*More than thirty years ago I met Peter Mulira. He had ideas about the governance of our country, ideas then, I thought were outlandish.
Time has borne him out. I have since been thinking about him all the time. Some people told me he is somewhere in Southern California. If I ever meet him again, God willing, I will congratulate him for the wisdom he showed then, at such early age. God be with you, Brother Peter Mulira. Mitayo Potosi. Toronto. ==================* Nothing to prevent the Kabaka holding talks with the President Wednesday, 18th November, 2009 [image: E-mail article]<http://www.newvision.co.ug/E/8/20/701514> E-mail article <http://www.newvision.co.ug/E/8/20/701514> [image: Print article]<http://www.newvision.co.ug/PA/8/20/701514> Print article <http://www.newvision.co.ug/PA/8/20/701514> *By Peter Mulira* ACCORDING to newspaper reports of the proceedings of the recent meeting of the Buganda lukiiko (parliament) some members objected to the meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi arguing that it was contrary to Buganda culture for the Kabaka to discusss political or constitutional issues. This position is not correct for as early as 1875 Kabaka Mutesa 1 held talks of a polititical nature with a British explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, as a result of which Uganda became a British protectorate. Mutesa’s son Sir Daudi Chwa II also engaged the British colonial administrators in the 1920s over the issue of land resulting in the Busulu and Envujjo Law of 1928, the introduction of Swahili as our lingua franca and the controversial East African federation. But it was Chwa’s son, Sir Edward Mutesa, who succeeded to the throne in 1939 we have to turn to to disprove the existence of any cultural impediment to the Kabaka’s meeting with the President. What is correct to say is that the Kabaka’s position in such talks is very precarious as he has to balance the interests of his people with Government’s demands as Edward Mutesa found out soon after the riots of 1949. A military memorandum dated November 20, 1959 addressed to the then commander of the colonial army captured the Kabaka’s predicament in these words: “His Excellency the Governor, is most dissatisfied with the Kabaka’s conduct and gave it as his opinion that the king was playing a double game by trying to curry favour with the malcontents in his kingdom while at the same time giving the impression that he was in agreement with their views.” But this did not prevent the Kabaka to continue negotiating with the colonial government about the future of his kingdom. Indeed, in March 1953 Kabaka Mutesa held comprehensive negations with the governor, Sir Andrew Cohen, at the end of which the two of them signed a joint memorandum in which the Kabaka agreed to the British government’s plans to develop the kingdom as an integral provinvce in a unitary Uganda. Subsequently when in another meeting with the governor on November 30, 1953 the Kabaka declined to sign a declaration agreeing to the colonial government’s new policies without consulting the lukiko first, he was deposed and deported to London where he remained for two years. In August 1960 the Kabaka led a delegation to London at the invitation of the colonial secretary, Ian Macleod, to discuss constitutional issues. A statement issued on behalf of the Kabaka at London airport said “…....the intention of the visit is to remove the prevailing uncertainty in Uganda by trying to come to an agreement on the talks that been going on between Her Majesty’s government and Buganda since last September.” After the first meeting with the colonial secretary on August 15, 1960 the colonial office spokesman issued a statement in which he said: “The Kabaka has come at the invitation of the colonial secretary to clear up one or two outstanding problems particularly in regard to registration for the coming elections.” The Kabaka visited London again in October 1961 for further negotiations with the colonial secretary on Buganda’s future constitutional development and locally he met the secretary at Government House when the latter stopped over at Entebbe on his way from Kenya. Apart from meetings with the colonial secretary, the Kabaka used to meet the governor for talks. It should be pointed out that the Kabaka wears two hearts. In his capacity as Kabaka he is a political ruler of Buganda according to traditions and norms, and as Sabataka he is the cultural head of the 52 clans of Buganda. In Buganda’s organisation culture and politics are strictly separated. *The writer is a lawyer *
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