Buganda Post has received a few letters from Baganda, reacting to the December 17, 2009 Buganda Conference. All of them, without exception, express different levels of anger about the patronizing speeches made by non-Baganda (Bannamawanga) Kanyeihamba, Mao and Pulkhol, as well as Museveni’s abusive speech, which was delivered for him by Kakooza Mutale. Most of the letters praise the defiant and determined positions taken on Buganda’s demands by Kabaka Mutebi and his men Hussein Kyanjo and Nsubuga Nsambu.

Below, we publish the letter that best represents how upset the Baganda have written to us about the Buganda conference are. This letter was written by one Hannia Musemba and it is directed to Katikkiro JB Walusimbi and those who support his policy of begging non-Baganda to support Federo. The letter says that the only way forward for Buganda is independence.

Baganda we are missing the point the 100th time!

Since CBS station was knocked off from air, we are missing the point and this time around I find it very serious!  I read only about CBS as the fundamental human right deprived of us by this so-called Uganda Govt.

People lost their jobs (livelihood) that is brutality!  I wholeheartedly admit, so as you do, however this was not more brutal than our fellow innocent Baganda murdered in cold blood in the recent riots.  Please fellow Baganda we have missed a point the 100th time since the independence of that thing called Uganda.   We need CBS station, it is our right to have it, but it is not much important than all our dear ones who have been slaughtered like animals by these people:   Ben Kiwanuka, Andrew Kayira, the Muslims of Mbarara, massive innocent Baganda in Luwero, should I continue mentioning which month will I stop.  The point for Buganda now is Buganda’s Independence.   That is the point.

The question that has to break our minds now is not CBS or CBS only, but how can we throw these fellows away from our Land.  One day when Buganda Nation is independent we shall open 200 CBSes at once and no one will utter a word.  90,000 sq. kilometres [Editor: should be 9,000 sq. Miles] and more of our undisputable ancestral land are in hands of these same fellows.   If we remain so naive and indifferent, we are slaves now, our children and grand children are going be slaves as we are today.

From the bottom of my heart, I congratulate those two Buganda heroes Owekitiibwa. Nsambu and MP Kyanjo and those others who have bravely stated the fact of Buganda’s Independence. 

All the so-called negotiations going on with [Museveni], please I wonder why our Beloved Kabaka goes in such a mess!  Ssabassajja is a voice of more that 5 million Baganda and by fooling our King around and the Buganda delegation repeatedly, I have an impression that they consider us non-existent.

The man [Museveni] is using you and he will continue using you up till you break your last shoes.  Please don’t involve our King in such nonsensical talks with M7.  He  has proved all along that negotiations and agreement don’t exist in his vocabulary.

If you are realistic enough you would have noted already that these other tribes in the thing called Uganda will never wish Buganda to win, unless you are a day dreamer who thinks that Buganda has to go to these tribes and if need be dans on their rhythm asking them to accept Federo of better independence.

They will never accept. [Don’t have] illusions over that, live with me here on the Earth. Look at the Northern tribes, the people there after more that ten years war they have been left with nothing, still according Mr. Mao and DR Kanyeihamba we Buganda we have to go and beg these people to accept Federo system whereby they avail their own parliament and budget to develop their own region benefitting directly their own people.  If they are satisfied with their situation now,  I don’t find any reason why we should convince them to go federo. Let them wait for [Museveni] however they will have to wait much longer.

I know very well our ancestors signed treaties presided by then British civil servants which  under normal circumstances should be respected,  however [Museveni]  has never asked permission from the steak holders of that thing called Uganda as Rwandese to wage war in a foreign land called Uganda.  Therefore there are more that 101 ways to break away from this [dysfunctional] thing.

If you‘re near them ask them, how many jobs have been created by the thing called Uganda Govt in the Northern Uganda in the last 20 years?  How many people have been resettled back in their homes after the war.  Don’t they have eyes to see that? That all the money that would create such jobs or create resettlement programs for the northerners find their way out of the system through corruption and all is spent in Buganda region, then the question here!, “is Buganda the greatest loser with this corrupt system”?

Mr Mao asks Buganda to repackage the federo to win support from other tribes. Next time you come across him tell him, let the northerners draft their own version of federo system if really they need it, we shall sit down on a round table and talk. Otherwise let them keep and warm the camps in which their people are living now, in conditions much worse than animals in zoos. By the time they will wake up, the thing called Uganda Govt will have already sold their homelands to Chinese for their rice fields.

At one time I am not talking about 50 years ago even, Busoga was the economic heart of that thing called Uganda.  All Factories [burned]out or shifted to Buganda.  What did the so-called Uganda Govt do to [re-channel] or compensate these employment losses for Busoga?   [What you expect] if half of the so called Cabinet ministers spend indefinite hours on the CBS commission to defend their great divine master’s NO to the reopening of CBS Radio station, as if that is why they were made ministers.

Should Buganda go to the knee of King Kyabazinga of Busoga to convince him that the Basoga are one of the poorest tribe in Uganda now,  while one time the richest?  Has King Kyabazinga forgotten the lost glories of Busoga and Jinja town? Please don’t make us ridiculous if other tribes refuse deliberately to see it or they see it but they prefer to stay in the thing called Uganda that has milked their people to the last coin.  Let them do so.  The decisions you make save you or damn you!

One time Eritrea was Ethiopia and Ethiopia was Eritrea.  Now no more!  And in real terms Eritrea is one of the first growing economies of Africa. One time Monaco was France and France was Monaco.  Now no more!.  Now Monaco is one of the economic powers of Europe.

This thing called Uganda has systematically and consistently blocked Buganda’s development.  Our People are living in conditions much worse than in the medieval times. Go to Ki Mombasa, go to Makerere Kivulu, go to Mulago ghettos and so on and so forth.  Do you need a drawing to make you convinced?  Buganda shouldn’t miss the point once again!  Wake up!   Freedom is calling tomorrow! And [it is] our time!   Buganda Independence!

 Hannia Musemba

His Majesty the Kabaka of Buganda,  Muwenda Mutebi II, formally closed this year’s Buganda Conference on December 17, 2009. Although the conference was dubbed a Buganda conference, it seemed to focus on appeasing non-Baganda and the NRM, in the hope that they will look kindly at Buganda’s quest for Federo. Indeed, the prime speaking spots were given to Supreme Court Judge George William Kanyeihamba (Munyankore), Gulu district chairman Norbert Mao (Achooli),  Colonel Kiiza Besigye of FDC (Mukiga) and Maj. Ronald Kakooza Mutale, a Museveni adviser on military affairs and notorious human rights abuser.

In a move that shocked many ordinary Baganda, Katikkiro JB Walusimbi brought in government owned Bukedde Radio to broadcast the conference proceedings on radio. This is despite the common knowledge that one of the many reasons why the NRM occupation government keeps Buganda’s CBS Radio closed is to give competitive advantage to Luganda radios owned by the government and NRM diehards like Peter Sematimba. This writer spoke to 10 Baganda in Nakulabye after the conference ended and a surprising 9 of them said that they were not interested in what Mmengo is doing anymore because they cannot trust the Katikkiro and close allies. All the 9 also said that they had not listened to or read about the Buganda conference because they were boycotting government radios and newspapers. It appears that the gap between what Mmengo is doing about the governance of Buganda and what ordinary Baganda expect seem to be getting wider and fast.

Below is the full text of Kabaka Mutebi’s remarks.

REMARKS MADE BY SSAABASAJJA KABAKA RONALD MUWENDA MUTEBI II WHILE CLOSING BUGANDA CONFERENCE 09 AT HOTEL AFRICANA, KAMPALA, 17TH DECEMBER 2009

Distinguished Participants

I thank you all who have presented papers at this conference and contributed in any way to the holding of this important meeting. I wish to particularly single out for special thanks to the organizers and sponsors of this conference who have sacrificed their time and other resources to bring us here today.

Buganda is a microcosm of Uganda due to our treasured tradition of openness. Everyone is welcome here and that is how our Kingdom came to prominence in this region two centuries ago. We value our past, but we also live in the present and think about the future. We are sometimes, dismissed as conservative, but at least all recognize that we have something of value to conserve.

Our colonial masters did not write on a clean slate in Uganda. They found well-established nations which they brought together to form the Uganda Protectorate which became the sovereign state of Uganda in 1962.

Buganda was around before colonialism; colonialism emasculated but did not kill her. Even when monarchial institutions were abolished in 1967 and Buganda was erased from the map of Uganda, she remained alive in our people’s hearts. That is why the restoration of the Buganda Monarch in 1993 was very popular, the symbol of Buganda’s identity is their Kabaka, that identity was restored and we are all very grateful.

I have always believed that Uganda can accommodate all of us and that we can live in peace and harmony. I also believe that peace and harmony requires that we should be able to talk to each other honestly and dialogue in an atmosphere of mutual respect. All this costs us nothing but priceless. We should never tire to talk to one another as members of one family Uganda. However, it is important to recognize that members of our family have their peculiar needs and concerns which should be seriously attended to. That is how our family can be kept happy and prosperous.

Take the theme of today’s conference: The Question of Federalism for Uganda. It is a very old issue which was partially resolved in the 1962 constitution. I say partially resolved because this system of governance did not embrace the whole of Uganda. This was a major weakness which independent Uganda should have resolved a long time ago by creating a uniform system of federal governance throughout Uganda. It is clear from the findings of the Odoki constitutional review commission that the overwhelming majority wanted to have that system of governance in Buganda and sixty percent outside Buganda. That was the authentic voice of the people. Why deny them that right?

I am happy that you deemed it worthy to discuss a very old question in Uganda. We should not tire of debate because debates are liberating and good for the soul. It took a long time to build democracies in the west; I have no illusions about this. It will take us time to build genuine democratic institutions here, but I hope at the end of the day, people will see their aspirations to fruition. Thank you for your erudite deliberations.

I now declare Buganda Conference 2009 closed.