Non-Baganda should be free to stand in Buganda

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OPINION

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

I'm not a fan of the NUP and whatever they represent in Ugandan politics, but I don’t support the narrative that one can only stand in an area where one's tribe is grounded. Ugandans should be free to stand for elective posts anywhere in the country, regardless of their tribes.

Historically speaking, Buganda has always had MPs who aren't Baganda. The Baganda have always been the centre of civilisation in Uganda. They have always integrated and intermarried with other tribes. Baganda rarely segregate other tribes - they're undoubtedly the cream of everything, and others just follow. We shouldn't change this because we now have a cancerous party, NUP, in our politics.

Therefore, the NUP Secretary General, Rubongoya, and Alex Mufumbiro should be free to stand in Buganda, though I hope voters totally reject them both because of the party they belong to, not because of their tribes. We should try to fight tribalism in Uganda, and we should start from somewhere.

Here’s the thing: racism and tribalism - the same thing - can be found all over the world. Putting kith and kin before others is part of being human. Developing a culture that puts institutions such as a legal system ahead of family takes a very long time.

In England, it began in the 7th century, and it was a thousand years before accountable government emerged. Societies can compress that time with the examples of successful countries to follow, but it will still take some time and bloodletting before the shift occurs.

France, Germany, and Britain are full of all kinds of people, of different skin colour, language, and heritage. Probably the most monocultural nation is Iceland, because it’s a) very isolated, and b) has a very small population. But even in Iceland, there are immigrants. The United States has over 500 tribes of native Americans. But most of these guys are proud to be defined by their nationalities, and I'm lucky I have visited most of these countries and saw it myself.

There's less tribalism in Europe compared to Africa, basically because most European nations were formed along people who mostly spoke the same language. Relatively new countries in Europe, like Germany and Italy, were formed along people who mostly spoke the same language. The borders were often drawn along lines that cut ethnic boundaries.

There's more tribalism in East and West Africa compared to South and North Africa. Across North Africa, the divisions are confessional, nationalist and ideological, not tribal: Muslim and Copt; Secularist and Muslim Brotherhood partisan; Arab, Sharawi Arab and Amazigh etc. This is not due to North Africa lacking tribes. The Arabs belong to a tribal culture. Indeed, they migrated into Africa as tribes.

South Africa recognises 11 languages across a very big country, but tribalism is not one of their problems. Mandela was a Xhosa, Zuma is a Zulu, and Cyril is Venda. If you go back in time, you will learn that various leaders have been from different tribes. In a workplace, you will find members of various tribes.

Zimbabwe is 80% Shona and growing through intermarriage. Tribalism exists only in perceptions. It only got violent in the '80s when Mugabe perceived the Ndebele leaders wanted to take up arms and start a war with him, giving him reason to kill 20,000 of them. Lesotho, Swaziland, and Botswana are predominantly one language, one tribe, maybe except along their borders, but still they maintain 99% language similarities.

In Kenya and Uganda, on the other hand, tribalism is still a very big thing. Kenya votes along tribal lines, and clashes are deadly. In Uganda, whoever is president first makes his kinsmen and women happy by giving them the most important jobs in government. Rubongoya himself is a beneficiary of this, and he was so close to President Museveni before joining NUP. He studied on a State House scholarship and managed to access other scholarships and jobs due to his state connections. I sometimes wonder how he exactly ended up in opposition.

Moving forward, I think that Baganda should start standing for elective posts in other regions outside Buganda. They should also start buying land and building houses in other regions.

I'm not asking Ugandans to abandon their tribal identities, but we should start looking more of ourselves as Ugandans. That's what other countries have done.

The writer is a Ugandan living in the UK