By Norman S. Miwambo

7^th February 2011

Kabaka of Buganda with the 'Key'

A cross section of Baganda in the Diaspora have petitioned the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States seeking their support for their quest to see Buganda Kingdom secede from the Republic of Uganda, Uganda Correspondent can reveal.

In their petition, a 22 page document titled “Buganda Captive in Uganda”, the petitioners, mostly from the UK and the US, warned that, “…failure by the International community to act could lead to untold suffering and loss of life if President Museveni is allowed to continue on the path to destroying our heritage. Enough is enough”, the petitioners said.

The petition was addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and copied to the British Prime Minister David Cameron, the President of the European Union Mr Jose Manuel Borroso, the United States Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, and Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary William Hague.

In their petition, the 6,004 petitioners say:  “…We the undersigned are appealing to you to intervene in the current constitutional arrangements of Uganda which if not checked, will in all likelihood lead to genocide.  Buganda is an unwilling participant in a Uganda formed by the British”.

The petitioners say they have reliable evidence to prove that Buganda is increasingly being held captive and is posed to suffer genocide and persecution that will be more severe than the one witnessed in Rwanda.  They contend that in the distorted world of President Museveni’s Uganda, the Kabaka of Buganda can be seen but not heard unless he is singing President Museveni’s praises.

The petitioners are particularly worried about the recently passed “King” law which exposes the Kabaka of Buganda to possible arrest and imprisonment if he makes statements that the regimes deems to be political in nature.  The petitioners also said Buganda wants “…to renegotiate her co-existence with neighbouring nations.  The perpetuation of the colonial legacy is intolerable and has to be dismantled if we are to see peace in our time”, the petitioners warned.

The Diaspora Buganda also said Buganda is seeking divorce from what they called an ‘unholy marriage’.  The idea of secession by aggrieved groups in Uganda is not limited to Buganda.  Democratic Party [DP] President Norbert Mao and Members of Parliament from the greater north [comprising of West Nile, Karamoja, Lango, Teso and Acholi sub-region] have also made similar calls for secession in the past.

Mao was reported to have said, “…we are either full citizens, equal to all others, or non-citizens.  The idea of the Nile State is actually a challenge to the Uganda government that we did not choose to be Ugandans.  We did not fill an application form and we did not beg to be Ugandans”.

Makindye West MP Hussein Kyanjo [of Justice Forum] has also suggested in the past that Buganda’s quest for independence lies at the heart of the continued tensions between Buganda Kingdom and the central government.  In his most recent speech, the Kabaka of Buganda His Majesty Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II urged his subjects the Baganda not to succumb to intimidation in their demand for Justice and Fairness.

The petitioners’ other grievance is pegged on President Museveni’s decision to create new Kingdoms within Buganda Kingdom.  The petitioners believe those are “…deliberate efforts to permanently alter the demography of Buganda by manipulating its population and other statistics to understate the number of Baganda as well as introducing a large number of alien people into the territory of Buganda”.

The concluding parts of the 22 page petition says this in part:  “…We the Baganda look to the United Nations, the US government, and above all the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to take the lead in resolving the problem that Her Majesty’s government imposed on the Kingdom of Buganda”.

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