HOIMA– Another group of Banyoro under the umbrella of Mubende Bunyoro Committee [MBC] in Bugangaizi and Buyaga counties in Greater Kibaale are demanding a breakaway from Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom [BKK].
The new group wants Bugangaizi and Buyaga counties, located in Kagadi, Kakumiro, and Kibaale districts to become an autonomous cultural institution [Bunyoro Kingdom]. Currently, the two counties are administrative units in Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom.
This comes at a time when a group of Bagungu in Buliisa district is also seeking a break away from Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, reasoning they are being marginalised.
MBC is a pressure group formally formed by a section of Banyoro nationalists in 1918 to fight for the return of Omukama Kabalega from exile and lost counties [Bugangaizi and Buyaga] seized by Buganda Kingdom with the help of the British colonialists.
According to MBC leaders, the 1900 Buganda agreement annexed seven Bunyoro Kitara-Kingdom counties to Buganda Kingdom, which included Bugangaizi, Buyaga, Buwekula, Singo, Bulemezi, Buruli, and Bugerere but only Bugangaizi and Buyaga counties were returned through a referendum held on November 4, 1964.
In their petition to the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara-Kingdom, Dr. Solomon Iguru and signed by MBC chairman Joseph Serumaga Kazairwe, MBC secretary general John Monday and senior mobiliSer Livingstone Bakumira, the group claims that they want to form their own kingdom to be able to fight for their rights.
Bakumira claimed that much as the Bunyoro shed blood to reclaim Bugangaizi and Buyaga from Buganda, most of the land in the two counties have remained in the hands of Baganda absent landlords for decades.
“For example, the square miles of the tea estate of Kamusegu Ndaiga in Kagadi district belongs to Kabaka of Buganda,” Bakumira claimed in the petition.
He said when MBC sued the British government for atrocities committed against Banyoro, they were asked to present a supporting letter from Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom but the latter has failed to do so, hampering efforts to pursue the case.
Bakumira is optimistic that once Bugangaizi and Buyaga get their kingdom, it will help them [Banyoro] to have a direct link with the central government and be able to solve land ownership issues and historical injustices.
Speaking during a press conference on Friday in Hoima town, MBC chairman Joseph Kazairwe said they need to have their own cultural institution to preserve the Kinyoro culture which he said faces extinction due to the influx of immigrants.
He added the BKK administration has also failed to protect the cultural sites such as the burial grounds of different kings-Omukama Duhaga, Omukama Kitehibwa, Kyabambe, and Nyabongo among other sites located in Bugangaizi and Buyaga.
He said the cultural sites have been encroached on and turned into farmlands.
He added that the BKK administration has marginalised the Banyoro in the two counties in that there are no single members of MBC in Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom parliament despite their historical importance to the Kingdom.
He added they appealed to Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom administration to establish a palace in Kibaale where Banyoro would meet their King [Omukama] but that their plea has yielded nothing.
“Basing on this background, we have decided to form our kingdom and appoint our own king who fights for our rights,” he said.
Monda said their petition has been served to different offices such as State House, and the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development.
He added that MBC will follow the Traditional Leader’s Act 2011, and article 246 of the Constitution of Uganda, which gives any community in the country rights to form their kingdom.
When contacted, Andrew Byakutanga the Prime Minister Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom confirmed receipt of the BMC petition, adding that they are planning to hold a dialogue with the petitioners to deliberate on the issues raised.
https://thecooperator.news/bunyoro-kitara-parliament-rejects-bagungu-secession-plans/
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