Masaza Cup top official, five others arrested in Kooki
Police officers parade at the border between Buganda Kingdom and Kooki chiefdom before arresting Mr Ssejjengo on Saturday. PHOTO | AMBROSE MUSASIZI
What you need to know:
- Kooki cultural institution leadership led by Kamuswaga Sansa Kabumbuli II had earlier disassociated themselves from the football match claiming that Buganda Kingdom officials had organized the event in their territory without their permission.
Police in Rakai District on Saturday arrested the Chairperson of the Buganda Kingdom Masaza Cup tournament, Mr Sulaiman Ssejjengo alongside five other people in a scuffle ahead of a cup tie between Kooki and Butambala counties.
Kooki cultural institution leadership led by Kamuswaga Sansa Kabumbuli II had earlier disassociated themselves from the football match claiming that Buganda Kingdom officials had organized the event in their territory without their permission.
The football match had been scheduled to take place at Lwanda playground in Lwanda Sub County. However, police mounted a roadblock at the border of Kooki and Buganda Kingdom blocking whoever had come to watch the match. This is the third match being blocked in Kooki ever since the tournament kicked off last month. During the first two botched matches on July 2 and July 16, Kooki were supposed to play against Kabula and Buwekula respectively.
Kamuswaga’s leadership claims that Kooki is an autonomous cultural institution and cannot allow any activity organized by the Buganda Kingdom to take place in the area.
According to the Kooki Cultural Institution spokesperson and Minister of Information, Mr Stanley Ndawula, no activity organised by the Buganda Kingdom will be allowed in Kooki before their long-standing demands are addressed. Kooki has previously raised a number of demands to Mengo, one of which is being accorded a special status, higher than that of the other 17 Ssaza (county) chiefs, and to have Kamuswaga’s throne inside the Buganda Lukiiko hall.
They also want the November 1896 agreement between the two cultural institutions reviewed as well as returning 13 land titles to Kooki. However, the kingdom is yet to honour all the demands.
“As long as the Buganda Kingdom fails to honour our demands, none of their activities will be allowed to take place within our territory,” he said.
Mr Ndawula said they have reached out to the Buganda Kingdom to have the issues resolved through dialogue, but the kingdom leadership is still indisposed.
On Friday, a total of 20 football players for Kooki County headed by their team manager Ms Mary Nakyeyune met the Kamuswaga in Kooki and apologized to him for taking part in the football tournament organized by the Buganda Kingdom without his knowledge and consent.
“We have been playing these matches under fear, when we did some research, we realized that some people at Mengo are simply using us to fight their battles with Kamuswaga and that is why we have decided to withdraw from the tournament,” she said.
Mr Joshua Kananura, the Rakai District police commander said police intervened to avoid physical confrontation between loyalists from both cultural institutions.
“We cannot sit back and watch when warring parties threaten to fight each other, let them resolve their differences and they will not see police intervening in their issues,” he said.
Both institutions have been at loggerheads since 2009 when Kamuswaga declared that the chiefdom had become an independent cultural institution, which the Buganda Kingdom vehemently protests.
