Ugandan MPs want kingdoms abolished

By ISAAC KHISA
Published September 29, 2009

A section of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs in Uganda are calling for the abolition of kingdoms in the country following the riots that descended upon Kampala three weeks ago.

“We must abolish all kingdoms to avoid future problems,” workers MP Mr. Bruno Pajobo, told the fellow legislators in a closed-door meeting in Kampala. The MP wondered why some tribes should continue having kingdoms while others do not have them.

Kingship in Uganda was abolished in 1966 by former President Milton Obote but was reintroduced by President Yoweri Museveni in 1993.

Their reintroduction raised concerns among President Museveni’s cadres who warned of future uprisings in the country spearheaded by these kingdoms. Immediately after the Kampala riots, State Minister for Trade Minister Mr. Kahinda Otaffire, told journalists that it was not right for President Museveni to reintroduce the kingdoms.

“We told the president not to introduce kingdoms in this country,” Mr. Otaffire reportedly said. He said that a future power struggle was going to emerge between the central government and the cultural leadership.

However, abolishing the kingdoms would mean amending Article 246 of the Ugandan constitution, which recognizes kingship that offers cultural but not political leadership in country.

Not all tribes in Uganda have kingdoms. The Alur, Karimojong, Bagishu, Japadhola and tribes in West Nile do not have kingdoms. It is only the Basoga in the East, Tooro from the West, Itesots in North Eastern, Baganda in the Central and the newly Banyala a sub-tribe within Bugandaland in the central region that have kingdoms governed through their king.

However, Buganda, the biggest kingdom in Uganda, has been demanding for a federal system of government, a demand president Museveni has turned down.

The refusal to grant a federal system of governance is based on the fear that it may split the country and all tribes may be forced to operate only in their original homeland. Non-Baganda communities in the central region including the country’s capital Kampala may therefore be forced to vacate the central region, the traditional homeland for the Baganda.

President Museveni has however proposed the amendment of the constitution which will spell out how traditional leaders should govern as well as introducing a regional tier of governance. Some opposition political leaders are nevertheless opposed to this.

“President Museveni said he was planning to introduce the regional tier but whom did he consult?” Mr. Chris Opoka, the Secretary General for Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) told journalists at a conference recently.

The three-day clashes between members of the Buganda and the police broke out after the authorities barred the Buganda king from visiting Bugerere County in Kayunga District, east of the capital, a territory the Buganda Kingdom claims.

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