Plainfield, USA (PR) September 16, 2009
Ggwangamujje NY/NJ, Inc.

Loyal subjects of Ssabasajja Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi from various states in America met last Saturday to discuss: (a)  the NRM Government’s decision to bar the Kabaka from touring his Bugerere county; and (b) the subsequent unrest, where the Uganda police and army killed or seriously injured hundreds of Baganda, including children. The meeting observed a full 30 seconds of silence to honor those who were murdered by the NRM government during the unrest. After a comprehensive and emotional debate of options in the wake of the tragic September 10th events, the attendees identified a number of actions that they will take.

Finally, they unanimously adopted the following resolution:

RESOLUTION

We, loyal subjects of Ssabasajja Kabaka wa Buganda, from various States of the USA, meeting in New Jersey on September 12, 2009

HAVE RESOLVED:

• That Buganda, our motherland, is under occupation
• That this shall be the foremost thought in our minds
• That this shall be the sole matter for deliberation at all our meetings
• That we shall not budge on this matter, from this day forward, until Buganda is freed from occupation

YOUR COURAGE IS OUR STRENGTH

LONG LIVE YOUR MAJESTY!

Luganda Version

EKITEESO EKIYISIBBWA

Ffe abasajja n’Abazaana ba Ssabasajja Kabaka wa Buganda, abava mu masaza ag’enjawulo mu America, nga tukunganye mu New Jersey ku lunaku olwe 12 mu mwezi gwa Mutunda, omwaka 2009

TUKIKAKASIZZA NTI:

• Ddala Buganda Nnyaffe eri mu buwambe
• Kino kye kirowoozo kyokka ekijja okuba mu mitima gyaffe
• Eno ye nsonga yokka ejja okuteesebwako mu nkiiko zaffe okuva leero
• Okutuusa nga Buganda evudde mu Buwambe, tetujja kukyusaako

OBUZIRA BWO GE MAANYI GAFFE

WANGAALA SSABASAJJA!

Contacts:

Charles Galiwango Mukasa
VICE PRESIDENT, GGWANGAMUJJE NY/NJ

Dolores Nankya Bewaayo
SECRETARY, GGWANGAMUJJE NY/NJ

info@ggwangamujje.com

www.ggwangamujje.com

The Observer Newspaper, where Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the man who made Museveni sweat on TV (see “Semujju Nganda Made Museveni Sweat On TV“) works, has translated the full text of the speech that Kabaka Mutebi made when opening the Lukiiko on August 24, 2009. As is customary, the Kabaka made his speech in Luganda, the national language of Buganda. The Observer’s loose translation is as follows:

BUGANDA’S WELCOME

We first of all want to thank God for the good He has done for us and console all those who have encountered problems in the past.

We greatly thank Buganda for showing us such great joy during the 16th coronation anniversary since the installation of the kingdom.

Buganda has spent more than 300 years welcoming people to prosper as a nation and by the mid 19th century, Buganda was the most powerful kingdom in central Africa.

To date, Buganda is still welcoming people. But we would not like the people Buganda has welcomed to create and build their own nations here in Buganda. Buganda’s boundaries are well outlined in Uganda’s constitution.

Therefore, it is very painful to the Baganda if other kingdoms are formed in Buganda. We beg that the welcome we extend to everyone should not be abused.

RETURN MORE EBYAFFE

In these 16 years, there are some things the government has returned to Buganda, and for that we are very grateful; and there are many others that haven’t yet been returned.

There is land at the counties and sub-counties headquarters in the whole of Buganda and buildings that haven’t been returned.

Right now there are Baganda nomads because they don’t have land yet the land that was returned to us by the colonialists in 1962 and later grabbed in 1967 is yet to be returned. The Baganda want the land that was forcefully grabbed returned to Buganda.

STOP THE LAND KILLINGS

There is another thing that is worrying us here in Buganda. Every other day people are killed over land wrangles, particularly between landlords and tenants.

There was a time here when mailo land owners lived in harmony with the tenants on that land.  We pray that that harmony and peaceful co-existence returns. Blood should not be shed because of land; if in the past there was peaceful co-existence, then it is also possible now.

Now there is no harmony between the land owners and the tenants; none of them can use the land, they are both in fear. A solution to this must be found so that peace returns to Buganda.

God bless you.

For a related Buganda Story go to “Kabaka Concerned, Museveni and Mirundi Promoting Landlord Murders“. To visit the Observer Newpaper online go to www.observer.ug.

Louise Edwards
Programme Officer – Access to Justice (East Africa)
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Professor Philip Alston, presented his detailed report on Kenya at the recent 11th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.  In an extraordinary week of political maneuvering, reinforcing the internal tension that plagues Kenya’s Grand Coalition Government, the Kenyan delegation responded with an oral statement to the Council that contradicted their earlier written response. Having initially denied Professor Alston’s accusations of the widespread and systematic use of extrajudicial killings by the Kenya Police Force, the delegation conceded that there is a problem, but stopped short of acknowledging Government complicity.

The proceedings and outcomes at the 11th Session have received much local and international press.  Now, two weeks later, the focus must shift to action taken by the Kenyan Government to address the issues raised by Professor Alston and the fall out from the publication of his report, which included the killing of two human rights defenders that had previously cooperated with his mandate.  Despite the eventually positive response from the Kenyan delegation in Geneva, early signs of action are not necessarily promising.

Professor Alston’s report articulated what concerned local and international organisations have been saying about the Kenya Police Force for many years and which the Government failed to acknowledge until their oral statement to the Council – that extrajudicial killings are part of the policing landscape in Kenya. The oral statement also contained a public acknowledgement of Kenya’s weak police oversight mechanisms, the need to establish a local independent police commission and assurances that no human rights defenders would be intimidated or harassed as a result of their cooperation with the UN Special Procedures mandate-holders.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the promising outcomes in Geneva will translate into credible action in Nairobi.  Successive promises of reform articulated in a number of strategies and processes over the past 10 years have not been completed or sustained by the Kenya Government.  Kenyans continue to be policed by an organisation that lacks sufficient accountability structures, fails to protect or uphold basic human rights and is continually subject to illegitimate political interference.  Millions of dollars have been invested in the development and publication of commission reports, task force findings and reform strategies without any genuine steps by the Government to implement systemic reform.

The concerning state of policing in Kenya has received significant national and international attention over the past 18 months.  The police response to the 2007 post-election violence brought the issue of political partisanship, impunity and brutality to the fore.  The Waki Commission report into the violence strongly recommended comprehensive reform of the Kenya Police Force and Administration Police and Professor Alston’s report reinforced the brutal and corrupt practices that have been permitted to flourish by the unreformed, colonial policing model. 

Police reform is a daunting and long term process.  It requires substantial law reform, a radical shift in policing culture from one of impunity to accountability and the restoration of trust between police and the community.  None of these urgent reforms will happen in Kenya without the political and financial commitment of the Government to undertake reforms of this scope.  The recent establishment by the President of a special Police Reform Task Force represents a positive step towards delivering credible advances.  However, the Government must translate the Task Force’s recommendations into actual reform that goes beyond improving operational capacity to address governance, accountability and legal structures.  Otherwise the Task Force, for all its good intention, will become another failed reform vehicle.

Drawing on the previous recommendations and those foreshadowed to appear in the current Task Force findings, the Government should implement the following minimum reforms:

• Constitutional and legislative amendments that clearly separate the operational control of the police from the direct control from the political Executive and provide for transparency in monitoring police performance and conduct,
• Strengthening internal and external oversight mechanisms, including the enactment of legislation and budgetary allocation to give full effect to the Police Oversight Board plus the establishment of an independent complaints mechanisms,
• Establish a clear demarcation between the role of the Kenya Police Force and the Administration Police,
• Improve police human rights training and resourcing to strengthen human rights compliance and operational effectiveness in the prevention, detection and investigation of crime, and
• Establish clear legislative guidelines on the use of force, torture and adherence to basic due process that accord with Kenya’s existing obligations under international law.

If the Government is serious about reforming the police, a commitment to implementing past and current recommendations is not enough.  It must also take immediate steps that both demonstrate its firm commitment to reform and restore public confidence in the reform process.  A positive first action should be the investigation, prosecution and punishment of those police officers who commit or acquiesce to illegal acts including, but not limited to, those responsible for the 2007 post-election violence and the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings.

Other immediate steps must include measures to implement the Government’s guarantee of protection to individuals who have been intimidated or subject to retribution for their cooperation with the UN Special Procedures mandate-holders.  Human rights defenders, including members of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights have been subject to threats and some have been forced to flee Kenya.  The high profile execution of two prominent human rights defenders, who cooperated with Professor Alston, and the failure by the police and Government to identify those responsible, highlights the inadequacy of protection and security for human rights defenders.  While Kenya has a witness protection programme, reform is urgently required to ensure the integrity of its internal processes (including accountability, Executive control and information storage and sharing) before those who are most in need of protection will have confidence in the systems that are designed to deliver it. 

The 2007 post-election violence, followed by the findings in Professor Alston’s report, and the tragic consequences for human rights defenders who cooperated with his mandate, have kept the problems with Kenyan policing firmly in the international spotlight.  Whether the political will to commit to genuine reform is present in the Grand Coalition Government remains to be seen, but what is clear to the international community is that the need for police reform is more crucial than ever.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent, non-partisan, international NGO working for the practical realisation of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth.
www.humanrightsinitiative.org

Baganda, opposition politicians and human rights activists cried foul yesterday when Justice Wilson Kwesiga sentenced special police constable Ramathan Magara  to a 14-year prison term for killing two Baganda men. The victims were Vincent Kavuma and Gideon Makabayi. Justice Kwesiga and Magara are both Banyankore. On February 15, 2006 Magara walked to his car, pulled out an AK 47 and fired into a crowd of supporters of the FDC president, Dr Kizza Besigye, after one of them threw a stone at his car and broke the wind shield. The then presidential candidate Besigye was meeting his supporters during a visiting to Mmengo Bulange.

The charge against Magara was murder of two people when he fired into the crowd of Besigye supporters. Justice Kwesiga rejected the argument by Magara’s lawyer, McDusman Kabega, that his client shot in self-defence. The justice said that this theory was presented only as an afterthought. Also, the two court assessors (private citizens who are appointed to guide the judge) recommended that Magara be found guilty of murder, which could have fetched a death sentence.

However, many observers, especially Baganda and opposition party members in the packed court were shocked when Justice Kwesiga said that what Magara did was more like killing “in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation”. Based on that, the judge convicted Magara man slaughter and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Several angry protesters outside the court complained that this lenience towards people who kill Baganda could encourage government security operatives to do the same. At the time of going to press, it was not clear if Mmengo has been following the case. Occasionally, Mmengo speaks out crimes or injustices such as ritual killings as a Ugandan problem but is usually quiet when individual Baganda are mistreated by the police and judges.

The wife of former Uganda dictator, Milton Obote and her camp within Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC), have been engaged in around the clock meetings with an Acholi faction for days, to avoid a major split in the party which was formed by her husband. A frustrated Muganda UPC member told this writer by email that the Acholis are determined to take control of UPC while Miria would very much like to see her son Akena replace her as party president. According to our source, the fight is one about real northerners reclaiming UPC from a weak Muganda leader and her half-Muganda son. He went on: “I stupidly joined UPC during last elections because I thought Mrs. Kalule was going to make UPC good for Baganda. Now assure you UPC business is really only for northerners. That is why they are bringing in the northern best hope Olara Otunu even before telling Mrs. Obote about it.”

According to the UPC party constitution, Miria Obote’s seven-year term as president ends in 2012.  And many political analysts in Uganda think that UPC is on the verge of collapse from lack of leadership, after a dismal performance by Mrs. Obote as president. Prospective replacement living in Uganda include her own son and Lira Municipality MP Jimmy Akena Obote (Langi), Yona Kanyomozi (Munyankore Mulaalo), Darlington Ssakwa (Mugisu), George Okrapa (Iteso), Joseph Ochieno (Japadhola) and Sospater Akwenyu (Acholi). These groups made up the bulk of UPC Youthwingers and army which, along with special units of Mr. Museveni’s national resistance army (NRA), killed and harassed hundreds of thousands of Baganda during the Obote II regime.

Recently an Acholi dominated UPC faction, led by an MP called Okello Okello, kicked off a campaign to recruit Olara Otunu (Acholi), a former United Nations undersecretary and minister in Obote II, to lead the party when Mrs. Obote leaves. Okello Okello and team recently met Mr. Otunu in Nairobi behind Mrs. Obote’s back, leading her, after finding out, to reshuffle party officials. The reshuffle seems to have created a crisis, which Mr. Obote is hoping to control starting with the press statement reproduced below. It is not yet clear how Baganda, who overwhelmingly, consider Obote and UPC, which was president Museveni’s original politically party, the kingdom’s original enemy.

UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS
NATIONAL SECRETARIAT
Plot 8-10. Kampala Road. Uganda House. P.O Box 37047, Kampala. Phone/Fax: +256-41-236748

PRESS STATEMENT
(Embargoed for release at 3:00pm, 12th June, 2009)

PARTY UNITY

Following the recent cabinet reshuffle there has been a lot of conflicting information and interpretation in the media and public domains.

I have today held a consultative meeting attended by amongst others Hon. Okello Okello MP Chua County and Hen. Benson Obua-Ogwa! MP Morato County. This consultation will continue but the meeting resolved as follows:

1.   This consultation agreed that in the interest of Party Unity and impending work leading to the upcoming Delegates Conference the recent reshuffle remains in force.

2.   That the recent reshuffle was not done in bad faith and it should not be misconstrued otherwise. This reshuffle is part of the ongoing strategy to expedite the process of establishing new Party structures, implementing the new Constitution and preparation towards the coming Delegates Conference in. October, 2009 during which new Party leadership will be elected and more importantly prepare the Party for next elections in 2011.

3.   I ask all Party members, friends and well wishers to focus on electoral preparation for a brighter future and a strong and united Uganda Peoples Congress Party in the coming days, months and years ahead.

For God and my country

Mama Miria Kalule Obote
PARTY PRESIDENT