By Stephen Lwetutte
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM/NEWSDAY:
As Uganda marks 59 years of independence, 35 of which under the regime of General Yoweri Museveni, most Baganda and residents of the Kingdom of Buganda will be wondering if and how they have benefited being and remaining part of Uganda this long. Whichever way you look at the subjects of the Kingdom now, one is hard pressed to detect anything worth celebrating for being part of Uganda. The NRM regime has dealt the Kingdom particularly a raw deal despite its inordinate contribution in terms of its ascendancy and longevity in power. The Kingdom subjects are in a perpetual state of mourning for the lives gratuitously lost, their culture deliberately undermined and debased, their pride incessantly knocked down a notch or two and their cultural leaders deeply humiliated.
The Kingdom of Buganda has borne the brunt of General Museveni’s particularly pernicious machinations and thinly veiled intentions to degrade her national significance and international influence, albeit with very limited success. General Museveni seems to view the Kingdom if Buganda as the remaining major obstacle to establishing his own dynasty that should outlive him. He has unsuccessfully attempted to cause internal discord and disharmony within the royal family, gleefully hoping for an implosion of which he could take advantage and drive his evil agenda. I have seen him playing a mediator role in the affairs of the Busoga Kingdom.
He has created and facilitated secessionist groups in several Buganda counties, something that had never been heard of since the boundaries of Buganda were last fixed after the 1964 lost counties’ referendum. But this too appears to have been a stillbirth. He has encouraged, if not initiated, vile media attacks against the Kabaka in state-owned media outlets. He has repeatedly publicly mocked Baganda, Buganda culture and language, probably out of his own inferiority complex, even as he is expected to uphold minimum standards behaviour and conduct and national cohesion as the “Fountain of Honour”. He has, again with limited success, attempted to break the Kingdom’s economic backbone.
General Museveni must understand that his anti Buganda agenda, notwithstanding the protracted effort, appears to have fallen through and dismally, embarrassingly and totally failed. To the chagrin of President Museveni, the Buganda youth are now even the more ardent supporters of the monarchy than the elder generations. The Kabaka remains a deeply revered personality and institution beyond the boundaries of the Kingdom. Despite his attempts at breaking Buganda’s economic backbone during the entirety of his rule, she remains a net revenue source to the national coffers and the residence of choice for many Ugandans. The levels and standards of development have remained unparalleled regardless.
General Museveni must definitely be puzzled and frustrated that even the huge non Baganda electorate in the Kingdom completely shunned him and massively voted for the National Unity Platform (NUP) candidates at all levels in the just ended 2021 general elections, even after factoring in the massive rigging by General Museveni’s regime. Elsewhere, in the country, the open and unsophisticated rigging managed to show a sham victory for Mr Museveni’s regime.
The aftermath of that decisive anti Museveni block vote in Buganda has been the carpet persecution of voters: brazen broad day light abductions, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and ill-treatment and unlawful detentions, all of which are outlawed and criminalised by Ugandan and international law. The world has demanded and still demanding investigations and reports from investigations of atrocities that have been committed on General Museveni’s watch, but they are not forthcoming despite repeated promises by General Museveni to conduct and/or release them. Going by past experience and practice, the world might have to wait until the cows come home.
The Baganda have also been ostracized, alienated and isolated from Museveni’s central government considering Buganda’s status and role in Uganda. General Museveni’s petty mindset must tell him that Baganda must be dying to hold prominent positions in his government, which is wrong as previous sycophantic appointments from among Baganda have not moved Buganda an inch towards her central demands, realisation of which, including the federal form of governance, have now been ruled out while General Museveni remains in office. As he is mere mortal, the almost 1000-year-old kingdom will wait him out, and ultimately achieve her aspirations – it would be madness for anyone to compare Museveni’s age with the 1,000 years that the Kingdom has existed.
On 8 October 2021 during the event to mark Buganda’s independence, His Majesty Muwenda Mutebi II, the Kabaka of Buganda, in his address to the Kingdom, reiterated the need for respect of human rights, a subject so alien to General Museveni. He emphasized the point that without respect for human rights, there can never be socio-economic advancement, about which His Majesty is wholly vindicated judging by the state of affairs in Uganda after 35 years of the Museveni (mis)rule.
In all, 59 years of independence have gone down the drain. The question must now be raised, is it justifiable to continue doing more of the same, but expect a different result? Or is it time we reconsidered and changed tack? Is Buganda’s continued membership of the Uganda project equally justified and tenable? In light of the impending Museveni dynasty, these are topics issues that must now be sharply placed into focus. I do not see a right-thinking person reliving another 59 years of more of the same and arguably worse, and remaining content. Museveni’s plans must be popularly resisted now or the Uganda project reconsidered and/or reconfigured.
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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