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I�M POWERLESS: Mutebi |
OPINION
KABAKA Ronald Mutebi II was quoted in the media to be saying that he is ineffective (byoya bya nswa) to initiate development because he lacks political power.
According to him, Mengo cannot undertake development activities without a federal power structure.
And Bunyoro�s Omukama Solomon Gafabusa Iguru also claimed his kingdom cannot develop because it does have the means.
Then columnist John Kakande picked it up arguing that the Government �has avoided responding to the substantial issues Mutebi raised.�
Firstly, the traditional leaders have not raised �substantial issues,� but rather finding excuses to explain their inability to initiate development.
In Buganda�s case, many royalties are collected but few people know how they are used.
For the record, all the previous kings of Buganda and Bunyoro had absolute political, military and economic powers over their subjects an
d neighbours but failed to develop their kingdoms.
To the contrary, they succumbed and lost sovereignty first to Arab merchants and later to British colonialists.
If political power alone were adequate Uganda under Milton Obote, Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni would have developed by leaps and bounds. Yet despite the absoluteness of their rule, Obote and Amin became irredeemable disappointments.
The struggle for political supremacy was the immediate cause of Buganda�s demise as Ssekabaka Sir Edward Mutesa II wrote in The Desecration of my Kingdom of his trials and tribulations with Obote.
And look, His Highness The Agha Khan has no political power but has built a global economic empire and the Ismailia community is truly well off. In fact, African political lords kneel before him asking for money!
As a resident in Buganda, I disagree with leaders who use cheap platitudes to divert us from their inabilities, and want to levy additional tax
es to what the central government already collects!
The facts on the ground tell a different story from what the Mengo elite feed the population on.
For example, of the 272km of tarmac road from Kampala to Mbarara, 200km past Lyantonde are in Buganda. Buganda enjoys 80km of eastern highway (Kampala-Jinja), over 60km from Masaka to Mutukula to the Tanzanian border, and 173km up to river Kafu out of 360km Gulu highway.
Of the 310km Kampala-Fort Portal road, Buganda has 200km at Nyabingora in Mubende district without considering the inter-district road networks like Mukono-Kayunga, Kiboga-Mubende and Wakiso-Mukono.
Apart from Lakes Victoria and Kyoga, and the River Nile, Buganda has chunks of fertile arable land owned and controlled by individual Baganda and others who live there.
Although the Kabaka has chunks of land, it is not known if he has any modern farm, ranch, zoo, estate, forest or game reserve within Buganda for tourist attraction
or learning. Does he need political power to do these basic things?
Yet it is evident that ordinary mortals like James Mulwana, Sudhir Ruparelia, Gordon Wavamuno, Karim Hirji, and groups like Madhvani and N.K. Mehta built empires not from politics but focused private enterprise.
It is not sustainable to argue that one needs political power first in order to put these resources to good and productive use, as many at Mengo believe. What we need is an enabling atmosphere in which the majority can seize available opportunities to advance themselves.
The myth that granting �federal� status to Buganda will automatically spur development needs to be broken because it is not borne out by historical or contemporary facts abundantly available.
For example, there is no single school or hospital built by the Buganda government, but all we know is that some people have falsely claimed institutions built during the colonial period to be theirs. Even today u
nder the guise of the Kabaka Foundation, a lot of money is being collected and put to private use. Then some Mengo officials get �friendly� head teachers where they sponsor students but claim the schools belong to the Foundation!
Nigeria is a federal country whose states are much bigger and wealthier than Uganda�s districts combined, yet Nigeria is much as backward with some leaders still using superstitution to stop immunisation against polio.
Kakande�s argument that �the Government is not willing to grant federal status to Buganda or regions because it entails ceding some powers and resources,� is not based on the facts available.
Under decentralisation, the central government meets over 85 percent in budgetary support (capital and recurrent expenditure) including grants to the districts.
These districts are autonomous in planning, priority setting, decision-making and programme implementation.
It is the central government that pays for
all defence, security, education, health and infrastructural expenses throughout the country except for private enterprises.
So it is clear that neither powers nor resource allocation can be the main reason many people are apprehensive about a federal status to either Buganda or other regions.
On the contrary, many of the districts or regions including Buganda have not demonstrated ability to meet their own bills.
The truth, which many pseudo federo advocates don�t want to accept is that people at lower levels (village, district) have tasted democracy in decision-making and resource control.
We challenge federo advocates to ask for a referendum on the issue even within Buganda if their claim that �our people,� want federo is correct and popular.
Published on: Friday, 27th February, 2004 |
