his Banyankole and Bahima clique of tribesmen would never have come to power.The people Museveni is turning around to despise as cowards and opportunists are the ones to whom he owes his Presidency.The day you will lose their support you will go as Obote did. It may take longer but it will happen. The Bible says that “by strength shall no man prevail.”



Seezi Sewagaba

Court orders release of Mengo ministers, govt says no



Breaking News

Written by Edris Kiggundu

Wednesday, 23 July 2008 20:58



Parliament chases away minister over arrests



The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court today ordered for the release of the three arrested Mengo officials but government said it will not.



The court ruling follows a petition filed by a group of lawyers that included Kampala Central MP, Erias Lukwago and David Mpanga, Buganda’s minister of State for Research, challenging the constitutionality of the detention.

Court agreed with the lawyers saying the three should be released unconditionally because it is unconstitutional to hold someone beyond 48 hours without producing them in court.

The arrested officials are Charles Mayiga, the minister of Information and his deputy, Medard Lubega and Betty Nambooze, the chairperson of Buganda’s Central Civic Education Committee.

They are charged with inciting violence, promoting sectarianism and possible links with armed groups.



The court celebrations, however, were short-lived as government maintained the trio will remain in custody—in unknown places—despite the court order.

The Third Deputy Prime Minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, told journalists that the Mengo officials were a threat to national security and will not be produced before court within the mandatory 48 hours.



He refused to be drawn into the nature of the threat.

“We are not like previous governments who abducted people without a trace. The officials will be produced before court any time,” he said.



During a press conference where tempers flared, Kirunda refused to reveal, to the inquisitive journalists, where each of the three officials was being held. He just said they were being held in the districts of Kamwenge, Kyenjojo and Bundibugyo. However, The Weekly Observer learnt from other sources that the officials had been moved to Fort Portal, where they will be reportedly tried.

Kivejinja said cabinet was trying to look into the matter and had urged security organs to expedite the investigations.

It is not the first time government has defied court rulings. Last year the High Court granted bail to the suspected Peoples Redemption Army (PRA) rebels but government used its machinery to keep them in detention.



On its part, Mengo insists that if the officials have committed any crime, then they should be arraigned before court.

Tensions between Mengo and central government have escalated.

Some analysts have likened the arrests to the 1966 Kabaka crisis when Prime Minister Milton Obote instructed the army commanded by Idi Amin to invade Sir Kabaka Mutesa II’s palace at Lubiri, following allegations that Buganda was amassing guns to fight the central government.



In the city centre, police has been heavily deployed to ensure no riots take place.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and internal affairs today declined to debate a ministerial statement tabled by Matia Kasaija, the State Minister for Internals Affairs, arguing that the ministry should first clarify on the whereabouts of the arrested officials.



For almost two hours, Kasaija pleaded with the committee MPs to allow him deliver the statement but to no avail.


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