By Our Reporters
Notwithstanding his relatively young age, NBS talk show host and manager Sir Simon Muyanga Lutaaya is currently one of the few Ugandan elites deeply knowledgeable on the Kyabazinga issues that continue to divide Busoga region heavyweights. He is also the official spokesman for Bulamogi Chief Edward Columbus Wambuzi Zibondo whose supporters claim he is the legitimate Kyabazinga and have never recognized Gabula. Muyanga maintains that the current problem is a direct result of efforts by current King William Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope and his backers to turn the Kyabazingaship into a hereditary one where the king reigns for life without being regularly subjected to elections as has been the case before. Gratefully, Muyanga observes, the Gender Ministry has since refused to register and recognize the new Busoga constitution providing for a hereditary Kyabazinga. In this interview, Muyanga pronounces himself on many things including claiming that, even when his role is currently invisible, President Museveni is responsible for the problems bedeviling the cultural institution. He says Museveni is also responsible for the increased politicization of what is clearly a cultural issue and “the problems facing the Kyabazingaship will only end when he ceases to be President.” For starters, Muyanga is an avid FDC member and his perception of things will be taken by some as being influenced by his political affiliation.
FULL INTERVIEW:
QN: We have heard there are efforts by some chiefdoms to secede from Kyabazingaship and that you are sympathetic to that. Is there a possibility this could happen?
ANS: It’s not only a possibility some chiefdoms are already off. They have seceded though Gabula deceptively believes he still has 10 out of 11 chiefdoms. To him its only Bulamogi [home to his rival Edward Columbus Wambuzi Zibondo] that is off. Get it from me, he can’t claim to still have more than 6 chiefdoms. Get it from me that Luuka is off as well. Yet that isn’t all. Yasin Ntembe’s Butembe is actively dissenting just like Juma Munulo’s Bunhya, Bukhooli, Bukoono and others. That is why we have the current problem because Bugembe isn’t properly responding to this dissent. They are busy dethroning the legitimate chiefs [from Busoga Royal Chiefs Council] and politically installing theirs. That is what happened in Bukoono chiefdom and it’s why Hon Persis Namuganza is in problems because she had guts to say no this is procedurally not right.
QN: You say they are actively dissenting but this isn’t easily seen to a distant observer like myself. We only hear Bukoono because of the Namuganza influence. How have the others shown their dissent?
ANS: Many of them are in court and others like the one for Luuka [Willington Nabwana] are being cautious fearing that the Kadaga weigh could be exerted to hurt their businesses [he owns Winna Classic]. That is why they are cautious but they are dissenting and don’t recognize Bugembe anymore. When you look at the way they are enthroning those illegitimate chiefs to disempower the legitimate ones its clear they are determined to politicize the cultural institution. The way one becomes a chief is culturally well defined but they are now doing it politically to the detriment of the cultural institution they purport to like. This is the cause of dissent and the case of Munulo is very instructive. He was their man and they purported him to be the Sabalangira spearheading Gabula’s coronation after Wakooli Kaune pulled out. The matter was taken to court because minutes had been forged and when he was cross examined and confessed acting fraudulently, the Gabula camp criminalized him [Munulo]. Goons were unleashed to beat him up and was undressed in broad day light on the streets of Jinja town as he returned from Court. He lost some teeth and can’t see properly anymore. He became disgruntled with them and couldn’t believe the Gabula camp paying him this way. He is available and can speak for himself as to why the Gabula camp are going off track. He believes it was a mistake to depart from the Zibondo status. So clearly Gabula can’t claim loyalty in many of these chiefdoms for long. He can only with certainty claim Bugabula and Budiope for which he is the chief but even the 6 I talked about, anything could happen. Things are yet to worsen for him.
QN: So what should they do to redeem the situation?
ANS: Many decent Basoga intellectuals are quiet because speaking your mind on these things is sufficient to put you in trouble. They have goons ready to pounce on anyone who dissents but my question is who is Rebecca Kadaga and Gabula whose authority can’t be opposed even when the president is criticized? I’m FDC myself and we criticize him daily and we are never criminalized. Are those two bigger than Museveni or are they more powerful than him?
QN: You say Munulo was badly assaulted. Was the matter reported to police?
ANS: Haa my brother what don’t you know? You report to police when Kadaga is still the Speaker of Parliament? It was even worse when Kayihura was the IGP. Nothing could ever be done because they first seek permission before acting because offending her can cause a DPC problems but otherwise the cases are there and are well filed against the violence by Gabula’s supporters. Even in courts the judges seem to fear to annoy her and cases move slowly. Not fast enough as one would expect. But as for me no matter what they do, Gabula will never be my king. Mine is Zibondo [of Bulamogi Kaliro district] and that is it. I have already paid the price because Kadaga doesn’t want journalists on radio who talk well about Zibondo. That is how I was fired from NBS radio and I lost my job there. The radio owners will be called and that journalist will have to be fired. Even as of now the media in Jinja is sharply divided into those supporting Bugembe and Bulamogi. Things will worsen and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the chiefdoms can secede. This used to be the status quo until 1919 when they merged to form one cultural institution. You can’t impose yourself on people. They will find a way around it.
QN: How do we get out of this dilemma to avoid bloodshed?
ANS: There aren’t many ways around it. There are about two or three solutions that I see. One is that let those using political offices to manipulate things agree to go cultural because the institution is purely cultural. The second alternative is to allow those chiefdoms dissenting to break off if they so wish. The third possibility is that none of the above two is pursued in which case we perish as the Kyabazinga cultural institution. Gabula and Kadaga aren’t too big to agree that their [Bugabula] chiefdom can co-exist with others the way Museveni co-exists with those who oppose and don’t like him.
QN: You have talked about politicization. Who is exactly doing this and how?
ANS: This has been happening right from day one [even before Gabula took office]. It was a stupid mistake for all of us as Busoga to disempower and sideline our elders and instead take the matter to Museveni for resolution. Museveni is a politician and that was mistake number one. It’s like giving your sick father to be treated by someone who has just killed his own father. The man clearly doesn’t believe in fathers. How do you refer your sick father to him when he already killed his? He is from Ankole and never used his political clout to allow kingdom there. Instead he aggressively worked against it and remains hostile to those advocating for its restoration. How can we be so stupid to think he believes in our king when at home he clearly doesn’t believe in those things? It was a mistake to assume he had a better appreciation of our cultural institution than our own elders. We don’t seem to learn from past mistakes because when Kadaga’s current fight with Namuganza started, we got Mike Mukula coming in to arbitrate. This is on the strength of his being the NRM Vice Chairman Eastern region and not because of any special knowledge of the Busoga norms and culture. Are we so naïve to expect a different outcome? That is the politicization I’m talking about. We should learn not to trust Museveni anymore on this cultural issue because my honest opinion is that this cultural matter of the Kyabazinga will only be sustainably resolved when he ceases to be President of Uganda. To me he is more of a problem than a solution.
QN: But we are reliably informed that his government through the Gender Ministry has refused to register the new constitution making the office of Kyabazinga hereditary. Why shouldn’t that make your side happy since it disadvantages Bugembe that you are up against?
ANS: That is a good move and we are grateful about it but they didn’t have much choice or else they risked being sued along because the procedural improprieties in the way those guys acted are very glaring and can’t be covered up by any reasonable person. Did you know that we now have four versions of the constitution each purporting to be the one legitimately for Busoga? We have one constitution enacted by lawyer Shaban Muziransa, another by Juma Munulo who now regrets his actions and another by ex-Iganga district Speaker Baite Munobwa. Let me tell you they can only sit in Bugembe and pretend but things aren’t okay at all. We the common ordinary Basoga at the grass root are increasingly becoming detached from Gabula. This is how a common Musoga interacts with the king; it’s always through your chief but in my case I’m totally detached because my chief has never recognized or believed in Gabula.
QN: But have you as Zibondo supporters done enough to reach out and pursue dialogue with your adversaries the other side?
ANS: That isn’t possible. It would be asking for too much because the Gabula camp members are too confrontational. They believe in violence to resolve everything and they are sure with the Speaker, Police and other security agencies on their side, they can prevail against anyone. They have goons ready to thump anyone who expresses a dissenting opinion yet these are basic freedoms enshrined in Article 19 of the UN Declaration for Human Rights (UNDHR). They believe in coercive tools only. As for my king Zibondo, he has actively been extending an olive branch calling for dialogue. On 30th November last year during the Zibondo day at his palace he called for dialogue and urged the President to end his indifference and get involved to de-escalate the situation. Museveni was to be the chief guest but instead delegated Minister Nadduli to whom Zibondo gave a very clear message and this was long before things escalated to where they are today. He specifically asked Nadduli to tell Museveni to restrain Kadaga but nothing happened since then. This is why I think this feud can’t be resolved until Museveni is out. It was a well-attended public ceremony and even NRM SG Kasule Lumumba attended in case Museveni didn’t trust the message as delivered by Nadduli. In fact the Gabula camp has been so vicious in destroying Zibondo to the extent that they even ignored the advice Museveni gave in September 2013 as Gabula was being enthroned. On realizing that two of the 11 chiefs making the Busoga Royal Chief Council [from which the king is elected] two were missing, Museveni instructed Gabula to reach out to them as a matter of priority. He said I don’t want a disunited Busoga again. Wakooli Kaune of Bukhooli Chief, who was also the Sabalangira, was conspicuously missing and Museveni took note. Kaune stayed away because he was protesting the manner in which Gabula had been elected. He was for Zibondo. The other absentee was Columbus/Zibondo of Bulamogi who was clearly opposed. They instead resorted to witch-hunting Zibondo forgetting he is actually related to Gabula. Gabula is his maternal uncle because his [Zibondo] mum is a Mugabula. Rebecca Kadaga was a great friend of Zibondo’s father Wako Mulooki. He called her daughter and she called him father. She was very instrumental in ensuring his medical bills were paid and that he got a decent send off. However, that friendship didn’t continue because Zibondo was undermined to the extent he was antagonized with his own brothers Fred Mukunya and Dennis Mulooki. They were manipulated to legitimize Gabula. Whereas the whole of Bulamogi County doesn’t recognize Gabula, these two brothers of Zibondo do and even attend his coronation ceremonies. Sometime last year, he was driving in a procession to his Nakabango palace and the Gabula goons attacked the convoy and threw stones at him. This demonstrated bad faith from the Gabula camp and only escalated as opposed to de-escalating tensions as directed by the President.
QN: But they say the President has equally been nice to Zibondo ever pampering him creating a false sense in him that he equals Gabula. For instance they say he earns a government salary, he has government military guards and does assignments for the president.
ANS: As his official spokesman I can tell you that is total rubbish meant to demonize him. He lives alone in his home and leads a very miserable life. He doesn’t earn any government salary but he has the military escorts guarding his palace because of the tensions resulting from the hostilities Gabula and their goons have been directing at him. That is understandable. Otherwise it’s Gabula who has been pampered by Museveni. He is the Kyabazinga with all full privileges and on top of that has a government job as envoy to the President. He is always travelling abroad for conferences, to places like South Korea and on such he goes alone and not with any Busoga kingdom officials because that is for his other assignment from the central government for which he gets remunerated. I request my colleagues on the other side to be honest and truthful and avoid making false allegations simply because we want to demonize Zibondo in order to legitimize fraudulent changes on the constitution.
QN: Doesn’t the manner in which MPs ganged up on Namuganza the other day prove that the views she is espousing aren’t popular with the Busoga grass root? The legislators should have considered it politically risky to expel her if indeed her views were the views of the people.
ANS: You can’t base on that to determine how MPs think about this issue because that meeting was poorly attended and was improperly chaired by [Bukhooli MP] Gastar Kyawa Mugoya who acted as complainant, prosecutor and judge in that matter against Hon Namuganza. This is why he has never inspired me even as a lawyer he claims to be. He is really not procedural and not smart at all. Busoga Parliamentary Caucus has 36 MPs but only 13 attended that meeting. Hon. Kadaga is the Chairperson but she was nowhere to be seen as were a couple of other MPs holding executive positions.
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