We are tired of reminding govt about our property - Nagginda

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the great pleasure and honour, once again of standing before the Annual Buganda Conference as you settle down to your deliberations. This is the fifth time that I have opened this august Conference and looking around the room, it gives me pleasure to note that the participants appear as fresh and as eager as they have always been. I do not see any signs of fatigue or resignation and nor do the numbers appear to be flagging. I think that this can only mean that the Buganda Conference continues to be a relevant and vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas.

The Buganda Conference comes at the end of the year, a time when, traditionally, people reflect on their achievements in the last 12 months and make resolutions for the coming year. This year, the 5th Annual Buganda Conference has coincided with the 50th Anniversary of Uganda’s independence and I applaud Owek. Kattikiro, Eng. J.B. Walusimbi and the Organising Committee for choosing a theme that is designed to elicit an incisive and honest assessment of what Buganda has achieved not only over the past 12 months but also over the last 50 years of independent Uganda.

But even as we look back and assess what we may or may not have achieved, we must not forget that the most important reason for meeting here is to deliberate upon and resolve on how to make the future brighter for Buganda and for Uganda.
As a Muganda, I am proud of my ancestry, heritage and culture. The Kingdom of Buganda was and still remains a sterling example of native African nation building. Buganda was essentially founded upon ideas and cultural norms encapsulated in an unwritten constitution that we call “ennono n’obuwangwa”. This has enabled Buganda to be dynamic, inclusive and capable of changing with the times to meet new social, demographic, economic and political challenges.

The challenges of Buganda today are not very different from the challenges facing other native peoples all across Africa. We are faced with political challenges of how to relate to the State and how that determines the division or distribution of resources. We are faced with the challenge of competition for natural resources such as arable land or water not only amongst ourselves but also with foreign nationals and corporations. We are faced with the ever present challenges of war, poverty, disease, ignorance and a rapidly rising population. Lastly we are faced with the challenge of global and local climate change, which threatens to our food security and settlement patterns amongst other things.

As I have stressed before, our challenges cannot and should not be viewed in isolation. Buganda is an integral part of Uganda, East Africa and Africa.
We must appreciate our problems in that sense, if only so that we may be able to postulate solutions that foster harmony with our brothers and sisters in the country, region and continent as a whole. If we recognise and strive to achieve a stable and sustainable state of interdependence, our solutions will work for Buganda, Uganda, East Africa and Africa and thus guarantee our beloved kingdom’s success and relevance in the next 50 years.

In facing the challenges of today, we can learn from but must not become prisoners of our past. The compromises that worked in the years gone by may not necessarily be the solution to the impasses that we now face. As I said earlier, our strength lies in our unwritten constitution, which acknowledges and is based on the wisdom of our forefathers but is flexible enough to help us navigate the turbulent waters of the modern age.

In the coming year, we shall celebrate the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the Kingdom of Buganda, when our beloved Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II was enthroned at Nnagalabi Hill. The 20th anniversary celebrations shall be a great opportunity to showcase the achievements of the restored kingdom. It is my sincere hope that it will also be the year that we cease to have to keep reminding the central government about the need to return properties that were violently expropriated 46 years ago or the need to honour rent obligations in respect of properties occupied by government and instead talk about how the kingdom is using the revenues from these assets to improve the lot of her people.

As we look forward to the future, let our culture and native wisdom be our guide to finding new innovative ways around the challenges that face us. In coming to and implementing our solutions, let us make sure that they are relevant to all sectors of our kingdom: The children, the youth, the women, the elderly and the disabled. Nobody should be left behind. Let us seek for and strike the correct balance between politics and economics as well as between economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Let us strive to make Buganda and Uganda the beacons of sustainable and harmonious growth, peace, happiness and prosperity in East Africa and the whole of Africa. This is a role that our ancestors played very well and bequeathed to us. We must not fail in this, because to do so will be to let down our descendants, our nationality and our race.

We have a lot to learn from the last 50 years. We have made our mistakes and we have had the mistakes of others inflicted upon us. But time and the world move on relentlessly. We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and move bravely forward. I am not saying that this is easy, but it is our duty to our brave and illustrious ancestors as well as to ourselves and our children to find a lasting solution to our major challenges.

With these few words I am pleased to declare the 5th Annual Buganda Conference officially open and to wish you all fruitful deliberations as well as a joyful Festive Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

This speech was delivered during the opening of the 5th annual Buganda Conference