Bobi’s tribal outburst can only send him political outskirts

Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, claimed during his recent country mobilisation tour in Luweero District that President Museveni distributed Buganda land to individuals who were not of Buganda descent. 

He urged the people of Buganda to stand up and take action to regain their rightful ownership of the land. 

“Fellow Baganda, who bewitched us? Museveni thinks he is going to build his dynasty on the land of our ancestors in Buganda. That will not happen,” Kyagulanyi, who was speaking in Luganda, said during a rally at Kasana Grounds on September 16.

Bobi Wine’s outbursts concerning ‘foreigners’ grabbing land from Buganda are a reflection of his own mischievous deeds, which he wants to cover up by accusing other people when he clearly knows that President Museveni has never orchestrated any land grabbing agenda in Buganda to benefit people from his ancestral region, as Bobi Wine strangely alleged. 

On the contrary, President Museveni has been at the forefront of fighting some of the parasites in the Mengo administration and other rich bourgeoisies that have consistently pushed their wish to displace millions of Baganda bibanja owners from their land minus compensation. 

These bibanja holder peasants are victims of the archaic colonial policy where most land in Buganda was gifted to few chiefs and other colonial collaborators. This was in return for having aided or made it easy for them to occupy and colonise Buganda and Uganda at large.

To date, President Museveni has stood his ground to protect the Baganda peasants through a firm government policy of buying off these absent landlords and, thereby, giving the millions of peasant’s full legitimate ownership of their land. 

He has resisted all the machinations from a clique in the Mengo administration and other rich compradors that hide behind the obnoxious land laws that were designed by the insensitive colonial regime to render majority Buganda peasants’ serfs on the land of their ancestors.

In fact, President Museveni’s strong objection to landlords throwing out peasants from their land made him unpopular with some people in the Mengo administration, the group that Bobi Wine now identifies with for purely cheap popularity. 

Better than anyone else, Bobi Wine knows that the attractiveness of Buganda land is because of its proximity to the capital city Kampala. Indeed, Kampala is the centre of business and investment. It is also a fact that those that have acquired land in Buganda have acquired it on the willing seller and willing buyer arrangement.

President Museveni did not sit with the British colonisers to determine that the capital city of Uganda be located in Buganda. This, of course, made Buganda land attractive to most Ugandans and non-Ugandans because of the strategic importance that is associated with a capital city. Can Bobi Wine mention any land in Buganda that Museveni grabbed and handed over to his fellow Banyankole?

Bobi Wine himself and his family have also legitimately sold their land to non-Baganda both in Kampala and at their ancestral home in Gomba District.

Finally, Bobi Wine and those of his ilk should be educated that Buganda, like other territorial regions of Uganda, is not a tribal nation. Buganda is an entity of several tribes and ethnic groups. He should assist himself by visiting the national census records where I am sure he will be embarrassed with the data about Buganda. 

He is not the first politician to parrot such tribal and ethnic sentiments for cheap political gain. Before him, there was Nsubuga Nsambu, Hussein Kyanjo, former Katikkiro of Buganda Dan Mulika and others, but they all failed flat in that unattractive venture of whipping tribal sentiments for political survival. 

Mr Obed Katureebe works with Uganda Media Centre