Bamasaaba elect cultural leader
Aug 02, 2010
THE former Uganda high commissioner to Canada, Wilson Wamimbi, has been elected Umukuuka, the Bamasaaba cultural leader. He will serve a non-renewable term of five years.
By Joseph Wanzusi
THE former Uganda High Commissioner to Canada, Wilson Wamimbi, has been elected Umukuuka, the Bamasaaba cultural leader. He will serve a non-renewable term of five years.
Wamimbi, 72, polled 41 votes to beat his only opponent, Canon Codovia Wakiro, 82, who got 22 votes.
The elections were held at Mbale municipal chambers on Saturday and delegates representing the 26 Bamasaaba clans from Uganda and Kenya assembled for the exercise.
Born in 1938 in Busano sub-county Mbale district, Wamimbi went to Nabumali High School, trained as a teacher at Kyambogo College before going for further studies at Makerere University, where he graduated with a degree in marketing.
He worked as a marketing officer with Bugisu Co-operative Union and later joined politics in 1987 when he became the Mbale district chairman.
Wamimbi’s election is a result of four years’ work by a group of 20 people under a cultural organisation named Inzu ya Masaaba and the cultural council, with guidance from Prof. Dan Wadada-Nabudere.
The long-awaited exercise almost flopped as delegates, who included seven members from Babukusu in Kenya, queried the method used by the cultural council to select the two candidates.
The council chairman, Augustine Wanendeya, had earlier read seven names, which included former Chief Justice George Masika, Sylvester Wanjusi-Wasieba, Francis Nagimesi, Situma Munyanda and Charles Walimbwa.
The controversy was solved by Masika, Nabudere and Prof. Timothy Wangusa, who argued that selection of the candidates conformed to the provisions of the cultural constitution.
The elections come after Joseph Kanyanya had over the years imposed himself as the Umukuuka.
He at one time attempted to place his throne at Mutoto but the Bamasaaba, who have never had a royal family, opposed the move.
The Bamasaaba last had a cultural leader in the 1960s, when Y. B. Mungoma was made the Umuinga until the Obote I government abolished kingdoms.
In his brief acceptance speech, Wamimbi called for team work and promised to work toward uniting the Bamasaaba in Uganda and Kenya.
THE former Uganda High Commissioner to Canada, Wilson Wamimbi, has been elected Umukuuka, the Bamasaaba cultural leader. He will serve a non-renewable term of five years.
Wamimbi, 72, polled 41 votes to beat his only opponent, Canon Codovia Wakiro, 82, who got 22 votes.
The elections were held at Mbale municipal chambers on Saturday and delegates representing the 26 Bamasaaba clans from Uganda and Kenya assembled for the exercise.
Born in 1938 in Busano sub-county Mbale district, Wamimbi went to Nabumali High School, trained as a teacher at Kyambogo College before going for further studies at Makerere University, where he graduated with a degree in marketing.
He worked as a marketing officer with Bugisu Co-operative Union and later joined politics in 1987 when he became the Mbale district chairman.
Wamimbi’s election is a result of four years’ work by a group of 20 people under a cultural organisation named Inzu ya Masaaba and the cultural council, with guidance from Prof. Dan Wadada-Nabudere.
The long-awaited exercise almost flopped as delegates, who included seven members from Babukusu in Kenya, queried the method used by the cultural council to select the two candidates.
The council chairman, Augustine Wanendeya, had earlier read seven names, which included former Chief Justice George Masika, Sylvester Wanjusi-Wasieba, Francis Nagimesi, Situma Munyanda and Charles Walimbwa.
The controversy was solved by Masika, Nabudere and Prof. Timothy Wangusa, who argued that selection of the candidates conformed to the provisions of the cultural constitution.
The elections come after Joseph Kanyanya had over the years imposed himself as the Umukuuka.
He at one time attempted to place his throne at Mutoto but the Bamasaaba, who have never had a royal family, opposed the move.
The Bamasaaba last had a cultural leader in the 1960s, when Y. B. Mungoma was made the Umuinga until the Obote I government abolished kingdoms.
In his brief acceptance speech, Wamimbi called for team work and promised to work toward uniting the Bamasaaba in Uganda and Kenya.