Rev. Bandirana warns of clan clashes in Bwamba

BUNDIBUGYO - The leader of a Presbyterian Church in Bundibugyo district, the Rev. Canon Timothy Bandirana, has warned of the likelihood of bitter clashes erupting within the Bwamba cultural institution.

According to Rev. Bandirana the alleged differences among the 25 Bwamba clans that form the Obudingiya bwa Bwamba may cause what he described as yet other regrettable problems in the district.

"As if the recent tribal clashes were not enough lesson for us to learn that peace and co-existence are important for us all, clan differences are now emerging within the Obudingiya bwa Bamba."

Bundibugyo district is currently trying to recover from tribal clashes that left 30 people dead and property worth billions of shillings destroyed.

The churchman referred to an incident recently when the institution's minister of culture, Samuel Baker Bamwendere, was denied entry at a venue where the Presbyterian Church was launching a Lubwitsi language translated version of the Holy Bible.

He was blocked by the Obudingiya prime minister, Wilson Mubulya, allegedly for having supported the political candidates who were not favorites of the cultural institution in this year's February and March elections.

"If the cultural institution wants to destroy peace, we shall talk and die for what we have talked," Rev. Bandirana said.

In last week's Cabinet reshuffle of the Obudingiya, Samuel Baker Bamwendere, who performed the installation rituals upon the Omudingiya Martin Kamya, was dropped, an act that may deepen the reported clan differences.

Last week's actions by the Obudingiya leadership and others before are likely to cause sharp divisions among the clans, which may not be healthy for the people in Bundibuigyo district, Rev. Bandirana told New Vision on phone.

Bamwendere spoke to New Vision about the reshuffle, and confirmed his dismissal as minister of culture in the Obudingiya bwa Bwamba.

"Yes I have been dropped and yet I am one of key architects of the institution and I performed the installation rituals myself."

At his home in Kirumya sub-county in Bwamba county last week, Bamwendere accused the Obudingiya of sidelining some of the clans that constitute the cultural institution.

"The Babandi, Basigiyo, Balirehe, Bandimanga, Batoma and Basu are among the key clans that form the Obudingiya and yet they are some of the clans that have been gravely sidelined," he said then.

The government and the Uganda Joint Christian Council should intervene in time before the district experiences another tribal conflict and this time clan disaster, said Bamwendere.

When contacted,  Obudingiya Prime Minister, Wilson Mubulya, described the reshuffle as normal. "It's neither tribal nor based on ethnicity but the Omudingiya wanted to make some changes."

He denied that there exist tribal or clan differences and disagreements within the Obudingiya bwa Bwamba describing people talking about imminent clan clashes as disruptive of peace efforts in Bundibugyo district.