Miria promises Buganda federo

EMMANUEL MULONDO
Kampala

THE President of the Uganda Peoples Congress, Ms Miria Obote, yesterday said the party wants a federal arrangement for the whole country and that the Kabaka of Buganda should be left to appoint his Katikkiro.

Miria also expressed readiness to apologise and reconcile with Buganda for the abolition of the kingdom by her husband’s government.

"For its part, the UPC has been preparing to put this unfortunate history behind our back and move on. UPC favours a return to a federal system for the whole of Uganda. Federalism worked well in the past and can still work," Ms Obote told a press conference, the first she has addressed since her election as party president and presidential candidate.

Insist on talks
Her husband and former UPC president Dr Apollo Milton Obote, abolished the kingdom in 1967, after attacking Kabaka Muteesa's palace, forcing him into a London exile where he died.

Flanked by the party vice president, Mr Livingston Okello Okello, secretary general Peter Walubiri, party spokesman Joseph Ochieno among others, Miria said she was "still pursuing" an audience with the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda She agreed that the events leading to the abolition of the kingdom were partly due a "clash between two leaders (Sir Edward Muteesa and the late Dr Apollo Milton Obote) and the fusion of the cultural and political roles of both leaders.

Miria said the party would engage traditional rulers and kingdoms and "look into their aspirations and demands" to ensure a "harmonious co-existence with the government".

President Museveni recently insisted he was against the Kabaka appointing the Katikkiro.

Miria reiterated that "UPC has the confidence that the Kabaka would be in position to appoint a Katikkiro who demands the confidence of all political parties in the Lukiiko and the interest of Buganda and its Bataka (elders)." She called for a national truth and reconciliation commission.