On February 7, 2010, the SMS based Ekiba Kibe program which is broadcast on Free Buganda Radio reported that Beti Kamya had been endorsed by  Katikkiro JB Walusimbi to campaign for Federo. The same program then asked Ms. Kamya to explain what the Katikkiro’s endorsement means.  The presenter,  Robert Kabuye of Boston tells Ms. Beti Kamya in Luganda: “MP owa Lubaga North, … Beti Kamya, watugambye eggulo nti wagenze ewa Walusimbi Katikkiro n’akwendosiinga ogende oyigirize Federo… Katikkiro oyo yayimirira mu lukungaana lwa Baganda nagamba nti Abaganda tuleme kweyisa nga bajulizi. Kati nnyabo, MP, gwe olina bukakafu ki nti taveyo naggamba nti oleme kwefula mujulizi?” (“Lubaga North MP, … Beti Kamya, yesterday you told us that you went to Katikkiro Walusimbi and he endorsed you to go teach Federo…. That same Katikkiro told a Baganda meeting that we, Baganda, must stop sacrificing for our nation as if we want to become martyrs. Now, Ms. MP, how do we know that he will not come out and similarly tell you not to sacrifice.”

Kabuye adds: “Bino ebitu tetwelabira. Abaganda aberabira baafa!” (“On these matters, we shall not forget.  The Baganda who forget died a long time ago.”)

Click on Ekiba_Kibe07Feb10 to listen to Kabuye’s full February 7, 2010 broadcast in Luganda.

According  to the January 22, 2010 Ekiba Kibe program, broadcast on the SMS based Freed Buganda Radio, Betty Kamya, the popular Muganda politician will attend today’s Buganda liberation conference in Boston, USA.  Mr. Kabuye told his listeners that Betty Kamya,  Lubaga North MP in a Museveni’s parliament and founder of the Uganda Federal Alliance,would be the keynote speaker at the Buganda independence conference. The conference is organized by Ggwanga Mujje Boston and has attracted delegates from Canada, California, New York, Washington DC, Washington State,  Uganda, Europe and other places.

In a related development, during the above broadcast, Mr. Kabuye and his studio guest, one Mr. Lennard Muwonge Mukasa of New Jersey, told the listeners that  Brother Panas Bugembe and the  NRM’s Ruhakana Rugunda had quickly organized a “free food and drinks” party to pull away youths from Baganda meetings that are taking place in Boston and New York ( Buganda Post has seen an email indicating that the Ggwangamujje NY/NJ association general  meeting is also taking place this Saturday in the New York area).  In effect, Bugembe and Rugunda are using  Uganda taxpayer money to bribe youths with beer and food so that they stay away from Baganda events.  Buganda Post will inform our readers about the Baganda who are accepting the Bugembe/bribes bribes and attending the NRM function.

To listen to Mr. Kabuye and Mr. Muwonge in their the  January 22, 2010 Ekiba Kibe broadcast, click on Ekiba_Kibe22Jan10A. Apparently, at the time of the broadcast Mr. Kabuye and Mr. Muwonge were returning from Buganda independence demonstrations in Washington DC. Mr. Muwonge indicated that the Washington demonstrations has received strong media coverage, including from Voice of America. Another Buganda liberation demonstration will take place on January 26, 2010, the commemorate the armed occupation of Buganda by Balaalo led Ugandans. It will be at the UN headquarters in New York.

Elizabeth Musaazi is a daughter of pioneer Muganda politician Ignatius Kangave Musaazi.  Nakku Senkeeto says that she is a granddaughter of Jolly Joe Kiwanuka and a great granddaughter of former treasurer (Muwanika) of Buganda Serwano Kulubya. And Edirisa Kironde claims to be first nephew to former Uganda President Yusuf Kironde Lule. The three are leading the effort to recruit American Baganda into NRM, at Uganda taxpayer expense, to extend Mr. Museveni’s direct political power to America. Sources close to the Uganda state house have told us that Mr. Museveni’s government is still interested in UNAA and Ggwangamujje but they think that their best investment is NRM USA where they can directly control the leaders and the political message.  Some of the NRM USA leaders, including Twaha Bukenya, Edward Wanda and Edirisa Kironde were on the list of alleged Uganda Government spies which was widely circulated on Internet discussion groups in 2007.

In 2008 NRM USA held major event in Washington DC with direct financial and logistical support from Uganda ambassador to USA, Perez Kamunanirwe. This year their event will be at the Marriott Copley Place Hotel in Boston on September 26, 2009 and president Museveni is expected to attend.  A prominent Muganda lawyer in North East USA has told us that it is probably illegal in the US for NRM, a foreign ruling political party, to promote its government policies on US soil. He pointed out that, according to the www.NRMOBoston.com website, their objective is to “shed light on the economic, political and other matters of interest to many Ugandans both in Uganda and in the Diaspora” and expected attendees include “Uganda Government Officials and Policy makers.” The legal expert concluded: “In my humble opinion, what NRM is doing in the USA could well be in contravention of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).  And if Baganda victims of NRM policies take this on seriously with the Obama administration, Musaazi’s daughter and her friends could be in serious trouble. They are blindly trying to adopt NRM arrogance here in the USA and that cannot work for long. And, curiously, not single member of the prominent Banyankore or Balaalo family benefiting so much from the NRM rule is involved in this highly risky effort.”

Sources in Mr. Museveni’s state House tell us that from the time of Dan Muliika’s term as Katikkiro President Museveni authorized serious investment in USA organizations controlled by Baganda. He was concerned that if the nationalism which Muliika planted  here in Buganda spread to American and European Baganda, his plans for Buganda could fall apart. Baganda who still believe in Mr. Museveni’s style of democracy for Uganda were in control at the Uganda North American (UNAA) and the plan was to ensure that the organization leadership is dominated by NRMs. The bigger challenge was the Ggwangamujje Baganda who, by definition, focus on Buganda interests.

UNAA Baganda are divided between those who support Mr. Museveni’s regime, those who promote opposition parties (DP, FDC, JEEMA, etc.) and those who do not care about the parties but, like the others, have full faith that the current Ugandan democracy is good enough to work with. Uganda state house believes that at least 85% of UNAA members are Baganda, explaining why Mr. Museveni supports and funds UNAA. The president prefers that his candidates win the UNAA elections but even if they lose, he feels confident that he can manipulate and influence the majority of UNAA members.

Ggwangamujje Baganda reject the current political order in Uganda and insist on Federo or even independence if other Ugandans continue to violate Buganda rights and interests. Their major branches are in Boston, New York/New Jersey and London.  According to NRM sources, Mr. Museveni does not expect to control Ggwangamujje activities but aims are using plants to simply destroy them from within.  Ggwangamujje Boston is by far the largest branch. But some observers also believe that it is the one which Mr. Museveni’s agents have already infiltrated, as shown by the NRM-style atmosphere at its elections two months ago – the elections had to be cancelled. Ggwangamujje NY/NJ is smaller but believed to be the most serious after successfully organizing Ttabamiruka ’07 and Ttabamiruka ’08. As Beti Kamya has said on FM radios several times, she started her current campaign for a new federal style political system for Uganda after “getting enlightened at Ttabamiruka ‘08″. However, the fact that there is no word about Ttabamiruka ’09 up to now has left many Ggwangamujje Baganda all over the world concerned about the health of Ggwangamujje NY/NJ.

Beti Olive Kamya, Uganda’s MP for Lubaga North, used an opinion piece in The Monitor newspaper of April 27, 2009 to announce her new political organization, known as the Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA). Ms. Kamya’s opinion piece is titled “Make Moroto the administrative seat of government” and, on first reading, it may not appear to be related to announcing any political organization. It is too early to tell if  ordinary Baganda, her core constituency, will quickly and widely understand the intrigue rich message and style in Ms. Kamya’s announcement.  

Since November 2008 Beti has been leading a growing “Buganda first” campaign, educating Baganda about their political rights and the need to resist manipulation by existing Uganda political parties, including her own Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). In process, Ms. Kamya has engaged in tough verbal wars with the FDC’s Bakiga most powerful leaders, resulting in a near-collapse of FDC support in Buganda.

In announcing the UFA signaled that she will probably never run for a political office under the FDC flag. How her announcement shade little light on the UFA itself. She did not say whether the organization will focus on Buganda’s rights, as she has done herself for more than 6 months, or whether it would emphasize the federal system. She left out details about the overall political agenda of the UFA, only saying that her organization “will advocate for the use of one stone to kill seven birds – by an Act of Parliament, to shift the administrative seat of government from Kampala to Moroto”.

Click on the title “Make Moroto the administrative seat of government” to read Beti Kamya’s full opinion piece.

On Thursday February 26, Katikkiro JB Walusimbi stood up president Museveni of Uganda when he did not turn up for the much publicized land negotiations between Mmengo and Museveni.  According to our sources, Walusimbi could not go because key members of his cabinet overruled him. They insisted that Mmengo must not negotiate with Museveni about giving up anything to him on his proposed Land (Amendment) Bill, 2008. They argued that it would be disobedience to Kabaka Mutebi who had publicly called it a bad bill and told all Baganda to oppose it. Equally important, they insisted that while talking to Museveni was alright, it must be about full restoration of all Buganda’s property and political rights – not begging.

The problem for Walusimbi is that he had already assured Museveni that he could bring Mmengo to the table to negotiate the contentious Land (Amendment) Bill, 2008. So when the loyal Baganda ministers put their feet down he was left in a fix. And he opted to simply hide from Museveni. One source close to Museveni’s state house told us that: “Museveni is very annoyed that Walusimbi failed to turn up.  The president was made to look like a man who was promised some gold by Congolese con men and left holding a bag full of stones. He has been asking people near him, ‘What is wrong with Baganda?’ ”

It has been widely reported by the local Buganda press that Museveni and JB Walusimbi have been engaged in secret negotiations over Buganda issues since July 2008. What we can exclusively report from a highly reliable source very close to the Katikkiro is that the negotiations primarily focused on how to soften what Museveni, Walusimbi and other NRM big wigs think is Kabaka Mutebi’s excessive power today. Mr. Museveni and the Katikkiro had reportedly reached agreements the following key areas by January 28, 2009:

1. Museveni had convinced JB Walusimbi that if Kabaka Mutebi continued to accumulate so much power over Baganda it could lead to a show down where Baganda like him (Walusimbi) were going to lose lives and their businesses. And the way to control the Kabaka’s escalating influence was to remove Nambooze, Mpanga and Ssegona from CBS Radio and give the Katikkiro more control over Mmengo.
2. Walusimbi had convinced Museveni to pay off government rent arrears owed to Mmengo and authorize another 8 billion shillings to: (1) complete Bulange Plaza, (2) complete Twekobe, (3) pay some salary arrears for Bulange employees, (4) to facilitate (bribe) key Buganda officials and certain key Bataka (clan heads) for support, (5) to settle the debt that state house owed the Katikkiro’s Associated Consulting Engineers company, and (6) to buy support from Baganda peasants by giving them money through an NRM style program called Omumuli which Walusimbi designed with Gilbert Bukenya’s support.
3. The two sides had agreed that to soften Kabaka Mutebi it was important to isolate him more from the Baganda youths who are getting more dangerous, starting with the removal of Betty Nambooze from CBS. Curiously, the two sides had also agreed that the removal of Nambooze could be made simpler if it was accompanied with the firing of highly unpopular Baganda like Tamale Mirundi or Minister Kinobe or even Nsibambi.

What Museveni and Katikkiro Walusimbi could not control are the leaks about their so called secret talks over the months. For example, rumors of Museveni’s willingness to fire Tamale Mirundi or even Nsibambi to appease Baganda first surfaced in early January 2009. Apparently the many leaks helped the intended victims to plan and execute necessary counter moves.

A New York based Muganda thought leader told this reporter that it is the leakages which probably led Museveni to panic and hold that bizarre press conference on February 10, 2009. He said:  “I think that the leaks reached the intended victims at Mmengo Bulange and they fought back with rapid fire on CBS FM radio. Indeed, my contacts tell me that after getting an ISO briefing on the public response to the February 7th Mambo Baado presentation by Mpanga and Nambooze, Museveni decided to temporarily withdraw his Land (Amendment) Bill, 2008.  In effect, ISO people told him that Nambooze and Mpanga had mobilized Baganda youth to a point where public violence was inevitable if the land bill was read in parliament. In fact, in a slip of the toungue, Museveni admitted the role Nambooze and Mpanga in his panicky decision when he told the press conference:  ‘Don’t allow anyone to mislead you that we are withdrawing the bill because of the lies told by Nambooze and Mpanga on CBS radio’.”

Another Ttabamiruka ’08 conference video has surfaced on Youtube. Last time it was Hussein Kyanjo. This time it is the “intellectual iron lady” Beti Namisango Kamya spitting fire at president Museveni’s practice of shamelessly passing laws which are blatantly anti-Baganda. Beti’s video is over 7 minutes long, where she camly and intellectually challenges Baganda to ask themselves why their kin are being driven by Government out of Bunyoro while the same government is flooding Buganda with Balaalo.

It is not clear if more is to come, how much and when. Or even from who, except that the person doing it used the name “ttabamiruka”.  Click here to see and listen to Beti Kamya speak!.

Ttabamiruka ‘08 conference was concluded on September 1, 2008. According to a press release issued by the organizers, the conference hailed the courage of the three Buganda officials who were recently arrested in Uganda. The conference, in its final resolution, declared that cowardice and self-effacement are now taboo in Buganda affairs, and that Buganda’s right to internal autonomy is non-negotiable.

The conference, which was opened by an official Message from Ssabasajja Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II, was focused on the future political options of Buganda. The highlights of the two day meeting were addresses by retired Katikkiro Dan Muliika and members of Parliament Beti Kamya and Hussein Kyanjo. The hugely popular trio were frequently interrupted by tumultuous applause and standing ovations.

The conferees resolved that Buganda must take a new political direction based on direct discussions with the other peoples of Uganda to forge a New Deal. The political order of the last 42 years whereby the central government has had unlimited powers was declared a failure for having bred injustice, poverty and strife. The conferees asserted that the 14 Ugandan nationalities whose symbols were engraved on the walls of Uganda’s Parliament and which agreed to the 1962 independence constitution are still the legitimate base of Uganda as a country.

In what appears to be a preview of a Ttabamiruka ’08 conference video someone has posted a  5 minute presentation by the hard hitting Muganda MP for Makindye, Hussein Kyanjo. The posting comes about 4 months since the conference was concluded. It is not clear if more is to come, how much and when. Or even from who. However, the quality of this video is better than even most of the commercial Baganda videos we see on YouTube.com.

In the video snap, Kyanjo describes the chaotic and backward government operations in Uganda.  For example he questions why the thugs involved in money laundering, smuggling and other vices are routinely given Uganda’s diplomatic passport. Click here to listen to Kyanjo.

Ttabamiruka ‘08 conference was successfully concluded on September 1, 2008. According to a press release issued by the organizers, the conference hailed the courage of the three Buganda officials who were recently arrested in Uganda. The conference, in its final resolution, declared that cowardice and self-effacement are now taboo in Buganda affairs, and that Buganda’s right to internal autonomy is non-negotiable.

The conference, which was opened by an official Message from Ssabasajja Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II, was focused on the future political options of Buganda. The highlights of the two day meeting were addresses by retired Katikkiro Dan Muliika and members of Parliament Beti Kamya and Hussein Kyanjo. The hugely popular trio were frequently interrupted by tumultuous applause and standing ovations.

The conferees resolved that Buganda must take a new political direction based on direct discussions with the other peoples of Uganda to forge a New Deal. The political order of the last 42 years whereby the central government has had unlimited powers was declared a failure for having bred injustice, poverty and strife. The conferees asserted that the 14 Ugandan nationalities whose symbols were engraved on the walls of Uganda’s Parliament and which agreed to the 1962 independence constitution are still the legitimate base of Uganda as a country.