Kibaale walks a tightrope in search for peace

Kibaale- It is evening and people are seated in small groups sipping malwa, a local beer at Kiryanga Trading Centre in Kibaale District. A group of about 10 people are sharing the local brew, which is made from millet and is normally served with hot water in a pot.

Mr Asuman Tibeita, an indigenous Munyoro, shares the beer with members of the diverse settler communities locally known as Bafuruki. “These are our brothers. I deal with them irrespective of their ethnicity,” Mr Tibeita says.

Kiryanga is one of the scenes of bloody violence during the ethnic clashes between the indigenous Banyoro and the Bafuruki communities before and after the 2006 elections.
The police and army were deployed in Kiryanga in March 2006 after three people had been killed. Two more people were killed in Kakindo Sub-county a few weeks later. Police identified them as David Ndyareeha, 16, and Barnabas Biryomumaisho, 14, both of Kasenyi village in Kakindo.

The district is engaged in both formal and informal efforts to mend the fragile ethnic dichotomy which has caused loss of lives and destruction of property in recent times.

One of the ways to mitigate the ethnic animosity in Kibaale is power sharing for positions in the district administration ahead of the 2016 elections. This strategy is projected to reduce the ethnic tensions that often breakout around election time.

The former chairman of the Bafuruki Committee, the Rev Godfrey Tibenda, has been appointed member of the Kibaale District Service Commission.

“Besides considering academic qualifications, experience and other abilities of the applicants, we consider ethnic interests of the wider public. We ensure there is equity in public job offers,” says a member of the district service commission, who preferred anonymity.

The district chairman, Mr George Namyaka, who was elected unopposed in 2002 on directives of President Museveni, who had also ordered the chairman-elect Fred Ruremeera to step down, admits he appointed his executive mindful of the district’s ethnic interests.

In the 2002 ethnic clashes, the indigenous Banyoro were protesting the election of Mr Ruremeera as district chairman, saying it was unfair for a settler to rule them in their own motherland.

Following the ethnic fighting and destruction of houses and other properties, President Museveni intervened and ordered Mr Ruremeera, who had been elected with a 54 per cent majority, to step down in favour of Mr Namyaka or else he would take over the district under the emergency provisions of the Constitution.

Mr Ruremeera yielded and Mr Namyaka was elected unopposed as the LC5 chairman. He was re-elected in 2006 and in 2011.

As part of the move to ease the ethnic friction, Mr Namyaka has now appointed Mr Stephen Mfashingabo, as his vice and Mr Ramuel Betonda as district secretary for finance and administration.

The two officials are members of the Bafuruki (settler community) committee which has been fighting for inclusion of the settlers in political leadership of the district.

“There is a deliberate effort to place people from all ethnic communities in civil service and political seats,” Mr Namyaka says.

In order to widen political space and absorb more people from the feuding ethnic groups into civil service, Kibaale District Council held an extraordinary meeting on March 29, 2013 and approved the creation of new sub-counties, which raised the existing number from 19 to 31. Four town councils were also created.

Mr Namyaka says there is potential for a new wave of conflicts as the 2016 election period draws nearer because some aspirants are drumming up ethnic appeals to rally support for their candidature.

“Kibaale is ethnically volatile and its issues need to be handled carefully. To those who are used to the antagonistic approach, I don’t confront them. I emphasise dialogue,” Mr Namyaka says.

Mr Betonda says during allocation of projects such as schools, roads, water sources, the district leadership deliberately ensures there is equitable benefit by sub-counties settled by the indigenous Banyoro and the settler tribes.
The district runs an annual budget of between Shs18b and Shs19b. The physical confrontations between the rival groups have ceased but the ethnic undercurrents still persist.

Bugangaizi East MP Marble Bakeine, a Mufuruki, and Bugangaizi West MP Kasiriivu Atwooki, a Munyoro, have ceased open hostilities. The two politicians could hardly see eye to eye at the height of ethnic tensions preceding the 2006 parliamentary elections.

However, relative peace returned to the area after the county was split into Bugangaizi East and Bugangaizi West constituencies which eased political tensions between supporters of the two politicians.

Similarly, Buyaga East MP Ignatius Besisira, a Munyoro, and Buyaga West MP Barnabas Tinkasimire, a Mufuruki, have ceased hostilities against each other.

Mr Besisira’s defeat by Mr Tinkasimire in 2006 during the Buyaga parliamentary election triggered ethnic clashes.

Mr Besisira’s supporters, who were mainly his fellow ethnic Banyoro, accused Mr Tinkasimire’s supporters, who were mainly Bafuruki, of using their numerical strength to elect their tribemate into power.

In 2010, President Museveni announced the creation of two new counties out of Bugangaizi and Buyaga constituencies: Buyaga East which Mr Besisira represents in the current Parliament and Bugangaizi West represented by Dr Kasirivu.

Mr Namyaka, aged over 70, has not indicated whether he will seek re-election in 2016 but either is it clear that his inclusive policy will sustain the existing relative harmony between the two ethnic groups in the district.

One member of the Bafuruki community has declared he will contest for either the district chairman’s post or parliamentary seat for Buyaga East which is currently held by Mr Besisira, a Munyoro.

“I will exercise my constitutional rights to contest for either LC5 or Buyaga East parliamentary seat,” says the aspirant, a Mukiga, who preferred anonymity because he is still a civil servant.
Former Lands state minister Kasirivu Atwooki believes the prevailing peace in the district is superficial.

“Banyoro are giving government room to address their long standing grievances and their concerns on historical injustices,” he says.

Buyaga and Bugangaizi were annexed to Buganda Kingdom following the 1900 Buganda Agreement, signed after the defeat of Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro who resisted imperialism.

In the 1964 referendum, people in the two counties voted to return to Buyoro. Although the administration returned to Bunyoro, to date more than 3,630 absentee Baganda landlords still hold titles to the land in the two counties.

“Ethnic concerns still persist but as leaders, we should do more sensitisation to emphasise co-existence,” Mr Kasirivu says.

He said his appointment as state minister for Lands was one of the attempts by the President to calm down ethnic friction after he lost the elections.
“We should build on such deliberate attempts to address the political needs of the people,” he added.

Banyoro have for long accused the Bafuruki of settling on their ancestral land and using their numerical strengthen to vote their tribemates into political leadership.

They view it as another brand of colonisation of Bunyoro by outsiders. But the Bafuruki deny the claims and insist they are in Kibaale legally as per the 1995 Constitution which gives all Ugandans the right to live or settle in any part of the country.

Out of the 33 sub-county or LC3 seats in Kibaale District, 10 (30 per cent) are held by Bafuruki and 23 (69 per cent) by indigenous Banyoro.

“All ethnic groups have agreed to co-exist in our ethnic diversity,” says Kibaale District NRM treasurer Patrick Zikanshagiza, who is a member of the Bafuruki Committee.

Recently he invited the King of Bunyoro, Solomon Iguru, to preside over the unveiling of his multi-million new home in Kagadi Town Council.

However, there is an unwritten rule of ring-fencing key political posts for the indigenous Banyoro. The posts of district chairman, district woman MP and district speaker are occupied by Banyoro.

Buyaga West MP Tinkasimire believes the ethnic tensions were being fuelled by leaders who have now accepted harmonious co-existence.

“Much as the issues that were being fronted as the cause of the conflict remain outstanding, the trouble causers have settled down,” Mr Tinkasimire says.

The district council speaker, Mr George William Bizibu, says both Banyoro and Bafuruki have been losers in the ethnic tensions.

“Government has used our disagreements to deny us many services. Our ethnic disagreements also weakened our lobbying, advocacy and bargaining powers,” Mr Bizibu says.

He adds that due to ethnic rivalry, they lost chance to have Buyaga County elevated to district status, with the new district’s name being Kagadi. The president had granted this in the 2006 elections and reiterated the same in 2011 elections.

Banyoro rejected the Kagadi district offer on account that key political and civil service posts would be taken by the Bafuruki.

“We have resolved our differences, now we want two districts carved out of the present day Kibaale in order to bring services nearer to the people,” Mr Namyaka asserts.

He presented a memorandum to President Museveni in March 2015, urging the President to fulfil his pledge of creating Kagadi district out of Buyaga County and Kakumiro district out of Bugangaizi County.

If the two districts become operational, Kibaale District will remain only with Buyanja County.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the district had 220,261 people during the 1991 census and the 2014 census results indicated that the population had reached 788,714.

A June 2003 study by the Uganda Land Alliance (ULA) on the Kibaale land conflicts recommended that the influx of migrants should be stopped forthwith to avert the looming threat of ethnic violence.

Letter on Kibaale

A leaked July 15, 2009 letter said to have been authored by President Museveni and reportedly addressed to the then Presidency minister, Ms Beatrice Wabudeya, proposed ring-fencing elective political positions in Bunyoro for only the indigenous Banyoro, sparked nationwide controversy on whether he was right to deny a section of Ugandans the right to stand for leadership.

The proposal in the letter that the migrants should leave positions from sub-county councils up to Member of Parliament for indigenous Banyoro until after 20 years when the situation could be reviewed was seen as his attempt to address the Banyoro’s political grievances but was flatly opposed by the Bafuruki as unconstitutional.