Samwiri Mukasa
Buganda Nationalist
USA

I found the arrogance in Mr. Museveni’s “Guidance to Banyoro Bafuruki question” letter, posted in Buganda Post on August 1, 2009, unacceptable. Click on “Tired, Drowning Museveni Blames Baganda For Bunyoro Land Violence” to see the letter. I cannot understand how a man who became president on the backs of Baganda can go so far in abusing us and our Kabaka. I had to do something about it. My late father used to tell us that, if you want deal with a stone-throwing mad man, throw a few rocks at him too. So, I chose to throw my own 9 so called principles at Museveni, blow by blow, here on Buganda Post. Mr. Museveni’s “stones” (poor spelling is his) are shown in regular text and my “rocks” in bold.

Guidance on Baganda vs Guidance on Banyoro

Having thought about all this for a long time, I am proposing the following principles to be part of the solutions.

After reading president Museveni’s letter and thinking about it for a short time, I am proposing the following principles to be part of the solutions.

1.     Ring-fencing the LC 5 positions in the whole of Bunyoro region for the indigenous people; and also ring-fencing the sub-county leadership in the whole of Bunyoro.

1. Ring-fencing all politics in the Kingdom of Buganda for native Baganda people (the Bataka and appropriate community leaders will sort out the details of how to put Baluuri, Banyala, Bakenyi and even certain Bajjwa on the path to full recognition as citizens of Buganda, and integrating some of their unique customary practices in Baganda culture)

2.    Ring-fencing the positions of Member of Parliament in the whole of Bunyoro region for the indeginous people except for the special constituencies created around Rutete (Lutete) and Kisita resettlement schemes. Number and two will in the spirit of article of 9 and article 10 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. They were also envisaged by article 32 of the constitution of Uganda which talked about affirmative action in favour of marginalized groups by reason of history or otherwise for the purpose of redressing imbalances that exist against them.

2. Abolishing the bogus 1995 Museveni Constitution since it is a “weapon of Buganda occupation”. Over 90% of Buganda’s people publically protested it because they preferred a federal form of government and Mr. Museveni responded with threats  to use force. The same happened in 1998 when Baganda demonstrated against the Land Act; Mr. Museveni threaten to start a new guerrilla war. Even more importantly, our Kabaka has publically stated, “Tuli mu buwambe” (”we under occupation”) – the Kabaka cannot lie!

3.    All the indigenous people that were on the Mailo land in 1964 should be granted ownership and the absentee landlords should leave the land. All the indeginous people that have been on public land should get titles ownership of that land. The Bafuuriki in the settlement schemes already have their land and should get titles if they do not have them. The Bafuuriki who bought land legally should have their rights recognized.

3. All Baganda who, in 1986, were on land that was later acquired irregularly by non-Baganda (using stolen government funds, drug money, laundered funds, land grabbing, etc.) shall be granted ownership and titles. Proof of income and tax records will be required to support claims of legal acquisition by the non-Baganda. Anyone who bought stolen property (abaagula ebibbe) will automatically lose it as required by ancient Buganda Laws.

4.    All the illegal encroachers in forest reserves should be evicted without compensation as the normadic cattle keepers of Buliisa are being settled in Buganda.

4. All the illegal encroachers in forest reserves, wetlands and cultural sites shall  be evicted without compensation and the nomadic cattle keepers will be repatriated to their home countries, using Tanzania’s successful experience as a model.

5.    The towns and trading centre should be exempted from these affirmative action measures. They should be free for all Ugandans. This is the healthy integration. The totally integrated Uganda should have its nucleus in the urban centers, factories, the hotels, the shops, the real estate etc. in oreder to promote healthy integration, industrialization should be promoted to pull redundant population from rural areas to the urban areas. Here there should be no regulation beyond ensuring that the workers are Ugandans.

5. Land ownership by genuine non-Baganda investors and residents will follow international norms, using countries like Japan, Korea and Israel as models. There will be a limit to the amount of land these non-Baganda investors and residents may own outside urban areas – to be set by the Great Lukiiko.

6.    The indigenous people who get land should be prohibited from selling the land for 20years and also leasing it.

6. The indigenous people who get land shall be free to sell their land to other Buganda or to non-Baganda through Buganda Land Board and according to the laws governing Buganda land.

7.    A program of sensitising the Banyoro and Bafuuriki should be promoted.

7. A program of sensitizing all Baganda and residents of Buganda about the historical and cultural importance we put on our land and environment shall be promoted.

8.    Government should have a special program for developing Bunyoro using money provided by the central government including the British funds.

8. Ssabasajja Kabaka’s Government shall have a comprehensive strategy and several programs to develop the kingdom’s people at a rapid rate, relying on the resources of Kabaka’s people all over the world – Kabaka does not “beg”.

9.    Finally there should a sunset clause to terminate or cause a review of this policy after 20years.

9. Finally, there is no sunset clause to terminate or reduce the rights of Baganda to determine how their God given land in the 18 counties shall be administered.

All this is a consequence of the colonial policies also supported by the traditional chiefs like of Mengo in Uganda, of discouraging the use of Swahili as a national language. If the people of Bunyoro-the Banyoro or the Bafuuriki were using Swahili, their differences would be submerged. It is the use of vernacular that provokes, in part, these contradictions. I like the indeginous languages, in fact I am about to complete a dictionary in Runyakore-Rukiga. However, I see these vanaculars not as an end in themselves. I see them as a source of enriching Swahili. That is why NRM promotes Swahili. We included it in the constitution; we use it in the army etc.

The committee, should, therefore, look at the principles I have mentioned above and see them work. You should also identify any other problems that I have not identified and propose solutions. You should propose any solutions you feel are useful in the areas for which I have suggested solutions.

All this  is a consequence of failure on our part, the Baganda,  to recognize that Uganda has needed us way much more than we did. And, that the relationship is now irreparable, especially since Uganda is a certified failed state, run by common thieves. How would one otherwise explain why the president’s office cannot not use an English spell-checker on Mr. Museveni’s letter?

Awangaale Ssabasajja!

Samwiri Mukasa

Mrs. Jocelyn Rugunda, the spouse of Uganda’s representative to the United Nations, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, has launched a The Uganda Women’s Forum. According to an invitation letter that Mrs. Rugunda sent to about 100 women in the New York area, Mrs. Rugunda states that: “The objective of the meeting is to get to know each other, share interesting life experiences, and identify opportunities of making ourselves more productive while living in United States.” Mrs. Rugunda does not indicate what qualifies her to lead Ugandan women towards making themselves more productive in America.

When we checked with a highly reliable source in the Ministry of foreign affairs, she told us that Mrs. Rugunda’s forum is “soft” recruiting for the NRM.  The source explained: “Mr. Museveni believes that Baganda women in America like him and what he is doing; it is only their husbands and boyfriends who confuse them with information about land issues and tribalism. Mr. Museveni thinks that if many of these Baganda women become NRM, the pressure from UNAA and Ggwanga Mujje will be very low. When giving clearance to Mrs. Rugunda to recruit, the permanent secretary, Ambassador James Mugume, specifically instructed Mrs. Rugunda to avoid political discussions in her forum. They are afraid that if politics is discussed in this forum, Baganda and other women may start asking why Museseveni’s is terrorizing their families in Buganda and stealing Buganda land.”

When shown Mrs. Rugunda’s invitation, a Muganda analyst and thought leader based in New York, agreed that this could be a campaign to recruit women, especially Baganda women, away from UNAA and Ggwanga Mujje activities, which the NRM does not control. He also had some tough words about Mrs. Rugunda’s character: “I have reliable information that when that woman and her husband came to New York they decided to rent an apartment in, of all places, Trump Tower. They are spending $16,000 per month on rent only and they represent a Uganda where a government medical doctor is paid $150 per month. But she now wants to help Baganda women make themselves more productive in America? I hope these women first send her an email and ask her to explain if it is not true that she has rented in Trump Towers, with rich Arab sheiks for neighbors. And how her family made the millions of dollars they have in Uganda.”

According to Mrs. Rugunda’s invitation, the Uganda Women’s’ Forum meeting will be at the Uganda House in New York on Saturday, June 27, 2009.

According a Bank of Uganda (BOU) source, the value of Uganda Shilling against the US Dollar is expected to continue a steady slide downward for a while. A banking officer in the Operations Division of BOU told this reporter on condition of anonymity that there are three major reasons for the misfortunes of the Shilling.

The bank officer said: “First is the global financial crisis which, unfortunately, both the BOU governor and ministry of finance (MOF) chose to joke about early this year. However, it has caused the funds remitted by Ugandans abroad, especially Baganda, doing kyeeyo to fall drastically as work becomes harder to get.  Similarly, local NGO’s and church pastors are experiencing a tough time fundraising in the USA and Europe. Many of them are collapsing or firing employees as the dollars dry up.

“The second major reason is that our exports are not seriously growing in dollar terms. Even the  recent increase in exports to Southern Sudan seem appears to have been a bubble because the Sudanese central government is now limiting the supply of dollars to the South due to political tensions.  The dollar shortage in Sudan has in turn reduced the dollars which corrupt Southern officials have been bringing into Uganda to bank or buy mansions and Buganda land.”

The third reason that the banking officer gave is Uganda official corruption and greed. He pointed out that: “Mr. Museveni’s  state house has squandered tens of millions of dollars on deals like the presidential jet, grants to fake investors like Basajjabalaba and numerous so called ‘classified’ withdraws.  When other government officials see how Mr. Museveni’s state house is stealing, they can only emulate. Over time, this unending corruption has scared the more serious investors from the local stock exchange and our government securities. In fact the weak securities markets are only surviving on laundered money which the owners are still afraid to send out of Uganda.”

The BOU employee warned that the value of the Shilling was likely to continue falling for sometime. He explained: “I think that the donors are likely to cut aid to Uganda before they  increase it, because the political situation is likely to get much worse as the 2011 elections approach.  Both the domestic and external debts are likely to get worse because Mr. Museveni is creating more districts even as we speak. He is also preparing to grow army, police and other imports before the elections.  And our FOREX reserves are not enough to allow Mutebire to support the Shilling by selling dollars.  Maybe for a few weeks.”

Below are the US Dollar exchange rates for since January (on the 20th of each month): 

Under international law, an agreement is legal only if the associated transaction is legal. On Tuesday October 28, 2008, President Mwai Kibaki dragged Kenya into Museveni’s long illegal campaign to give away Buganda land without authorization from Parliament, City Council or Baganda. Kibaki and Museveni signed a protocol that would give the Kitante Courts land on Yusuf Lule Avenue to the Republic of Kenya. However a prominent Ugandan historian told us that the public land in Mulago area, including the piece that Museveni gave away to Kenya, is owned by Buganda and only under lease to Kampala City Council, according to agreements made in the 1950s and before. The Kitante Courts land is currently occupied by President Museveni’s notorious and dreaded Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) organization.

If Kenya takes up Museveni’s offer, then she will be joining what many Baganda believe to be Mr. Museveni’s conspiracy to import and offer stolen Buganda land to so many foreigners that Baganda are overwhelmed and rendered too weak to fight back. Only last year, Museveni tried to take the Kitante Courts land for himself and his family by gifting it to one of his closest business associates, Sudhir Ruparelia but he dropped the transaction after it became too controversial. Mr. Museveni not only insists that Kampala is not part of Buganda but he is also pushing plans to expand it by at least 5 times in area.

A Muganda international law expert that we contacted explained that the legality of this transaction is tricky but it also smells corruption. “The smart thing for Buganda and others who may have an interest in this land to do would be to publicly register their opposition to the transaction. In particular they should petition the Kenyan government to desist from concluding this transaction ‘because the involved is stolen native lands’. And copies should be given to the UN Secretary General, members of the UN Security Council, Tanzania, etc. The question is, do Walusimbi and Makubuya have the spine to risk annoying Museveni?”

Kenya and Uganda are among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International. Both Mwai Kibaki and Yoweri Museveni remain presidents in their respective countries thanks to massive election fraud that was proven in courts of law. And the presidents of the two countries, especially Uganda, are known to be surrounded by legendary corrupt officials. In Uganda, Mr. Museveni’s closest confidant, Patrick Amama Mbabazi is in the middle of a special investigation by Parliament where overwhelming evidence has emerged that he illegally sold his land to Uganda’s National Social Security fund so he could strengthen his own personal bank. Yes, his personal bank where his partners include the Governor of Uganda’s central bank Tumusiime Mutebire and the minister of finance Ezra Suruma.

There are not enough details on Museveni’s Kenya land giveaway yet to indicate if Mr. Museveni and Mr. Kibaki will personally benefit from the multimillion dollar transaction. It is also not clear if Kenya’s Prime Minister, Oginga Odinga, known to be friendly to Buganda, supports the controversial deal despite its potential to alienate Baganda round the world.

Kenya’s Government can be reached via the following government officials: gowuor@mfa.go.ke  or mnyambura@mfa.go.ke or jbahemuka@mfa.go.ke. or kenrep@mweb.co.za.

Betty Bakireke Nambooze has promised her listeners that the fight by her Civil Education Committee for Buganda’s land and human rights will soon be stepped up. She explained that the relative quiet that followed the illegal kidnap and captivity of herself, Lubega Sseggona and Peter Mayiga was only a tactical withdraw. The Civic Education Committee was appointed by Ssabasajja Kabaka, Muwenda Mutebi, with Nambooze as its chairman.

Nambooze made the remarks last Tuesday on the weekly CBS Radio FM talk show program Kiriza oba Gaana (Agree or Disagree). Earlier this week Buganda Post carried an exclusive report about the financial challenges the Nambooze and her committee were facing in continuing their work. During Kiriza oba Gaana, Nambooze said that they had made the tactical withdraw to give the Government campaign to sell the Land Act amendments fail by itself. She said (our translation), “We have given the other side a chance to sell their story but most people can see, no one is buying. So we are coming back soon to bring the truth to you again, and teach you what it really going on.”

Nambooze’s statements came only days after similar declarations by another Buganda official who was kidnapped and kept in captivity in August, 2008, Medard Lubega Sseggona (Lubega Sseggona Vows To Keep Fighting for Buganda). It is still not clear if there is any connection between the statements by the two popular Buganda rights advocates and the evidence that CBS Radio management is taking its orders from President Museveni’s government.

About a month earlier CBS Radio management and Katikkiro Walusimbi tried to discontinue Betty Nambooze’s programs, only to be stopped by Ssabasajja Kabaka himself. More recently, CBS management caved to the demands of Museveni’s minister, Amama Mbabazi, and refused to air live a program where his political opponents Jim Muhweezi and Kahinda Otafiire were to appear on September 28, 2008. Katikkiro Walusimbi has even appointed a special “internal censor” of CBS programs, Cambridge University trained Haj. Mustafa Mutyaba, to make sure that Mr. Museveni’s expectations are generally met by what is broadcast.

On August 6, 2008 Mr. Museveni’s government kidnapped Nambooze, together with Peter Mayiga, Buganda Minister of Information and Lubega Sseggona, Buganda Deputy Minister of Information. The three were illegally held for nearly a week until a judge ruled the detention to be illegal captivity. Originally the government claimed that the trio, together with others, had plotted to prosecute war against Uganda but when take to court, they were only charged with sedition.