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By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda & Hassan Badru Zziwa KAMPALA -Traditional leaders who want political power should be ready to stand for elections, President Museveni has said. "So the traditional leaders must make a choice. If they want to go for elections, they can do that," Mr Museveni said in a February 22 interview with The Weekly Observer at Soroti State Lodge. The President was responding to remarks earlier attributed to the Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, that his kingdom was restored only in name. The Kabaka's unprecedented lamentation was reinforced by his Katikkiro, Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, in an interview with The Weekly Observer on March 18.
"Everybody should appreciate the need to constitutionally empower his kingdom if Uganda is to achieve the purpose and reap the benefit for which the kings were restored," he said. "We should accept that up to the present day, the Kabaka has exercised a tremendous amount of restraint," Mr Ssemwogerere added. But President Museveni cautioned that a traditional leader who becomes a politician subjects himself to all the risks politicians face. Citing a king in Botswana, Sir Sereste Khama, who is reported to have stood for elections, the President maintained that if traditional leaders want to keep their current status, they must keep out of politics and administration. He argued that elected leaders are accountable to the people while un-elected ones are not accountable to anyone. The Kabaka told the Abaganda Tulimukulya nga Katonga Ajjula Association at his Banda Palace on February 14 that he is a king without power and cannot, therefore, solve some of his subjects' problems. Elaborating on the Kabaka's position, the Katikkiro noted that the kingdom of Buganda contributes massively to national development although it doesn't receive any national budgetary allocation. "It is sad that all the affairs of the kingdom are essentially being sustained and managed on the basis of donations and voluntary services from well wishers. This is obviously unfair, it has its pains, limitations and it is getting overstretched," Mr Ssemwogerere said. The Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, who served as the chairman of Sabataka Committee that negotiated the return of Buganda's cultural property, told The Weekly Observer in an interview at his office on March 12, that he is happy with what has been achieved by the kingdom since it was restored in 1993. "Considering what took place in 1966 when the monarchy was assaulted, there was loss of life, a lot has been achieved," Nsibambi said. He said that according to Article 246 of the Constitution, traditional leaders are not allowed to participate in partisan politics, which he described as a "measure, which is going to save them." The Prime Minister expressed hope that Buganda would harness what was returned. He also encouraged all Baganda to acquire what he called a culture of frugality and save money for investment.
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