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   The arrest of two Buganda ministers and a civic education committee official is a sign that President Museveni is now playing his last card –confronting a defiant Mengo.
The arrests didn’t come as a surprise because in his December 18, 2007 letter to the Kabaka, President Museveni said the Mengo group was in breach of the Constitution by causing disaffection (kukyayisa) against the ruling NRM.
“The law enforcement agencies should have long ago intervened to stop this law-breaking; but I restrained them because I had not met you (Kabaka) and we also did not want to send wrong signals to the delegates who were coming here for CHOGM...” Museveni wrote then.
A meeting with the Kabaka has failed and CHOGM has long been held, so the arrests can now begin. The ministers; Charles Peter Mayiga (Information), Medard Lubega Ssegona (state for Information) and chairperson Buganda Civic Education Central Committee (CECC), Betty Nambooze Bakireke, were arrested on July 18.
The arrests have been likened to the 1966 crisis when Prime Minister Milton Obote instructed the army commanded by Idi Amin to invade Sir Kabaka Mutesa II’s palace at Lubiri, following allegations that Buganda was amassing guns to fight the central government. Strangely, the officials were arrested on the day Buganda was holding her first ever local conference at Hotel Africana to discuss challenges facing the kingdom.
Attendance was strictly by invitation and despite the presence of ageing Saza chiefs, proceedings were mainly in English which in a way defines the profile of Baganda in attendance, mainly working youthful professionals. This was also to accommodate non-Baganda speakers such as professors Mahmood Mamdani and Ali Mazrui. About 1,000 Baganda attended.
The tone at the conference was that of defiance. Delegates resolved that begging would not deliver to them what they want, so they vowed to seek state power.
Every resolution was endorsed by show of hands but the resolution on seeking state power was tactfully adopted by a round of applause. That is the method the MC and Mengo Research Minister Daudi Mpanga chose. Speakers and statements urging Baganda to seek political power received pronged clapping while those calling for negotiations got muted response.
By the time Prof. Mahmood Mamdani challenged Baganda over what he called being one of the few majority communities uninterested in state power, the stage had been set.
Mamdani noted that Luo and Kikuyu majorities in Kenya are the ones fighting for state power; the English rule UK, while the Prussians rule Germany. For his sobering remarks, Mamdani got a standing ovation. Buganda Attorney General, Apollo Makubuya, chairman of the organising committee, drummed up Mamdani’s remarks repeatedly.
And as if Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II had received a tutorial from Mamdani, his speech, closing the one-day conference sought to answer the political science professor’s statement. Without naming him, the Kabaka quoted the Greek philisopher Aristotle who once said "Man is by nature a political animal." He hastened to add that he is an exception to this, although he asked all political animals in the audience to push for Buganda’s interests which he had enumerated.
The Nabagereka, Sylvia Nagginda, who spoke before the arrival of her husband, restricted herself to cultural matters and what her new office has been doing.
Prof. Ali Mazurui, Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa, Prof. Fredrick Juuko, Dr. Samuel Sejaaka (MUBS), Archbishop Dr. Cyprian Lwanga, Dr. James Mulwana, MP John Kawanga and Retired Bishop Mukono Diocese Rev. Michael Ndawula Ssenyimba all addressed the conference. The arrests
The conference was jolted by the arrest of Buganda Information State Minister Medard Lubega Ssegona Akarya Amagwa which was announced to the delegates at around 11a.m. by Research Minister David Mpanga. Ssegona was a member of the organising committee and had been scheduled to chair one of the evening sessions. However, he was intercepted as he moved out of his London Chambers law firm and bundled onto a Police pick-up. Sadness descended on the conference room when Mpanga announced the manner in which the outspoken youthful minister had been arrested. But the delegates could only jeer.
Later in the evening, the Kabaka said:
“I am saddened to hear that one of our colleagues is not with us.” He didn’t know that two more officials of his kingdom would be picked up shortly after the conference. Charles Peter Mayiga who chaired Prof. Mazrui’s keynote address informed the conference that he had spent a whole day trying to locate Ssegona at various Police stations. Little did he know that he too was about to be picked up.
Betty Nambooze Bakireke, also a delegate, was arrested at Nakawa as she drove home after spending a whole day at Africana. Cause of arrest The Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, said in a July 19 statement that the three faced charges of terrorism and attempts to procure firearms. Promoting sectarianism, sedition and inciting violence are the other charges.
Debating the merits and demerits of the charges belongs to lawyers and judges, but for the lay person the three suspects have several things in common. Apart from the obvious one that they are all Baganda; they each have a radio programme on Buganda’s Central Broadcasting Services (CBS).
Medard Ssegona features on Agafa e Mengo (News from Mengo) aired on CBS’ 88.8FM every Sunday at 9:30p.m. up to 10:30p.m.
As he retires for the night every Sunday, Nambooze begins her Twejukanya (let us remember) programme on another CBS channel, 89.2. The programme runs from 10p.m. to midnight.
Nambooze is also a panelist on ‘Kiriza Oba Gaana’ every Wednesday. This is a talk-show that features mainly journalists discussing the week’s events. Charles Peter Mayiga’s Tunuulira ebibadde mumawulire programme is aired every Friday evening on CBS 89.2 and it analyses media reports.
Besides, alongside a few dozen Buganda officials, the three have taken a leading role campaigning against the controversial Land Act (Amendment) Bill 2007. President Museveni says the Bill intends to stop massive land evictions, but Buganda’s stand is that it is unnecessary and might actually lead to the grabbing of the Kabaka’s land.
While the Bill is the reason behind the latest stand-off between Buganda and the central government, old grievances have been simmering. These include Buganda’s long-standing demand for a federal status, power to control some 9000sq miles of land, and the status of Kampala City, which the central government says is not part of Buganda. The Katikkiro of Buganda, Eng. John Baptist Walusimbi, who some Mengo officials claim has a soft spot for the NRM, intimated to some of his colleagues that 40 officials are being hunted.
As a result, people like Erias Lukwago (Kampala Central MP), Apollo Makubuya (Buganda Attorney General), Daudi Mpanga (Buganda research minister), Hajji Hussein Kyanjo (Makindye West MP), Beti Kamya (Lubaga North MP), Med Nsereko (CBS), Moses Kasibante (CBS) and a host of others have been advised to go underground to survive the arrests, at least towards the weekend. “These people are being charged for no reason other than that they are Baganda who are speaking out on the issues that are of concern to the people of Buganda. They are therefore nothing more than prisoners of conscience, detained because of their unwavering promotion of the culture, cultural institutions, language and traditions of Buganda,” declared Buganda Attorney General, Apollo Makubuya in his July 20 statement. Fighting for masses Mengo sources have intimated to The Weekly Observer that the Kabaka and his new administration are keen to move away from performing rituals in palaces to reaching out to the masses through intense grassroots mobilisation.
In fact, one of the resolutions at the conference was that the Nambooze committee should carry on with sensitization on land matters but also touch on other issues affecting Buganda. The sign of what is to come can be seen in Betty Nambooze’s Civic Education Central Committee (CECC), which has visited all corners of Buganda mobilising the masses against the Land Bill, among other issues.
In addition to the Nambooze committee, Mengo has a strong team of politicians who act as facilitators during public meetings in Buganda.
These include; Hussein Kyanjo, Erias Lukwago, Beti Kamya, Ken Lukyamuzi, Hajji Abdu Nadduli, and Bishop Ssenyimba. They work under the guidance of Daudi Mpanga.
The NRM recognises that it has lost the mobilisation initiative to the Buganda team, whose efforts are supplemented by the powerful CBS radio. In a 23-page Cabinet Information Paper on the Land Amendment Bill 2007 prepared by the Minister of Lands, Daniel Omara Atubo, the Cabinet was informed of how it has lost the mobilisation battle in Buganda. “The political arm of the Movement was found not to be effective on the ground, with regard to mobilisation, communication and coordination,” reads the Cabinet paper.
This paper was prepared by ministers led by Maj. William Kinobe (Youth) and NRM MPs who toured the country to popularize the Land Bill early this year. A senior Mengo minister told The Weekly Observer that President Museveni usually wins his support either through genuine support, patronage or intimidation.
In his view, the support has been dwindling, patronage is failing, and now he has to resort to intimidation.
A presidential aide told The Weekly Observer on condition of anonymity that the government is likely to take on CBS radio next. The government is likely to demand that some outspoken talk-show members such as Nambooze leave the radio. Last card Whatever the political calculations that might have informed this move, it is risky strategy because while cracking down on criticism might succeed in temporarily silencing Mengo, it also is capable of eroding further the government’s support. Buganda region has the highest number of voters in the country. The total voting population was put at 10 million before the last general elections in 2006, but only 7.1 million turned up to vote.
Buganda has 3 million voters followed by Western Uganda with 2.8 million, East with 2.4 million and the North 1.9 million.
In the last three elections of his regime, Buganda has given President Museveni enough votes to win the race. This support has however been declining. In 1996, President Museveni polled 1.2 million votes in Buganda while his main rival, Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, got a mere 0.3 million votes.
In 2001, Museveni got 1.4 million votes from Buganda and his main rival, Dr. Kizza Besigye, got half of this - 0.72 million votes. In 2006 Museveni polled 1.1 million votes in Buganda and Besigye again got 0.72 million votes. These figures show that Museveni’s victory margin in Buganda has been reducing from 0.9 million votes in 1996, to 0.7 million in 2001, and 0.4 million in 2006.
Another reduction would see the President losing Buganda for the first time or being even with the opposition. This is a position Museveni hates to be in.
Moreover, rural Buganda has always been known to be an NRM stronghold, with Luwero Triangle in particular being touted as the Mecca of the ruling party.
In fact, only two opposition MPs; Dr. Lulume Bayiga (Buikwe West) and Mathias Nsubuga (Bukoto Mid-West) can be said to have won constituencies in rural Buganda.
This is a position Museveni would rather consolidate than lose. And sensing that he was losing it, he has come out all guns blazing.
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