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King Ronald’s relative hopes he can mediate apparently irreconcilable differences. Swaziland ’s King Mswati has been in Uganda—helping avoid a political crisis in the kingdom of Buganda. He is acting as a mediator between President Yoweri Museveni and King Ronald Mutebi , a distant relation, to avert a political crisis. Museveni and Mswati have met twice—at Mswati’s 40th birthday celebrations and then when Mswati visited Uganda in August and met both Museveni and Mutebi. Mswati admires the Ugandan anti‐AIDS programme and also wants to buy HIV treatment drugs that Uganda now manufactures. However, Museveni is an avowed republican and has expressed his contempt for the African chiefs and kings who failed to stem colonialism. Nevertheless, he favours Mswati’s mediation because of the royal relationship—Mutebi is a distant cousin of Mswati as his grandmother was a Swazi royal. What remains to be seen is whether Mswati can reconcile the two men. Both have taken irreconcilable positions in the issue of land and governance ( p. 17616 ). Museveni wants land reform to enable big capitalists to establish commercial farms and provide employment. On the issue of governance, he wants semi‐autonomous units in 80 districts in Uganda that should control the land. Mutebi and Buganda oppose losing control of the land. They also say that small farmers have been the mainstay of the economy. Buganda wants a federal system based on the 14 ‘nations’ or communities and says that internal autonomy is non‐negotiable. The Baganda oppose a unitary system as a relic of a colonial past that perpetuates corruption and aids dictatorship. Museveni’s controversial law was to have been brought before parliament in September, but the process has been bogged down. Buganda represents a formidable opponent to Museveni, largely because it is the strongest institution with hierarchical structures and poses a more serious threat than do political parties. He is seeking to alienate Buganda by aligning himself with several other kingdoms ( see map p. 17616 ) with promises of financial support. ( SouthScan 26/9 ) No More Death Warrants Prisons chief Dr Johnson Byabashaijja on October 10th said President Museveni had promised not to sign more death warrants. “We have had a number of executions since the colonial times and the last one was in 2001. The President has vowed never to sign any more death warrants.” Addressing a meeting at the Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala, Byabasaijja said the last group of 23 people whom Museveni sent to the gallows in 2002, included UPC ’s [opposition Uganda People’s Congress] diehard Musa Ssebirumbi . The meeting was organised by the Uganda Human Rights Commission to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN declaration on human rights. Although the death sentence is still law in Uganda, the Constitutional Court has recently ruled that it was not mandatory to pass the sentence. ( The New Vision, Kampala 13/10 ) Buganda land controversy and map p. 17616
Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley
Published: Nov 1, 2008
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