Monday, August 2, 2004
Give the Baganda Cash, They Won't Seek Federo
By Charles Onyango-Obbo
The fertile lands of Uganda's southern Buganda region are getting restless. The Baganda, and their king Ronnie Mutebi, are making a fresh push for a loose autonomy, which would give them a local version of federalism that they call federo.
For decades, beginning with the arrival of British colonialists at the end of the 1800s, Buganda has always had a degree of federo relationship with the rest of Uganda. The colonialists allowed it, partly because the Buganda kingdom was one of the most elaborate states in Africa, and it was surrounded by kingdoms and chieftainships which were considered primitive by comparison, or didn't have anywhere near Buganda's level of sophistication. Well, at least that's the story according to the popular version of history, because some historians say other kingdoms were more advanced.
Whatever Buganda's glory was, it ended abruptly and brutally in 1966, when the then prime minister, Milton Obote, sent the army in to bomb King Mutebi's father, Kabaka Freddie Mutesa, out of his palace and chase him into exile. Kabaka Mutesa, who was also titular head of state at that point, lost that job too. A year later, Obote abolished kingdoms and established Uganda as a republic.
From then onward, agitation for federo has erupted regularly in Buganda, and it has always run into a republican wall. This federo clamour, however, will never go away, ensuring that Uganda as we know it today could radically change within the next 25 years. This is because the federalist pull can only grow, not die out, an ironical fact given that Uganda is the smallest country in East Africa, not much bigger than the arid Northeastern province of Kenya. But this might also be Kenya and Tanzania's fate in the years to come, with Kenya going first before Tanzania.
For years, the Baganda were by far the largest nationality in Uganda. But they slowed down in making babies, and in recent years the Banyankole are rapidly closing the gap. For decades, the region was the wealthiest in the country, but partly because of the ravages of war, they might have been pipped by the west.
Separatist demons roam Buganda, but for now they are taking the more benign form of federo. These passions will burst one day soon, if they are not appeased, because Baganda leaders easily make the point that they have done badly, and grown poorer, as part of Uganda.
They cannot expect that soon one of their own will become president and, like every leader in Uganda has done, use his or her position to mostly feed his home region. This is because of another inescapable Ugandan reality � for a very long time to come, the rest of the country is likely to continue closing ranks to defeat a presidential candidate from Buganda.
You therefore have the unusual situation that while in Africa a large community can be sure that its turn to rule the country will come, there is no such comfort for the Baganda. It is also unusual for a once prosperous group to become wretched in less than a generation. Which is why, of all the political forces driving federo, money is the top one. If Uganda was prosperous, and Buganda � particularly the countryside � was booming, it would defend the present centralised government system, the way the republicans who triumphed in 1966 and have been milking the country since do. This is one reason the federo camp want Kampala city to come under the authority of a Buganda with federal powers. For Kampala is the symbol, not so much of political power, but of wealth in Uganda today.
There is a lot of tinkering going on, with politicians considering whether to tell Buganda to go to hell, or to come up with a half-a-loaf-of-bread solution that will silence the federo people for some years. The best solution, however, is to fix the economy. Money, unfortunately, is still the one thing that cures more problems than anything else humans have ever invented.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is managing editor in charge of media convergence at the Nation Media Group. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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