Mr. Museveni’s NRM government has told Buganda officials who were in the final stages of preparing to open a Buganda TV station to forget it. The order was given by the chairman of Mr. Museveni’s broadcasting council, Godfrey Mutabaazi. According to the Baganda Eddoboozi newspaper, the Kabaka of Buganda first thought of opening a TV station, to develop his kingdom,  a few years ago. Buganda government officials formed a separate company called Diamond Communications Limited to implement the Kabaka’s plans. And on February 24, the NRM government’s broadcasting council  issued a licence to Diamond to open the TV station. Since then, Buganda officials have been working hard, including ordering equipment from overseas, to put everything in  place for the Buganda TV station to open.

In announcing the surprise cancellation of the TV licence, Godfrey Mutabaazi claimed that the licence had to be cancelled because Buganda has taken too long to open the station from the date they got it.  Mutabaazi claimed that it was against the laws and regulations governing broadcast licences to delay as much as Buganda did. The TV licence cancellation comes only one week after the NRM government similarly the licence for a new Buganda radio station. The radio licence had also been obtained by Diamond Communications in 2008 and was not related to the CBS FM radio stations, which the NRM government closed late in 2009.

When the NRM government cancelled the new Buganda radio and TV licences, it completed a total radio and TV information blackout on Kabaka Mutebi and his development programs from the citizens of Buganda.  In October and November 2009, the NRM government ordered all media houses in Uganda to stop reporting might promote the image of Kabaka Mutebi or his programs or Buganda identity. And that was after Buganda’s main station CBS FM Radio and its two channels were illegally closed.  The timing of the cancellations and closures seem to be aimed at bankrupting Kabaka Mutebi’s projects and forcing Buganda to apologize for resisting the NRM government’s plans for the kingdom.

Now, the only public channels in Uganda which the Kabaka can reliably use to guide his subjects in development are two Baganda owned newspapers, Eddoboozi and Ggwanga. However, the two publications are also operating on slippery ground. However, Buganda is far from down and out. Baganda in Europe and the USA have started a variety of media outlets and some of them are dedicated to Buganda national interests. For example, last week word spread like fire around Kampala surburbs that a Baganda radio called Ababaka (www.ababaka.com)  was going to start broadcasting on Short Wave (SW) every Saturday and Sunday from 8:00PM – 10:00PM. Our reporters in Kampala have not yet been able to find people who have a SW radio and were able to tune into Ababaka Radio last weekend. However, the word continues to spread and Short Wave radios are selling very well.  The USA based Baganda radio does not need a licence from the NRM because it is supposed to use satellites to transmit but it is hard to know yet if the NRM  interfered with it at all. Ababaka Radio has been broadcasting for a long time and  is already very popular in the diaspora especially in the USA, UK and Germany.

Eddoboozi newspaper has reported that one of Kabaka Mutebi’s guards has rebelled and established Local Council 1 (LC 1) office in the Mmengo Lubiri. The Lubiri the official residence of the Kabaka of Buganda and is considered a sacred place for Baganda. According to reports, David Ssengoye and other people, first held a meeting at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel in Ndeeba and selected themselves as the officials of the council. Ssengoye is chairman, Betty Kisaliita is his deputy and one Saad, another former Kabaka’s guard is secretary for youth. Under the president Museveni’s occupation laws, if Ssengoye gets away with this council then he (Ssengoye) will have political power over the Lion of Buganda.

Eddoboozi learnt from reliable sources that Ssengoye’s rebel LC 1 is filled by NRM operatives. And according to the newspaper’s research, it appears that Ssegoye is being paid well by certain people to provoke Kabaka Mutebi. When the Kabaka first heard about Ssengoye’s activities, he (Kabaka) told his guard to drop the idea because Mmengo Lubiri is a private cultural place and must not have a political office such as LC 1. However, Ssengoye decided to ignore his Kabaka and move ahead to start his LC 1 office in the palace.

By lunchtime in Kampala on Saturday, the word on Buganda street was that evidence (“bwino”) had been uncovered that at least two Mmengo officials had secretly assisted Ssengoye to set up the LC 1. And that they had been facilitated by Museveni’s NRM government.

Eddobozi newspaper is run by the Buganda youth organization, Nkoba za Mbogo and can be found online at www.eddoboozi.co.ug.

Thanks to pressure from ordinary Baganda and politicians who are scared of losing votes in Buganda, Uganda’s life president Yoweri Museveni, would like to reopen Buganda’s CBS FM Radio now. However the prospects of this happening appear poor, given the growing number of power centers that oppose it and his own crude stubbornness.

Museveni erected the first hurdle when he decided to set what many observers consider unreasonable conditions, for rescinding the illegal closure of the most popular radio station in Uganda. The ridiculous conditions, even by the standards of donor governed Uganda, included firing all presenters who annoyed Ugandan president in the past, moving the radio station headquarters to a location more agreeable to the NRM government, only airing cultural programs and, most incredibly, dropping legal cases that CBS employees filed against government.

According to local press reports, the Buganda minister of information, Owek. Medard Lubega Ssegona, reacted swiftly, saying in Luganda: “Tetuyinza kuwaayo Bwakabaka  batuweemu leediyo. Obukwakkulizo bwa gavumenti bumenya Konsitityusoni n’amateeka amalala.” (“We cannot surrender our kingdom in exchange for a radio station. The [NRM] government’s demands are illegal.”). At the same time, a sources in Mmengo told us that Katikkiro Walusimbi and other businessmen in Buganda Government want to negotiate with Museveni on the conditions but are simply overwhelmed by the other forces.

The most formidable force against opening of CBS under Museveni’s arbitrary conditions is the Baganda masses and the Bataka (clan elders). This group, which also includes CBS Fans Club and the more nationalistic members of Buganda government, misses the radio station most and is putting most pressure on Museveni to re-open it. However, they are strongly opposed to the reopening if it will lead to changes in their radio station’s format or presenters. Although Kabaka Mutebi is quiet on the issue, word on the Baganda street is that he is fully with his subjects and the Bataka (as Ssabataka, Kabaka Mutebi is part of the Bataka).

Also strongly opposed for the reopening are Baganda members of the Ugandan opposition political parties, DP, FDC and UPC. Most of these political types would like CBS to remain closed until the 2011 elections to maximize Baganda anger and anti-NRM feelings. Joyce Nabbosa Sebugwaawo is a strong activist in the Bakiga/Banyankore led FDC and she quoted by the local press saying: “Gavumenti ekole ky’eyagala bwe baliyagala baligizzaako. Obukwakkulizo bwe batutaddeko tebujja kukola era tubugaanyi. Banaffe oba basazeewo kukola nga bannakyemalira, katubaleke bagende mu maaso.” (“Let the government do whatever they want. Whenever they decide they can reopen it. The conditions they have imposed are impractical and we rejected them. Our colleagues have chosen to be dictators, we will let them go ahead.”)

Others opposed to the CBS opening, but possibly working independently, are disgruntled NRMs who feel betrayed by Museveni. One example is Janat Mukwaya, who, according to state house sources, Museveni is anxious to drop. Mrs. Mukwaya reportedly knows this and she has already decided not to run for re-election in 2011. But she is privately afraid about her future, including the personal safety of her family because of the anti-Baganda crimes she has committed on behalf of  the Museveni who is now dumping her. Another one is Museveni’s vice president Gilbert Bukenya, who is seeing red over the not so subtle murder of his son followed by the the highly public ridicule by Museveni and Tamale Mirundi over the CHOGOM car scandal. These two and other disillusioned NRMs, reportedly now have individual “Ffena tufiirwe” (“If I lose everyone must lose”) agendas in connection with CBS Radio.  In general, they are pushing for CBS to remain closed so that hatred for Museveni and Banyankore in Buganda may increase. Short term agendas.

A source close to the NRM’s most brutal security organization, the Rapid Response Unit, has sent a secured message to this writer, to confirm reports by Baganda run online newspaper that the RRU publically executed several suspects after they surrendered.  On January 3, 2009, the Democratic Party leaning www.crestedjournal.com reported that and eyewitness told them that NRM government operatives had executed 7 unidentified individuals. Part of the Crested Journal story reads:

Seven Ugandans whose Identities have not been know yet were yesterday executed by “security agents” in open view of the general public in Kyengera about [14] Kilometers south west of Kampala. According to [an] eyewitness, travelling to Kampala from Bushenyi a civilian car was intercepted by another car and all seven occupants were taken out and executed.

“We got into a traffic snarl all the way at Buddo. We stopped for fuel at a Total Petrol station in Kyengera. As we were filling our car, we heard gunshots. We all turned to look and about fifty (50) metres from where we were, in the middle of the road, a car had blocked another car and someone was lying on the ground,” the eyewitness narrates.

He continued to tell our reporter that “as they watched gunmen -all in civilian clothes-continued to shoot inside the other car, more occupants spilled out with their hands in the air but they were all executed!”

Our source has been a member of president Museveni’s security organizations for more than 10 years. He/she has worked with David Magara, the man who issued the orders for the Kyengera execution, and other ruthless CMU, RRU and Operation Wembley veterans, including  the late Nobert Mayombo, Elly Kayanja and Leo Kyanda. Communicating with the confidence that we would never reveal his/her name, the source confirmed the essence of the Crested Journal story. He/she also rubbished the New Vision and Monitor stories, which claimed that  4 robbers died in a fire exchange. He/she said: “The New Vision story, including pictures of the policemen in the hospital are all fiction and comedy. The monitor, wants to stay open so they also took what the government stated and changed a few words.”

The source shed more light to the situation when he/she added: “Although I was not near the incident, the word in Kireka, Naguru and Kololo is that, yes, it was an execution and David Magara (see photo) ordered based on instructions from above and in consultation with David Tinyefuza. These were not robbers but anti NRM people who were trying to armed resistance. The official policy from above is to infiltrate such groups, trap them and then execute them as robbers.  And that is what happened at Kyengera. You see, the RRU was created with support from the American government. In fact, David Magara, the RRU’s commander and chief executioner got USA sponsorship, education wise and salary wise since way back in 2002. Tinyefuza, Magara and even Mzee fear that if we arrest and take these thugs to court, the USA will insist on fair trials and the anti NRM people who sponsor them from the diaspora will gain confidence.

“All I can tell you for now is that these chaps were 6 or 7. They were well known to the RRU and had been tracked for sometime because the driver, who was allowed to escape, was government informer. Yes, they had surrendered but the ‘do not take prisoners’ order had to be implemented. They had to be executed as per policy. By the way, I think most likely all of them were Baganda, probably sponsored from outside. I cannot tell you if they are after regime change or Federo or what… But police may take time to announce the names only because they need time to create new names for the dead men and properly finish the ‘official’ story.”

Uganda’s iron fisted dictator, Yoweri  Museveni, is in the middle of a hurriedly arranged tour of Buganda under the pretext of promoting  ”Bona bagagawale” (”prosperity for all”).  However, Mr. Museveni has attracted such small audiences that his state house has banned all newspapers from publishing photos from the rallies. The decision was taken as soon as Museveni’s handlers observed that when Museveni went to Kyaggwe, in the Kisoga area, he received  crowds that were substantially smaller crowds than the ones his opponent, Kiiza Besigye, had attracted  a few weeks earlier. To further complicate matters for Uganda’s warlord, his crowds tend to be dominated by village idlers and pickpockets and are not always friendly.

One email from a source close to Museveni’s state house says: “The state house simply had no choice but to stop everyone from printing pictures when the crowds in Kyaggwe and Rakai do not even come to even 20% of what Kabaka would attract. And they are also clearly smaller than what Besigye gets. To make things worse, when Kabaka goes places, people roll themselves in the dust on the road asking him to walk over their back. When  the president goes anywhere, people ignore his length speeches and as soon as he finishes start complaining  about everything from terrible roads, land grabbing by ‘foreigners’ and drunkard husbands. In a couple cases he has been asked to explain why he does not leave Kabaka alone.”

In a related development, another Uganda government source who is in contact with Mr. Museveni’s convoy in Rakai, Kooki county, sent us an email to say that Mr. Museveni is spending two days in the area to have more time with his local spies regarding the deteriorating security situation in both Buddu and Kooki counties. And, reportedly, to dish out bribes to local NRM operatives and other locals with a long-term goal of undermining  both Omutaka Kabumbuli and the Kabaka in Kooki.  Museveni reportedly gives out the bribe money  during secret night meetings and, while in the Kooki area, he is sleeping only about 3-4 hours a night.