Uganda desperately needs more royal weddings

I learned this week that the first company (in Uganda) was incorporated in 1897, The Uganda Company, successor to IBEACO. It later changed names to Mitchel Cotts [U] Ltd. Note, it’s in Kenya, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Algeria. Kampala is the headquarters.  The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEACO), which you might remember from your Primary School Social Studies class, ran Uganda on behalf of the British Government, formally handing over control to the colonial government in 1893.

In essence, Uganda started as a company, incorporated by foreigners, who decided which regions belonged, what shares they held, and who the administrators would be.

This week, as the Busoga Kingdom stopped time to host a spectacular royal wedding, one couldn’t help but wonder what would have become of Project Uganda – if at all – had its formation been allowed to take its natural course.

You see, what every region contributed to that formation were its people and its land and waters. Yet, what it ceded was the control of those two resources, hoping that those at the top would figure out a perfect balance between using the people, the land, and the water to benefit both the contributor and the whole. That has barely sufficed.

Instead, the center – from the start – gobbled up everything, leaving only morsels for the contributors. Busoga – and many other regions – are perfect examples of how skewed the shareholding in the Uganda Company is. There is, currently, a raging debate in Acholi, that threatens to erupt into a nasty fight with Balaalo, over these same questions.

This also speaks to why our identity and default positioning, especially in times of trouble, is tribal and not necessarily nationalistic. As you might have noticed with supposed-to-be national leaders, when push comes to shove, the tendency is to go native and lobby, fight, cajole, threaten, and manipulate their tribesmen.

Which is why the Busoga royal wedding made for such a beautiful spectacle. Uganda is fast running out of collective moments of joy that cut across the demographic divides. A lot of this is down to how defective the center is. Yet, for that brief moment, it was easy to forget that more often than not we are sniping at each other. The joy and ecstasy were palpable for those who were privileged to be hosted at the grand and picturesque Igenge palace, the ones who were following on television or online.

The potholes didn’t matter. The terrible Kampala traffic jam – incidentally heightened by the President touring the city to count potholes – was forgiven. Even the complaints about Nsenene ghosting us were postponed to the next day. We were still angry at the politicians but we would come back to that later. Just the way it should be - the occasional ‘delulu’, like the young people would say.

I would argue that what we need is more royal weddings but those can only happen once in many people’s lifetimes. Instead, what we need is a lot more organizing around cultural institutions – the same ones that contributed their lands, waters, and people to Uganda Co. Buganda Kingdom is a great template to borrow from. Their elaborate celebration of the Kabaka’s birthdays and coronation anniversaries tells of an institution in sync with its people.

So much so that as a result, they are also the most liberated from the yoke and deficiencies of the center. And perhaps that is where the problem lies – that more than the kingdoms themselves, the center recognizes the power that kingdoms could have and actively works to negate it.

Consequently, the government has had to provide stipends and handouts to prop up some of the institutions because they lack the legitimacy given by the people and land over whom they should reign. All indicators are that we will not arrive at a federal status, which is the desire of some. But we must also admit that Project Uganda is flawed, especially because the center is extractive and inefficient – which is how decentralisation is largely a failed experiment.

For Uganda, cultural institutions are where the answer might be but they would need to want more for the contribution of their people, land, and waters.

Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. @Rukwengye