13 issues await Museveni in Kasese District today

President Museveni. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Mineral factor. Kasese is endowed with minerals including copper, limestone and salt. The government in 2017 cancelled the 25-year mining concession held by Hima-Tibet, a Chinese consortium, that was tasked to revamp the Kilembe Copper Mines. 
  • The government has since promised to find another investor who would first construct a copper smelting plant in order to add value to the mineral that has not been mined since the 1970s when the world’s copper market went down. 
  • Recently, Ms Sarah Opendi, the State minister for Minerals, said: “We are planning to make an international advertisement for prospective investors to take over Kilembe Mines”. 

When President Museveni arrives in Kasese District today to campaign ahead of the 2021 General Election, he will be expected to release a magic bullet that can make his National Resistance Movement (NRM) claim the area from the hands of the Opposition.

FDC stronghold 

In February 2016, the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) claimed all the six parliamentary seats in Kasese District including handing a defeat to Dr Crispus Kiyonga, then the Defence minister.   

Kasese has been a home of the Opposition since Dr Kizza Besigye first appeared on the ballot paper in 2001. In the 2016 elections, Dr Besigye posted 132, 762 votes (56.39 per cent) against Mr Museveni’s 97,367 votes which was 41.36 per cent. 

The Basongora Chiefdom 

Recognised in October 2009, Rwenzururu Kingdom has had a sweet-sour relationship with the government. The first was when the Kingdom refused to recognise the Basongora Chiefdom in 2012 when they crowned their own cultural leader, the late Ivan Bwebale.  His son Apollo Bwebale has been waiting to be officially recognised by the government after taking over from his father in 2015. 

Together with the Banyabindi who also crowned their cultural leader in 2012, the Basongora have been seeking a new district so that they are able to enjoy a cultural space free from the dominance of the Bakonzo. 

Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere also in 2013 lost the support of the Bamba/Babwisi of Bundibugyo when the government recognised Bwamba Kingdom under the leadership of Martin Kamya. 

King Charles Wesley Mumbere. PHOTO | FILE

These developments in Bundibugyo and Kasese build up to the misunderstanding between the Rwenzururu and the central government culminating into the July 5, 2014 clashes that left about 100 people dead. The consequent deadly security raid on Buhikira Palace in Kasese Town on November 27, 2016,  led to the death of over 100 people, including security personnel, and more than 200 people suspected to be the Omusinga’s guards were arrested.

Fate of Omusinga Charles Mumbere

However, the main question the people of Kasese expect Mr Musevni to address is the issue of the Omusinga (King) Charles Wesley Mumbere, who has not stepped in the area since his arrest on November 27, 2016, when the army raided his Buhikira palace.

The main question Kasese people have to the government is when the Omusinga would return home having been away for four years since his arrest and subsequent charges in court where he and more than 200 others most of whom his royal guards are facing charges of terrorism, treason, murder and aggravated robbery. 

The Omusinga,  his former acting prime minister Johnson Thembo Kitsumbire and six juveniles have been out on bail since January 2017 but at least eight others have died in prison since then. 

The Opposition politicians including some presidential candidates and parliamentary candidates are using the 2016 clashes to decampaign everyone contesting on the NRM ticket. Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Nobert Mao last month said: “Don’t vote for Mr Museveni and the NRM if he does not apologise for what he did to the Rwenzururu Kingdom’’. Also last month, candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform, while campaigning in Kasese, said once elected, he would return with the Omusinga for the victory party. Alliance for National Transformation candidate Maj Gen (Rtd) Mugisha Muntu and Independent candidate John Katumba have also promised to free Omusinga and his co-accused. 

Modern palace

The kingdom is looking for Shs25b to construct a modern palace at the Kasese Tank Hill where Vice President Edward Ssekandi officiated at a ground breaking ceremony six years ago. The current palace remains a scene of crime and also culturally, the King can no longer stay in such a place soaked in blood. 

 Land conflicts

One of the major causes of friction among the ethnic groups in Kasese is land ownership. The district that was created in 1974 sits on a total of 2,724 square kilometres of land but only 1,187 square kilometres is reserved for human habitation. 

Queen Elizabeth National Park accounts for 885 square kilometres of the land that is reserved for natural resources. Rwenzori Mountains National Park also has a land reservation of 652 square kilometres.

With the population explosion risk, the pressure is continuing to mount over the remaining land for human habitation. The population of Kasese is fast shooting past the one million mark from the 747,800 people captured in the 2012 population and housing census.

Leaders in the area have faced challenges of land grabbing and the risk of people grabbing national park land is high, hence a need for a President who can degazette part of the protected area for human activities.

Since 2012, a total of 278 families have remained guessing on when they will be able to go back to their 2,050 acres in Rwehingo area after the government which they defeated in court has not handed it back to them. The State has defied court orders that were issued by Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo when he was resident Judge for Fort Portal. 

District split

Kasese remains the only district in the Rwenzori sub-region that has not been split despite efforts by some of the leaders to have new administrative units. There is one municipality, 32 sub-counties and 10 town councils. 

The Opposition leaders and Rwenzururu Kingdom have always opposed the proposed split of Kasese claiming that Mr Museveni would use it as a chance to create a district for the Basongora whose proposed boundaries take away natural resources such as the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Edward, Lake George and Katwe Salt Lake. 

The district council has twice passed a resolution seeking the split of Kasese but the majority of the population has rejected the proposal. The 2010 resolution proposed two new districts while the most recent one of 2018 raised the number of new districts to four.  

International airport 

Since 2001, President Museveni has promised to elevate Kasese Airfield to an international airport status to boost tourism and trade with the neighbouring DR Congo). Many Congolese business people from the eastern towns of Beni and Butembo fly through Entebbe International Airport after travelling for long hours on buses from Kasese.

After the 2006 elections, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) embarked on the land acquisition exercise by valuing for compensation the people who had land in the proposed expansion area for the proposed airport. In 2008, a total of 600 Project Affected Persons were compensated with Shs1.5b by the CAA. Most people were evicted despite their claims of being undervalued. 

During the Tarehe Sita celebrations at Nyakasanga playground on February 6, 2012, the President told the people that the contractor to construct the airport had been found. Four years later, during the 2016 campaigns, Mr Museveni again promised to work on the airport. 

The NRM leader in the 2021/2026 manifesto has listed Kasese Airfield as one of those it intends to upgrade to Airport Grade C if reelected. Others are Arua and Gulu airfields. 

Railway, Alpine Road

The President is also expected to be reminded of the Alpine Road that he promised to build across the Rwenzori Mountain as a way of fostering security and tourism in the area.  The people of Kasese are also seeking answers for the delayed revamping of the Kasese-Kampala railway line which the President promised in 2016. 

Agro-processing factory 

The economy of Kasese majorly depends on agriculture through both crop and animal husbandry. Coffee and vanilla are the main cash crops being grown on the highlands now while cotton is the main cash crop on the lower lands that is dominated by cattle keeping. 

The farmers are grappling with low prices for their crops, especially coffee and cotton, whose prices have been low in the past decade. A kilogramme of coffee has persistently not hit the Shs10,000 mark whereas farmers have been selling cotton for about Shs1,500 per kilogramme at the peak.  This year, the prices for vanilla have gone down from between Shs250,000 and Shs300,000 to as low as Shs50,000.

“I expect the President to explain to us what happened to the vanilla prices because most of us had abandoned other crops to venture into vanilla,” said Mr Johnson Bwambale, a vanilla farmer. 

Compensation for ADF, NRA damages

There are still demands for compensation for the more than 50 vehicles that were burnt by the Allied Democratic Forces in Kasese at the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, some individuals whose vehicles were taken by Museveni’s National Resistance Army around 1982 have waited for long to be compensated. 

Flooding crisis

Finding a lasting solution to the floods that have ravaged the area every year since 2013 is another key issue. Mr Museveni has twice visited the area after floods that left thousands of people displaced and promised that he would find a solution for rivers Nyamwamba, Mubuku and Nyamugasani. 

Government hospital 

With a population that is more than one million people, Kasese District has only one  government hospital. Bwera General Hospital is in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Town Council near the border with DRC.  Kilembe Mines Hospital, which is run by the Catholic Church, is being housed temporarily under the diocese in Kasese Town after it was flooded in May leaving most of the buildings destroyed.