By Stephen Lwetutte
The scene is set for the showdown between the belligerents: the “Ssaabalwaanyi” and the Kingdom of Buganda. The former is a top veteran dictator of close to 40 years with numerous won local battles to his name, yet the latter is an world renown ancient institution close to a 1,000 years, with historical victories of world significance. The stakes have never been higher and the battle lines have been drawn. This is a war that would be costly to lose not just for the sake of prestige, but more crucially for the stakeholders behind the belligerents: the Baganda and the Musevinites (the powerful Museveni family, friends and in-laws) – the arguable final assault on and defence of land ownership in Buganda.
The history of Uganda is the history of Buganda and her interests – these have formed and shaped the course of history not just in Uganda, but the entire East African region. It took the British and other stakeholders strenuous effort in pre-independence negotiations to reach an acceptable accommodation for Buganda in an independent Uganda, short of which there would be no Uganda, as failure to draw her in would completely preclude the use of her name (B)uganda for any post-independence set up agreed without her. Equally noteworthy, is the fact that there would have been no “President Museveni” without the active support and mobilization by His Majesty (then Crown Prince) Kabaka Mutebi II of his subjects for the war effort.
Before that, Museveni’s rag tag guerrilla army had been denied operating space and support in all regions of Uganda except in Buganda’s Luweero district. Museveni himself had just humiliatingly lost in elective politics in the area, Mbarara, he claims to be his home when he stood as a representative and was trounced hands down by another popular party (Democratic Party) candidate, Sam Kuteesa, who now paradoxically happens to be his close ally and accomplice in suspected loud national and international corrupt deals.
Museveni of the 1980s had miserably lost in competitive elective politics, in military expeditions and in the diplomatic charm offensive, especially after the demise of the founding NRM Chairman, the popular former President Professor Yusuf Kironde Lule, a prominent Muganda from the Buganda county of Butambala, following which Museveni took over as interim Chairman. It is well known and documented that his fighting group then started struggling and was subsequently cornered in Luweero by the Obote forces and that his rebellion had all but collapsed. He is said to have retreated to Europe where he spent time begging for audience with prominent Uganda opposition personalities to be able to revive his rebellion.
His Majesty Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II gracefully heeded Museveni’s desperate pleas on certain well spelt-out conditions, including the formal restoration of his Kingdom in exchange for support and a fighting force to accomplish the stalled, or even failed Museveni effort. His Majesty Kabaka Mutebi agreed to visit the battle front and mobilize the Baganda on those conditions, and within months Obote’s autocratic regime had been ejected from Kampala. A grateful Museveni appointed his first governments to reflect that reality and, although he started to drag his feet in subsequent years in terms of restoring the Kingdom, he subsequently gave in to pressure and the formal ceremonies to restore the Buganda Kingdom were conducted in 1993, amid short-sighted resistance from among the military top brass, said to include Retired army Colonel Kiiza Besigye. Col.(rtd) Besigye has in subsequent years, in an apparent change of heart, demonstrated that he is a true friend of Buganda who wishes her well.
To the contrary, longevity in power and old age have apparently blunted President Museveni’s sense of judgement to the extent that he is openly picking fights with the Kingdom at every opportunity – if he is not only mocking the Baganda, he is also mocking the Kabaka himself or trying to lecture them on age-old matters that are an exclusive preserve of the Baganda. He has now announced the mailo tenure system has to go, although he is known to hate it for a long time, but time is running out on him. However, he either needs good, solid advice, or specialist medical attention or both, as he appears to be biting off so much more than he can chew at the moment, as to mess about with Buganda’s nationhood – to abolish the mailo land tenure in complete oblivion to the attendant risks and dangers of such moves. As a self-declared “ssaabalwaanyi”, he has now thrown the gauntlet at the Kingdom as he feels e is invincible he can get away with absolutely everything. Well, we will have to see! If he is the same person who recently ordered his entire security apparatus to search for and apprehend those who merely announced his death which went viral, there is no way he can be the one to take on a 1000-year-old establishment on its land and turf, and win. The showdown begins now, and this is a space for the world to watch. One uncontested fact remains that he would today be dead or an unknown quantity were it not for Buganda. If he checked the records, he would understand that he is on a futile mission – his “Ssabalwanyi” title will be tested and shown for what it is, hot air just!
The writer is a Multilingual Human Rights Practitioner, formerly at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London for over 20 years and now Legal and Human Rights Consultant.
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