Last Friday, Kabaka Mutebi called upon all his subjects who have reached the voting age of 18 to register so that they can elect leaders of their choice while others should check with the register to confirm whether their names are registered to be able to participate in the 2011 elections. The Lion of Buganda was meeting his subjects from Buluuli who had visited him at his palace, Mengo Lubiri, to assure him of their loyalty, extend their sympathies for the loss of the Kasubi Tombs and to present to show appreciation for his brilliant leadership of the Kingdom regardless of the many challenges faced.
Soon afterwards, First Deputy Katikkiro, Owek. Ssendaula clarified that the Kabaka Mutebi and his government are not involved in partisan politics. Their interest is in supporting candidates who support Buganda’s causes.
These developments have left many Baganda in the diaspora quite confused since they suggest that Buganda has now officially decided to declared her trust and belief in president Museveni’s corrupt election system. Many of the now confused Baganda thought that the Buganda establishment was willing to support the campaign former Katikkiro Dan Muliika announced in Boston to boycott the 2011 elections since they are fraud.
When Buganda Post contacted a New York based expert on Buganda issues by email,he responded with the following: “I would advise Baganda in the diaspora no to panic. Remember that some of the people around Kabaka are ambitious politicians and businessmen with personal interests in becoming MPs or making money. Some might have influence what Kabaka said but, as usual, his words had a lot of wisdom. First, the Kabaka did not promise anyone that, come election time, he will encourage his subjects to even vote. People should be patient, there is a lot of time before the voting.”
President Museveni’s Uganda parliament has 327 members, with 80 or 24% from Buganda. Even if all Baganda MPs vote as a single block, they would need support from another 84 MPs to pass substantially pro-Buganda bills in the Uganda parliament. Estimates by many experts of Uganda’s NRM manipulated political system put the estimate for NRM guaranteed MP seats at a minimum of 131 or just over 40%. Some nationalist Baganda, especially in the diaspora, argue that Buganda’s interests are best served if individuals who have clear business and Uganda political ambitions do not have so much influence on Mmengo and Kabaka Mutebi. That is why these nationalists want Kabaka’s subjects to simply boycott the elections to show the whole world that Buganda is under occupation by the NRM government and help Baganda youths avoid developing a slave complex.
