By Steven Masiga
It is trite Law in Uganda that traditional Leaders lead and rule forever, technically their tenure of office is well established and determined by their customs and norms and in most cases it is endless until recalled they are recalled by the almighty.
Many times after they have passed the power is bequeathed to a preferred child to embark on the next phase, the nearest example in Uganda is Bunyoro kingdom, Buganda kingdom, Toro kingdom and others
In the Cultural institutions the situation is very much different, many times becoming a source of conflicts in communities and Uganda has about 15 cultural Leaders so far gazetted and the number will increase with Bugwere, Bunyole and Sebei coming on board in 2026 after the General elections.
An English judge; once remarked that anything claiming to be law must be found in the Law books, in the interim i add on behalf of Bugisu cultural institution that if it is not, in the Law books then it should be found in our customs and norms and our customs and cultures don’t have time limit for the cultural Leaders
About 99% of all cultural institutions in Uganda are creations of the Law, and not creations of customs and culture. Meaning there should be an enabling frame work on how the identified cultural Leaders stay in office .in the absence of a proper legal frame work to guide, on the tenure of cultural Leaders it could be a recipe for future conflicts.
The Cultural Leader, of Acholi for example has been in office for over twenty years and that is perhaps the wishes of the people of Acholi, however this has led to many conflicts to the extent that the chief justice of Uganda His Lordship Owiny Dollo has had to come in and intervene because of excessive tension among clan chiefs to displace the cultural Leader.
In Bugisu region the Cultural Leader then sir Bob Mushikor made first attempts to reign beyond 5 years saying openly, that as long his buddy Yoweri Museven was in charge of the country ‘s political affairs, he was also not going anywhere. Was the purported self-extension of the tenure an aspiration of the people.
The cabinet of Umukhuka Mushikor planned to impeach him for all remarks, accusing him of sleeping around with young girls and boozing a lot most of this allegations were falsely raised by those who wanted to fight, how does a man who has had a medical vasectomy get the courage to lay young girls around.
Equally wrong was the attempt to impeach him from office, since impeachment is apolitical process and applicable to. Cultural Leaders.
Recently the clan chairmen of Bugisu who had gathered for an annual clan meeting on 22 December 2025, hinted on possibilities of ensuring that the current cultural Leader is given more extra time to complete many of the pending projects including following up on what Government had pledged to Bugisu region, it attracted noise for those who are not within the clan structures.
The Cultural Leaders Act 2011.cap 242 which operationalizes Art 246 of the constitution has left communities to determine the tenure of Umukhuka or any other cultural Leader(s), In Buruuli Cultural Leader rules as long as the communities wish and so is Tororo among the Badama people
As we begin 2026 , Parliament or Ministry of Gender should openly push for a uniform law of about 10 years or twenty years for cultural leaders because the current Governance model is for politicians ,it is not traceable anyway in the laws that operationalize cultural institutions.as already alluded above in Errington v Carrington anything claiming to be law must be found in the Law books .
Same cultural Leader in Teso, Bugwere, Acholi can’t rule for 20 years and another one in Bugisu reigns for only 5 years.
The Law says that the cultural Leader will rule as per the wishes and aspirations of the people, many times when the said people express those aspirations other negative groups will say those, ones have been paid off to extend tenure of cultural Leader .to help cure all this reservations let us have a structure for cultural Leaders in Uganda.
When Bamasaaba clan chairmen said the current Umukhuka should rule for 15 years instead of the five years, some groups said that they have brought and lastly who is clothed with power to express the wishes and aspirations of a community, clan chairman or the general community and how do you about this.
Clan chairmen are men of integrity and can’t be bought by anybody and we wouldn’t want anybody to intimidate them for expressing themselves on tenure of Umukhuka, as A cultural institution we shall protect them. we must allow them to think loudly for their communities, but in a nutshell a tenure of cultural Leaders should be fixed by Law
Below are the cabinet Ministers in Bugisu cultural institution making self-introductions before clan chairmen at the cultural offices of Bugisu. They were led by the Prime minister Rt Hon Dr Paul Mwambu. Steven Masiga is the spokesperson Bugisu cultural institution.
