Masaka rejects government maps excluding Buganda

MASAKA.

Masaka District authorities have rejected maps, chats, and books dispatched to the district by National Planning Authority (NPA) and Uganda Bureau of statistics (UBOS), saying the reading materials exclude Buganda as a region.

The donated scholastic materials which are meant to guide the district officials in planning, were on Wednesday received by a secretary to the Masaka District Chairperson, Mr Jude Mbabaali, but upon looking at the materials, the he said he was shocked that the attached maps had no Buganda as a region, but named as Central, yet other parts of Uganda are indicated as Busoga, Karamoja, Ankole, Bunyoro among others.

Mr Mbabaali said it would be betrayal to the cultural leader of Buganda (Kabaka) to accept the materials and vowing to return them to NPA head offices in Kampala.

“We are not going to use these documents in our planning purposes, because they are invalid without Buganda indicated on the map as other regions,” Mr Mbabaali said.

He was in the company of his vice person, Ms Janat Nakisekka and a number of district councillors.

Mr Mbabaali said when Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II complained about maps where Buganda is excluded, government assured him that they would rectify the issue, but wondered why they had continued to send similar maps to local governments.

“They could have withdrawn all the maps long time ago,” he added.

However, Mr David Katungi, the manager local government development planning at NPA, said what was sent to districts were guidelines on how to carry out mid-term review of their plans, not maps.

"The documents dispatched neither included maps nor chats, may be they got those ones from other government agencies," he said by telephone.

The now contentious issue of Buganda being excluded from maps was first raised by the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II during his birthday celebrations in Kalungu District last month after realising that Buganda was omitted from the national map showing regional vaccination coverage in the country.

“All other parts of Uganda we know such as Busoga, Karamoja, Ankole, Bunyoro and others are existent on the national map but Buganda is not indicated. This is why I ask what the motive is. I have not yet known the motive,” the Kabaka said.

Soon after the Kabaka’s speech, social media commentators shared a Ministry of Health map that displays basic vaccination coverage by region. The maps, which were released by the Ministry of Health also show all the traditional regions of Uganda as West Nile, Acoli, Karamoja, Bunyoro, Lango, Teso, Elgon, Bukedi, Busoga, Bunyoro, Tooro, Ankole, but omits Buganda. In the place of Buganda  there is South Central and North Central.