Dear Maama,

Kyaterekera omunaku tekivunda. What you have prayed for all these months happened, as you already know from CNN. Your “tall boyfriend” Obama won! And Jeff, my Republican friend who has been insisting that the polls were all lying when they showed Obama ahead did not even come to work this morning.  I hope you remember Jeff. He is the guy with a tattoo who lent me his van when we bought the dining table in 2004. Anyway, back to Obama. We have been going to bed after midnight for about a full month; staying awake to watch the CNN and MSNBC election coverage. And yesterday we even went to the victory party at the Holiday Inn near the Interstate and returned home at 1:45 AM.

Now, when it comes to Buganda and Uganda, most of us here believe that Obama is going to be bad news for African dictators. And this will affect Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe most because Barack is very well informed about the election rigging and civil rights abuse in these countries.  By the way he takes his Luo roots very seriously and he sincerely considered people like the Odingas his cultural leaders. So, the smart Baganda see a big opportunity to educate Obama’s administration about the occupation of Buganda and its potential for genocide scale violence. And the signals from Obama on Uganda’s dictatorship even during the campaign have been very encouraging.

Between now and Obama’s swearing ceremony, we hope to get some work done and to sleep normally. The election fever has denied us so much sleep. By the way, we intend to drive down to Washington D.C. for the swearing ceremony. I will give you more details later.

Sorry but the elections have made it difficult for many of us here to focus on developments in Buganda lately. But I have noticed the rapid rate at which the Shilling is losing value. It seems that the Shilling does not obey Uganda’s president who (in Idi Amin style) claimed that Uganda could not be affected by the global economic crisis. Imagine the president of a country which whose budget is 50% funded by foreign AID and whose biggest export is “kyeeyo workers” make such an irresponsible claim!

I have to go watch the talking heads analyze the election results on CNN. Say hello to every own.

Son,

Joshua

Under international law, an agreement is legal only if the associated transaction is legal. On Tuesday October 28, 2008, President Mwai Kibaki dragged Kenya into Museveni’s long illegal campaign to give away Buganda land without authorization from Parliament, City Council or Baganda. Kibaki and Museveni signed a protocol that would give the Kitante Courts land on Yusuf Lule Avenue to the Republic of Kenya. However a prominent Ugandan historian told us that the public land in Mulago area, including the piece that Museveni gave away to Kenya, is owned by Buganda and only under lease to Kampala City Council, according to agreements made in the 1950s and before. The Kitante Courts land is currently occupied by President Museveni’s notorious and dreaded Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) organization.

If Kenya takes up Museveni’s offer, then she will be joining what many Baganda believe to be Mr. Museveni’s conspiracy to import and offer stolen Buganda land to so many foreigners that Baganda are overwhelmed and rendered too weak to fight back. Only last year, Museveni tried to take the Kitante Courts land for himself and his family by gifting it to one of his closest business associates, Sudhir Ruparelia but he dropped the transaction after it became too controversial. Mr. Museveni not only insists that Kampala is not part of Buganda but he is also pushing plans to expand it by at least 5 times in area.

A Muganda international law expert that we contacted explained that the legality of this transaction is tricky but it also smells corruption. “The smart thing for Buganda and others who may have an interest in this land to do would be to publicly register their opposition to the transaction. In particular they should petition the Kenyan government to desist from concluding this transaction ‘because the involved is stolen native lands’. And copies should be given to the UN Secretary General, members of the UN Security Council, Tanzania, etc. The question is, do Walusimbi and Makubuya have the spine to risk annoying Museveni?”

Kenya and Uganda are among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International. Both Mwai Kibaki and Yoweri Museveni remain presidents in their respective countries thanks to massive election fraud that was proven in courts of law. And the presidents of the two countries, especially Uganda, are known to be surrounded by legendary corrupt officials. In Uganda, Mr. Museveni’s closest confidant, Patrick Amama Mbabazi is in the middle of a special investigation by Parliament where overwhelming evidence has emerged that he illegally sold his land to Uganda’s National Social Security fund so he could strengthen his own personal bank. Yes, his personal bank where his partners include the Governor of Uganda’s central bank Tumusiime Mutebire and the minister of finance Ezra Suruma.

There are not enough details on Museveni’s Kenya land giveaway yet to indicate if Mr. Museveni and Mr. Kibaki will personally benefit from the multimillion dollar transaction. It is also not clear if Kenya’s Prime Minister, Oginga Odinga, known to be friendly to Buganda, supports the controversial deal despite its potential to alienate Baganda round the world.

Kenya’s Government can be reached via the following government officials: gowuor@mfa.go.ke  or mnyambura@mfa.go.ke or jbahemuka@mfa.go.ke. or kenrep@mweb.co.za.