Museveni insists on elected Katikkiro

JUDE LUGGYA
KAMPALA

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has vowed never to support appointment of the Katikkiro by the Kabaka. “I absolutely oppose the Kabaka to appoint the Katikkiro. I repeat, I cannot accept the idea of appointing the Katikkiro,” Museveni confidently said, prompting the audience to boo him.
He was speaking at CBS’s Mambo Bado political talk show on Saturday at Bulange, Mengo. Gloomy expressions covered the faces of people around as they kept murmuring and complaining about his stand.

Museveni said that during negotiations with Mengo officials led by Katikkiro Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, they agreed on an elected Katikkiro, but he was surprised to hear that Mengo had not explained it to their subjects.

Museveni was responding to a request by Deputy Katikkiro Godfrey Kaaya Kavuma and other speakers that he should support the Kabaka to appoint his Katikkiro.

The regional-tier rules under which Buganda’s federo will be managed require that the head of the government, in this case the Katikkiro, be elected. “It is not true that every citizen qualifies to contest for Katikiroship, but those who are eligible are those from the indigenous tribes like the Banyala, Banyankole, Baluli, Banyoro, Bakooki and the Bassese,” he said amidst deafening heckling from the audience. He said those who support the Kabaka to handpick the Katikkiro want to push the Kabaka into an abyss, which is suicidal.