The SMS we got from out agent in Mubende town, Buwekula county, where Sabasajja Kabaka chose to celebrate Buganda’s 14th independence observance was simple but very inspiring: “Empologoma ya Buganda ebogodde buto!” (”The lion of Buganda has roared yet again!”). In his first public statements since he was forced to go to Museveni’s statehouse and then tricked into appearing to be negotiating with a commoner, Kabaka Mutebi made it very clear that the current occupation conditions in Buganda are not acceptable. The SMS from our reporter came seconds after Ssabasajja Kabaka told the mammoth crowd at Buganda independence day ceremonies, “The 47 years of independence which we are observing today have been wasted by senseless conflicts and governance problems. As a result of this, our development has been paralyzed. Thinking in terms of constant conflicts must stop.”
According to our reporter, the lion of Buganda went on to give as example, leaders who practice decisive politics in an effort to divide Buganda into artificial chiefdoms. Warning that, “we must not tolerate what such leaders are doing.”
In the presence of his wife, Nnabagereka Nnaginda, the Kabaka promised that his kingdom nation will never promote constant ethnic conflicts because, “we value unity and not divisions in Buganda”.
Last week Kabaka Mutebi reluctantly went to Museveni’s state house after the Ugandan warlord threatened that if Ssabasajja did not meet him, he would introduce laws to abolish kingdoms and probably arrest His Majesty. Our sources tell us that Kabaka Mutebi was not too concerned by Museveni’s empty talk but Katikkiro Walusimbi, other old Baganda and CBS Radio shareholders convinced him that Museveni was willing to entertain most of Buganda’s demands if the Kabaka spoke to him. Although, Museveni dressed up properly to meet Kabaka Mutebi, including putting on dress shoes and walking his painful feet straight, he broke his promise to Walusimbi within minutes after the Buganda delegation arrived. Museveni took everyone by surprise when he told them to wait he spoke to Kabaka Mutebi for some minutes. The minutes turned into a full hour, after which Museveni’s state house and Katikkiro both started spinning that the private talks between were “ground breaking”. Nothing on the original agenda took place because of the Museveni scam (kavuyo).
Surprisingly, next day, Katikkiro Walusimbi issued a statement claiming that, the meeting between Ssabasajja and the Ugandan warlord had removed all tensions between Buganda and her NRM occupiers (see “Katikkiro JB Walusimbi Praises Gunpoint Meeting Between Kabaka and Museveni“). Then Deputy Katikkiro Ssendaula wrote to all Kabaka’s representatives outside Buganda asking them to tell Diaspora Baganda to be “very calm” while Mmengo talks to the occupying forces. Owek. Ssendaula’s letter angered some Baganda because it seems to focus only on “not upsetting Museveni” and says nothing about the plight of Kabaka Mutebi and many of his loyal subjects who were murdered or are under torture in the NRM governments prisons and safe houses (see “Deputy Katikkiro and Kabaka’s Representative Anger UK Baganda“).
The consensus among all the 4 Baganda analysts who we have contacted is that Kabaka Mutebi made the strong statements in Buwekula to clearly and publicly disown the appeasing, apologetic and sometimes cowardly tone of the statements which his Katikkiro and his Deputy have been making. One analyst named David Kasozi said: “Once a Muganda radical, always a Muganda radical. And Ssabasajja joined us Baganda radicals a long time ago. We, under Kabaka Mutebi’s leadership, are not quitting until Buganda is ruled on her own terms, probably as an independent monarchy.”
