Buganda question in Uganda, Bobi Wine’s 'empty hubris'

By Ofwono Opondo

In the political fog of Alfonse Owiny-Dollo’s Supreme Court ruling, Kizza Besigye’s botched trial at the General Court Martial and Kawempe North byelection, a little hubris blew over Mengo, the seat of Buganda’s old feudal institution, referred to as a ‘kingdom’. 

In an otherwise careless mistake, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics conjured delineation of Buganda as north and south-central Uganda, which tickled heads and set loose tongues wagging that ‘Buganda had been erased’ from the map of Uganda. 

Resurrecting the charge, abandoned by Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II years back, was Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, hoping to extract undue political capital. 

But his shallow efforts fell to the bottom because Katikiro Charles Peter Mayiga, promptly debunked him. 

Speaking with suppressed contempt, Mayiga questioned if ‘Buganda had been lifted out of Uganda and taken to DR Congo or Tanzania and how that could possibly be done.’ 
And with that, Bobi Wine died silently in his own movie. With a relatively short stint in public politics, Bobi Wine relishes bending facts and reality, unfortunately, with so little tact. 

Julius Nyerere used to say that people who are politically bankrupt often seek refuge in archaic narratives of religion and ethnicity as their main factor of mobilisation. 
In Uganda’s case, it is easy to know and identify them, although we have not been able to decisively isolate them from a gullible population. 

These malcontents have not understood how Mandela and Nyerere became citizens, not only of their respective countries, but Africa and the world, representing causes and struggles across races and the globe. 

Somehow, they still believe that their miniature ‘kings’ and ‘kingdoms’ are great, or capable of greatness in Uganda and the world. 

Madiba, Nyerere, Indhira Gandhi or Fidel Castro, and all people who have been great in the recent modern era, became so by liberating themselves from the idiocy of tribal, religious and racial chauvinism. 

Ofwono Opondo

Bobi Wine and some people in Mengo, who think alike, ought to know that since ‘Buganda failed to keep its greatness in the so-called ‘golden’ times and was conquered by a few religious colonists posing as missionaries when many parts of present-day Uganda were still remote peripheries, that ‘greatness’ cannot be reinvented alone in isolation.
 
The earlier this fact sinks, the better, otherwise, Mengo stands to lose another century fighting lost causes. 

Today, much of Buganda, including the precincts of Bulange, Mengo, Lubiri, Namirembe, Kasubi and the surrounding environments of Kyadondo, Busiro, Kyaggwe, Buddu, Bulemezi, Singo and Buvuma, are so cosmopolitan, making it difficult for feudal chauvinists to succeed. 

Buganda, like other regions of Uganda, face common afflictions of poverty, resultant from lack of technology, productivity, critical skills, transport, energy and industrial infrastructure, which must be tackled jointly in a co-ordinated manner to dig Uganda out of the hole. 

Mengo apparatchiks have, since 1953 under governor Andrew Cohen, unsuccessfully tried to extort with menaces, which led to Edward Mutesa’s deportation to England. 

They then extolled and extorted Milton Obote in an electoral marriage of convenience that did not last long. Idi Amin was welcomed on a clean carpet and praised as saviour for deposing Obote and returning Mutesa’s corpse.

Undone, they warmed up to Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa, the head of a most primitive military junta and later President Yoweri Museveni, who restored a defunct kingdom and its estates and has doled out massive public money, but is, nevertheless, now being kicked. 

While many Ugandans are not in favour of a hard tackle with Mengo or Bugandaism, a frank engagement is necessary to save Uganda that we all call home, where no one group should demand special privileges.

History tells us that monarchies are built and survive on sweat and blood of the underprivileged. 

They are embroidery made by the hands of poor grandmothers and never on a legacy to advance liberty, freedom, individual human rights or happiness.