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Keep Kabaka out of politics, Lukkiko warns Museveni. |
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Written by Kalanzi Moses
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Monday, 16 November 2009 22:59 |
Members of the Buganda Lukiiko have called upon President Museveni to desist from dragging the Kabaka into politics through directly  involving His Majesty the Kabaka in the stalled Mengo-Museveni negotiations. In a stormy special convening of the Great Buganda Lukiiko on the 9/11/09, members also expressed displeasure at the slow pace of the negotiations between Mengo and President Museveni.
The Lukiiko was convened by the Katikkiro to discuss pertinent issues in the Kingdom in the aftermath of the September Buganda riots. The meeting demanded that President Museveni should keep the Kabaka out of politics reasoning that it was unconstitutional and culturally unacceptable.
Prominent Kampala lawyer and Lukiiko member Owek. Joseph Balikuddembe reffered to the talks between the president and His Majesty the Kabaka as ‘a private discussion with no significant bearing on the matters pertaining on ground'. The Uganda Federo Confederates (UFC) a pressure group campaigning for a federal political system is also understood to have a similar view. Moses Nsubuga of UFC 'wondered why Museveni insisted on talking to the kabaka in secrecy. What was he telling him for all that time they were just the two of them? Museveni wants to trick our king, he is not a politician'. However another Lukiiko member Owek. Noah Kiyimba said dscussions involving the Kabaka were important for confidence building suggesting that His Majesty should take part in the preliminary confidence building exercise and later delegate responsibility to the technical Kingdom negotiation team to conclude the talks. The members castigated the president for bypassing official Kingdom structures to seek audience with the Kabaka on political issues which they said was an indication of lack of respect for the Kingdom's government structures.
Mr. Museveni who restored Kingdoms in 1993 after a 30-year period has in the past collided with the Mengo government especially on matters of its legitimacy with the President accusing members of the Mengo government of getting involved in partisan politics. The rift between Mr. Museveni and the Mengo government escalated when recently Gen. Kahinda Otafiire a close Museveni confidant reffered to the Mengo establishment as a Non-governmental organisation with no constitutional legality. This was followed by the arrest of two kingdom ministers and an official of the Kingdom's Civic education committee.
In a 21-page statement, the Katikkiro John Baptist Walusimbi presented his case for negotiations based on the intensity of the issues at hand including the re-opening of CBS and Ssuubi FM radio stations, the land bill 2007 and the proposed regional-tier government. Some members however remained opposed to the idea of discussing about all the matters as a single enitity justifying that this would weaken their stand and would present loopholes in negotiations arguing that some issues were more vital and time bound than the others. Members also expressed concern over the delayed progress of the talks blaming the delay on the lack of goodwill from the central government's negotiating team.
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Its Federal or the bullet!! (1)
