Buganda kingdom has asked that the federal system of government is reinstated in Uganda so as to allow each of the regions in the country to manage its land and resources.
On Wednesday, the Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga said that the various tribes of Uganda have their peculiarities and development aspirations and thus should be granted the powers to manage their resources as they deem fit.
The Katikkiro was appearing for the first time before the ongoing Commission of Inquiry into land related matters, headed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire.
The debate regarding the adoption of a federal system in Uganda has been around for decades, but often characterized by the fears that such a system would empower the Kabaka of Buganda to retain all the land in Central Uganda some of which is now owned by non-Baganda.
A federal system would mean that powers of government are divided between the national government and smaller local or regional governments. This is what the Katikkiro was making the case for during his day-long interaction with the Land Probe committee.
“We recommend that a federal system of government be reinstated so that each area in Uganda can control, manage, protect and promote a planned utilization of its land in a manner that is consistent with its peculiarities and development aspirations,” the Katikkiro said in his recommendations to the Commission.
He had earlier highlighted issues that have resulted into the current land crisis, including corrupt tendencies in land officers, delayed court procedures, absence of a land tribunal among others.
However, the Commission asked the Katikkiro whether the federal system was different from the ‘federo’ as understood by the ordinary Baganda.
Former Attorney General, Fred Ruhindi who seats on the Commission asked; “If you were to be frank with me, the federal you talk about here may not be the federal the people of Buganda think they want”.
“There is the popular ‘federo’; the olden way of how Buganda was – an absolute mornachy. But there is a modern way of how powers are shared. So, you can give us your views to capture your actual mind,” Commissioner Ruhindi added.
But in his response, the Katikkiro said that Buganda kingdom had “moved away” from demanding the ‘federo’ defined by an absolute monarch.
“The kind of Federo that the people want of an absolute monarch, Buganda has moved away from that,” he said.
Nevertheless, he noted that many people in Buganda still want an absolute monarch which he said arises from the way people view the central government and its ‘non-responsiveness’ to their needs.
Commissioner Ruhindi further queried why then Buganda kingdom withdrew from the move to have a regional tier system of government.
But According to the Katikkiro, the effort was impeded by the failure to reach a middle ground on issues to do with funding, the election process for the Katikkiro, the management of public land in Central Uganda and how much authority the regional administration would have over the respective districts.
“There were five challeges why we pulled out of the regional government system. The first one was the election of the Katikkiro; there were grave concerns that if he was elected through universal adult suffrage, somebody completely oblivious of the cultural norms would be chosen,” Katikkiro explained.
He said that there was a likelihood of an election in the name of democracy destabilizing the kingdom.
“That was a difficult and we failed to agree how it could be done”.
“Under the federal arrangement, there should be an element of democracy. That is a detail that has to be worked out. How do you maintain the cultural integrity of the office of the Katikkiro vis-à-vis the democratic requirements that a federal arrangement espouses,” he stated.
The other sticky issue on which Buganda and the Central government disagreed was how the regional system would be financed. Buganda wanted constitutionally stipulated guarantees regarding the mechanism and percentage of financial budgets rather than relying on the benevolence of somebody (President).
“We don’t want a situation where the President is not happy with us for any reason and then he stops funding,” he said..
Uganda’s federal system of the respective kingdoms of Buganda, Ankole, Bunyoro, Tooro and other provinces created in the colonial period, was abolished following the events of 1966 when the Kabaka’s palace was invaded by the government of then President Milton Obote and forced Kabaka Edward Muteesa of Buganda into exile.
A new constitution in 1967 did away with federal structures along with the traditional and cultural kingdoms.