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Kooki not ready for Mayiga - Kamuswaga
Brig Elly Kayanja (R) welcomes the Kamuswaga, Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli (in white tunic), at his home in Kifamba, Rakai District, at the weekend. The Kamuswaga said Buganda Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga is free to visit Kooki County but his administration will not participate in Mr Mayiga’s activities. PHOTO BY ALI_MAMBULE.
What you need to know:
On his own. The Kamuswaga said his administration will not be responsible for Mr Mayiga’s welfare during his visit.
RAKAI. Buganda Kingdom Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga’s planned visit to Rakai District is drawing mixed reaction from the Kooki administration, with some suggesting they will not receive him officially.
The hereditary chief of Kooki County, Kamuswaga Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli, said Mr Mayiga is free to visit Rakai District but the Kamuswaga’s administration will not take part in the day’s planned activities.
Mr Mayiga plans to visit Kooki for the fundraising drive dubbed etoffaali between August 25 and 26.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with Daily Monitor at the weekend, the Kamuswaga said Mengo has not officially informed him about Mr Mayiga’s visit, something he considers as undermining his authority.
“As Kooki leadership, we shall not block Buganda Katikkiro from coming for the etoffaali programme,” the Kamuswaga said, adding: “Such a visit should have been organised by my officials, but they chose to sideline us and we are simply hearing about it through rumours, as if Mengo does not recognise me as a leader.”
However, Buganda Kingdom information minister Dennis Walusimbi said whatever was being done by Buganda is based on the Constitution of Uganda and “nothing is illegal.”
“On the issue of requesting for permission before the Katikkiro goes to Kooki, Uganda is a free country and every citizen is free to move to any place,” he said as he wondered whether the Kamuswaga asks for permission to go to his residence in Kampala.
The Kamuswaga said for quite a long time, his chiefdom’s issues have been ignored by Mengo, despite the fact that Kooki County enjoys a special status in Buganda Kingdom.
Since his enthronement in 2003, reports have been circulating that the Kamuswaga is hatching a plan to secede from Buganda Kingdom, accusing Mengo of not honouring the agreement his forefathers signed with Buganda on November 18, 1896. The chiefdom has previously raised a number of demands to Mengo, one of which is being accorded a special status, higher than that of other ssaza (county) chiefs, and to have this throne inside the Mengo Lukiiko hall.
The background
In a July 27 letter to Buganda premier Charles Peter Mayiga, Hajj Idi Kiwanuka, the Kooki chiefdom prime minister, declared that Kooki was an independent entity and they were not ready to receive Mr Mayiga.
