Tooro Kingdom speaker quits amid row over Shs2b property
What you need to know:
- For instance, he notes that for all the years he has served the kingdom, he has never seen the regents respecting the two arms namely the supreme council headed by the speaker and the cabinet that is headed by the prime minister.
The Tooro Kingdom supreme council speaker, Mr Saul Mugasa, has resigned from his position citing mismanagement of kingdom properties.
Mr Mugasa, who had served the kingdom for 22 years in different capacities, said he wants to leave a clean record.
In his May 3 resignation letter addressed to King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba, he accused kingdom officials of undermining structures.
“For all the years I have served in the kingdom, many of your people, especially the regents and palace leadership always undermine the role of other arms of the kingdom. When you (King Oyo) came of age, we kept hoping you would reverse the trend but unfortunately, on your watch, it is getting worse,” the letter reads in part.
Last month, the council of Saaza chiefs suspended Mr Mugasa after they accused him of disrespecting the king.
But Mr Mugasa said in the letter that the kingdom cannot be run like a private company.
“Government signed an MoU with the kingdom on the return of kingdom properties and they gave us Shs2b, but that money was removed from the kingdom account to the king’s account and as the supreme council, we are not aware and I cannot allow to be part of that,” Mr Mugasa said.
He added that the king had gone ahead to transfer some of the kingdom land into his names .
The kingdom prime minister, Mr Bernard Tungwako, said the kingdom leased 0.2102 hectares of land to the king for his noble service to the people of Tooro and the land remains the property of the kingdom.
“It is not true the king is transferring kingdom land into his names, it is clear that the king was required to give proof of ownership to a piece of land to donors who offered to build a health facility,” he said.
