An email from a source close to president Museveni’s state house reveals that, since October  2009  the Ugandan dictator’s people have been struggling to put together a real plan to deal with the accelerating anti-Museveni and anti-NRM feelings in Buganda. The people who seem to be the brains behind the plan include Museveni himself, John Nagenda, Tamale Mirundi and one Mafabi. Also involved in some meetings are Museveni’s half brother Salim Saleh (Caleb Akandwanako), David Tinyefuza, David Magara, Wabudeya, Kirunda Kivejinja, Moses Kigongo, Hope Mwesigye, Robert Kabushenga, Namayanja and others.

According to the email: “A lot of experiments have been made to see how to change Baganda either through fear or love. Nothing seems to work. For example, Museveni started a tour of Buganda after the Kayunga riots with plans to give out cash to key NRM people to bribe villagers. But the tour has been terrible from last year.  Whether it is in Butambala, Kyaggwe, Bugere  or Buddu, every place the president goes Baganda have been coming in small numbers and only demanding for the opening  of CBS.  Even when state house decided to show power by having mambas go with the president to Kyaggwe the people were not impressed and only put up more pictures of Kabaka Mutebi and Nnabagereka in their taxis and shops.”

The president’s people are sort of divided according to our source.  Tinyefuza, Janet Museveni,  Magara, Otafiire and sometimes Saleh, lead the group which wants to use straight force. This group pressured the president to force Kabaka Mutebi to come to the infamous “gun on your head” Entebbe meeting late last year, where the Lion of Buganda refused to be bought. The group also claims that Museveni did not go far enough in crashing the Kayunga disturbances. Salim Saleh is also on the second side with Kivenjinja, Kuteesa, Tamale Mirundi, Mwesigye, Nagenda and others. This “divide and conquer” group prefer to isolate Kabaka from Baganda by destroying Mmengo as an institution and confusing people until the 2011 elections are over.  This team believes that if the Europeans and the USA are happy with the elections, which Museveni is guaranteed to win, Buganda will have nowhere to start.  Museveni would very much like to use force but  he also knows that Baganda youths have become too strong to let him win on force while America and Europe are watching. For now he is siding with the second team.

Our source adds: “Recently a plan was kicked off for president Museveni and Salim Saleh to soften the tone on Buganda and show respect to Kabaka Mutebi and leave people like Mirundi, Nagenda, other Baganda and even Tinyefuza or Otafiire to be the bad guys. That is why Museveni went to Kayunga (Bugerere county) and said that the county can never leave Buganda. This is the man who has been calling the county Bunyala for 6 months and stopped the Kabaka  from going there without permission from his Sabanyala. The problem for state house is that again, most peasants had boycotted Museveni’s visit. The 400 or so people at the rally were 80% schoolchildren who were brought in by lorries. And that is why the crowd was never shown on any TV stations.

“Salim Saleh did not do any better when he went to Kalisizo (Buddu county) to speak the at the funeral rites (lumbe ceremony) of Tamale Mirundi’s father. Saleh used the opportunity to claim that he wished Buganda well and was involved in the tough job of bringing Kabaka Mutebi and Museveni to together. He even asked the crowd to pray hard for him. However, the peasants were not impressed at all. They insisted that if he wants their prayers he must fist deal with the problem of opening CBS. Chaos followed when Tamale Mirundi asked local NRM officials to stand up for introduction. First they seemed to be afraid to do so and when they did, people started to boo them and call them traitors. Then Tamale tried to let a senior NRM official from Kampala to say a few words. The people told him not to do so or they (the villagers) would walk away. That is when Tamale Mirundi turned to Saleh and said ‘Afande nawe obirabye, mu gombolola zino NRM telinaamu kalulu’ (‘As you can see the NRM has no votes in these sub-counties’).”

The email from our source also says that, as part of a state house propaganda kick off, John Nagenda started his bad guy activities with his New Vision column last Saturday. In his column, he trashed the Mmengo institution, suggested that it is irrelevant and claimed that it will die. Nagenda also arranged for the Banyankore owned Luganda daily paper Kamunye to print negative stories about Kabaka Mutebi. Kamunye is a sister paper to the Red Pepper which also recently printed another Nagenda planted story saying that the NRM government was going to take over Bulange. Red Pepper was originally sponsored by Salim Saleh.

The Free Buganda Radio, which is broacasts to cell phones using multimedia messages (MMS), agrees with Abazzukulu ba Buganda that, the kingdom has no legal or other obligations to Uganda (see “Buganda Has No Legal Obligations To Uganda, Abazzukulu Clarify“). Robert Kabuye, who presents Ekiba Kibe program, hosted one John Mayanja, whom he introduced as the Chairman wa Ggwanga Mujje Boston. Mr. Mayanja went on to announce that Boston Baganda were to hold a Buganda liberation meeting on January 23, 2010. In the rest of the program, Mr. Mayanja and Mr. Kabuye explained that, in 1966, Uganda’s Milton Obote broke a contract with Buganda when he overthrew the Ugandan constitution. As a result, Buganda no longer part of the Uganda system and is not obliged to deal with Uganda. Mr. Mayanja urged Baganda to wake up and rtake charge of their future by liberating their Buganda.

We received the January 19, 2010 Ekiba Kibe program around 4:30 AM on January 20, 2010. It has been posted on Buganda Post just over 30 minutes afterwards. To listen to the full Ekiba Kibe program in Luganda click on Ekiba_Kibe19Jan10B.

In an exclusive communication to Buganda Post, a group of Baganda professionals based in Europe have announced that, they are constituting what they called a virtual court to start collecting evidence against Buganda occupiers and their collaborators. They call the virtual court, which includes both lawyers and other professionals,  Embuga Mununula (from effort to rescue Buganda). The members of Embuga Mununula claim that they have started the initiative in the name of their Kabaka although, obviously, he did not personally instruct them. They argue that, since Buganda is occupied by foreigners and Kabaka Mutebi’s movements are now controlled by a Rwandese mercenary, Kalyekezi Kayihura, their action is consistent with the tradition of fighting against occupation forces.

Among the prominent NRM government officials under investigation are Yoweri Tebaruha Museveni, Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya, David Tinyefuza, Kahinda Otafiire, Kalyekezi Kayihura, Caleb Akandwanaho and John Nagenda. Over the next several months, evidence will be collected and potential witnesses identified, with a goal of building cases against key members of the occupation force and their collaborators. The applicable law will be a combination of English Law and native Buganda Law. For example, native Buganda Law provides for the death penalty on conviction of  treason and betraying Namulondo but also allows collective punishment, where the convict’s whole family is condemned as traitors.

According to the Embuga Mununula founders, as soon as Baganda gain the capacity administer fair trials and carry out appropriate punishments humanely, speedy open trials and sentencing will start. The group does not predict how long this will take. In fact they say that they are willing to continue building cases for as long as Buganda is under occupation. Even if a suspect dies the Baganda who have suffered through his actions will still want his estate to compensate the victims and, in some cases, members of his family to be punished according to native Buganda Law.

The first batch of high value personalities to be investigated first is shown below:

Members of the Olara Otunnu led Campaign for Democracy and Justice in Uganda (CDJ) have explained that the participation of the 4 well known American Baganda is because, during “Ttabamiruka 07 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the Kabaka of Buganda urged Baganda to work for the acquisition of good governance, we need in Uganda, through seeking alliances and friendship with other ethnicities in Uganda.”

The CDJ document, sent to Buganda Post by Professor Aloysious Lugira, was responding to the posting by Buganda Post contributor, Bijugo Lumu, titled “UPC’s Olara Otunnu Enters ‘Mukago’ With America Baganda”.

The CDJ statement is shown below, without any editing.

Campaign for Democracy and Justice in Uganda
CDJ

CDJ is an organization which belongs to the members of this association. On July 15, 2009 on the Buganda Post website an article written by Chris Bijugo Lumu was published. It was in reaction to a CDJ Press Release dated July 11, 2009, which appeared on the occasion of President Barack’s Accra/Ghana speech. Seeming as if Mr. Chris Bijugo Lumu was reacting out of some sort of hunch, a feeling or suspicion not based on facts, gave his article the title of “UPC’s Olara Otunnu Enters ‘Mukago’ With America Baganda”. He continued on with such allegations that “Olara Otunnu..secured a deal (“mukago”) with respected foreign based Baganda to promote his presidential candidacy”, among other statements.

It is unfortunate that Mr.Lumu chose to comment on the CDJ Press Release July 11, 2009 the way he did. His comments betray the impressions that he did not give a thourough reading of the document. Or if it could have been the case that he was not clear about what he read, he was never bothered to consult the indicated contacts at the end of the Press Release.

Mr. Lumu should do proud to Buganda if he would care to take some refresher courses on the vital Social Anthropology of Buganda. To establish omukago does not mean to “secure a deal” with the sense of okuliira mu kavuyo as his context seem to be implying. CDJ is not about entering mukago as may be reflected in the unfortunate doings of the nineteen sixties. Here we are about associating for the sake of contributing to the return of political sanity in Uganda.

Mr. Lumu emphasizes that “Olara Otunnu, secured a deal with respected foreign based Baganda to promote his presidential candidacy”. In the Press Release it is made categorically clear that “CDJ will not support any parties or candidates in the forthcoming electoral contests. Its preoccupation is to mount a vigorous campaign for genuinely free and fair elections, with a level playing field for all.” http://www.bugandapost.com/main/archives/436
The CDJ is not composed of only the five interim office bearers of the Association. There are many other Ugandans of a variety of backgrounds who are members of CDJ. The four Baganda who on an interim basis are at the head of the organization are there with full knowledge of the intentions of CDJ. Mr. Lumu points out that “CDJ leadership is clearly dominated by Baganda who are known to put Buganda and Kabaka first”. It is true.But these Baganda are there not to dominate, but to serve, with the view in mind of building for the future. In his Keynote speech at Ttabamiruka 07 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the Kabaka of Buganda urged Baganda to work for the acquisition of good governance, we need in Uganda, through seeking alliances and friendship with other ethnicities in Uganda. http://www.ttabamiruka07.com

Signed by:
Mr. Olara A. Otunnu (Interim Chairman)
Mr. James Ssemakula (Interim Deputy Chairman)
Mr. John Mayanja (Interim President)
Mr. Mubiru Musoke (Interim Treasurer)
Professor Aloysius M.M. Lugira (Interim Secretary)
For further information, contact:
Professor Aloysius M.M. Lugira
Tel: 617-552-3539 or 781-439-3875
E-mail: lugira.cdj@gmail.com or lugira@bc.edu

Justice Julia Sebutinde, Judge of the High Court of Uganda was scheduled to receive with an honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Edinburgh on June 30, 2009, according to a press conference issued by the university press office. Julia Semambo Sebutinde, a Muganda of Njovu clan, is among several internationally distinguished men and women who have been offered honorary degrees by Edinburgh University, which is ranked among the tops universities in the world. At this time, Sebutinde is seconded to the UN Special Court in Sierra Leone.

Others who have received Edinburgh honorary degrees at the same time as Sebutinde Mr Anthony Bryan Hayward – CEO of British Petroleum, Mr Muhtar Kent – President and CEO of Coca-Cola and Justice Unity Dow – High Court Judge, Botswana.

Sebutinde is married to John Bagunywa Sebutinde of Mmamba clan and they have two children. Additional information on the University of Edinburgh and its Summer 2009 degree awards is available at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/.