According to the NRM’s local Luganda mouthpiece, Bukedde, the MP for Kampala Central, wants Tamale Mirundi to be expelled from the Nkima (monkey) Baganda clan. MP Erias Lukwago appealed to the head of the Nkima clan, whose title is Mugema, to disown Mirundi because of his anti-Buganda activities. Tamale Mirundi is one of president Museveni’s closest confidants, believed to be more important than vice president Bukenya is.  Lukwago, like Tamale, is a member of the Nkima clan.

If Mugema were to grant Lukwago’s request and expel Mirundi from the clan, it would mean that the presidential adviser would no longer be a Muganda. He and his children and grandchildren would have no clan, ssiga (sub-county) or mutuba. It would also mean that when Tamale dies, he would not be buried as a Muganda or have his last funeral rites (lumbe) authorized and officiated by Baganda clan officials.

The NRM’s Bukedde also reported that Tamale Mirundi dismissed Lukwago’s suggestion. He allegedly said that to him Baganda clans are like any other organization or association which brings people together. He compared clans to the Uganda Journalist Association (UJA) and similar organizations.

From: XXXXXX
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 2:34 PM
To: xxxxx@bugandapost.com

Subject: Letter to baganda

Dear Writers,

Burning Of Kasubi  Follows A Plan Written In 1513

I am writing to warn every Muganda and friend of Buganda that this burning of Kasubi is really part of a long-term plan to destroy Buganda which is based on a book by Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in 1513.

The history of my warning starts around 2002/2003 when Bwaana Tamale Mirundi used to translate a book about how a dictator can stay in power – from English to Luganda. The book was by called The Prince and the writer Machiavelli.  By that time, Tamale Mirundi called himself Mr. Consultant and had a  late night CBS Radio programme (I think Sunday) where he translated the book.

Because at that time Tamale Mirundi disliked the NRM his programme was really about explaining how Mr. Museveni was using Machiavelli’s  book  as his bible for ruling Ugandans forever.  I think it is true that  Museveni is a follower Machiavelli because he quickly saw that Tamale Mirundi could awaken Baganda so he somehow brought him to his side. We heard that Tamale was fired from CBS radio because his programmes sounded like they were praising Museveni’s brain. If  that is true, then maybe Mengo made a mistake of blaming the messenger and ignoring the message. You cannot have a strong institution where people who may be a bit radical and crazy like Tamala Mirundi are fired on emotion only to be picked up by an enemy.

For me,  after listening to one of Tamale’s programmes I found them very educational. I even bought a copy of The Prince and started following Mirundi’s translations on CBS because it was tough to read in English.  In fact the day they burnt Kasubi tombs I immediately remembered that Mirundi told us on CBS in 2003 that “bwooba oyagala okufuga emirembe n’emirembe abantu b’obwakabaka obulina ebyaafayo nga Buganda oba Bunyoro, Machiavelli agamba nti olina okusanyaawo buli kantu konna akajjukiza abantu abo obwakabaka bwaabwe.”  (“if you want  to rule the people of a kingdom with history and institutions like Buganda or Bunyoro forever, Machiavelli  says that you must destroy everything that makes the people remember what their kingdom was like.”)

I found my The Prince book and it took me only two  minutes to find the place where Mirundi talked about destroying the kingdom.  Chapter 5. I paid someone to type it for me and I have double checked every word. Please anyone read it and the notes I put in brackets and tell me if I am wrong to say that BURNING OF KASUBI  FOLLOWED A PLAN WRITTEN IN 1513.

In case you don’t know, Tamale Mirundi has been Mr. Museveni’s  most valued advisor at the time of Ssabaluri, Sabanyala, Kayunda Riots, Kasubi Toms, Land Bill Amendment, expanding Kampala to Mukono and Entebbe, trying to force Kabaka to negotiate, and so forth. Even when they had a dispute with Vice Gilbert Bukenya on Chogom, it is Mirundi who came on top. Baganda must wake up and remember our own saying “Okwelinda si buti” (”Keeping prepared for anything is not a sign of cowardice”).  If we continue trying to please everybody then we must stop complaining when those same people treat us like rubbish for our “bampaane”.

Awangaale Ssabasajja Kabaka wa Buganda

Please do not show my name
Kawuku, Kyadondo
Buganda

MACHIAVELLI’S THE PRINCE – CHAPTER 5

HOW TO GOVERN CITIES AND PRINCIPALITIES THAT, PRIOR TO BEING OCCUPIED, LIVED UNDER THEIR OWN LAWS

WHEN a state is accustomed to live in freedom under its own  laws is acquired, there are three ways of keeping it: the first is to destroy it;  the second is to go to live there in person; the third is to let it continue to live under its own laws, taking tribute from it, and setting up a government composed of a few men who will keep it friendly to you. Such a govern­ment, being the creature of the prince, will be aware that it can­not survive without his friendship and support, and it will do everything to maintain his authority. A city which is used to freedom is more easily controlled by means of its own citizens than by any other, provided one chooses not to destroy it. [MY NOTE: The prince talked about here is the one who acquired Buganda and wants to permanently take it away. For sure we have had a few men in Buganda government who cannot survive without the support and friendship of the prince occupying Buganda].

Take, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes by setting up a government of a few men in each; nevertheless they lost both. In order to hold on to Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, the Romans de­stroyed them; yet they did not lose them. They hoped to hold Greece in almost the same way as the Spartans had done leav­ing her free under her own laws; yet they were not successful, and so they were compelled to destroy many cities of that province in order to keep possession of it.

For in truth there is no sure method of holding such cities except by destruction. Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions. These are not forgotten either through passage of time or through benefits received. Despite any actions or provisions one may take, if the inhabitants are not divided and dispersed, they will not forget that name and those institutions, and they will quickly have re­course to them at every chance, as Pisa did after a hundred years of servitude under the Florentines. [MY NOTE: Were Baganda not accustomed to centuries of freedom until they were forced into Uganda in 1962? Are these schemes of Ssabaluri, Ssabanyala, Muchakamuchaka, Bibanja Association and land grabbing about dividing Baganda so that we can forget that name and those institutions?]

But when cities or provinces have been accustomed to live under a prince and his line becomes extinct, being on the one hand used to obeying and on the other deprived of their leader, they cannot agree among themselves in the selection of a new one and do not know how to live in freedom. Hence they are slower to take up arms, and a prince may more easily win them and hold them. But in republics there is greater vigor, greater hatred, greater desire for’ revenge, and the memory of earlier freedom cannot and will not let them rest. Thus, the surest pro­cedure is either to destroy them or to live in them. [MY NOTE: Are certain officials in Mengo not always telling us to stay calm avoid making the occupiers angry? Is it wrong to believe then that burning of Kasubi could be one of many things planned to make our royal family so weak that it is as good as extinct?]

Buganda Post has reliably learnt from a source very close Dr. Gilbert Bukenya that the vice president in  Uganda’s oppressive NRM regime is fuming, after president Museveni ignored his (Bukenya’s) political enemies and counseled him to stop quarreling everyone. The Muganda source told Buganda Post: “Our man is extremely frustrated because Museveni refused to even listen to his complaints about Kahinda Otafiire, Mbabazi, state house mafia and even Tamale Mirundi. He was hoping that Mirundi would be fired but  Museveni pretended that he was not even fully aware of the feud between his VP and his press secretary, Mirundi.

“Instead, he counseled our man to stop quarrelling with every in the public when there are so many other correct forums.  He even went as far as telling Bukenya to reconcile with Mbabazi  and take photos together publically,  to show a good image.  Our man did not like that but he obliged as good team player.  What really annoyed Bukenya, though, is that after the Mbabazi thing, Museveni then told Bukenya to also reconcile with Tamale, a junior officer, whom our man was demanding to get fired. Not only was Tamale not fired, but Museveni ordered the two of them to stop attacking each other in the public.”

Our source says that, for now, Bukenya has to behave like everything is under control but, under the surface, he is fuming at Museveni, Kuteesa, Amelia Kyambadde, Mirundi, Otafiire, Saleh, Kainerugaba and several others who we know are conspiring to destroy him. The source also reveals that, after the apparent murder of his Sandhurst bound son by some of these people, Bukenya’s friends are very concerned about his  own life. The source elaborated: “These people are ruthless and they know all Bukenya’s weaknesses.  And Museveni has set  Bukenya up as an enemy of Buganda, by encouraging him to abuse Kabaka and Baganda. Our fear is that, these mafias can do something to the man and claim that it the angry Baganda nationalists who did it.”

On December 26, 2009, vice president Bukenya told the NRM mouthpiece, the New Vision, that the Museveni authorized the corrupt transaction that involved the irregular acquisition of vehicles for CHOGOM.  In the same interview Bukenya made anti-Buganda and anti-Kabaka statement, which was prepared for him by Museveni’s state house: “If Buganda wants to advance in a democratic era, it is not a matter of Mengo accepting or not accepting. It is a matter of understanding the future of Uganda. And the future of Uganda lies in consolidation of a democratic process. There is no more time for undemocratic systems of government in Uganda. Choosing a person without going into one-person one-vote is no longer acceptable. Therefore, Buganda and its cultural leadership must now begin to recognize legitimately elected members of their society like the President, MPs, district chairpersons, councilors, and other local government leaders.”

On December 30, 2009, Museveni’s press secretary, Tamale Mirundi hit back at Bukenya when he told the local press that the vice president should “stop hiding behind the President’s name” on CHOGOM because Museveni twice wrote opposing the breach of procurement rules before the tender of the supply of the 204 cars was awarded. Tamale continued: “If you are a Vice President and then you start hiding behind the President, then you cannot succeed… Was Prof. Bukenya a running boy of the President? He had the opportunity to meet and advise the President in all the meetings, what stopped him from doing so?”.

Then in an interview published on December 31, 2009 in the The Monitor newspaper, Bukenya reacted to Tamale Mirundi’s attack with full force, calling Mirundi a “small boy” who should be ignored. Bukenya reportedly went on say: “It is very interesting that a junior staff can make such comments on the second highest office in this country. I would be very interested if that person puts his comments in writing… Is it true that the President has disowned me like Tamale wants the public to believe? I am not aware, and if it is true, I wish to know it… I talk with the President every day. How comes he has never said such? Sometimes those small boys can want to make you go astray but that will not be the case.”

For days afterwards,  Bukenya tried to talk to Museveni without success, thanks to Amelia Kyambadde. It is now a public secret that Bukenya then went rouge. He started and fanned a rumor that he was ready to retire, to confuse his enemies and get Museveni’s attention. He also secretly solicited the help of other disgruntled NRMs like Mike Mukula to stage a “don’t resign” rally for him in Kakiri. According to the NRM’s New Vision newspaper,  Bukenya told the rally on January 9, 2010, that he was like Kilimanjaro and Tamale could not climb him. He added: “I am closely following Tamale Mirundi step by step. I want to know who is putting fire in him. When I get to know, I will call you here and name them.” Bukenya finally got Museveni’s attention, which eraned him the lecture to stop quarreling with everyone and the order to reconcile with Mbabazi, Otafiire and Tamale Mirundi.

As president Museveni’s press secretary, Tamale Mirundi is answerable to the Ugandan life president and his principle private secretary, Amelia Kyambadde. Historically, Tamale Mirundi never makes any statement without getting clearance from Museveni or Amelia. It therefore seems that Bukenya’s threats to name who is putting fire in Tamale Mirundi could have brought him to is current situation.