Apollo N. Makubuya

Dear Honourable Members,

I write further to Owek. Katikkiro’s letter to you on the Land (Amendment) Bill 2007 that is presently on the floor of Parliament.

The kingdom recognises the fact that there are many people suffering violent evictions from their homes and that ancestral grounds are being desecrated in gross violation of our cultural norms. However, we do not consider that the Bill addresses the twin evils of corruption and impunity, which are the root cause of the rampant evictions across the country.  Rather than solving the problem, this Bill sows the seeds of many more problems in the future.  It is bound to set communities against each other and further divide our people along social and economic lines.  Instead of helping people to live together in harmony, the Bill will exaggerate latent fault lines in our society and foster hatred and violence that may take generations to resolve. You must be aware already of the unfortunate cases where some occupants have killed innocent landlords to protect their interests.

In our view, the solution to illegal evictions lies in the enforcement of the current laws and not in passing of new ones. There is nothing today that stops the Police or other security organ from arresting, detaining and prosecuting individuals that illegally evict occupants of land. The Constitution of Uganda Art. 237 (8) and the 1998 Land Act guarantee security of tenure of lawful and bona fide occupants. This position has been reconfirmed by the Supreme Court of Uganda in the cases of Kampala District Land Board vs National Housing and Construction Corporation CA no. 2 of 2004 and Kampala District Land Board vs Babweyaka and 3 others CA No. 2 2007. In view of this, it is clear that the Bill is superfluous.

The Bill compounds the problem of Buganda’s expropriated land including the 9,000Sq miles that remain in the hands of the state. By entrenching the rights of all sorts of occupants of that land and making it impossible to remove them, except for non payment of ground rent, the Bill in effect completely alienates the said land and renders any “negotiations” for its eventual return futile. This, plus the fact that bibanja holdings are found mainly in Buganda makes the Bill particularly problematic for Buganda. Yet there are no limits on the size of bibanja.

We also consider that the failure to fully operationalise the 1998 Land Act must be addressed. The Bill will not have any real effect if the Land Act itself is largely dysfunctional. Substituting the role of the district land boards for example, with the minister in charge of lands can not be a solution to the problem.

Thus, like many other groups and individuals in the country, the Kingdom of Buganda opposes the Bill and presented its views to the Physical Infrastructure and the Legal Committees on April 10, 2009. We highlighted the dangers that lurk within the Bill and proposed an ideal, “win-win”, solution to the problem of violent evictions founded on the uniform and strict enforcement of existing laws. Sadly, it would appear that the Committee did not give adequate consideration to this presentation.

Land affects all of us.  We relate to it culturally, socially and economically.  Land nurtures us, sustains us and ultimately entombs us when we pass on. This makes land rights a very sensitive issue that should not be unnecessarily politicised or decided upon in haste.  I urge you to consult widely with your constituents and to search your conscience before making a decision. Please take note that your decision shall affect the cultural, social and economic wellbeing of millions of people in this generation and in generations to come.  I trust that you understand the value and wisdom of broad consensus in matters such as this one – for it is consensus that bestows any law with legitimacy.  This is truly a matter which calls for patriotism over partisanship or politics. Above all, take note that in casting your parliamentary vote, you stand before the Court of Posterity.

Honourable Member, the people of Buganda and Uganda count on your wisdom and integrity and trust that, together with your Honourable colleagues, you will handle this Bill objectively in order to engender peace, order, development and good governance in Uganda as prescribed by Article 79(1) of the Constitution.
I thank you for your kind attention.

Mr Makubuya is the Attorney General of Buganda Kingdom

When Museveni ordered his prime minister Apollo Nsibambi and the speaker of his parliament, Sekandi, to introduce the controversial Land Amendment Bill 2007, he set a trap for NRM MPs. Sources close to the Uganda warlord’s state house tell us that Museveni is using the land bill debate for many reasons. The source told us: “On some level, the president was annoyed that Kabaka Mutebi ruled out any deal between the two of them when they met one-on-one in September 2009 and he wants to punish him as the biggest land owner around. However, the most important reasons are strategic. First, it is now over a year since Museveni and his akazu (secret kitchen cabinet) decided that a bill like this would break the back of the Muganda. Equally important, Mr. Museveni wanted to use this bill to force Buganda MPs to choose between him and Buganda. He knows that some of them are now exposed to serious dangerous but that does not bother him. In fact he likes it that way because now they have nowhere to go except to him.”

Our state house source agreed with the general information in the MP poll that appeared in the November 22, 2009 Observer newspaper but gave us some clarifications. For example, he clarified that the NRM MPs who claim to be undecided are really jokers who are simply positioning to get paid more money for their votes than the others.  

Below is the list from Observer updated with new information from our statehouse source. The Observer news paper is at www.observer.ug.

When, on September 16, 2009, Museveni invited all Buganda MPs to a Thursday meeting to discuss the impasse regarding Kabaka’s visit to Kayunga, he was considering denying opposition to the visit (see “Museveni May Blame Police and Minister For Bugerere Violence“).   By the time the meeting took place, Museveni had decided to confront the Kabaka and had grown so paranoid that the locked non-NRM Buganda MP’s out.

One source close to president Museveni’s state house has told us:  “Young and rich Balaalo, who fear to lose the billion of shillings they have looted in Uganda had worked through senior members of the Balaalo akazu (secret conclave) Caleb Akandwanaho (Salim Saleh), Janet Museveni and Elly Karuhanga to persuade Museveni to lower the tension with Mmengo. As late as Wednesday afternoon, Museveni considered blaming the brutal actions of Uganda police against Baganda youths in Kayunga on Kayihura’s men.”  However, the Uganda warlord continued to face pressure from strongly anti-Baganda Balaalo and Bayiru like David Tinyefuza, Kale Kayihura, Kahinda Otafiire and others, who wanted the Kabaka arrested.”

The situation was complicated on Wednesday when, Museveni, after 2 years of unsuccessful efforts, managed to get a telephone audience with Ssabasajja Kabaka.  According the Museveni’s own statement, the Kabaka was clearly unimpressed by the extreme importance the Ugandan ruler places on the title, “President of Uganda”. The unfriendly call left Museveni irate but probably did not change his thoughts about calling some type of truce.

The source says, however, that: “President Museveni panicked on Thursday late morning when he got intelligence reports that the violence that started after Kayihura barred Katikkiro Walusimbi from entering Bugerere was spreading to places as far as Masaka.  Even worse, it was being executed by fearless young Baganda, some as young as 13 years, in huge numbers. When he consulted some members of  the kazu, they were also panicking. When he called Janet Museveni, overseas at the time and very angry at the way Baganda had embarrassed her at UNAA, she told him that there was no choice but crash the Baganda rioters.” That is when Museveni made the final decision to stop Kabaka Mutebi.

Museveni formally announced that unless Mmengo held talks with Banyala and CBS radio stopped their negative campaign against the NRM and inciting the people against Police, Kabaka’s visit to Kayunga on Saturday could not take place. Reportedly, the Ugandan warlord did not sleep at all Thursday night but made another critical decision. He ordered that the Kabaka had to be stopped if he left his palace and live bullets were to be used on rioters.

It appears that Kabaka Mutebi’s advisors got wind of Museveni’s genocidal plans early enough to avert the potential bloodshed. By Friday mid-afternoon, the Buganda cabinet had made the decision that talking to Museveni’s person king (Sabanyala) was out of questions and Baganda blood could not be sacrificed to the NRM government, which seemed deranged.  Sources close to Mmengo could not provide more details about what went on in the Buganda cabinet up to the point of the official statement canceling the trip. However, according the Observer Newspaper (www.observer.ug), the wording and timing  of the Mmengo statement was highly influenced by fear that Katikkiro Walusimbi, who is little trusted by nationalist Baganda, could be harmed.

We can report that Museveni was in communication with people who are close to key Buganda government officials throughout the crisis. However, it is not known if any actual communication took place. Also, Museveni planted at least one informer among Mmengo officials, including in the Katikkiro’s convoy that was stopped at Sezibwa (details withheld to protect the sources).

In the meantime, a state of panic has taken root among the Balaalo community in Buganda. For many of them this the first time they came face to face with the prospect that Museveni does not have the capacity to protest them against the thousands of unemployed and angry young Baganda. Evidence of this panic includes the decision by Rwandese Balaalo, assisted by a foreign country, to volunteer to offer over 20 lorries to accompany Kabaka Mutebi to Kayunga. We have also received unconfirmed reports of an unusual number of Balaalo parents taking their children home from boarding schools on Saturday September 12, 2009.

The Attorney General of Buganda, Owek. Apollo Makubuya, told a press conference yesterday that the Kingdom of Buganda is determined to continue fighting against President Museveni’s Land Amendment Bill 2007. After several months of appearing to be in limbo, the controversial bill was brought back to the Uganda parliament in mid Novembers for scrutiny and approval. The bill seeks to some sections of the 1998 Land Act, to enable the thousands of Balaalo and other foreigners who the government has imported into Buganda from Western Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Congo to get immediate legal rights to Buganda lands which was illegally taken. Such land includes Buganda’s 9,000 square miles as well as large tracts of private Baganda land, whose owners are either overseas or powerless to protect it.

President Museveni’s key soldiers pushing the unpopular bill in parliament include Baganda Edward Sekandi (the speaker), Apollo Nsibambi, Rose Namayanja, Ruth Nankabirwa, Abraham Byandaala and James Kinobe. According to parliamentary sources, the the bill is highly likely to pass because virtually all western MP’s routinely vote for anti-Buganda bills and many Baganda MPs have been “facilitated” to toe the NRM line. The Baganda MP’s who are leading the fight on Buganda’s side include Michael Mabikke, Moses Kabuusu, Sarah Nyombi Nansubuga, Beti Kamya and Hussein Kyanjo.

At the December 8, 2008 press conference Attorney General Makubuya and Buganda Minister for Research, Daudi Mpanga, made it clear that Buganda will continue to fight the anti-Buganda bill. As he has done in the past, Makubuya pointed out that the bill amounts to a deception which was hastily put together.  “It does not address the real courses of eviction as the government claims,” he argued. On his part, Daudi calmly told the press that Mr. Museveni’s parliament could pass the bill if they want. However, it would not work in Buganda.

Dear Maama,

In my last letter I told you that, most of us here believe that Obama is going to be bad news for African dictators. I also said that Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe are likely to be affected most because Barack is very well informed about the election rigging and civil rights abuses in these countries.  Word from my smart Baganda friends here (Think Tank) is that the potential for Baganda to get Obama’s attention are even higher than first thought.

One of the important new things is that now, Mrs. Hillary Clinton is the person most likely to become secretary of state (American name for Minister of Foreign Affairs). It is common knowledge that both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton were embarrassed by President Museveni when, after praising him a “new breed” of African leader, he bribed Parliament to remove presidential term limits. And when he went on to violently rig elections. With Mrs. Clinton’s deep knowledge about the Rwanda genocide, it should take little to draw her attention to violation of human, cultural and property rights against Baganda and the possibility of genocide-scale violence.

By the way I hope you saw in the Vision that a Musoga young man works for and is personally known to Obama. We don’t know if he would help Buganda interests but he would have little opportunity to lie that Baganda have no case if make the right noise in right places. But Namusisi in New York also told me that there are two Baganda young men who worked in Mrs. Clinton’s Senate office. The signs are that there is now a big chance for Baganda to take our case to the whole world and make the dictator explain why we are wrong when we demand for our 9,000 miles and freedom to have Kabaka leads the way we want. Things like the Buganda Post and other Internet stuff are powerful enough.

Some people here reason that Mr. Obama will do like all Western donors and pretend that nothing is wrong simply because the dictator keeps things in Uganda quiet. And that Uganda is critical to the situation In Sudan and Congo. But the people in the Think Tank say that after seeing Mr. Obama’s strong statements against America supporting dictators in short-term but creating long term disasters, he and Clinton have no choice but to pay attention to a well put case by Buganda. Even on a much more strategic country like Pakistan Obama, was not willing to be soft on dictator Musaraf.  He understands that Uganda is useless to America if it blows up Kosovo or Somalia style after something happens to the dictator.

Now, what I don’t know is how we can take advantage of these big chances when the man who Kabaka gave Ddamula and his close advisors appear to be focused on local things like negotiating with Museveni or renovating Lubiri with Libyan money or attending Rotary Club meetings.

Let me stop here maama. By the way, we have made the air-ticket reservations for December. Muna Gayaza munno says Hello.

Son,

Joshua