Committee formed to stop impeachment of Umukukha
MBALE- Bamasaba Cultural Institution, Inzu–Ya-Masaba leadership, has set up a 10-member committee to spearhead a dialogue between the institution’s cultural head, Umukukha Bob Mushikori, and a section of members of the cultural council, who are seeking signatures from clan leaders to impeach him.
The committee led by two religious leaders, the Bishop of Mbale Diocese, Rev Samuel Wabulakha, and his counterpart, Rev George Mechumo, the Bishop of the Diocese of Bungoma in Kenya, was set up on Saturday during a meeting that took place at the institution’s headquarters at Malukhu in Mbale Town.
The meeting was called by Rev Wabulakha to curtail the growing rift in the institution and the looming impeachment of Mr Mushikori led by Mr Nelson Wedaira, the speaker of Inzu-Ya-Masaba.
It was attended by members of the cultural council, clan leaders, ministers, religious and political leaders from the districts of Mbale, Sironko, Namisindwa, Manafwa, Bududa and Bulambuli and from Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia in the western part of Kenya.
Mr Mathias Nabutele, the first deputy prime minister, said the committee will help in resolving the internal impasse the institution is facing.
“The team will help to align the issues affecting the institution and handle concerns raised by the petitioners,” he said.
External forces
Mr Nabutele, however, had told Daily Monitor that there are external forces behind the impeachment plans of the Umukukha that started long time ago.
“There are external forces behind it and they are using it to undermine the Umukukha. They have personal issues against him,” he said.
In their March 12 petition addressed to the clan leaders of Inzu-Ya- Masaba, Mr Wedaira and his group, lay out their grounds for impeachment of the cultural leader, which include incompetence, promiscuity, misuse of office, poor dress code and plans to amend the constitution to extend his term of office from five to seven years, among others.
Mr Mushikori denies the allegations.
“The Umukukha Mushikori has no wife nor an ancestral homestead. These are serious impediments/ taboos/ abominations (imbikho) in the leadership of Bamasaba community and in the imbalu ceremonies of Bamasaba,” the letter reads in part.
The letter further reads: “Umukukha Mushikori defies resolutions of Inzu, for instance addressing people in English while standing instead of using Lumasaba while sitting.”
Mr Wedaira said Mr Mushikori has failed to run the institution effectively and he should not be allowed to split it any further.
“We have taken the impeachment papers to all clans for approval and if we get two-thirds majority of the clans, we shall call him to the cultural council to defend himself before we throw him out of office,” he said.
He said since the Umukukha was elected, he has never called for a general assembly of the clan leaders.
The Bugisu general assembly in 2016 elected Mr Mushikori as the new Umukuka of the Inzu Ya Masaba (cultural leader) in an election conducted at Inzu Hall in Malukhu, Mbale District. Mr Mushikori, who was the cultural institution’s minister in charge of the Diaspora, polled 28 votes defeating his closest rival Mr Charles Walimbwa Peke, the Manafwa District LC5 chairperson, by two votes.
The Umukukha side
A Member of Parliament in the region, who preferred anonymity, said the cultural leader’s troubles are a result of the Umukukha’s firm stand against the leadership of Mbale District over the ownership of Bugema Barracks land.
“This is a political witch-hunt, which is being spearheaded and funded by some political leaders in Mbale District, who are not happy with our cultural leader, nothing more,” the source said.
The land in question, which is more than 186 acres, is 3km from Mbale Town on the Mbale-Tororo highway. It’s being claimed by the district and the institution.
However, the Umukukha, in his March 12 letter, acknowledged that there are some leaders fighting the institution.
Mr John Baptist Nambeshe, the MP for Manjiya County in Bududa District, appealed to both parties to resolve their differences.
