J. Kitandwe
Kabaka’a Territories

The Boston [Buganda Emergency Meeting] Resolutions number 3,8 and 10 prove that Buganda’s greatest problem is we the Baganda ourselves. Up to now we have failed to understand our problem? It is deceptive for any patriotic Muganda or genuine Buganda well wisher to still prescribe federalism, free and fair elections, democracy, and mobilization of other ethnic communities as way forward for Buganda as envisaged in the Boston resolutions 3,8, and 10 (see “Resolutions of the Buganda Emergency Meeting in Boston on October 17, 2009“). The authors of the Boston resolutions should retreat and carefully study the Buganda problem right from the 1950s up to now 2009 and see whether their resolution score any goals for Buganda.

The truth is that Democracy’s free and fair elections wont solve our problem. There is overwhelming evidence that any thing that affects or pains Buganda automatically brings joy/ happiness to the rest of Uganda. Whoever inflicts pain on Buganda automatically gets the backing of the rest parts of Uganda. So what do you [expect] in terms of votes! Definitely the candidate who displays most anti- Bugandaism will get more votes because nothing really unites Ugandans more than their common hate for Buganda.

Buganda struggled and earned full federal in 1962 protected by the 1962 constitution. How did it help us? For how long did it last? How was it lost? What has changed now?

It is laziness to demand for federal now. Self-determination is our right. We have a right to exist the way we prefer. Lets focus on Buganda’s independence. We can re-unite with other Uganda if we find it necessary but on our own terms.          

Below is a statement from Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise executive director, Dr. Alan Bernstein.  The Enterprise (http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org) is a global alliance of researchers, funders, policy makers and advocates that includes the African AIDS Vaccine Program, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), the AIDS Vaccine Asian Network, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, the Chinese AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD), the Department for International Development, the European Commission, Europrise, Eurovacc, GlaxoSmithKline, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), Merck & Co. Inc., the National Agency for AIDS Research (ANRS), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Novartis Vaccines, sanofi pasteur, the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), UNAIDS, USAID, Vaccine Research Center (VRC), Wellcome Trust and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr. Bernstein is available to speak with journalists to help put the Thai trial results into perspective and to comment on their significance for the future of HIV vaccine research.  To interview Dr. Bernstein, please contact Mark Aurigemma at (212) 600-1960, (646) 270-9451 or mark@aucomm.net; or Jennifer Brunet at (212) 46i-3693 or jbrunet@vaccineenterprise.org.

“This is a historic day in the 26-year quest to develop an AIDS vaccine.  The results of the Thai Phase III HIV vaccine clinical trial of the “prime-boost” combination of ALVAC-HIV vaccine and AIDSVAC B/E vaccine demonstrate that a safe and effective AIDS vaccine is an achievable goal. This trial is the first demonstration in humans that, with more research, it will be possible to develop a vaccine that is fully protective against HIV.

These results represent the most significant advance in HIV vaccine research to date, and a ray of hope for the more than 2.7 million women, men and children who become newly infected with HIV every year across the globe.  Current prevention efforts can lower HIV risk, but a safe and effective vaccine will be essential to ending this epidemic.

We owe an enormous debt of thanks to the people of Thailand, and especially to the more than 16,000 women and men who selflessly participated in this clinical trial. This significant scientific milestone – the first vaccine study to reduce HIV infections in humans – would not have been reached without their engagement and the efforts of the trial sponsors – Enterprise stakeholders including the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and sanofi pasteur – as well as the Thailand Ministry of Public Health and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases (GSID).

The reduction in HIV infection risk measured in this study, 31.2 percent, was modest, but raises important implications for future research directions. HIV vaccine researchers, funders and advocates must now continue to work together, as quickly and effectively as possible, to understand why this vaccine regimen worked as it did, how its efficacy can be improved, whether and how it may work in other parts of the world, and how to develop new vaccine candidates that expand on the level of protection achieved here.

This study also demonstrates the importance of global cooperation and collaboration – the central values of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise – in accelerating the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine.  Researchers, advocates, funders and policy makers are working together through the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise process to develop and test new vaccine candidates. Full data from the Thai trial will be presented at the Enterprise’s annual scientific conference, AIDS Vaccine 2009, in Paris on October 19-22. http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/conference/2009/

Finally, these results are an immediate call to action to governments, funders, policy makers, researchers and advocates to dramatically step up our efforts to develop and make globally available a safe and effective HIV vaccine. Stakeholders of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise will continue to lead this fight, but developing a safe and effective AIDS vaccine will require the full and collective efforts of every individual and organization worldwide committed to ending this devastating epidemic.

Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise partners will be working aggressively in the months ahead to address the many scientific questions raised by this study, and to develop and test other vaccine candidates.  The findings of this trial will also help inform strategies outlined in the updated Enterprise Scientific Strategic Plan, the global strategy for HIV vaccine research currently being developed by over 150 scientists from around the world, to be released in spring 2010.

We look forward to hosting the ongoing discussion of results of this trial and the discussion of next steps in the journey to find an AIDS vaccine at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris, October 19-22.

Sources close to the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) Vice President, Moses Kalemba, tell this reporter that NRM operatives have a plot to derail Ttabamiruka ’09 during the next Ggawangamujje Boston general meeting. The meeting is to be held on November 9, 2008, and according to our sources in Boston, the strategy that Kalemba and Bukenya emphasize first changing the Ttabamiruka date from September to May. Bukenya is a diehard NRM who, like Kalemba, takes the view that Baganda events like Ttabamiruka must not become an alternative to their UNAA Convention. However, they support similar conferences by Basoga, Bakiga, Bamasaba, Acholis and other nationalities.

According to the sources, the Kalemba/Bukenya team scored first when they bulldozed a clearly weak Ggwangamujje Executive to agree that changing of the Ttabamiruka ’09 date to May or July be put to a vote in a general meeting. And now they are engaged in a well funded intense ground campaign (“kakuyege”) to get very many of their supporters to the November 9, 2008 meeting and vote for the date change they want.  Apparently, they are confident that, once the date is changed to May 2009, there simply will not be enough time for the Ggwangamujje Executive to organize a serious Ttabamiruka. So, in short order the powerful Baganda conference which shook Museveni in 2007 and 2008 will be dead.

Members of the Ggwangamujje Boston Executive include Reverend Nakabaale (President), NRM’s Bukenya (Vice President), Prof. Lugira, Kato Kajubi, Samalie Kajubi, Ssali, Mark Kizza, Mayanja and Dan Nvule. Historically, the Boston chapter of Ggwangamujje has suffered from NRM manipulation, placing a cloud of doubt over the overall loyalty of Boston Baganda to their Kabaka and nation. The immediate past president of Ggwangamujje Boston is Abdul Kimbugwe who simultaneously held that position with Chairmanship of UNAA. Kimbugwe was later widely reported to be an ISO operative who was later recalled by State House and given a consultant job in Uganda Revenue Authority. All evidence so far is that Reverend Nakabaale and a few others on his Executive may be committed to the Buganda cause but they simply don’t have the experience and organizational skills to fight off the NRM.

Bukenya is Vice President of Ggwangamujje Boston but also, together with Kalemba,  one of the UNAA Convention organizers.  He is one of the NRMs strongest activists and has on many occasions spoken against Ttabamiruka. He has never attended a Ttabamiruka conference but was one of the key organizers of the UNAA convention in Florida. Moses Kalemba is Vice President of UNAA and a well known opponent of Ttabamiruka. This reporter has reliably learnt that Moses Kalemba is a Muganda or Mmamba but opposed to Baganda only affairs.

On September 25, 2008, Buganda Post broke the story that Boston Baganda were  threatening to report, directly to Kabaka Mutebi that NRM activists in the USA who had accepted money from Kampala were plotting to sabotage the next Ttabamiruka conference.  This reporter kindly requests all those who will attend the November 9, 2008, Ggwangamujje general meeting to send your observation to info@bugandapost.com.