The Thursday monthly Buganda Clan Heads meeting which sat at Bulange building the headquarters of Buganda Kingdom ended in bitter verbal exchanges between a section of clan heads and their council speaker Omuttaka Augustine Kizito Mutumba, the Kkobe clan head.
The day begans with the clan heads meeting the Kingdom deputy premier Owekitiibwa professor Twaha Kawaasi who presided over the launch of the annual cultural and norms seminar at Bulange.
The clan heads then proceeded to holding a council meeting.
Communication was made by their speaker Omuttaka Mutumba concerning the inspection of works going on on the piece of land that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni bought for them last month.
They all agreed that the inspection should be done immediately after the meeting.
However, when the meeting closed, Mutumba told fellow clan heads that it is not going to be possible for the entire council to move together and inspect the said land.
He explained that if it is done, it will put their council in bad light before their boss Ronald Muwenda Mutebi the Kabaka of Buganda.
The soft-spoken Mutumba advised fellow clan heads that they can inspect the work individually, noting that when it is done in that way, it will not attract media attention.
He added that the issue of the land which they wanted to inspect is before the Kabaka and it will be on top of the agenda during their planned meeting with them because he has written to him on behalf of the council.
It should be noted that Buganda Premier Charles Peter Mayiga protested Museveni’s move to buy land for clan heads without the knowledge of Buganda Kingdom administration and Kabaka Mutebi.
A select committee was established according to a highly placed source at Bulange headed by a senior city lawyer who is also a minister in Kabaka’s government to investigate the matter and guide both Kabaka Mutebi and Mayiga on the way forward.
Sources close to Mutumba told the might Grapevine that Mutumba is also waiting for the report from the select committee that’s why he declined to allow the proposal fronted by Yusuf Mbirozankya the head of Fumbe clan that the council should inspect the work that is being done on the land.
A big section of clan heads especially those who met President Museveni protested Mutumba’s advice threatening to shun King Ronnie’s meeting with them if it does not address their most pressing issues.
Mutumba was accused of using the clan heads council to achieve personal gains.
They gave an example that in 2021, during Kabaka Mutebi’s meeting with Museveni at Nakasero State Lodge, Mutumba was among the people who escorted the Kabaka and in the meeting, he was presented as a representative of the clan heads council.
” You told us that you presented our interests, when we asked you the kind of interest you presented and who gave you those interests, you declined to answer promising to give us a detailed report which we haven’t received up to now,” one of the clan heads told Mutumba face to face.
He further accused him of hiding in Kabaka Mutebi’s name to soil other people’s name.
They insisted that before meeting Kabaka as he informed them, they should discuss the agenda and among the issues that should be addressed include; ownership of Buganda Land Board (BLB) which many termed as Kabaka Mutebi’s cash cow.
Buganda Land Board was established to manage and administer the Kingdom land and clan heads claim that some of the land that BLB manages belonged to their clans as their headquarters but it was sold off.
They claim that Kabaka is a trustee of the Kingdom land owned on behalf of Baganda and they cannot look on as the entire Kingdom land is sold off by BLB hiding under Kabaka’s name.
They also want to know their status in Buganda since Mayiga told them that legally in Buganda, Kabaka Mutebi is the only cultural leader known in Buganda as a corporation sole and he is the one responsible for all the Kingdom properties, especially land.
They boasted that they are the foundation of the Kingdom and their status has to be recognised legally.
They want the Kabaka to support them in their quest to have the Cultural and Traditional leaders Act amended so that they are also recognised as cultural leaders in Buganda legally.
The clan heads also want to know the status of ownership of Kasubi tombs after some claimed that they were told that the tombs are owned by UNESCO, government of Uganda and some persons in Buganda Kingdom even though it is Kingdom property.
They further want the Kabaka to address them concerning allegation that land at Bulange where the Kingdom headquarters sits was subdivided into plots and it is currently covertly owned by individuals even though it has to be a Kingdom property.
Buganda Kingdom information minister Israel Kitooke Kazibwe told theGrapevine that talks between the Kingdom clan heads and the executive are going on with the mission of resolving the small misunderstanding resulting from the Museveni meeting.
In the same development, theGrapevine has established that security of the two most vocal clan heads who met Museveni has been beefed up with plain clothed soldiers armed with pistols who are guarding them.
When asked why they decided to move with soldiers, they explained that their lives have been threatened by people who always threaten to harm them over Museveni meetings.
Security at their offices at Mengo was also beefed up, and plans are underway to put two gates and a fence on the land Museveni bought for them so that access to it is limited.
Sources disclosed that they are going to first erect tents on the land where they will hold meetings as they wait for the completion of the commercial building president Museveni promised them.
On the same piece of land, there is a washing bay for the youths. The clan heads divulged that it will remain in operation until the building process kicks off which is expected next year.
The land title is registered in the names of Bataka Trust Limited and Omuttaka Mutumba is one of the directors.
By Sengooba Alirabaki
Leave a Reply