There has been a story running in the media throughout this week about a group of bataka who met President Museveni at his residence in Entebbe. This was after the debate in the Buganda Rukiko and after the Prime Minister of Buganda said he had no knowledge on the said meeting and therefore the Bataka could have gone without the permission from their traditional leader who is the King Buganda and the institution which they belong to. Whereas I agree that the clan leaders have rules to follow but this shouldn’t stop them from meeting the President if they get a chance. Moreover, the King of Buganda himself has for several times met the President and interacted with him, I do not think that he would first seek permission from his subjects before meeting the President. The head of State is a busy person who so many people long to meet, some take years without having that opportunity to meet him and even if they get it time is limited to freely express themselves before him. That’s why it has been said that some people take advantage to con some individuals who badly want to meet the President and some are in prison because of that. So if a chance arises to meet with the head of State why should the clan leaders hesitate?
It is widely known that the kingdoms had been banned by the past regimes, it is President Museveni who thought it wise to have these Kingdoms brought back and that’s how the Kind of Buganda was reinstalled together with other cultural leaders throughout the country. The President would have chosen to keep the status quo in any case the governments that banned cultural institutions didn’t face any challenges for the decision they made other than the mistakes they made of dividing the people on sectarian lines and failure to rule by law. On top of reinstating the Kingdoms, the president directed that all the assets that belonged to them should be given back to them and that’s how some cultural institutions have been able to get some revenue to facilitate their activities, The government of Uganda through the ministry of gender pays monthly salary to every cultural leader and also gives them free security. Now, honestly, if it is not betrayal and instilling unnecessary hatred in people why should start harassing cultural leaders who met their President and a leader who has done all that for cultural institutions of which they’re beneficiaries, How will the Kingdoms execute their duties if they do not have the support of the President and the government in power? What the Rukiko is doing is like what the Israelites did after they were brought back from the land of slavery, they later forgot about their God and what followed was not good for them. It appears the human beings of then are still the human beings of today, they quickly forget where they have come from and probably they do not know where they’re heading to.
In Rwenzururu, when the power became sweet, some people thought they would use their institution to build their own state within another state, that is how they Yiira Republic was born. I remember watching the UPDF officers being embarrassed by the cultural guards, all of them were disarmed and stopped from entering the palace with the phones and other values, The people who were doing it had been misled, The conflict that happened in Rwenzururi between the Kingdom and the government shouldn’t have happened if people surely knew about their boundaries and if each institution respected the other. The opposition has since then used it to criticize the government and the army about what happened in Rwenzururu but they’ve never considered how the government negotiated with the cultural leaders before the problems escalated. There’s no government in the world, not even those whose democracy has grown that will allow activities that can culminate into it’s down fall. There will always be efforts to protect the interests of the government.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda gives the President a number of privileges some of which can be of help to the cultural leaders and their institutions, I’m told that when the Bataka met the President he gifted them with the land, they also shared with him a number of challenges that they face which I’m sure that the solutions were given.
It is very embarrassing and disrespectful that meeting the president can be turned into a debate and people make speeches about it. This is planting the seed of extremism in the politics of Uganda that has been ventured by most political players forgetting about it’s impact, The President has always emphasized the need for being tolerant and accomodative, this is why the people from different opposition political parties are serving as cabinet ministers. It however shows that some people are not comfortable with it and those are the enemies of progress the enemies of peace that Uganda has enjoyed for a long time. Those who do not know the history of Uganda will continue to make mistakes but unfortunately some of those mistakes will cost us as a country, it should therefore be the duty of the upright thinking Ugandans to keep guiding them so that we do not go back to where we came from.
The Kingdoms should venture into mobilising their subjects into the fight against poverty, diseases and many things that affect the well being of the people. They should sensitize the youth to protect themselves against diseases, This will help both their institutions and the government to develop the country, the leaders of their parliaments should always meet to discuss about how their institutions can make income to facilitate their institutions not discussing politics and harassing those who meet the President. The youth of Uganda are facing unemployment, this can ably be solved by setting up factories which can absorb so many of them. If the Kingdoms ventured into this, the government would supliment them with what they need. Creating bad blood with the sitting government is unnecessary and doesn’t help anybody including the cultural leaders are fueling it. Ugandans should always be reminded that there has ever been time, where a mere mention of the word President was scaring, now people freely meet their president and interact with them, that’s a step that should be appreciated and valued.
The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.
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