1966 crisis still haunts Buganda
Buganda youth admire a gun during the commemoration of the attack on Lubiri by former president Milton Obote in 1966 at Lubiri Palace yesterday. Photo by Stephen Wandera
Buganda Kingdom yesterday urged its loyalists to remain vigilant while protecting and advocating for the monarchy’s interests, saying many of Buganda’s enemies were alive and changing strategies to bring it down.
Addressing hundreds of people who turned up to commemorate the 1966 attack on Mengo Palace by the late Milton Obote’s army, the head of Kingdom elder’s council, Eng. Nakirembeka Waliggo, said Obote’s ‘seeds’ were still haunting the kingdom.
He said while Obote used a bullet to attack the kingdom, others were using bad laws, grabbing kingdom land and creating chiefdoms to fight Buganda.
“We must find a permanent solution to Buganda’s enemies. The enemy has only changed colour and approach like a chameleon. Our enemies today do not use bullets and poison alone, they abuse the Constitution and grab land,” Mr Nakirembeka said.
Bitter memories
He urged the youth to avoid opportunists who use them for selfish political gains and name and shame fellow Baganda who are working closely with kingdom enemies.
Forty-four years since the infamous attack on the Lubiri, this horrific incident still lingers in the minds of many Baganda.
There was looting, raping and torture by soldiers. Many royalists were arrested and imprisoned without trial and a State of Emergency was declared in Buganda. The palace was set ablaze, and many centuries old cultural treasures destroyed.
The Kingdom premier, Mr John Baptist Walusimbi, said it is against this background that Buganda Kingdom will commemorate this day annually, to educate generations about the incident and advise them.
“The darkness that befell our kingdom on that day is the reason why our people are sinking in abject poverty and cannot even meet their basic needs,” the Katikkiro said.
The Uganda Peoples Congress, which was steering the country then, has described the planned event as inappropriate.
In 2007, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II declared May 24 a holiday in Buganda to ‘mourn’ the attack on Lubiri and on this day the kingdom flag and those of the 55 clans fly at half-mast. Mr Walusimbi said a monument would be erected at the Mengo Palace to symbolise the incidents.
