Buganda’s 9,000 sq. Miles Do Not Exist
Mar 04, 2003
I disagree with the statements attributed to the two Mengo ministers Peter Mayiga and Apollo Makubuya, in which they try to mislead Baganda and other
By Kkulumba Kiingi
I disagree with the statements attributed to the two Mengo ministers Peter Mayiga and Apollo Makubuya, in which they try to mislead Baganda and other Ugandans that the federo Mengo is agitating for is quite different from the one of 1962 on the following grounds:
l Why did Mengo totally reject the charter which according to the 1995 constitution deemed all the districts of Buganda to have agreed to co-operate as a single unit (that is, a loose-type federo), as if these districts whose members were directly elected do not represent Baganda?
l Why is it that Mengo officials demand that their federo government ought to have powers to levy taxes, collect revenue, be autonomous and to manage and control public services like: health, education, finance, public administration among others, with little or no interference from the central government?
l Why should Kampala be under the jurisdiction of the Kabaka as part of his kingdom from which he may in future decide to collect taxes like busuulu and envujjo from government as tenant?
l Why should the 9,000 square miles be returned to Kabaka?
In light of these questions, it is clear the federo Mengo is demanding now is more federo (yakimem-ette) than that of 1962.
The Mengo ministers including their attorney general have failed to explain and convince Baganda and other Ugandans how a federo built upon the above and other structures would be quite different from the one granted to Buganda under the 1962 Constit-ution and therefore will not stir trouble as Mengo wants Baganda and Ugandans to believe.
Mayiga is reported to have stated, inter alia, that the 9,000 square miles were “stolen†by former president Milton Obote in 1966.
I am not an admirer or supporter of Obote but it is on record that the 9,000 sq. miles under the 1900 Buganda Agreement was shared by the protectorate government as crown land; the three missionary societies as freehold; the Kabaka; the royal family; the saza chiefs as official mailo estates; and the regents and other important chiefs.
At the time of independence in 1962, former crown land was vested in the Uganda Land Commission (ULC); while the official mailo estates vested in the Buganda land board together the “residue†of crown land which had not been allotted or alienated either in freehold or leasehold.
The land which was allotted to the Muslim community was never registered due to the wrangles between Kibuli and Bukoto-Nateete sects; which land was also vested in ULC available for allocation to developers.
It is the land vested in the Buganda Land Board in 1962 which upon the abolition of the Kabaka’s government, was vested in ULC and re-vested in the various Buganda district land boards under the Land Act 1998.
It is also quite clear the 350 sq. miles returned to the Kabaka in 1993 was part of the 9,000 sq. miles. In light of what I have stated above, the 9,000 sq. miles which now Mengo demands does not exist as most of it falls under the said District Land Boards in Buganda. Ends
I disagree with the statements attributed to the two Mengo ministers Peter Mayiga and Apollo Makubuya, in which they try to mislead Baganda and other Ugandans that the federo Mengo is agitating for is quite different from the one of 1962 on the following grounds:
l Why did Mengo totally reject the charter which according to the 1995 constitution deemed all the districts of Buganda to have agreed to co-operate as a single unit (that is, a loose-type federo), as if these districts whose members were directly elected do not represent Baganda?
l Why is it that Mengo officials demand that their federo government ought to have powers to levy taxes, collect revenue, be autonomous and to manage and control public services like: health, education, finance, public administration among others, with little or no interference from the central government?
l Why should Kampala be under the jurisdiction of the Kabaka as part of his kingdom from which he may in future decide to collect taxes like busuulu and envujjo from government as tenant?
l Why should the 9,000 square miles be returned to Kabaka?
In light of these questions, it is clear the federo Mengo is demanding now is more federo (yakimem-ette) than that of 1962.
The Mengo ministers including their attorney general have failed to explain and convince Baganda and other Ugandans how a federo built upon the above and other structures would be quite different from the one granted to Buganda under the 1962 Constit-ution and therefore will not stir trouble as Mengo wants Baganda and Ugandans to believe.
Mayiga is reported to have stated, inter alia, that the 9,000 square miles were “stolen†by former president Milton Obote in 1966.
I am not an admirer or supporter of Obote but it is on record that the 9,000 sq. miles under the 1900 Buganda Agreement was shared by the protectorate government as crown land; the three missionary societies as freehold; the Kabaka; the royal family; the saza chiefs as official mailo estates; and the regents and other important chiefs.
At the time of independence in 1962, former crown land was vested in the Uganda Land Commission (ULC); while the official mailo estates vested in the Buganda land board together the “residue†of crown land which had not been allotted or alienated either in freehold or leasehold.
The land which was allotted to the Muslim community was never registered due to the wrangles between Kibuli and Bukoto-Nateete sects; which land was also vested in ULC available for allocation to developers.
It is the land vested in the Buganda Land Board in 1962 which upon the abolition of the Kabaka’s government, was vested in ULC and re-vested in the various Buganda district land boards under the Land Act 1998.
It is also quite clear the 350 sq. miles returned to the Kabaka in 1993 was part of the 9,000 sq. miles. In light of what I have stated above, the 9,000 sq. miles which now Mengo demands does not exist as most of it falls under the said District Land Boards in Buganda. Ends