A Muganda youth named Tesian Batenda requested us to publish her her appeal to other young Baganda. We have a policy of not publishing atricles and letters are too long (more two and half pages in MS Word). However, we thought that Tesian’s article and its contents were too important to reject on that basis. We do expect that in future Tesian will write articles that make her major points in fewer words.
Below is Tesian Batenda’s article with minimal editing to remove grammar errors.
Baganda Youth be watchful, vigilant and resist manipulations!
Put Buganda First
By Tesian Batenda
Those of you the Baganda youth of today, who have analyzed the series of events in our nation Buganda and theirs Uganda, you have noted that several elements repeat themselves in these two nations. This explains a great deal why Buganda Nation has failed till now to realize her aspirations namely among others self-rule.
Firstly, up to the present day, we have never had Buganda army and that explains why we are being tossed like ping-pong in the so-called negotiations. The Buganda delegations in all the negotiations lost significance and weight right [from] the 60s when the Kabaka Yekkas sold Buganda nation to Langis UPC by the 21 Baganda MPs (Ekitole made an alliance with UPC). Today Buganda’s participation to any negotiation cannot be termed as equal partners but as “YES SIR Partners” and of course to [rubber stamp].
What went wrong?
With Mengo you will always expect surprises and sometimes [shocking] ones. What I remember from my dead father, strong supporter of DP, before he died, the man never stopped talking about the moral, psychological, cultural grief, torture and bitterness he suffered from The Kabaka Yekkas. Instead of voting for DP, my father like many Baganda, voted Kabaka Yekka (KY) because of their loyalty to the Buganda Kingdom and their Kabaka.
Kabaka Yekka (KY) dumping Democratic Party, predominantly fellow Baganda and selling Buganda to Langis, the ordinary Baganda have never stomached it, Till the present day the Kabaka Yekkas have never officially apologized to Buganda Nation for this blasphemy.
Can we say today that the DPs were totally innocent in this impasse, personally I say no, the DPs in their political agenda had very little place for Ssabassajja and Buganda Kingdom (Recall Ssebana Kizitos DP) statement just after the riots of last September “If Museveni does n’t like kingdoms he should abolish them.” I want to remind Ssebana Kizito, that Buganda Kingdom is not only cultural institution as M7 dreams. [Buganda] is the full identity of Baganda people to which [Ssebana] belongs. Ssabasajja Kabaka is not only a man so as you and me or the rest, but he is the living symbol of our identity and our ancestors. Awangale Ssabassajja! Telling M7 to abolish the kingdoms if he does not like them, Mr. Ssebana (DP) exaggerated the powers of that dictator because we were Baganda before M7 came, we are Baganda, and we shall remain Buganda with or without M7.
One thing is clear. Kabaka Yekka officials of the 60s never realized that dumping their fellow Baganda and choosing Langis would cause the greatest disaster to the Buganda Nation, which up to the present day has never been fixed. Can one tell us how many Baganda have been murdered because of this blunder?!
Should the young generation Baganda make the same mistakes as the old guard of Mengo 50 years ago? Unacceptable! We should learn from the past mistakes to design our present and future. Kikafuwe nti our children and grand children are going to live in this Katogo, they will [curse] us as we are [cursing] the Mengo officials of the old.
We [the] young Buganda must know very well that Kabaka Yekka old garde of the 60’s and Mengo institution were from top to bottom brainwashed and manipulated by the British people. Knowingly or unknowingly they embraced the prejudice of the British peoples against the Catholics and other religions, given at the time that Mengo was predominantly Protestant. After the elections of 60s the Mengo old guard chose their fellow predominant protestants UPC to form any alliance dumping their fellow Baganda of the Democratic Party. What is surprising here, Protestants and Catholics of the same clans during their respective cultural functions like Kwabya Nyimbe a protestant or a Catholic would be the Musika or Musumisi as long as one belonged to the clan and it was acceptable. Why not in politics?
Did Mengo officials see beyond religion and religious bounds, were they aware that they were executing their colonial masters’ prejudices against other religious persuasions? Did Mengo KY recognize that they were not the authors of this prejudice, did they realize that in Northern Ireland the same British people were oppressing the Catholics handling as second-class citizens.
Why didn’t Mengo Officials put Buganda first? As [a] Muganda youth I want to remind the old guard of Mengo [that] when Obote started killing Baganda with his slogan “A good Muganda is A dead one” he did not [differentiate] between a protestant and a Catholic. [When] Idi Amin started killing Baganda he did not filter who was a protestant or a catholic. [And] Museveni has murdered [masses of] Baganda with his instrument ‘LET THEM TALK …. KILL THEM IN SILENCE (Recall M7’s speech in Kigali University) or his famous order SHOOT TO KILL. This dictator has never selected which religion a Muganda belongs to, he kills whenever he wishes whoever Muganda he comes across.
The Baganda are killed as Baganda and because we are Baganda.
We the young generation [of] Baganda must not make any mistake now, the British colonialist have gone who manipulated and brainwashed the Baganda old guard, now we have other manipulators namely: Some fellow Baganda the collaborators of the occupiers or our homeland, the Rwandese and others and, most important, political parties.
We the young Baganda today must not make any mistake like the Old Baganda of the 60s
“We must put Buganda First”. Forget all those political parties coming up in all colours, they replace the British peoples of the 60s, they will never help you as a person. “Put Buganda first”. It is the only solutions that will ever change our lives and stop the cold murders our people are confronted with everyday in our own motherland.
Mbakubira omulanga mwena abavubuka Abaganda toyonona kalulu ko mbu olonda gundi wa Kibina gundi, tulina okukola ekitole nga abaganda nga tulonda omuntu omu analwanirira Buganda era n’ababaka betwekakasa nti bagenda kulwanirira Buganda wattu.
The foreigners have killed our dear ones, they have raped our children, and they have stolen our land and so forth… Ggwe Omuvubuka omuganda bwoyagala okufuuka ndiwulira [nga] batema mu kasooli olyesanga mu ntamu nga batokosa. Kunno kwekulabula okusembayo eri mwe abavubuka abaganda.
Abavubukka mweddize obuyinza bwa Buganda bwemuba nga ebigendererwa byamwe bilongofu eri Ssabasajja Kabaka ne nyaffe Buganda. Bwetutakola tutyo twelinde okuyiwa omusayi ate nno tewerimba nti banno banamawanga bagenda kutta bakadde. Nendda, bagenda kutta ffe Abavubuka. Tewelimba nti bagenda kutta Acholis oba Bakiga oba Batoro oba Banyoro, Balango etc…, awo welimba. Abavubuka, Baganda ffe tuli ku waiting list.
If you put your stomach first because of some few coins you get from NRM, to promote NRM’s anti-Buganda agenda in [the]Buganda nation, they are using you like toilet paper. [When] they don’t need you anymore, you will not escape them, if you do, your children will not escape them. Ask Professor Gilbert Bukenya who now calls himself the Vice president of that country Uganda. If he is honest to himself and to you, he will tell you that money is not all what you need to be happy in life!
We the young generation Baganda today are suffering now [because of] the mistakes made in the past. You the Mengo officials must know very well that we are not going to follow your path. Never make any mistake to sign any agreement with that country Uganda without prior consultations with the youth of our nation Buganda. [Realize that] it is the Baganda youth of today who are being murdered or sleeping with empty stomachs due the decisions you made in the 60‘s [and other times in the past].
The institutions of our nation Buganda have always carried value and recognitions by the Baganda, young and old, and we believe in them. There is no Muganda who has ever been forced to respect the [Kabaka] and Buganda institutions at gunpoint, as what is happening in their country Uganda. Forget all about the integration with other tribes now because the terms of integration are not well defined and that explains the Katogo we are navigating today.
The way forward:
We need a Buganda Block! It is only Buganda Block, which will promote our interest now. “Work with and for a Buganda nation ”. Give your time and energy to liberate our motherland Buganda nation so that we Baganda of today and our children can lead a dignified life, have and enjoy a feeling of security in our homelands. Don’t forget we shall never have another life in another homeland. Buganda is our homeland our [ancestors] have fought and sacrificed their lives so that we the Baganda of today and those to come have a place to live. Likewise, we are obliged to do the same for our children and grandchildren to come after us.
Baganda youth, resist any manipulations of any kind. M7 calling Ssabasajja his colleague all along from London, and during the war was meant to manipulate the ordinary Baganda. M7 has lost ground in Buganda, he knows very well that his days in Buganda are numbered. [However he remains a dangerous manipulator]. [Being an opportunist], he only invited Ssabasajja together with the Bataka to meet and discuss the current crisis. Dear the Baganda Youth, are you so simple to believe this cynical invitation? M7 knows that by appearing on a photo with Ssabasajja Kabaka and [the] Abataka of Buganda he will have the [evidence] to launch his propaganda [of] a cooperative and collaborative Buganda in the NRM occupation agenda for our Buganda Nation.
M7 needed [Kabaka and the Bataka only for] that one second [when] photographer pressed the Camera button, with M7 standing near Ssabasajja Kabaka, [surrounded by] the Bataka . That photograph is only enough for a dictator to show to the rest of the world and ordinary Baganda that all problems are resolved and the situation is normal. We cannot permit our Nation Buganda to become a new Palestine. They come wherever they come from to fight their wars in Buganda and who dies? The Baganda!
Baganda Youth never and never accept to devalue our mother Nation Buganda, and you should make it clear to your respective Batakas that our support and recognition of Buganda institutions has to depend on their conduct and loyalty to Buganda Nation.
Source of skepticism
As a young, concerned, devoted Muganda activist, I have profound reasons to fear decisions of Mengo officials and I urgue all the Baganda youth to be very critical and watchful of all the movements taking place at Mengo. Mengo officials are [supposed] not to serve two nations but one and that is Buganda Nation.
Some months ago I could not believe my eyes when I [heard about] Akena the son of Obote entering Bulange and the Lukkiko giving him a profound applause. Bearing in mind that in politics you have not to hold permanent enmity, your enemy today is tomorrow your coalition partner, however applauding for a son of a man who has humiliated and devasted our identity as Baganda this was a dose to much to stomach. Is this due to desperation of Mengo Lukiiko, opportunism, or short memories of Baganda? Did Akena come to apologize to the Baganda due the humiliation and murders the Bagandas have suffered committed by Langis? Did he denounce his late father’s dictatorship and murders committed on our Land?
[At about the same time] Omara Atubo (Minister of Lands in their Country Uganda), [another] Langi, declared his triumph [over] the land bill, [which land bill ensures that] ensures that the Kabaka of Buganda is no longer the [Ssabataka] of Buganda Those of you who [better know the] history of our Buganda Nation and their country Uganda, do you have [any evidence] that in the past our ancestors attacked Langis, humiliated them, graded their land, raped their women as what they have done to Buganda?
If I was in Bulange that day when Akena came to Bulange I could not see myself applauding for this man. I would have reacted differently to express my opinion over Langis. Not necessarily violent but at least a moment of silence as a symbol of respect of the murdered Baganda and the physical, psychological, moral damage we have suffered from these people.
I have to remind the Mengo Officials that going to statehouse of that country Uganda is an act that absolutely not appreciated by Baganda now because you are not going to talk to leaders of our neighbors the Ugandans instead you are going to talk to thugs and murders of our children and rappers of your daughters.
Message to foreigners in Buganda
When we the Baganda activists demand secession of Buganda Kingdom from the country Uganda, how do they react? [They say], “That is Baganda arrogance, they don’t know what they [want], they consider themselves a superior race? [They claim] superior economic wealth and superior political traditions and so forth!” It is a real dilemma you and me will never solve, the Baganda people who are so arrogant, bossy with a superiority complex over other tribes yet they can’t miss us. I think if these [accusations they make] over Baganda [were] true and valid in their minds, then the day we demand our independency they would all go party to celebrate the departure of the arrogant, bossy Baganda. Instead, the more mentally dependent they become on us as if their further life is totally impossible without Buganda. This shows you how far different our understandings and backgrounds are. The general and simple concepts are interpreted differently [and] this means to me even if the western countries transfer half their wealth tomorrow and pump it in Uganda and the occupied Buganda we shall remain poor, even [get] poorer.
The citizens of Uganda make their heads sick [over] the position of Ssabassajja Kabaka of Buganda. Well, to the contrary, no Muganda is busy [opposing] the way Basoga or Batoro or Acholis or Banyoro govern themselves. If you decide to come and settle in Buganda you are going to settle here on our terms, not the opposite. Failure to do so, you will vacate no doubt about that. If Baganda happen to come to your homelands and tell you how you have to govern yourself, make them vacate your homelands. We have accommodated everyone in Buganda, you have all what you have on our land yet we are the arrogant bastards? Fine! Think what you think, do what you do, we are not going to live on your terms in our home lands. “This to the last Muganda”. You are very soon facing the hard truth. We are working around the clock to liberate our Nation Buganda from captivity.
Last Appeal to all Baganda youth
To all the Baganda youth, it is our time today and not any other time. We have to realize and make everyone know that Buganda self-rule is our future, our security and our development.
You should all know that our greatest realization in this coming decade will be SELF RULE of our Buganda Nation. Everyone has to play his or her role according to one’s capacity. If we have to change our lives, we have to be very vigilant, and critical to resist all kinds of manipulations. Put Buganda first! Form ekitole kya Buganda, with the guidance of the wisdom of the past you are the future of Buganda. Make Buganda shine again!!! We have profound trust in you our youth!!
Tesian Batenda
