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Following independence Uganda like many former colonies was faced with the double-task of nation building and national development. The independence of Uganda in 1962 had suceeded a standoff between Buganda Kingdom and the central government over the future of Buganda in a united Uganda. Pre-independence politics became marrred by questions of the relevance of the  Buganda question in national politics. The independence of Uganda saw the forced submission of Buganda a nation state into a united Uganda. This only excerbated the acrimony resulting in the formation of Kabaka Yekka to oppose democratic reforms. The agitation of the KY led to an alliance with the UPC to stall efforts by the DP to lead the country in the 1961 elections.
The independence government of UPC-KY was composed of monarchists and republicans with a King as head of state, deputised a republican prime minister. This laid the grounds fertile for the 1966 crisis with the fallout of of the KY-UPC marriage of convinience. 1967 saw the abolishing of monarchies and abrogation of the 1962 constitution which itself constituted an issue of governance. The Obote era did not live long enough before Amin was supported to oust him and Amin only mantained Obote's republican policies keeping traditionalism at bay. Enter Yusuf Lule and the Federo debated was re-ignited, not wanting to miss the opportunity as the granter of the lost glory, Lule'e maiden speech which included words like "kye twayagaliza embazzi, kibuyaga asudde" only served to remind his fellow leaders that the issue of monarchies had not subsided. The pro-Lule riots in Kampala which resulted in the shooting of a former Katikkiro by soildiers under the orders of then defence minister Yoweri Museveni indicated the widespread support for the return of monarchies. The debate was for sometime postponed as the country under-went a series of power changes with the toppling of Binaisa, replaced by a UPC government led by Obote in a highly rigged election. Obote's second government did not live to see the otherside of the tunnel when in 1985 due to ethnic injustices against the Acholi, Tito Okello and Bazilio Okello overthrew his regime. The lack of prioities on the side of the new leaders worked to increase support for the NRA rebels an outfit formed out of the remnants of FRONASA then called PRA merging with Pro-Lule's UFF. It should be remembered that Lule's UFF was a predominantly baganda rebel group fighting for the restoration of the Kingdom among its primary reasons. The merger which led to the birth of NRA gained widespread support in Buganda for reasons associated with its programmes but also promise to restore the kingdoms. The allusion that the Kabaka would be returned formed a central theme in the motivation of the predominatly Baganda soildiers of the NRA. His eventual appearance in the bush struggle in Masaka confirmed his contribution to the struggle against Obote and Okello. Again a marriage was sealed for the convinience of eliminating Obote's "undemocratic forces". The marriage hit the rocks in 1992 with the resumption of calls for the 1962 federo arrangement.
The state acted by sponsoring dissident royals to claim that the Kabaka was not the rightful heir to the monarchy. A heavily guarded Princess Ndagire hijacked the royal tombs and installed herself as protector. The activities of Muruuli Mukasa , then security minister and Kakooza Mutale in this imbroglio was upsetting to the Mengo establishment. It required a massive stand by baganda for the state to reconsider pulling off the mission. The sitting of the Gulu army council meet in 1992 granted the restitution of monarchies and the C.A under executive influence only rubberstamped Mr. Museveni's views of returning kingdoms in 1993. The 1995 Odoki constitutional commision discovered that over 65 percent of Ugandans were in favour of a federal system of government and an 80 percent in Buganda was found to be in favour of the arrangement. The state however went ahead and proposed decentralisation as an alternative against the wishes of the majority Ugandans. This led to Buganda kingdom rejecting the 1995 constitution especially on issues regarding land and the position of the Kabaka. The result was increased hostility between Mengo and the center. The standoff gained momentum with the 1995 Land act which Mengo rejected wholly and the lukiiko passed a resolution denouncing the law. With increased acrimony both sides entered talks to resolve the issues and a regional tier government was proposed which was almost embraced only for the Kabaka acting on peculiar counsel forced the resignation of a number of his ministers especially those involved in pushing for the tier government system an indicator that the kingdom was not ready for a system short of the federal arrangement. In a rather poor show of statesmanship the President and the Kabaka's letter which were supposed to have been private correspondences mysteriously found their way to the local vernacular press.
This later saw the election of a radical Katikkiro in the count-down to the 2006 elections and his embrace of all political affliations triggered off a spate of attacks on his leadership from government quarters. Katikkiro Muliika's regime saw the revitalisation of the kingdom's demands with a more enthusiasitc energy amplified by the actions of radical youth groups. His leadership was marred by the killing of a youth who had escorted Dr. Besigye an opposition leader to Mengo to receive the blessings of the Katikkiro. The killer a state operative has since been absolved of the murder.
Enter the land bill 2007 and the battle lines were drawn once again, with Mengo apponting a civic education committee headed by a spokesperson of an opposition party to traverse the kingdom de-campaigning the bill. This stalled government's efforts to pass the bill with increased opposition to the same coming from religious institutions, investors, law society and other stakeholders.
Around the sametime repeated voices of land grabbing in the Buganda countryside dominated the local press in what the Daily Monitor newspaper described as a ‘land bonanza' with key elements in the state accused of using their influence and authority to grab peasant land. Then enter the Balaalo cattle herders who looking for pasture forcefully encroached on land belonging to Baganda peasants. The effect was a wide outcry to the president to prevail over gun-totting cattle herders who were being acccused of intimidating conutry dwellers. The result was killing of some animals in Kiboga with their owners surviving with serious injuries. It took an ethnic understanding when the president's failure to act was mistaken or understood to imply support to the balaalo. Consequently the term ‘Sserwaja okwota' meaning ungrateful guests in refference to the illegal immigrants became increasingly used to the effect that the president at onetime thought that it was a derogatory term used in refference to his person. A counter assault was lauched with the president calling the Mengo government ‘misege' implying foxes in sheep skin. This did not go well with the Kingdom establishment who deployed vocal baganda to contest the land bill throuth a Civic Education Committee led by Nambooze to counter the damage made.
The Kabaka himself pherhaps uncomfortable with land grabbing and intimidation of his subjects in the country side cautioned ‘abasaatuusi' (criminal tresspassers) against inciting violence against them and urged them to live in harmony with their hosts. It was now clear that the King was aware of the land grabbing scheme and had joined in the battle.
The activities of the Civic education committee appointed by the Kabaka culminated into the arrest of 3 mengo officials on charges of terrorism. However, the charges were later dropped to sedition. This increased tension between the two centers with renewed agitation from Mengo especialy through radio CBS its mouth-piece. The state woked to weaken the Mengo establishment by formenting discord among its ethnicities sponsoring secesion of the Baruuli and most recently the Banyala.
With the Kabaka evidently supportive of the activities of Mengo government, a blackmail campaign was launched first with the Red pepper publications against the Kabaka's wife, later his son and other family members. Then the Newvision, a state owned media joined the fray alleging that the Kabaka mortgaged the Bulange plaza to a minister in the Museveni government. Mengo declared a boycott of all state media which hurt the business until they apologised.
Hostility to the land bill increased with Mengo enlisting the support of religious institutions and other key stakeholders. The Kabaka's movements became increasingly directed towards associating with the powers that mattered most prominently the Catholic Church. As the peoples' king, the Kabaka traversed the Kingdom inspiring courage among his subjects amidst an ensuing stalemate. Everywhere he went, the Kabaka posed as an alternative to elected politicians and it was not so long before the powers that be recognised the damage already made to their ballot enclaves in the countryside.
Conspicioulsy the Mengo government invested a lot of resources in preparing the Kabaka's visit in the disputed areas. Rigorous advertisement for the Kabaka's visit to Buruuli, Buvuma and Kayunga (the term Bunyala doesn't fit here) was made and convoys of Baganda subjects mobilised to escort the royal.The height of his Kingdom wide tour was the celebration of 16 years on the throne. With the attendance of his principal allies, the clergy and amidst close to a million subjects, the Kabaka dropped the bombshell when he in a veiled assault advised those who don't understand the Kingdoms demands to search for the answers in the word justice. Likening the current stalemate to a neighbour who wants to preside over matters in his neigbours homestead. The Kabaka stung where it hurts. His popularity among his subjects soared to unprecedent levels. In attendance was the vice president and the message to his boss was made clear.
This saw the heavy deployment of armed forces to block the Kabaka's visit to Nakasongola and later deployment against the Kabaka's visit to Kayunga. The recent blockade resulted into a spate of widespread riots in Buganda leading to the deaths of 30 Ugandans, injuring hundreds, over 1000 arrests and loss of property estimated in billions. The aftermath of the riots has seen the rise of ethnic tensions in Buganda, impounding of over 1000 boda boda cycles and the presence of the military on the streets. It also resulted in the closure of 5 radio stations and interogation of presenters and members of parliement on charges associated with the events. The state owned Bukedde Newspaper highlighted 50 cases Mr. Museveni has over the Mengo establishment. Finally came the meeting of the Kabaka with the president after almost close to a decade to find lasting solutions to the impasse. The meeting between the two leaders calmed the tensions - well for now atleast.
The post-ponement of the Buganda question is a liability to the stability of Uganda and the nation building project stands at risk of the spill-over effects of the impasse. Uganda is likely to remain unstable for a very long time till central government adopts a federal political system of governance. However strong Museveni might believe himself to be - he cannot deny what Ugandans want. The masses will always succeed.
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Its Federal or the bullet!! (1)
