Mao wants to isolate Kabaka from his subjects
By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba – 12th-18th July 2010
The author
Some Mao supporters have written and said a lot of stuff about the 1966 crisis and Kabaka Yekka [KY] in relation to the IPC and Suubi 2011 [a new political pressure group. Ed]. But they are scaring Ugandans on matters they seem not to know very well. Yes, they resolved in their latest meeting to de-campaign Suubi 2011 and IPC but I think they are going about it wrongly. DP-Mao and its supporters are replicating what DP did in 1961 when it refused to take the same position that Mengo was taking. Mengo had called for a boycott of national elections because neither the British administration nor the African political parties would guarantee Buganda’s future position within Uganda.In that election, all but three per cent of the electorate stayed away from the polls. DP eventually won 20 of the 21 seats in Buganda but Ben kiwanuka’s aim at that point was to isolate the Kingdom from its subjects. This is exactly what Mao is also doing but we shall see if he will succeed. That is why Mengo has got to do everything in its powers to support Suubi 2011 and IPC in Buganda and ensure that they achieve some success at the end of 2011 elections.
KY was formed mainly by Kabaka Mutesa’s friends under the Kakamega Club in 1961. These were guys he was with in Buddo who then became his political advisers in almost everything when he became a King. They were the ones who championed the KY cause. So it’s wrong for some people to say that all of KY was assimilated into UPC by 1964 apart from Daudi Ochieng.
The fact is that if Suubi 2011 and the IPC can achieve what KY did in 1961, then the opposition will be back in business in 2011. If the opposition can win all the 82 constituencies in Buganda, then that will be a big achievement. The Suubi 2011 critics are scaring people for no good reasons apart from the fact that it is a threat to parties such as DP-Mao who are selfishly looking at Buganda as their stronghold and they don’t want any other bull in the Buganda kraal. FDC is supporting Suubi 2011 and IPC like all other parties in the opposition. Yes, FDC is also a threat to old parties like DP but this is not the time to concentrate on individual party interests. This is where Mao and his DP are getting it wrong.
The 1966 crisis and the fall of KY was a result of several things that happened mainly in 1964: there was the no confidence motion of March 1964 demanding the resignation of Katikkiro Kintu; coffee prices were low and that weakened the finances of Buganda Kingdom plus the fact that Obote was also starving the Kingdom of funds; and then there was the loss of the referendum over lost counties. The issues in 1964 automatically created the show down in 1966. Some of these issues were caused by us Baganda. In other words, they were internal rather than external. But the Suubi 2011 critics seem to concentrate only on the external factors that caused the 1966 crisis and the fall of KY.
There was nothing wrong with the KY/UPC alliance in 1961 because it achieved its initial objective of keeping Ben Kiwanuka away from power. By 1962, Katikkiro Kintu was elected chairman of KY and Buganda Kingdom was protected by the federal status in the 1962 constitution. So the alliance had actually achieved its initial objective despite the fact that Obote later abolished Kingdoms.
Branding Suubi 2011 as a new version of KY is not a decisive blow of any sort to this project as some people think. The architects of Suubi 2011 must have anticipated it and that is why they invited non-Baganda like Anne Mugisha, Salaam Musumba, Wafula Ogutu, and others at its launch.
The critics of Suubi 2011 are losing the argument everyday because Suubi 2011 is not like KY. But even if it was, what was so bad that KY did that was detrimental to the lives of Ugandans? I can honestly tell you that I was not even born during Obote 1 and I was a toddler during Obote II. But what I read and hear about UPC is enough to put off any kid that is yet to be born. But this is not the same case with KY.
There is a hypothesis that if Suubi 2011 does not achieve its objectives in 2011, Buganda Kingdom will become weaker politically. I am therefore surprised that some of Kabaka’s subjects cannot see this.
Mr. Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba is a Ugandan living in the United Kingdom
