KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWSDAY: Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga has hit out at the Kamuswaaga of Kooki, Ssansa Kabumbuli telling him off “you are not a King but a Sssaza chief”.
“There is no King in Kooki. Kooki is a county of Buganda since November 1986 but with its county chief hereditary. That’s the only difference,” Mayiga said in a video, the first containing comments about the latest rift between Mengo and Kooki.
A purported agreement (it is no where in all government archives) appears to have tied Kooki and Mengo under then Mwanga together when Kooki was seeking for protection against Bunyoro’s aggression. Kooki demands this to be tabled and reviewed.
In Mr. Mayiga’s video, unlike calls from various analysts and observers, he downplayed what appears as a crisis between the two institutions for which a dialogue has been recommended.
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“There is no rift at all but some elements are trying to create issues,” Mayiga said.
However, trends in Kooki point to a stead battle with Mengo. The chiefdom has banned Buganda Kingdom anthem and it is rigorously promoting theirs and it has excommunicated all Mengo appointed officials in the county. Twice, officials from Mengo have been arrested in Kooki over claims of illegal activities there.
Kooki’s journey to secede from Buganda, according to its spokesperson Stanley Ndawula, started on September 24, 2015 when Kamuswaaga demanded Mengo to address four issues including surrendering their land titles, reinstating the official chair of Kamuswaga in Lukiiko, reviewing the 1896 Kooki-Buganda agreement and expelling Mayiga’s own appointed Kamuswaga in Kooki.
“They defiantly refused and called the demands childish. Let them now enjoy the fruits of their ego,” Ndawula said adding that in Kooki there is no symbol of Buganda Kingdom as the flag or even the anthem and that this signifies the expulsion of Buganda from that area.
“This is a signal we are on our own. In our own nation. Agreements are a delicate relationship. If a party undermines that relationship, there is no reason for the other to continue holding a commitment. Buganda is responsible for the ongoing. Let them feel their ego,” Ndawula said.
At the beginning of this month, Kooki marked a boundary raising a wide signpost “Welcome to Kooki Kingdom” and dared Buganda to raise their own at the same spot.
Other Buganda Chiefs
Other chiefs within the rest of the seventeen counties apart from Kooki are are Kabaka’s appointees appointes. There is no king in Kooki, there is only a county chief. Kamuswaaga is a county chief who is hereditary.
Kooki accuses Mr. Mayiga of egoism and arrogance warning that such conduct will leave Buganda disintegrated. Ndawula alleged Mayiga wants to go down with Buganda.
But in Mayiga’s video, he did not discuss much of the issues being raised by Kooki because “I am a busy man”.
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