Kasese NRM leadership courting King Mumbere?

In its wisdom, the Government of Uganda withdrew all the court charges against Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere, the king of Rwenzururu Kingdom. He and his co-accused are now free men.

Some people say the government lost interest in the case under some kind of guilty plea arrangement. But for the people of Kasese, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the king is no longer encumbered by a court case. He is a free man.

The biggest thing in Kasese now is the Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere’s homecoming from exile in Kampala. The tentative programme is that he will return to Kasese on Wednesday, October 4. And on October 19, he will be the main celebrant at his 57th coronation anniversary. Now, as the people of Kasese are preparing to receive their king, it has downed on them that there is no palace to host the king’s court. And out of a clear blue sky, the family  of the late Gen James Kazini has offered to sell their hotel facility to the Rwenzururu Kingdom to serve as the king’s palace (in Kasese Town). The strategically located Springs Hotel (with a killer and condescending view over Kasese Town) fits the bill of a palace. The hotel goes for Shs4 billion. But the return of the king and the opportunity to make such an acquisition is good news.

We have learnt that the people are going to contribute money to buy the hotel (sorry, the palace). But my gut feeling is that the state (or rather Mr Museveni) may view that as a show of power (by people) to make do without his patronage and benefaction. Please note that this is just my uninformed opinion. And how Rwenzururu Kingdom elite relate with my uninformed opinion is entirely their own business.

There are people who say the king should be insulated from politics. That there should be as little central government involvement as possible in the Rwenzururu Kingdom affairs. The group, which is predominantly NRM in characterisation, seeks to place the NRM at the centre of the Rwenzururu Kingdom affairs. The reasoning is: With NRM at court, the king would be insulated from bad advice.

One of the challenges the kingdom faced was occasioned by the failure of the NRM leadership in Kasese to cosy itself up to the Omusinga Mumbere. In the absence of the NRM at court, some people opposed to the NRM (and Mr Museveni) filled the gap at the palace. As politics became more competitive, aggressive and radical attitudes towards the government emerged. This was to later lead to a confrontation between the government and the kingdom. And as they say, the rest is recorded history.

Now, the NRM leadership in Kasese would like to regain the initiative and play a dominant role at the palace. Indeed, most of the people involved in the process of the king’s homecoming are known NRM members or people publicly associated with it.

The king is a free man. And kids (his co-accused) too are free. However, the question now is: what next? What is the way forward? The Bakonzo may buy or build a palace, but then what next? A reader or an enthusiastic Mukonzo tribesman might respond to me: one thing at a go. But the question will not go away. Yes, how can Rwenzururu Kingdom sustain itself with limited buy-ins from the central government? Will the Kasese NRM give leadership to this quest or will they limit themselves to using the palace to win electoral processes?

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Omusinga Mumbere “situation” relates with Ssekabaka Edward Mutesa in 1952 which led to what historians call the 1955 Buganda Agreement. Is the Rwenzururu Kingdom Charter loading?

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]