Jonah,
Forward your email to Mike Pike, the chief editor. He is ignorant of our History. His email is:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
J. Ssenyange -----------------------------------
From: "jonah kasangwawo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: ugnet_: ‘Federo’ is a fantasy Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 17:00:02 +0000
I must admit that I've never found the New Vision editorials brilliant, but this one was one of the worst I've read. It was written from a position of ignorance and assumptions. Here just a few questions/comments to the editor:
- What sort of dominance are you talking about - political, economic or what ?
- Where did you get the idea that officials in the Federal State of Buganda will be appointed by the Kabaka ?
- You ask what will happen to LCs. Excuse me, where have you been ? There will be no LCs in Buganda under federal governance. We have our long-tested councils such as Ssaza, Muluka, Ggombolola councils. Consequently, there will be no additional layer of administration.
- Your fourth point does not make any sense. At the core of federalism is the sharing of power between the Federal (central) government and State (regional) governments. Underlying this responsibility is the fiscal issue which is also part of the essence of the federal system of governance. So, regardless of the nonsense emanating from the corner of the National Political Commissar (oh, how reminiscent of the communist times), under a true federal system, Buganda would collect taxes.
You seem to forget that under a unitary system as we have now, a peasant in Buganda might also rightly ask why his tax payments go to Lango or Jopadholaland.
- I don't know where you got the information that Baganda don't like federo, but the only record available (the Odoki comm. report) points to the opposite, and it was done when the LC system was in existence. In any case, LC officials do not make up the majority of the population.
Dear Editor, federo, far from being a fantasy, is the future of a more prosperous and peaceful Uganda. You only need to get educated about it.
Kasangwawo.
PS.
How come you do not give any comments on the other topic you started with - the lifting of term limits for the presidency ?
From: "Mitayo Potosi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: ‘Federo’ is a fantasy Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 17:35:19 +0000
Editorial : newvision 26/8/2003
‘Federo’ is a fantasy
CABINET HAS decided to push for the lifting of term limits for the presidency and a return to federo.
However, a representative of the Buganda kingdom has responded that the two issues should be delinked.
He is right. The two issues are both too complex to consider together.
In particular the restoration of federo, or a federal kingdom, is risky.
Firstly, the dominance of the Buganda kingdom at independence created a political imbalance that destabilised the country.
Secondly, a federal kingdom is not the most progressive form of government. As head of state, the Kabaka will appoint chiefs, ministers and officials. What will happen to the authority of democratically elected LC5 and LC3 officials?
Thirdly, is an additional layer of administration in Buganda even necessary?
Fourthly, this administration will have to be funded either by local taxation or by increased taxation by the central government. If the central government pays, a peasant in West Nile might ask why his tax payments go to the Kabaka of Buganda.
Fifthly, how many Baganda truly want federo? Many elected LC officials favour loose cooperation under a charter, as Busoga is attempting, but oppose the idea of an administrative federal kingdom.
Federo has become a fantasy, a dream for a return to the 1950s and 1960s when people were more prosperous and society more orderly. But it is impossible to turn the clock back. If the kingdom returns, Baganda will still find themselves in today’s Uganda where the world coffee price is lower than the 1960s and KCC cannot fix the roads.
It is not worth changing the Constitution for the sake of an illusion.
Published on: Tuesday, 26th August, 2003
Email this article to a friend.
Mitayo Potosi
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