Rwenzururu yet to recover confiscated vehicles from police

Three vehicles belonging to the Rwenzururu king, Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere, remain in a state of neglect at the Kasese Central Police Station, the headquarters of Rwenzori East Regional Police.

The vehicles, seized in November 2016, include the official car of the Rwenzururu King, a Prado with a personalised number plate Omusinga 1, a double cabin pickup truck attached to royal guards, and a Toyota Noah allocated to the office of the kingdom prime minister.

These vehicles were impounded during a joint police and military raid on Buhikira Royal Palace, the residence of Omusinga Mumbere.

The operation resulted in the tragic loss of more than 100 lives and the subsequent arrest and prosecution of the king and 217 of his subjects on charges ranging from murder and terrorism to treason and malicious damage.

Initially, the police argued that the seized vehicles, along with other items such as knives and machetes, would serve as exhibits during the anticipated trial.

However, more than six years later, the trial is yet to commence. In June, the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) dropped all charges against Omusinga Mumbere and his co-accused, leading to the king’s triumphant return to his kingdom last month.

Omusinga Mumbere, since his return on October 4, is still using his Pajero vehicle with the personalised number plate “Omusinga II,” previously used by his wife Nyabaghole Agness Ithungu Asimawe.

The Rwenzori East community liaisons officer in police, Mr Luka Mbusa, explained that the release of the vehicles requires a court-issued release of exhibits order.

“The lawyer representing the kingdom should go to the court where the matter was and ask for a release order. We have no problem releasing the vehicles but it is just a format that the court issues an order to enable us to release exhibits,” Mr Mbusa said.

But the Rwenzururu Kingdom prime minister, Mr Joseph Kule Muranga, expressed frustration, stating that the vehicles are now dilapidated and no longer serve their intended purpose.

He said in case they get them from the police, there is a possibility of disposing of the vehicles or preserving them as part of a future museum within the destroyed palace.

“The king can’t, for example, use that vehicle again. We will either dispose them of or keep them as part of items in the destroyed palace when we turn it into a museum,” Mr Muranga said.

He asserted that the kingdom will pursue the release of the vehicles from the police after securing a new fleet from the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development.

He also emphasised that although the government had donated two of the confiscated vehicles, it was also responsible for their destruction during the 2016 conflict.

On October 4, during the king’s return to the kingdom, the Minister of State for Culture, Ms Peace Mutuuzo, pledged the government’s commitment to working with the kingdom and hinted at plans to procure new vehicles, among other initiatives, for the monarch. That promise is yet to be realised.

In his speech read on his behalf by Vice President Maj (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, at the 57th coronation anniversary of the Rwenzururu cultural leader at Kilembe Golf Course in Kasese Town last month, President Museveni said the stability of the region is crucial to the country’s development.

He also urged the leadership of the kingdom to maintain a good relationship with the government to tackle the challenges of poverty, criminality, and diseases.