The Government of Buganda has published the press conference on the second Buganda Conference, slated for December 2009. The government is bravely taking on this challenge in the midst of a military occupation by Uganda’s NRM government, led by Yoweri Museveni. Most Buganda analysts think that it is too early to tell what Museveni will do about the conference.

The press conference, which appears on the official Buganda website, www.buganda.or.ug, is reproduced in full below:

BUGANDA CONFERENCE FOR 17TH DECEMBER 2009

Buganda Kingdom is organizing the second annual Buganda Conference to be held on the 17th December, 2009 at Hotel Africana under the theme “a Federo System of Governance for Uganda”.

The conference is an annual event graced by the Kabaka of Buganda with an aim of creating a platform for debate and interactions on the Kingdom’s issues.

According to the chairman organizing committee who also doubles as the Kingdom’s attorney general, Apollo Makubuya, the conference is expected to attract over 1000 participants from across the country.

He explained that discussion on federalism for Uganda is very important because many people have mistaken it to be an issue for only Buganda.

According to Makubuya, the conference will enlighten people within and outside Buganda that federo is not about Buganda seceding from Uganda or attaining a superior position but to grant power through the law to people in various parts of the country to work on developing their regions.

He added that the conference will also discuss the regional tier government among other issues and why Buganda Kingdom does not want it.

Makubuya reassured that the conference will be addressed by prominent scholars from various parts of Uganda and renowned international scholars on federalism from countries like Nigeria, USA and the United Kingdom among others.

He explained that unlike last year’s conference which was free of entry, this year’s event will require registration with a fee of 25000 Ugandan shillings each. He added that this fee has been set to help the organizers in the preparations of a successful event.

The conference was first held last year as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 15th coronation anniversary. However, due to the numerous problems encountered this year, the Kingdom was forced to shift the event to a later date.

Given it’s success last year, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi was greatly impressed and resolved that the conference be held annually.

The conference which was themed “Development and Governance of Buganda in Uganda” attracted several scholars including renowned Professors Ali Mazurui and Mahmood Mamdhani among others.

It should however be remembered that last year’s conference was interfered with by the arrest of three Buganda Officials Medard Sseggona Lubega, Charles Peter Mayiga and Betty Nambooze Bakireke. Sseggona was arrested early morning before kick off of the conference while Peter Mayiga and Betty Nambooze were captured late night after the conference. The trio were held hostage and incommunicado for a week during which they were dragged into several cells in various parts of Western Uganda including Bundibujo, Masindi, Ibanda, Kabarole, Kagadi Fort Portal and Kyenjojo.

The sale of invitation cards to the public shall be announced very soon.

A New Jersey Muganda resident and United States citizen sent us an email on November 4, 2009, proposing a pledge of allegiance for Baganda all over world. The email says: “No question about it, the Kabaka and his subjects in Buganda are in captivity today. Buganda is in a constant state of emergency. Since we are under constant attack by the enemy, it is time for every loyal Muganda to openly declare their full allegiance to the Kabaka and our other institutions. And for those who have their allegiance elsewhere, like Nsibambi or Bukenya or Sekandi, to be officially exposed.”

The Muganda explained that:  “Having a simple pledge like this, which even school children and old people can recite every day shall help us to stay on focus until  our nation is rescued.”

Below is the text of proposed Buganda Pledge of Allegiance . The author admits that it is about 90% based on the United States pledge of allegiance . He also hopes that Buganda Post readers who know good Luganda can properly translate the pledge to Buganda’s national language and suggest changes.

BUGANDA PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

I pledge allegiance to the institution of Kabaka, the Baganda clans, and the Buganda Kingdom for which they stand, one nation, indivisible, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

[Editor: Please include any suggested changes or translations in comments under this story.]

President Museveni’s NRM occupation government is starting to feel the cost of keeping the kingdom of Buganda in a virtual state of emergency. Since early September 2009, Museveni has spent billions of Uganda Shillings in resources to destabilize Kabaka Mutebi, monitor and block Baganda radio and phone communications, block unfriendly Internet addresses, fund pro-Region Tier forces in Mmengo and redeploy at least 65% of all Uganda’s police and army in Buganda.  The panic expenditure, together with the accompanying graft by those managing the funds has left the occupation NRM government in a financial fix. To cope, Museveni is reportedly, raiding certain government institutions, where aid donors cannot easily trace misuse of funds.

Our source in Uganda’s ministry of Finance has told us that the list of organizations that the NRM government is raiding include Bank of Uganda (BOU), National Social Secrity Fund (NSSF), NAADS and the President’s patriotism development fund. The source said: “BOU is easy because, the governor, Emmanuel Mutebire and the secretary to treasury, Chris Kassami are both veteran embezzlers. And they now have younger leutenants in Naome Nassasira and Keith Muhakanizi to oversee the thefts. The NSSF could have been more complicated because it has been in the papers too much. That is why they appointed a brand new board, with a solid number of thieves, to ensure full cooperation when government raids the organization. Even UPE will not be spared. There are plans to reallocate huge sums of money from students and combine those moneys with billions from Museveni’s patriotism development fund  to massively recruit ‘patriotic’ teachers as a backbone of a new spy network within Buganda. The reason they are looking at NAADS is because they have successfully used it in the past to bribe LCs and settle Balaalo and other foreigners in Buganda, without donor interference.”

On a related note, our ministry of Finance source points out that at least 30-40% of the money being spent to maintain the Buganda occupation is stolen by the implementers and NRM politicians. According the the source: “Because of the secrecy, there is no accountability and everyone involved in the illegal financial raids make sure to keep some. Even Museveni and his family are actively chasing the patriotism fund. It is like everyone is trying to get what they can before the next Baganda riots break out. “

When, on September 16, 2009, Museveni invited all Buganda MPs to a Thursday meeting to discuss the impasse regarding Kabaka’s visit to Kayunga, he was considering denying opposition to the visit (see “Museveni May Blame Police and Minister For Bugerere Violence“).   By the time the meeting took place, Museveni had decided to confront the Kabaka and had grown so paranoid that the locked non-NRM Buganda MP’s out.

One source close to president Museveni’s state house has told us:  “Young and rich Balaalo, who fear to lose the billion of shillings they have looted in Uganda had worked through senior members of the Balaalo akazu (secret conclave) Caleb Akandwanaho (Salim Saleh), Janet Museveni and Elly Karuhanga to persuade Museveni to lower the tension with Mmengo. As late as Wednesday afternoon, Museveni considered blaming the brutal actions of Uganda police against Baganda youths in Kayunga on Kayihura’s men.”  However, the Uganda warlord continued to face pressure from strongly anti-Baganda Balaalo and Bayiru like David Tinyefuza, Kale Kayihura, Kahinda Otafiire and others, who wanted the Kabaka arrested.”

The situation was complicated on Wednesday when, Museveni, after 2 years of unsuccessful efforts, managed to get a telephone audience with Ssabasajja Kabaka.  According the Museveni’s own statement, the Kabaka was clearly unimpressed by the extreme importance the Ugandan ruler places on the title, “President of Uganda”. The unfriendly call left Museveni irate but probably did not change his thoughts about calling some type of truce.

The source says, however, that: “President Museveni panicked on Thursday late morning when he got intelligence reports that the violence that started after Kayihura barred Katikkiro Walusimbi from entering Bugerere was spreading to places as far as Masaka.  Even worse, it was being executed by fearless young Baganda, some as young as 13 years, in huge numbers. When he consulted some members of  the kazu, they were also panicking. When he called Janet Museveni, overseas at the time and very angry at the way Baganda had embarrassed her at UNAA, she told him that there was no choice but crash the Baganda rioters.” That is when Museveni made the final decision to stop Kabaka Mutebi.

Museveni formally announced that unless Mmengo held talks with Banyala and CBS radio stopped their negative campaign against the NRM and inciting the people against Police, Kabaka’s visit to Kayunga on Saturday could not take place. Reportedly, the Ugandan warlord did not sleep at all Thursday night but made another critical decision. He ordered that the Kabaka had to be stopped if he left his palace and live bullets were to be used on rioters.

It appears that Kabaka Mutebi’s advisors got wind of Museveni’s genocidal plans early enough to avert the potential bloodshed. By Friday mid-afternoon, the Buganda cabinet had made the decision that talking to Museveni’s person king (Sabanyala) was out of questions and Baganda blood could not be sacrificed to the NRM government, which seemed deranged.  Sources close to Mmengo could not provide more details about what went on in the Buganda cabinet up to the point of the official statement canceling the trip. However, according the Observer Newspaper (www.observer.ug), the wording and timing  of the Mmengo statement was highly influenced by fear that Katikkiro Walusimbi, who is little trusted by nationalist Baganda, could be harmed.

We can report that Museveni was in communication with people who are close to key Buganda government officials throughout the crisis. However, it is not known if any actual communication took place. Also, Museveni planted at least one informer among Mmengo officials, including in the Katikkiro’s convoy that was stopped at Sezibwa (details withheld to protect the sources).

In the meantime, a state of panic has taken root among the Balaalo community in Buganda. For many of them this the first time they came face to face with the prospect that Museveni does not have the capacity to protest them against the thousands of unemployed and angry young Baganda. Evidence of this panic includes the decision by Rwandese Balaalo, assisted by a foreign country, to volunteer to offer over 20 lorries to accompany Kabaka Mutebi to Kayunga. We have also received unconfirmed reports of an unusual number of Balaalo parents taking their children home from boarding schools on Saturday September 12, 2009.

International rallying co-driver Moses Matovu narrowly missed out on a podium finish on last weekend’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally when he co-drove fellow Ugandan Emmanuel Katto to fifth overall and fourth registered driver in the three day long event.

The lead up to this, the final round of the 2009 FIA African Rally Championship, was not ideal, with Moses having to lend a hand to ensure the Tommi Makinen Rallying prepared Subaru Impreza N14 was ready to rally, and thus the team missed out on the opportunity to recce the special stages. This put Emmanuel and Moses on a back foot and when the car suffered with suspension problems the team focused on securing a finish, rather than challenging for the win.

On Sunday morning Moses even took the wheel of the 300 bhp Subaru for two stages and was pleased to set times comparable with rallying legend Katto on roads he had never seen before!

The Zimbabwe Challenge Rally certainly lives up to its name every year. And 2009 was no exception. We struggled with setup issues and weren’t helped by having to borrow pace notes which were in a different format to our own. The gesture by the other competitors for offering us their personal notes was fantastic and I thank everyone for all of their assistance.

We ended the rally tantalisingly close to securing our third podium finish of the season but at least we scored another finish which helped both Emmanuel and I take third in the title race.

Whilst the 2009 FIA African Rally Championship might now be over Moses still has a busy period ahead of him. The popular Ugandan will travel to Rwanda on 18 September to call notes for rising Kenyan driver Peter Horsey in a Mitsubishi Evo 9. The KCB Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally sees the young talents from across Africa go head to head for the Pirelli Star Drive, a fully funded drive in six WRC rounds in 2010!

Final FIA African Rally Championship co-drivers points

Phil Archenoul  42 points

David Shioka                31

Moses Matovu          22

For more on the team please visit www.emkarally.com

For more on the African Rally Championship visit www.africanrallychampionship.com

On August 24, 2009, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II decried the growing mod violence by land squatters (bibanja holders) against legal land owners.  The Kabaka was opening the 17th session of the Great Lukiiko (Buganda national parliament) . The Kabaka said:  ”"For generations  in Buganda there has been a smooth  working relationship between land owners and bibanja holders.  Now, there is no harmony between the two sides because each suspects the other one. ”  He called for a solution to be found to stop the situation from getting out of control.

The Kabaka did not blame any party for the violence. However, according to sources at Mmengo, Kabaka Mutebi is very concerned about the ongoing FM radio campaigns by John Tamale Mirundi, encouraging squatters to attack land owners. Mirundi uses Star FM, TOP Radio and other FM stations to tell his targeted listeners: “When those land owners bring court brokers or surveyors and try to evict you, defend your selves. Be ready to use pangas  (machetes), sticks and fire to get rid them.”  In the last two months, mobs of bibanja holders have murdered two landlords in Bugerere county alone. In Makukulu Village, Sam Kubo was lynched last week when he went to survey his land in the area.  And on July 31, 2009, squatters in Namatogonya village, also in Bugerere,  beat  the owner’s agent, Livingstone Ssekamate, unconscious and then burnt his alive.

Along with Robert Mukhooli Kabushenga, Tamale Mirundi is believed to be one of Mr. Museveni’s two most trusted strategy advisors on Buganda.  As Mr. Museveni’s Presidential Press Secretary, Tamale Mirundi is widely believed by rural land squatters to be speaking on behalf of the Ugandan strong man. The emerging consensus among Buganda analysts is that president  Museveni may be creating the terror because Mmengo seems to have successfully blocked his Land Act Amendment of 2009 the way they did with the his Regional Tier. But there are some who believe that Mr. Museveni is popularizing violence as part of a bigger vision to create a genocide in Buganda.

This is not the first time that Museveni and Tamale Mirundi have engaged in FM radio campaigns to promote violence in Buganda. In January 2009 we reported that Mirundi and his boss were engaged in an intense anti-Buganda FM Radio campaign similar to the  ones that were blamed for the 1994 Rwanda genocide (see “Museveni Sending Dangerous Message Through Tamale Mirundi“).

According to a survey that was by commissioned by Uganda’s Inspector General of Government (IGG) and conducted by REEV Consult International, the Office of the President is neither among the most corrupt nor among the least corrupt in the country.  And the IGG’s office is one of the two least corrupt institutions. The survey report was released last week. The report, purports to reflect public perceptions of  institutional honesty in Uganda, says that the most corrupt institutions is Police (Traffic), followed by Police (General), UMEME, Lands Office, Kampala City Council, Other Municipal Councils and the Judiciary. And the least corrupt institutions are allegedly National Water Corporation, the IGG, NGOs, Agriculture, National Environmental Agency, Local Governments and Local Councils, in that order.

Uganda’s IGG is former judge Faith Mwondha. Mentioning highlights of the report to reporters, the IGG’s spokesman, Mr. Bageya Waiswa, said that corruption is taking a dangerous trend because it is involving the people who are supposed to fight it like the police and the judiciary.

The reaction from the judiciary was swift. Principle judge James Ogoola has discredited the report as unreliable and subjective. He admitted to Uganda reporters that there are instances of corruption in the judiciary but claimed that much progress has been made towards to reduce corruption and ensure free and fair delivery of justice to the population.

Other members of the legal profession agree with judge Ogoola that the report is not reliable, at best, and fake at worst. A former legal officer in the IGG’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity told us that this report is itself evidence that the IGG’s office is one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. According to the Makerere trained lawyer: “The first problem with this report is that the IGG paid REEV Consult to do the survey, but also demanded that her office be included in the institutions evaluated. The woman is so corrupt that she thinks her Number 2 position as the least corrupt institution is believable even with her highly publicized salary cheating scandal.

“The second problem is that, even Ugandan dogs know that President Museveni’s state house, his army and his national parliament are by far the most corrupt institutions in the country. Illegal land giveaways, daughters using the presidential jet to go for European medical care, the $3,000 third term sale to Museveni by parliament, Salim Saleh’s helicopter saga, the UCB loot, ghost soldiers, the CHOGOM loot, and the list goes on.  The only reason they don’t appear on the most corrupt institutions is because the corrupt IGG used a corrupt consulting firm, which obeyed her instructions to design the survey questions in such a way that state house, UPDF, Solicitor General’s Office and  Ministry of Works can never register as among the most corrupt.

“And the third problem is that REEV Consult International does not even have the technical capacity to conduct such a sensitive survey professionally. Its principal holds a controversial PhD in ‘Poverty Eradication’ from Makerere University.  The fact is that Mr. Nuwagaba grew up poor, has never lived in a rich country or even gone to school away from poverty. He was taught by poor part-time teachers, whose salaries are not paid on time but achieve PhD level knowledge on how to eradicate poverty?  Although Mr. Nuwagaba has aggressively used his tribe skills as smoothing government and even NGO decision makers to get consulting jobs, he is living example of the dumbing down Uganda has suffered under President Museveni.  It is fair to say that the IGG’s report is fake because it was rigged to make her office look good while protecting the state house, UPDF and other notoriously corrupt institutions. It is also fake because the doctor of ‘poverty eradication’ who conducted it is not qualified, otherwise he would have known that it including the IGG, who paid him, in a survey this nature is an obvious conflict of interest.”

In the 1960’s and early 70’s,  Makerere University was one of Africa’s top 10 best Universities.  During Mr.  Museveni’s more than 20 years in power,  the university’s standing has steadily fallen, as government has continuously cut the university budget.  To fend for itself, the university introduced private sponsorships and personalized post graduate programs such PhD in Poverty Eradication.  There have numerous press reports of forged transcripts and even degree sales at Makerere but, like in other white collar crimes in Uganda, prosecutions are extremely rare. The overall result is a large number of Makerere graduates who are ill-prepared to work professionally in or outside Uganda. And holders of  graduate degrees which are not worth the paper they are written on.

In August 2008, Makerere was ranked 59th out of the top 100 universities on the continent – its lowest ranking ever – after dropping 12 places from its 2007 ranking. For comparison, Dar es Salaam University is 24, University of Nairobi is 25, Strathmore University (Nairobi) is 29, University of Rwanda is 30 and Eggerton University (Kenya) is 32. Uganda has only Makerere in Africa’s top 100 but Rwanda has 2, Kenya has a total of 5 and Tanzania 2. The rankings are conducted by Webometrics.

Pastor Alex Mitala told journalists on Monday that cases of pastors who indulge in sex with their flock are rampant in Uganda. However, he vouched for Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga, of Christian Life Church Bwaise, over allegations that he molested a 13 year old girl during an airline flight in the USA. Pastor Alex Mitala is the head of the National Fellowship of Born-Again Churches in Uganda.

On August 23, 2008 Buganda Post reported on the arrest of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga by sheriff’s deputies at Oakland International Airport in California, USA. The alleged molestation occurred on a flight from Denver, Colorado to Oakland, California and the Alameda County, California prosecutors say that they have referred the case to the FBI because of jurisdictional issues from being on the plane.

In defending Ssenyonga, Pastor Mitala told journalists, “”I have known Jackson since he was a boy and his wife Eve since she was a girl. I have never heard of any immoral character in them.” He did not cite any other reasons why it would be impossible for Ssenyonga to have committed the alleged crime. On the contrary, he said that his office constantly receives cases of “pastors in town who go around sleeping with girls everywhere.”