Kyanjo: The dedicated Buganda servant and firm Opposition leader

In the aftermath of the fallout between Uganda’s first President, Kabaka Edward Muteesa, and then Prime Minister Milton Obote over the return of the two lost counties – Buyaga and Bugangaizi – to Bunyoro, the Buganda Lukiiko (parliament) wanted to have a say in the wrangle. 

Unlike the current Lukiiko whose resolutions have no legal ramifications, the Lukiiko of the early 1960s had an impact because of the semi-autonomous, or federal status, that Buganda got at independence.

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Once Obote implemented the referendum results that returned Buyaga and Bugangaizi to Bunyoro, the Lukiiko was swiftly called and its member, a one Kaggwa whose roots were traced to the Kooki Royal Family, moved a motion “ordering Obote to remove his government from Buganda soil and take it to Lango,” and the Lukiiko passed it solidly in May 1966.

Obote reacted by suspending the 1962 Constitution that granted Buganda a federal status, colloquially known as Federo, and also ordering the army commander, Idi Amin, to attack the Kabaka’s palace, forcing Muteesa to flee to exile in the UK where he met his death later.

Many scholars of history accused Kaggwa of naivety, but 41 years after he moved that resolution, Hussein Kyanjo, then a Member of Parliament (MP) of Makindye West, in Uganda’s capital Kampala, repeated something similar.

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In 2007, during Buganda Conference that was hosted in New Jersey, US, Kyanjo said it was about time for Buganda to secede if it was not granted federal status. 
One of the demands Buganda Kingdom has been making ever since President Museveni reinstated kingdoms in 1993 after they were abolished by Obote in 1967 is Federo, with Kabaka Ronald Mutebi insisting that as much as they cherish being in Uganda, Buganda’s uniqueness must be recognised.

“We believe that Uganda can accommodate all of us and that we can live in peace and harmony. However, it is important to recognise that members of our family have their peculiar needs and concerns, which should be seriously attended to.

That is how the family can be kept happy and prosperous,” Kabaka Mutebi said in 2008.

If Mengo was being diplomatic, Kyanjo, born in 1960 in the central district of Masaka, now Bukomansimbi, wasn’t to be so nice.

At the US-Buganda conference he openly called for the secession on grounds that all key positions in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) government “were dominated by westerners” where President Museveni is from.  

Kyanjo wasn’t done, he insisted that Buganda should break away because it was being allegedly disrespected by the central government and its wealth was being allegedly pillaged by those in power.

“We are part of Uganda as part of the agreement that was aimed at keeping us together in harmony. The major components were that we must be respected, we must be peaceful, and we must not be cheated. I don’t see any of these happening now,” Kyanjo said.  

Kyanjo characterised Bunyoro, Ankole, Tooro and Kigezi sub-regions as a single “super sub-region” which dominates positions in the Cabinet and other government institutions.  

Mengo, predictably, distanced itself from Kyanjo’s position, saying its motive is not to secede but they are simply demanding Federo.

Kyanjo had a laid-back demeanour, but antagonising the Kabaka was one thing he couldn’t stand. 

For example, at the peak of the central government and Buganda standoff in September 2009, after violence exploded in Buganda following government’s refusal of the Kabaka to tour Kayunga District, Kyanjo confidently recommended that Mengo, the seat of the kingdom, should secede from Uganda.

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Though it had distanced itself from Kyanjo’s, some would say radical views, Mengo still summoned him to deliver a keynote speech at the 2010 Buganda Conference. 
Kyanjo, who was by this time in his first term in Parliament, still called for secession. Instead of toning down, Kyanjo increased the ante.

However, then Buganda Kingdom spokesperson, Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, distanced the kingdom from Kyanjo’s statement.

“Kyanjo is not the spokesperson of the Buganda Kingdom. He is not a Mengo official. Those remarks he made were his personal opinion,” he said.
The State this time decided to summon Kyanjo for interrogation at the police’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID), claiming that he had incited violence.   

Accompanied by lawyer David Mpanga, who happened to be Opposition leader Kizza Besigye’s lawyer, Kyanjo, who was grilled for hours and later given bond, cast unbendable and impenitent posture.

Kyanjo’s politics were rooted in guerrilla warfare. He started out as an organiser in the Muslim Tabliq community before he teamed up with others to start a political party known as Jeema, or Justice, Education, Economic Revitalisation, Morality, and African Unity, or Justice Forum.

In 2006, Kyanjo, a fine artist by training, became the first member of Jeema to be elected to Parliament, Conservative Party’s Yusuf Nsubuga Nsambu to take the Makindye West slot.

With his oratory skills that were ultimately impeded when he suffered from dystonia, a disease that damages speech and memory, he would soon become one of the most respected MPs, dominating plenary and parliamentary committees. 

It didn’t come as a shock when the African Leadership Institute (AFLI) scorecard placed him amongst the top 10 best-performing lawmakers in 2011. Though some looked at Kyanjo as a parochial Muganda, he had a telepathic understanding with Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) Kizza Besigye, a non-Muganda.

Just like Besigye, he believed that Opposition unity was key in ousting Museveni who has been in power since 1986 when Kyanjo was just 26 years old.   

In the run-up to the 2011 general elections, Kyanjo was key in forming the Inter-Party Coalition (IPC), a loose coalition of Opposition political parties whose aim was to rally around one candidate who would take on President Museveni. 
It didn’t work as Democratic Party’s (DP) Nobert Mao and Olara Otunnu of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) pulled out.  

But Kyanjo, who at the time was the secretary general of Jeema, stayed in and even contested against Besigye in the IPC primary. Dr Besigye emerged victor and Kyanjo congratulated him with a warm hug.  

The Besigye-Kyanjo relationship would be tested in the run-up to the 2016 general election.  In 2011, Kyanjo had made it clear to his Makindye West constituents that that would be his last term in Parliament, but suffering from dystonia ruled out any possibility of him changing his mind in 2016.

Yet in the run up these elections, former prime minister Amama Mbabazi, who had decided to challenge his mentor Museveni, had won support from a majority of the Opposition parties, including Jeema, Kyanjo’s party, under the coalition that came to be known as The Democratic Alliance (TDA). 

Smelling a rat, Besigye’s party, FDC, pulled him out of TDA talks and prompted Museveni’s former physician to stand for the fourth time.  

Kyanjo had a decision to make: go with his party’s resolution and support Mbabazi, or stick with his old ally, Besigye.  

In a great show of loyalty, Kyanjo stuck with Besigye and even when he was sick he joined him on the campaign trail.   

“I had a greater attachment to Besigye. We have suffered with him for so long. So, there was no reason why I would decide to abandon him. My party didn’t decide well [to back Mbabazi] and my party is not a prison,” Kyanjo would later explain to

The Observer newspaper his decision to go against his party and support the Luweero Bush War veteran. 

No wonder when Kyanjo, who was a rabble-rouser, passed on, Besigye lionised him using superlatives.  

“Hon Hussein Kyanjo is one of Uganda’s political elites who greatly earned my respect! His incisive analysis of issues, consistency and courage was admirable,” Besigye said, adding that expectedly, this attracted hostility from usual suspects that, likely, cut his life short.  

If Kyanjo had an unbreakable alliance with Besigye then still his love for the Kabaka was monumental that in 2011 he started an initiative to buy Kabaka Mutebi a helicopter.  

A rather serious Kyanjo had done some maths, explaining that together with his allies they were targeting a $1.5m (Shs3.5b) helicopter, although the figure, he said, would rise to Shs7b with taxes estimated at Shs3.5b.

“The idea came up as a result of the increasing need for the Kabaka to move more easily. He has a lot of work yet his kingdom is vast,” Kyanjo said, adding that they had contacted a supplier in Canada, who in turn referred them to their regional agent in South Africa. 

“The South African agent told us to get back to him with the specifications of the helicopter we want and, God willing, before June, the helicopter will be here,” Kyanjo said. 

The helicopter idea didn’t come through as Kyanjo fell sicker and sicker but his love for the monarch was clear and the Kabaka recognised his contribution to the kingdom. 

“We condole with the family and friends at this trying moment. Kyanjo was a dedicated servant and always stood his ground,” Kabaka Mutebi eulogised Kyanjo, one of his greatest loyalists.