The Bamasaba people are growing weary of the bellicose language and hatred directed towards the Inzu Ya Masaaba leadership.
The last person who attempted to undermine the Buganda Kingdom was Tamale Mirundi, who used to launch a series of verbal attacks against the cultural institution. As I write now, Tamale Mirundi is a dead man, buried somewhere on Buganda soil, and we can now dismiss him in our discussions.
In Kenya, when the newly elected and excited Vice President took on the Mulima King (Highland King) Uhuru Kenyatta and the storyteller Baba Raila Omolo Odinga, the National Senate intervened due to his bellicose language. Even fellow highlanders challenged VP Chagua over his conduct, leading to his eventual impeachment.
The Inzuymasaba leadership has noted with concern the individuals who wake up every morning, wasting valuable time and pelting the cultural institution with bad publicity instead of supporting it. They are quick to demand accountability for what they have not contributed. Ninety percent of those fighting are individuals our cultural intelligence unit has substantial information on. Many of them had been falsely promised ministerial positions by the opposing camp. When the government decided to gazette the current Umukuka III, Jude Mike Mudoma, following the advice of the mediating team led by the late Umukuka L Emeritus, these “ministers” banded together to oppose him.
Umukuka III found that this very team had messed up the cultural institution, including selling off a car donated to the cultural institution, which is still untraceable. There are also millions of shillings in unpaid bills, including advertising themselves in New Vision as the legitimate leaders of Inzuymasaba. This debt has not been cleared, and New Vision is attempting to drag us to court. Our position is that we cannot pay a bill that did not benefit our people, the Bamasaba. New Vision should deal directly with those individuals and not the institution.
As a cultural institution, we reject any form of political intrusion. Many have tried to make the cultural leadership appear to be an affair of FDC and NRM. A cultural institution is a creation of Ugandan customary practices, various statutes of Ugandan law, best international practices, and other regional protocols and treaties. The cultural institution is determined in its quest to unite the Bamasaba people and loathes any attempts to import politics into it.
It is our mandate to strive to unite our people; therefore, those few renegades should know that we are appealing to them in the interest of unity. We have wasted valuable time embroiled in bickering. In the year and a half since the government gazetted the current cultural leader, we have achieved a lot. We have secured the Mutoto land from the National Forestry Authority (NFA), where we expect to undertake significant projects like the palace and stadium, including the enclosure of the palace.
The new leadership has renovated the current ad-hoc palace and erected a new office block, which is expected to cost about 80 million shillings; so far, over 30 million shillings has been invested. We are also establishing a radio station, estimated to cost around 800 million shillings, and some funds have already been collected.
The cultural leader, his ministers, and the President of Uganda organized one of the best circumcision functions in the history of Imbalu. The Government of Uganda, through President Museveni, contributed 300 million shillings towards the success of that event, which we cannot overlook as a cultural institution.
There is overwhelming support for the cultural institution from the Bamasaba community. That is why we inform those who are disgruntled because someone else has promised them ministerial positions that they can support their cultural institution even if they are ministers within it. The essence of creating cultural institutions by the government was to achieve community unity. However, some conflicts over leadership have skewed this original intention.
Even those who lost during the elections have continued to fan the flames, using proxies, including their so-called ministers, who constantly mislead each other and keep fighting the leadership. This trend of conflict with cultural institutions is prevalent across Uganda, from Buganda to Toro, Bunyoro, and even Busoga.
The writer is a legal scholar and spokesperson for Inzuymasaba.
