Friends,
People who are misleading Ugandans on the history of Washington DC should get their records straight first.
"..�In most federal or regional units, the seat of the central government
is not under any regional government,� says Moses Byaruhanga, special
assistant to the President on political affairs.
In the US for example, Washington, the main city is located in the
Federal state of Columbia.
To give it a special status, it was decided that Washington be
recognised as a district of the state of Columbia, but without any benefits for
the larger state hence the name Washington DC.
First, there is not state in these United States of America called "State of Columbia".
is not under any regional government,� says Moses Byaruhanga, special
assistant to the President on political affairs.
In the US for example, Washington, the main city is located in the
Federal state of Columbia.
To give it a special status, it was decided that Washington be
recognised as a district of the state of Columbia, but without any benefits for
the larger state hence the name Washington DC.
First, there is not state in these United States of America called "State of Columbia".
Second, there was nothing like a decision to "recognise" Washington as a district of the state of Columbia.
Third, there is no larger state where any benefits would accrue from.
Fourth, there is nothing like a Federal State of Columbia.
Washington is the name of the Capitol of the United States of America, and is located in the District of Columbia which was part of the State of Maryland and Virginia. It was a swampy location on the banks of the Potomac River which was formed into a the seat the Federal Government.
In fact as we speak the people who live in the District of Columbia have for some time now been urgitating for "statewood" so that they can take care of their interests. The government of the District was formed in the mid sixties just as a care taker body not and autonomous entity like say teh Government of the State of Maryland which has its seat in Annapolis, or the Government of the State of New York (as opposed to New Your City government) with its seat in Albany, New York, or Sacramento (not Los Angelos of Los Angelos county) of the State of California.
This might help these Ugandan intellectuals make better deliberations. Just citing cooked examples about other countries so that they cheat Ugandans out of real and informed deliberations will not help the Kampala issue to be resolved. Pretending to be well informed and yet leaving a lot to be desired from such people is causing so much pain to many a Ugandans for nothing.
If I may suggest, let Buganda just donate Kampala to Uganda. In return, Kampala would be Tax free zone, and the direct responsibility of all Ugandans.
Bwambuga
Edward Mulindwa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
When one reads such postings, one cannot help but pray hard that Uganda does not go into this Federal Ghetto, and couple of points why1) What is the difference between this agitation for federalism with asking for Kampala, and matters where Uganda government was asked to get off Buganda Land? That time it caused the 1966 crisis, one cannot help but wonder what it will create this time. And why don't we as Baganda ever learn?2) Federalists must be very careful with Federalist Researchers like Kijyomanyi for they either give part of the story or they have their own agenda. For if my friend Kijyomanyi wanted to tell the truth he should have told the readers how many capitals Canada has had to today and why so many!3) While in the Bush, Kiiza Besigye fought so had to make sure that Kingdoms do not come back to Uganda, but because Mrs. Njuba had a property for Museveni she pleaded for the Kingdoms in the cover of darkness, and that is how Buganda got through and not Ankole. May be Kiiza Besigye was right all along?And lastly, if Kabaka constructed Kampala, that might be a fact. But that as well is one of the major problems facing Buganda kingdom, A total failure to understand that this is 2004 and not 1300 when the kingdom was established. The kingdom must start to live in current times.The only way Buganda can get out of this nightmare, is to accept some educated Baganda and non Baganda out there to be her political advisers, for the nonsense coming out of Mengo one can easily conclude that she has no political advisers, that is why we have allot of statements which I call "DON'T SAY THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"EmTorontoThe Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"----- Original Message -----From: Lugemwa FNSent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 10:52 PMSubject: ugnet_: Federo and Battle for KLA!
Battle for Kampala rages
By Joshua Kato
This is mid-day robbery. Me, as a Muganda, I cannot blindly support
this. Kampala is part of Buganda and nothing can change that,� Steven
Lubwama, a regular radio talk-show contributor shouted.
According to Mengo�s proposals to the CRC, they requested that Kampala
should be among the districts that make up the region of Buganda.
Charles Peter Mayega, the Mengo information minister, says, �Kabaka
Muteesa founded Kampala in 1874. This city developed because it was the
Kabaka�s capital in the first place.� He adds �This is a geographical
fact. Kampala district is not conceptual. It is a physical piece of land.�
Nsubuga Nsambu, a veteran federal advocate, says, �Kampala was not
developed by foreigners, but by us the Baganda. We know that most of the
roads in the city today were constructed by the Kabaka.�
Historically though, Kampala develope d mainly because the colonialists
made it the centre of business.
Cabinet recommended that parliament makes a law providing for the
special status. This is a step forward from the 1995 Constitution which does
not in anyway mention Kampala as being in Buganda.
This means that even if the Baganda were to create a regional
cooperation among the districts, Kampala cannot be part of that regional set up.
According to Nsambu, the struggle for Kampala has been on-going through
the years.
Buganda first lost Kampala prior to independence. According to Article
122 of the 1962 Constitution, Kampala was placed outside the control of
the Buganda kingdom. �The 1962 Constitution had given Buganda 50% of
all taxes collected from fuel sold in and around the city.
This was supposed to be a compromise, but it angered the then President
Milton Obote,� Nsambu says. In 1964, Obote stopped this practice, but
met resistance fr om the Baganda.
They argued that if this was to stop, then Kampala would become an
integral part of Buganda. In 1966, Obote attacked the Lubiri after Mengo
had ordered him to transfer his government from Buganda soil. In 1967,
Obote made a new Constitution, which made Uganda a republic and
automatically repealed the tax article.
�The Baganda continued with their agitation for federo and Kampala
throughout the Amin regime,� Nsambu says.
When Amin returned the body of Sir Edward Muteesa, the Baganda asked
for more. However, Amin asked them to be happy with what he had done for
them. Delegations of Bataka who had frequented Amin stopped, especially
after he became an open tyrant.
When Museveni went to the bush in 1981, federo and Kampala demands
resurfaced. Groups of Baganda hinged their support to Museveni on returning
the Kabaka, federo and solving the Kampala question.
The issue was discussed extensively in the bush, culminating into a
personal visit to the bush by prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi in 1985. �We
were assured by the President that Buganda was to get federo,� says Abdul
Nadduli, a veteran and a fanatical federal agitator.
However, there was no signed agreement to ferment it. �It came up
during the CA deliberations. But we were taken aside and told that we should
forget Kampala,� says Nsambu.
Observers think that what the Baganda want is Constitutional
recognition that Kampala is part of Buganda. But this is just a first step. The
second step is that after this recognition, the Baganda will then ask
for benefits from what is theirs. For example, they can start asking for
part of the taxes collected from Kampala.
Elijah Mushemeza, a Makerere University Political Science lecturer and
former CA delegate says the Mengo demand has been consistent since the
CA.
However, he adds that the reasons given by Mengo are not convincing.
�They say Kampala is geographically located in Buganda region, so it
should be part of Buganda. This reason is not convincing enough to me,� he
says.
There is also the option of having an area of Mengo in which the
Bulange and the Lubiri are located cut off from Kampala and turned into a
municipality, say of Wakiso district. Under such a set up, Buganda shall
have its key entities together. �We certainly can go to parliament and
convince them to do it,� says Aisha Kabanda, an official in the office
of the President.
Nsambu says such a proposal is an insult to the Baganda. �It should be
us the owners to decide what to give them, not them to decide,� he
says.
Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a Makerere University don says the main reason
Buganda wants to have Kampala is emotional. �The Baganda think that they
are deprived of their right.
Some of them think that if the Government says Kampala is not in
Buganda, then it implies that Kampala has been taken over by Ankole,� he
says. He adds �On the other hand, the Government feels that if Kampala is
given back to Buganda, the next thing the Baganda will demand is part of
the taxes collected from Kampala�.
Very few capital cities in the world fall under the control of federal
or regional governments.
�In most federal or regional units, the seat of the central government
is not under any regional government,� says Moses Byaruhanga, special
assistant to the President on political affairs.
In the US for example, Washington, the main city is located in the
Federal state of Columbia.
To give it a special status, it was decided that Washington be
recognised as a district of the state of Columbia, but without any benefits for
the larger state hence the name Washington DC.
Even under regional or provincial establishments like in South Africa,
Pretoria, the administrative capital, is only geographically located in
the province of Kwazulu Natal. In Nigeria�s federal set up, Lagos, the
administrative capital, is not part of the state in which it is
located.
However, Kyijjomanyi, a federal researcher, says it is not true that
major cities are always outside the control of regional or federal
authorities.
�Bonn in Germany and Ottawa in Canada are both under the control of
their respective states,� he says.
Lawyer Erias Lukwago says the situation in Uganda is different from the
common examples given. �In most federal systems, capital cities are
separated from regional governments administratively, not territorially.
Kampala, even without a federal or regional set up, was removed from
Buganda both administratively and territorially, which the Baganda feel
is not fair,� he says.
He adds that whereas the Constitution recognises groups of people with
the terr itories they hold, Kampala is left out of Buganda
territorially.
�Those referring to Washington are missing a point. Washington was
constructed by foreigners, not by indigenous habitants of America, the Red
Indians. On the other hand, Kampala was constructed by the Baganda and
they should own it,� says Nsambu.
�There are fears about the land policy. A lot of land in Kampala is
owned by the Kingdom, so there is fear that if Kampala comes under the
control of the kingdom, people who are on this land will be asked to pay
taxes to the kingdom, or seek for lease,� Lukwago says.
But according to Mayega, the authorities at Mengo do not intend to
chase away anyone.
�No one will stop the central government or any other person from
living in Kampala,� he says.
He adds that it is not only in Kampala where the central government has
got important offices. He wonders if for example Entebbe which has the
international airp ort will be curved out of Wakiso and Buganda.
� They fear that Buganda may decide to become an autonomous country,
once they get Kampala,� he says. Around the time of independence in 1961,
Buganda actually wanted to receive independence, independent of the
rest of Uganda. This fact is perhaps not lost in people`s minds.
Rather than make the same mistakes, the current government would rather
refuse the proposal, than allow it to go ahead, only to realize it
later. � I don`t think that the government can give Kampala to Buganda.
Even if they want votes, that would be going too far,� Ndebesa says.
He explains that results of such decision will be far reaching. � For
example, although Kampala is a cosmopolitan city, that has thousands of
people who don`t pay homage to the kingdom, laws made by the lukiiko
will be bidding to all. Can you imagine if for example the lukiiko says
that every body in Kampala shou ld kneel down or speak Luganda? He asks.
Changing the capital city from Kampala to another was one of the
options discussed in the Constituency assembly. This is what happened in
Canada. There were queries over who should control Toronto the capital. A
decision was then taken to construct a new city, Ottawa, which became
the administrative city for the Federal government. However, in the case
of Uganda, such venture is very expensive.
But Mushemeza says that Mmengo should first feel contented with what
they have, especially given their past. The Baganda have a saying that
Nyama Ntono Okayana eri mu nkwawa,� he says.
You can also read the article online at:
http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=9&newsCategoryId=39&newsId=372299--------------------------------------FN Lugemwa
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