Mengo speaks out on Buruuli

Feb 25, 2010

MENGO recognises the Baruuli and does not discriminate against them because of their ethnicity, Buganda Kingdom Katikkiro John Baptist Walusimbi has said.

By Josephine Maseruka

MENGO recognises the Baruuli and does not discriminate against them because of their ethnicity, Buganda Kingdom Katikkiro John Baptist Walusimbi has said.

“The Baganda are known for their hospitality and for being accommodative. We recognise the Baruuli and that is why they were appointed in the cabinet and in the kingdom’s parliament,” Walusimbi said.

He was yesterday reacting to statements by President Yoweri Museveni that Buganda was suppressing the Banyala and Baruuli who are predominantly in Kayunga and Nakasongola districts respectively.

Speaking during a Prosperity-for-All tour in Luweero district on Tuesday, Museveni said Mengo was opposed to other cultures within Buganda.

Walusimbi appealed to the people in Buganda to avoid acts of “hatred and divisional tendencies which are detrimental to the development of the kingdom and the country”.

He called on leaders to unite people instead of dividing them on ethnic lines.

Mengo’s information minister Charles Peter Mayiga said the kingdom has many ethnic groups, including the Baruuli.
He said whereas the Baruuli have cultural leaders known to Mengo, Mwogeza Butamanya, who claims to be the cultural head, is not one of them.

Relations between the Government and Mengo were strained in October 2008 when the Kabaka was blocked from visiting Nakasongola.

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