On July 31, 2023, the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Mwenda Mutebi II, celebrated the 30th coronation anniversary in Lubiri Mengo.
Ronald Mwenda Mutebi II was proclaimed the Kabaka of Buganda Kingdom on July 24, 1993, upon the restoration of Kingdoms in Uganda by the government and on July 31, 1993, he was crowned at Buddo,Naggalabi.
On September 17, 1967, Obote abolished the three tribal kingdoms of Ankole, Buganda, and Bunyoro, in addition to the Chieftaincy of Busoga. From then on, the country assumed the status of a republic.
Recently in his speech, the Kabaka revived the federal debate.
“Although the Kingship was restored, it did not regain its original administrative powers,” said Kabaka during his anniversary.
The federal system of governance revolves around dividing up power between a central national government and local state governments that are connected to one another by the national government.
Buganda’s quest for federal status is not new since it ever enjoyed special status from the time Uganda was conceived by the British colonial administration and enjoyed “colonial favouritism” as a reward for collaborating with the colonialists.
Buganda Kindom has since made several formal demands in their quest for the restoration of the federal system.
The same demand was once submitted to the 1998 constitutional review commission, headed by Benjamim Odoki, to draught the new Constitution.
In 2012, President Museveni refused the idea of a federal government and instead averred that there should be an elected Katikiro to run the regional tier system and the Kabaka as a ceremonial head.
Whereas cultural institutions are good for the cultural upbringing of citizens and their development, these institutions should not be autonomous from the central government.
Some of these institutions have posed security threats by attempting to form their own State within the state; for example, Rwenzururu Kingdom in Kasese attempted to do the same a few years ago.
The federal system, as widely used by the colonial administration to reward their collaborators,has also been used as a tool by the neo-colonialists to destabilise their targets by funding subversive political activities through the federal institutions in the respective countries. Such colonial favouritism and rewards should not be embraced again.
