Author: Yoga Adhola. PHOTO/FILE
In his address at the Peace Day Celebrations in Yumbe District on April 14, President Museveni engaged in serious distortion of history. He is reported by New Vision to have said: "In 1962, we did not support UPC [Uganda Peoples Congress] because of the mistake they made on Buganda [Kingdom]. They misled Buganda to go for federal, which was a very complicated system. At that time we were with [Benedicto] Kiwanuka, who, although a Muganda, advised against federal, which was not manageable and in no time UPC was fighting Kabaka Yekka because of the same issue.”
We shall begin our refutation of President Museveni's distortion with an analysis of the 1961 elections. These elections were meant to be a major step towards independence. However, seized by the fear that Buganda would end up a minority among the elected representatives, the Kabaka's government threatened to boycott the elections unless Buganda's privileged position was guaranteed.
To press this point home, the Lukiiko (Buganda parliament) voted to secede from Uganda. When the colonial administration ignored both the threat to boycott the elections as well as the Lukiiko vote for Buganda to secede, the Kabaka's government actually called for the boycott. The resulting boycott turned out to be very successful. This is how former president Milton Obote later described the success of the boycott: “There is no doubt that the boycott was effective; it clearly demonstrated the existence of a contradiction which could not be overlooked.”
Furthermore, as Obote was later to observe, no one could "disregard or ignore the serious political situation which the boycott had imposed on national unity and the institution of Parliament as well as on governance by ballot”.
The source of this impasse was the fear of the neo-traditionalists, the people who wielded immense influence over political opinion in Buganda, that they would lose their influence in an independent Uganda.
They sought to use the status of the Kabaka as a trump card. To perpetuate their power and influence, it was necessary to retain Buganda as a semi-autonomous entity in an independent Uganda. This is what ended up in Buganda being related in some sort of federal arrangement to the rest of the country.
To break the deadlock, it was necessary to create conditions which would assuage the fears of the neo-traditionalists. A formula to do just that was put forward by the Uganda Relationship Commission, usually called the Munster Commission. The Commission made itself very clear: "Buganda's relationship with Uganda should be federal.” With such a strong statement, one wonders where Mr Museveni bases his blame on UPC. In the opinion of the Commission, Buganda was to be granted a federal status, and the Members of Parliament (MPs) representing it should be elected indirectly, with the Lukiiko acting as an electoral college.
This formula was hinted to Mengo, and the opinion of UPC on it was sought by the Commission. About his discussions with the Kabaka's government, Obote was to write: "I found that they were in some kind of quandary.
They were not sure of whether or not to accept it, and the reason for that uncertainty lay in the dissolution of the Lukiiko and the election of a new one on adult universal franchise and in secret.
“The Lukiiko had some very vocal members who wanted nothing to do with the National Assembly; in December 1959, those vocal members had made the Lukiiko pass a resolution which purported to excise Buganda from Uganda - secession. The Mengo ministers, particularly the katikiro (prime minister), Michael Kintu, were fearful that accepting the Commission's recommendation could lead to the fall of the Mengo government.
“Kintu told me that right from the 1900 Buganda Agreement, Buganda recognised only British Protectorate authority as being above that of the Lukiiko and that the British were in collusion with the political parties to impose onto Buganda and above the Lukiiko another authority, the National Assembly and a Uganda government. Left to Michael Kintu, there was no way of resolving the impasse. I, therefore, took the matter to the Kabaka Sir Edward Muteesa and the impasse was resolved."
As a result of these talks, Buganda agreed to attend the second Lancaster Conference, which began on September 18, 1961. At the conference, UPC supported Buganda's desire regarding the manner of selecting the 21 MPs from Buganda.
The two parties also advanced their common position on the timetable for the next elections. Against strong opposition from DP, these demands were endorsed by the conference, and a de facto alliance between UPC and the neo-traditionalists was sealed.
Yoga Adhola is a leading ideologue of UPC
