Prime
Govt deal with Mengo null and void - minister
State Minister for Lands Sam Mayanja tours Wakiso Zonal Land Offices after their reopening in October 2021. PHOTO | JOSEPH KIGGUNDU
What you need to know:
- Mengo and the central government, represented by the Kabaka and President Museveni, inked a deal almost four years after the government’s decision to block the Kabaka from visiting Kayunga District, on the basis of an objection by Ssebanyala Baker Kimeze, sparked bloody protests.
A 2013 agreement that ended feuding between the central government and Buganda Kingdom, and set new mechanism of conducting official business between the parties, is null and void, a minister has said.
Lands State minister Sam Mayanja, a lawyer and self-professed Mengo critic, said the purported implementation of the August 1, 2013, deal between Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi and President Museveni is “illegal”.
He argued that President Museveni has not yet named his team for implementing the pact as provided in the agreement, and that some provisions of the deal require Parliament to amend the1993 The Traditional Rulers (Restitution of Assets and Properties) Act.
“Since the [President’s] team has never been put in place, the taking over [by Buganda kingdom] and management of any property and any income or benefits derived, is illegal. Those purporting to execute the agreement without the presidential team in place must be held accountable,” Mr Mayanja said.
He added: “The agreement [between Mengo and central government] in as far as it amends The Traditional Rulers (Restitution of Assets and Properties) Act, which itself is still to come under [Article] 274(1) continues to be a nullity in as far as it was never brought to Parliament for amendment.”
The minister, whom Buganda yesterday dismissed as a negative propagandist against Mengo, made the comments last Thursday, although they are just being made public, to stakeholders at Luweero District headquarters. His trip was officially to resolve a conflict over some land in Luweero town.
However, Buganda information minister Noah Kiyimba accused Mr Mayanja of spreading negative information about Mengo contrary to the spirit of the agreement.
He said Mr Mayanja should “know that the agreement signed in 2013 between the Kabaka and President Museveni is binding on both parties until declared a nullity by a court of law.
“Hon Mayanja is not a court. He is just a person who has a long track record of engaging in negative propaganda against Buganda Kingdom,” he said.
Since his appointment to the Lands docket last June, Mr Mayanja has, including through a weekly column in the New Vision newspaper in which the government owns majority stake, launched unrelenting blistering attack on Buganda, some of whose officials he accuses of expropriating and profiteering from commoners
At last Thursday’s event in Luweero, he proclaimed afresh that the government plans to change the Constitution to scrap Mailo tenure, which President Museveni last year christened as “evil”, to, according to the minister, afford tenure security for bibanja holders.
It remained unclear whether Mr Mayanja’s disqualification of the nine-year-old Mengo-government agreement reflected his personal opinion or government position.
The Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Ms Lindah Nabusayi, was not available for comment.
However, in the agreement, the government undertook to return or pay compensation for former Buganda properties seized by state during the 1966 crisis, allow the Kabaka to travel anywhere in his kingdom so long as he respected the rights of other cultural kingdoms and both sides committed to “refrain from hostile propaganda against each other”.
Mengo and the central government, represented by the Kabaka and President Museveni, inked a deal almost four years after the government’s decision to block the Kabaka from visiting Kayunga District, on the basis of an objection by Ssebanyala Baker Kimeze, sparked bloody protests.
What 2013 agreement states in part
A- The Government shall;
1- Return to the Kabaka, the former estate of Buganda Kingdom comprising in (a) Urban central towns (b) Land where former administration headquarters ie Gombololas and Masazas were situated, (c) land not claimed, unutilised or occupied by any lawful or bona fide occupant as defined in the 1995 Constitution and Land Act in the rural or peri-urban areas (d) land on Mityana Road (Jesa Farm), among other land areas.
2- Compensate the Kabaka for land comprised on Plot 52, Kampala Road, Mutesa House in London (42 Queens Garden Road London, SW)
3- Return or compensate the Kabaka for properties that formerly belonged to Buganda Kingdom, but were transferred to the government.
4- Renew on mutually agreed terms the leases formerly granted to Buganda Kingdom, but have since expired.
5- Make final payment in agreed instalments to the Kabaka of Shs20,389,206,000.
6- Ensure in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Kabaka enjoys his freedom of movement in any and all parts of Uganda provided he respects the rights of other cultural institutions, leaders as enshrined in the constitution among other terms.
B. The Kabaka shall
(I) Execute his mandate and responsibilities in accordance with the laws of Uganda.
(II) Ensure that the said land is used within the laws of Uganda for the promotion of cultures and traditions in Buganda and for the development of the institution.
(iii) Honour all lawful interests issued by the government on land where he is the leaser.
(iv) Respect the cultural norms of other related ethnic communities located in Buganda such as the Banyala and Baruli and leave to them land where the former administrative units were situated as was amicably agreed by both parties.
