Ebyaffe: Who are the real winners, losers?

Last week, an agreement between the Government and Buganda Kingdom about the return of the latter’s properties was signed. Many people welcomed the move, which turned out to be the talking point at the Kabaka’s 20th anniversary celebrations at Lubiri the following day. What exactly was returned? What is the place of critics who previously attacked the Government on failing to return the ebyaffe? Will the agreement come to pass? SATURDAY VISION puts these questions in perspective

SINCE Buganda Kingdom signed an agreement with the Government, Mengo has been strategising how to receive the properties. Under the agreement, the Government relinquished the powers to manage a chain of properties to the kingdom. The agreement took effect on August 2. Buganda Kingdom spokesperson Denis Walusimbi told Saturday Vision that they would soon unveil a verifi cation committee to draft the final list of the properties and attach value to them.

Walusimbi said attaching value was necessary because some of the properties had already been sold off and the kingdom would only receive cash in return. According to the agreement , properties which have been returned include 18 county headquarters, Jeza Farm on Mityana Road, Plot 52 on Kampala Road, Mutesa House in London and the kingdom’s land in urban centres. Buganda wants the Government will pay for Mutesa House and Plot 52 on Kampala Road since they were sold off. Walusimbi added that the MoU also talks about other properties like swamps, forests, lakes and rivers. The MoU also allows the Kabaka to visit any place in his kingdom.

Among these places is Bugerere (Kayunga district) that has in the past brought the kingdom and the Government on a collision course. In 2009, the Police blocked Kabaka Ronald Mutebi from going to Bugerere, citing fears that his supporters would clash with the Banyala’s anti-Kabaka group in the district. This sparked a bloody riot in Kampala, leaving scores dead. Mutebi was also later blocked from going to Nakasongola, under similar circumstances. The move strained the relationship between Buganda and the Government.
Walusimbi said the Kabaka will soon come up with a programme to visit the two counties. The two counties contend that Buganda should not interfere with the minority tribal groups within the kingdom. Walusimbi added that the kingdom was ready to abide by the terms set in the agreement, including not criticising the Government.

“Any information from Buganda Kingdom should come from me, although we don’t have control over unofficial statements from Baganda who are not Mengo officials,” he said. Walusimbi said the kingdom expects to be compensated for the shares it owned in various companies, like Uganda Electricity Board and Nytil. According to Mengo, Obote’s Government scrapped the shares

District leaders speak out
As Buganda celebrates, the districts which have been occupying the kingdom’s properties are laying strategies on the way forward. A few districts, especially the new ones, had bought private land and constructed their own headquarters. Patrick Mutabwire, the acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, said they were aware of the changes.

“There are many things which need to be done to operationalise the agreement. Let’s wait for the Government to state its approach,” Mutabwire said. Chairpersons of districts previously occupying buildings of the kingdom said they were ready to discuss the modalities of starting to pay rent to the kingdom. However, most local governments are so indebted that paying rent would be one of their biggest operational challenges. Butambala LC5 chairperson Bavekuno Kyeswa said he would soon meet with the district’s LCIII chairpersons to forge a way forward. Mityana LC5 chairperson Deborah Kinobe noted that the return of Buganda’s properties was long overdue.

She said that as a district, they had long agreed to return the properties. “In Mityana, we are ready to release the properties,” she said. Luwero LC5 chairman Hajji Abdul Naduli advised his colleagues in other districts to handover the properties as soon as possible. He said no LC5 chairperson should underestimate Buganda. Naduli added that Luwero was ready to pay rent to the kingdom.

How Mengo won back properties
Since 1993 when the kingship was restored, cultural leaders have been lamenting over the delayed return of the institution’s properties by the Government. The properties were grabbed by the government when Milton Obote’s regime abolished cultural institutions in 1966. The kingdom’s officials blamed its financial woes on the delay to return the properties. In the last 19 years, the kingdom has survived on a few properties the Government, under President Yoweri Museveni, has gradually been returning.

The properties included Bulange and other palaces, Kabaka’s 350 milo land estate, Kabaka’s Lake and the State Lodge in Makindye. But Buganda argued that they could not generate enough revenue for the kingdom and therefore wanted all its properties returned. To supplement the income from those properties, Denis Walusimbi said the Kabaka came up with several other projects.

A local FM radio station, Mutesa I Royal University, Muganzirwazza Commercial Plaza at Katwe and the certificate-sale project were among the initiatives. In Buganda, whoever holds an introduction ceremony is required to buy the kingdom’s certificate for the bride’s family as a means of raising revenue for the kingdom. A certificate for an introduction costs a minimum of sh10,000.

When a groom turns up without a certificate, he can be turned away. The income from the projects helps the kingdom initiate projects like the education bursary scheme. At most functions, Mengo officials made appeals to President Museveni to return the other properties. During political campaigns, National Resistance Movement candidates faced challenges since it was assumed their party refused to return the properties. Members of Parliament like Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, Betty Nambooze, Lulume Bayiga and others found their way into the House after promising to spearhead the fight for the return of the properties.

Hajji Abdul Nadduli an elder in Buganda, who has been part of the talks, told Saturday Vision that the deal to return the properties would have been clinched in 2011 as the president canvassed for votes, ‘had the Buganda Lukiiko not bungled the chance because of ill advice’. The 2011 deal required Buganda to adopt a regional tier type of government. But the system of governance was rejected, with Buganda loyalists opting for federalism. Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga says following the collapse of the 2011 deal, his predecessor, Eng. JB Walusimbi, embarked on another set of talks.

Mayiga revealed that this time round, Buganda preferred to hold secret talks with the Government to reduce chances of interference. Little wonder that both the kingdom and the country were taken by surprise when the Katikkiro presented a Memorandum of Understanding they signed last week. Former Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi, who was among the first batch of Mengo officials in the talks, said recently that the talks started as soon as the kingship was restored in 1993.

Unlike in the previous talks when representatives from the kingdom were left to sign final agreements, this time round, the Kabaka was the one who sealed the deal. Speaking at the Kabaka’s 20th coronation ceremony last weekend, President Museveni said he preferred to deal with the Kabaka on the issue of properties, though he did not explain why.

The President’s spokesperson, Tamale Mirundi, however told Saturday Vision later that the previous engagements between the President and Mengo failed because the Kabaka did not play a significant role. Mirundi said the Kabaka previously endorsed what the team had agreed on with the President. “Previously, even after the Kabaka had endorsed the agreement, the Lukiiko would reject the deal,” he said.

Return of properties a delicate deal
The agreement signed on August 2 to return Buganda’s properties by the Central Government is a delicate deal, according to observers. There are growing fears that the intricacies in the agreement may cause cracks, which can result into its failure.

A big crack in the agreement was exposed this week when the Banyala, a minority tribe in Buganda Kingdom which was cited in the agreement, showed readiness to fight and fail the deal. The spokesperson of the Ssabanyala, James Rwebikire, said they would prevent the Kabaka from going to Kayunga if Buganda does
not recognise their administrative units and let them manage the cultural properties in the county.

The agreement allows the Kabaka to move freely in his kingdom, and Bugerere is a county in Buganda. But it also demands that Buganda recognises the minority tribal groups. Following the threats, Buganda Kingdom’s spokesperson, Denis Walusimbi, said they were ready to adhere to the terms in the agreement. However, he said minority tribes should show proof they owned properties before the Milton Obote Government abolished the cultural institutions. Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga added that if the minority groups constructed their own buildings for the exercise of their cultural norms, the kingdom would not interfere.

But Tanga Odoi, a Makerere University professor of political history, said it was for the good of the minority groups like Banyala to see that the agreement succeeds. “If you come and settle in Buganda, you need to respect the king and the culture. You need to live in peace with the indigenous settlers,” Odoi said.

Tamale Mirundi, the President’s press secretary, believes that the agreement may be failed by opposition politicians whom it has disarmed. Mirundi said many politicians in Buganda used the delay to return Buganda’s properties as a catch-word to win over votes during elections. He added that with the agreement to return the properties, the opposition was defeated.

Speaking at Kabaka Ronal Mutebi’s 20th coronation anniversary in Mengo last week, President Yoweri Museveni said he returned the properties to deny the opposition a carpet to fish in the troubled waters. By the troubled waters, the President meant the strained relationship that previously existed between Buganda and the Government. Odoi advised against fighting the agreement, saying any such move would backfire.

If the agreement fails, the Baganda will wage a grim attack against President Museveni and members of the NRM,” he said. Odoi advised the opposition to explore other weaknesses within NRM to discredit the party, other than fighting the agreement. There are fears that factions opposed to Mayiga in Mengo would fight the agreement to deny him credit for the good job. Former Mengo premiers, including Eng. JB Walusimbi and Dan Mulika, have complained of factions in Mengo, which fight the Katikkiro.

Mulika was thrown out of the office after occupying it for a few months. Mirundi, a renowned critic of Mengo, noted that the factions forced the kingdom to denounce a similar agreement Buganda signed with the Government in 2011. “Even in 2011, the Kabaka had endorsed the agreement, but some factions later denounced it,” Mirundi said. “Mayiga has to strategise against those factions.” Political analysts say the success of the agreement would make Mayiga the most popular Katikkiro, something some people within Mengo would not want happen. Analysts say Mayiga and his team would fight tirelessly to ensure the agreement succeeds.

Walusimbi asked all Ugandans to pray for the deal, noting that its failure could destabilize the country, as it was in the 1960s with the agreement between Obote and Kabaka Mutesa II. But Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a professor of political history at Makerere University, expressed pessimism about the possibility of the agreement succeeding. He told Saturday Vision that the agreement was unlikely to solve the long-standing Buganda Question, arguing that the spirit in which it was signed was reminiscent of 1962 Milton Obote-Buganda Agreement, which failed to solve the wrangles between Buganda and UPC.

The impasse led to Kabaka Edward Mutesa II, the father of Mutebi to flee the country. “The process was secretive and the agreement was not timed after a debate in Parliament. We also do not know the purpose for returning the properties,” Ndebesa said. Mirundi further prophesied doom for the agreement, saying it was likely to stir wrangles over wealth among members of the royal family.

“In Buganda, the royal family is supposed to be fed by the kingdom. In the past, whenever they asked for their entitlements, they were told that the king had no resources. Now the resources will be available,” Mirundi explained. He noted that the time was now ripe for members of the royal family to start demanding for their share of the properties which have been returned.