Baganda should be told the truth
BAGANDA demonstrated in Kampala on Friday, saying some issues that the central government and Kabaka’s government agreed on were not included in the Constitution Amendment Bill establishing the regional tier governments.
By Robert Ssebunya
BAGANDA demonstrated in Kampala on Friday, saying some issues that the central government and Kabaka’s government agreed on were not included in the Constitution Amendment Bill establishing the regional tier governments.
Political analysts, district leaders, MPs, Mengo elders and Saza Chiefs in Buganda have given their views on the issue but some of them are deliberately misleading. Baganda should clearly be told what exactly is acceptable to Buganda with regard to the region tier.
Ssabasajja Kabaka appointed a team to negotiate with the central government on Buganda’s federo demands. The team comprised Katikiro Joseph Mulwanamuli Ssemwogerere, and Buganda ministers John Katende, Peter Charles Mayiga and Apollo Makubuya.
President Museveni’s team comprised his minister of defence Amama Mbabazi and that of internal affairs, Ruhakana Rugunda.
The negotiations, as reported by the Katikkiro in the Lukiiko, were not easy. They were serious discussions and negotiations that involved 45 meetings. Some of the meetings were chaired by the president and therefore the negotiations can only be described as crucial and the decisions agreed upon irrevocable.
Some of the crucial demands by Buganda were accepted included in the Constitution Amendment Bill and those should be supported.
The outstanding issues were left for further discussion. The Katikkiro requested Baganda, MPs, church leaders, Bataka (clan leaders), district leaders and any other person capable of negotiating with the President to do so and also convince MPs to accommodate the outstanding issues. The Bataka then resolved to meet the President over these issues. The Katikkiro gave them a go-ahead. In the meeting with the president, the Bataka presented many more demands that were important to Buganda.
However, there was no agreement on many of the new demands. One the new demands where the two sides reached an agreement concerns the vetting of candidates for the position of Katikkiro. It was agreed that a vetting committee be established to screen candidates to ensure that the person elected would be able to carry out traditional norms and virtues of the Kingdom.
Those cleared by the committee should then stand to be directly elected under universal suffrage system. The Bataka reported back to the Kabaka, Katikkiro and Lukkiko that the President had assured them that the points agreed upon would be constitutionalised.
What I do not know, is whether those points agreed upon were further discussed with the Mbabazi team and whether there was sufficient time to include them in the Bill before it was presented to Parliament. It would be unfortunate if those new points were not included in the Bill before it was passed.
The Electoral Commission has embarked on the ratification process by district councils. Is it possible at this moment
for the Speaker of Parliament to request Parliament to revisit the Bill? This is the big question.
Bataka/Museveni talks
During these talks Bataka never agreed that:
Kabaka should nominate the Katikkiro
That the Katikkiro should not be directly elected
The Lukiiko also never agreed that the Kabaka should nominate the Katikkiro.
The Bataka could not have supported the idea because:
Bataka elders were aware that the 1962 Constitution which the Baganda cherish very much removed the powers of the Kabaka to nominate his Katikkiro.
The reasons that explain why the Kabaka was not allowed to nominate his Katikkiro in 1962 are still valid.
The introduction of multi-party politics will allow many political parties to participate in Buganda politics and this development makes it extremely dangerous for the Kingdom to allow the Kabaka to nominate the Katikkiro. Doing so would drag the Kabakka into partisan politics. For example if he nominated a candidate from one political party, other parties would would feel marginalized and this would undermine the Katikkiro.
That in effect would indirectly undermines the Kabaka as well.
It is possible that some parties would boycott official functions attended by the Kabaka and the Katikkiro on grounds that the Kabaka favours a particular party. This would seriously divide the Kabaka’s subjects and affect their royalty to him.
But if the people directly elect their Katikkiro after the vetting process nobody will come out and accuse the Kabaka of bias. I appeal to Baganda to support accept what was agreed between the negotiating teams and devise possible means of including them in the law. But we should by all means avoid putting the Kabaka in a trap which might lead to dividing his subjects and marginalizing certain sections of the population, thus weakening the Kabakaship.
Our role is to strengthen and consolidate the Kingdom. But what is going on gives the impression that Bataka and the President agreed that the Katikkiro should not be directly elected.
Saza Chiefs have also come in to support the nomination by the Kabaka and have urged districts to reject the Regional Tier Bill. One of the reasons advanced is that the Katikkiro is a cultural leader and therefore must be nominated by the Kabaka.
Under the 1962 Constitution, the office of the Katikkiro was political, head of government and actively participated in politics. Cultural matters were handled by a department in the Katikiro’s office. Therefore, we should not mix the office of the Katikkiro as head of government with that of cultural affairs office.
The President had envisaged that there would be this kind of conflicts and had suggested that there should be a cultural council alongside the Lukiiko.
However, the idea was rejected. The people should be told the truth and we should not misrepresent what was agreed upon. I urge district councils to ratify the Bill.
The writer is a former minister in the Kabaka’s government
BAGANDA demonstrated in Kampala on Friday, saying some issues that the central government and Kabaka’s government agreed on were not included in the Constitution Amendment Bill establishing the regional tier governments.
Political analysts, district leaders, MPs, Mengo elders and Saza Chiefs in Buganda have given their views on the issue but some of them are deliberately misleading. Baganda should clearly be told what exactly is acceptable to Buganda with regard to the region tier.
Ssabasajja Kabaka appointed a team to negotiate with the central government on Buganda’s federo demands. The team comprised Katikiro Joseph Mulwanamuli Ssemwogerere, and Buganda ministers John Katende, Peter Charles Mayiga and Apollo Makubuya.
President Museveni’s team comprised his minister of defence Amama Mbabazi and that of internal affairs, Ruhakana Rugunda.
The negotiations, as reported by the Katikkiro in the Lukiiko, were not easy. They were serious discussions and negotiations that involved 45 meetings. Some of the meetings were chaired by the president and therefore the negotiations can only be described as crucial and the decisions agreed upon irrevocable.
Some of the crucial demands by Buganda were accepted included in the Constitution Amendment Bill and those should be supported.
The outstanding issues were left for further discussion. The Katikkiro requested Baganda, MPs, church leaders, Bataka (clan leaders), district leaders and any other person capable of negotiating with the President to do so and also convince MPs to accommodate the outstanding issues. The Bataka then resolved to meet the President over these issues. The Katikkiro gave them a go-ahead. In the meeting with the president, the Bataka presented many more demands that were important to Buganda.
However, there was no agreement on many of the new demands. One the new demands where the two sides reached an agreement concerns the vetting of candidates for the position of Katikkiro. It was agreed that a vetting committee be established to screen candidates to ensure that the person elected would be able to carry out traditional norms and virtues of the Kingdom.
Those cleared by the committee should then stand to be directly elected under universal suffrage system. The Bataka reported back to the Kabaka, Katikkiro and Lukkiko that the President had assured them that the points agreed upon would be constitutionalised.
What I do not know, is whether those points agreed upon were further discussed with the Mbabazi team and whether there was sufficient time to include them in the Bill before it was presented to Parliament. It would be unfortunate if those new points were not included in the Bill before it was passed.
The Electoral Commission has embarked on the ratification process by district councils. Is it possible at this moment
for the Speaker of Parliament to request Parliament to revisit the Bill? This is the big question.
Bataka/Museveni talks
During these talks Bataka never agreed that:
The Lukiiko also never agreed that the Kabaka should nominate the Katikkiro.
The Bataka could not have supported the idea because:
The introduction of multi-party politics will allow many political parties to participate in Buganda politics and this development makes it extremely dangerous for the Kingdom to allow the Kabaka to nominate the Katikkiro. Doing so would drag the Kabakka into partisan politics. For example if he nominated a candidate from one political party, other parties would would feel marginalized and this would undermine the Katikkiro.
That in effect would indirectly undermines the Kabaka as well.
It is possible that some parties would boycott official functions attended by the Kabaka and the Katikkiro on grounds that the Kabaka favours a particular party. This would seriously divide the Kabaka’s subjects and affect their royalty to him.
But if the people directly elect their Katikkiro after the vetting process nobody will come out and accuse the Kabaka of bias. I appeal to Baganda to support accept what was agreed between the negotiating teams and devise possible means of including them in the law. But we should by all means avoid putting the Kabaka in a trap which might lead to dividing his subjects and marginalizing certain sections of the population, thus weakening the Kabakaship.
Our role is to strengthen and consolidate the Kingdom. But what is going on gives the impression that Bataka and the President agreed that the Katikkiro should not be directly elected.
Saza Chiefs have also come in to support the nomination by the Kabaka and have urged districts to reject the Regional Tier Bill. One of the reasons advanced is that the Katikkiro is a cultural leader and therefore must be nominated by the Kabaka.
Under the 1962 Constitution, the office of the Katikkiro was political, head of government and actively participated in politics. Cultural matters were handled by a department in the Katikiro’s office. Therefore, we should not mix the office of the Katikkiro as head of government with that of cultural affairs office.
The President had envisaged that there would be this kind of conflicts and had suggested that there should be a cultural council alongside the Lukiiko.
However, the idea was rejected. The people should be told the truth and we should not misrepresent what was agreed upon. I urge district councils to ratify the Bill.
The writer is a former minister in the Kabaka’s government