The Monitor
27 August 2004
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Federo question; Uganda could become stateless By Chris Obore Aug 27, 2004
The media and drinking joints are awash with the debate on whether Buganda should be given her wish-- federal status commonly referred as federo.
Political and intellectual commentators have given varied analyses on this issue, some in support and others seeing it as a parochial quest by Buganda.
As I have always argued before, Ugandans have got a penchant to address minor issues while leaving the cardinal issues under the carpet.
Ugandans are in most cases hypocritical, diversionary and untruthful and this is what has caused the social, political and economic mayhem in the country.
How?
The Katiikiro of Buganda, Joseph Mulyanyamuli Semogerere stressing a point (File photo).
The debate on federalism has been tagged to sentiments and intellectual war yet what is important is to find out why the federo demand has come up and where it will lead the country. This is what is called cause and effect.
It is meaningless to discuss the merits and demerits of federalism without knowing why the demand is there.
The cause of federal demand is purely lack of nationalism and patriotism.
Lack of nationalism and patriotism gave birth to erosion of values that would have kept Uganda as a nation. Lack of values bred evils like greed, corruption, and imbalance in regional development, wars and of course desire by leaders to stay in power endlessly.
The desire to be in power leads to unfairness and injustice. Uganda is not in short supply of this. Mismanagement of public affairs is no longer a crime in Uganda.
Given such a situation, the jungle law of survival for the fittest comes into play. So, when we see the Baganda ferociously asking for federal arrangement, we should note that the Baganda are nursing fears.
It is not that when they get federo, they will have perfect leadership but that they would sleep comfortably if they mismanaged their resources as Baganda.
The point is that public mismanagement has forced Baganda to consciously or unconsciously act as tribalists.
The political leadership of Uganda that should be at the forefront to undermine tribalism has actually been exposed as that which preaches good values in public but does the opposite quietly.
So by demanding federo, the Baganda are simply being bold.
They are saying that the situation in the wider Uganda is getting worse, so give us our own.
They are saying that most of the known corrupt government officials are not Baganda yet they loot resources that Buganda also contributes.
The Baganda are saying because corruption is with us and government has failed to put a stop to it, give us control of our resources so that those who loot are Baganda, who will remain in Buganda hence in away develop Buganda.
In Teso, where this writer was born and nurtured, sleeping with another man's wife is an offence that can spark war. But when a clan mate sleeps with his fellow clan mates' wife, elders will lessen the crime and in most cases the culprit is left free. Why? Because the elders believe that it's the same blood and even if the clan mate impregnated your wife, that child is readily accepted.
But if a man from a different clan dared, he would meet fire. This is basically what the Baganda are saying. They do not see hope of a united and strong Uganda where justice and fairness reigns. The demand for federo now is prompted by national trends and the Baganda are quick to see it.
It is a waste of public money to invite Baganda to State House for talks which yield nothing.To stop them from shouting about federo, government should simply become fair and just. Allocation of public resources and offices should be fair and just.
What would Buganda want in federo if fairness and equity reigned? But we have a class of untouchables in government who apparently are from one group.To live happily, one has to sing lullabies to this group.
There is now widespread fear that this group will one day mortgage the country. The other thing that government should know is that its failure to address the issue of poverty and poor governance is only doing the unfortunate job of disintegrating Uganda. It is only a question of time and Uganda will be no more.
People will seek guidance and leadership from tribal chiefs not because it would be the best option but because it will be a fair thing to do.
The way issues are handled is increasingly disenchanting Ugandans but the leadership is adamant that everything is under control.
Now that the Baganda have started pushing for federo, other tribes will follow suit. The Baganda started by asking for their Kingdom and they got it.
Other groups including Iteso who never had a cultural head asked for one. As government continues to be insensitive to voices of caution, one day Kingdoms will become centres of power and the state called Uganda will be no more.
People will be happier paying their taxes to Kingdoms than the central government and they will equally implement orders from their Kings not a President.
That is what losing hope in government is all about. Our leaders would better get sensitive before the people's power leaves them as shelled peas cords.
Leaders should know that Ugandans are not cowards as they imagine but they are the kind that advises. When leaders fail to heed, Ugandans simply keep mum and say you reap what you sow.
As far as am concerned, Uganda's bad leaders have reaped what they sowed. So the federo call is a harbinger of more intricacies to come.
The author is the Education Editor of The Monitor Contact: 077-410000
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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