By Mulengera Reporters
President Yoweri Museveni, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate, has taken a bold stand in support of the Buruuli Cultural Institution, affirming its independence from the Buganda Kingdom and defending the community’s right to its own traditions and language.
Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Nakasongola on Tuesday, Museveni explained that the reinstallation of the government-appointed Buruuli leader, Isabaruli Constantine Mwogezi Butamanya, was guided by the NRM’s long-standing principles of equality, cultural respect, and freedom for communities to uphold their traditions.
The controversy between Buruuli and Buganda began in December 2024, when tensions flared over leadership in the region. The central dispute was the Mengo-Buruuli County Chief, a Buganda-appointed leader stationed in Buruuli, which some sensation of Baruuli argued undermined their independence. The installation plans of this chief at the Nakasongola-Mengo palace triggered debates about the autonomy of Buruuli and its right to self-governance.
In December 2023, Isabaruli Constantine Mwogezi Butamanya wrote directly to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, accusing the Kabaka of failing to honor a 2013 agreement designed to ensure mutual respect and cooperation between Buganda and local chiefdoms like Buruuli.
The letter cited the August 1, 2013 Memorandum of Understanding signed between President Museveni and the Kabaka, which aimed to protect the autonomy of Buruuli and other chiefdoms within Buganda while promoting peaceful coexistence.
At the rally, Museveni said that although some Ugandans, particularly in regions like Ankole and Kigezi, may oppose traditional leadership, communities that value their cultural institutions must be respected and supported. Sarcastically, he added that he cannot “lead the campaign to kill people’s languages” in a country where he is entrusted to lead people of diverse backgrounds and languages most of which he can even partly speak.
The President questioned those who deny Buruuli the right to practice its culture and language, emphasizing that such behavior is not true brotherhood. He stressed that the government’s decision to restore cultural institutions was a deliberate NRM policy rooted in civil liberties. No community should be prevented from honoring its traditions, he said, because cultural identity is inseparable from freedom and dignity.
Museveni’s remarks underline the Buruuli chiefdom’s independence from Buganda. While the Mengo-Buruuli County Chief represents Buganda’s historical influence, the government-installed Isabaruli symbolizes the community’s right to self-rule and cultural preservation. By backing the Buruuli leadership, Museveni positioned the government as a defender of local cultures and languages, affirming that Uganda’s diverse traditions must coexist with respect and equality. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
