Buganda Kingdom will not stop its effort of pursuing a federal system of governance and demanding for its property which are still being held by the central government, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, said on Saturday.
In his address during the 28th coronation celebrations held at his Nkoni Palace in Lwengo district, greater Masaka, he said the kingdom has been consistently demanding for its property through peaceful means including negotiations and shall continue doing the same.
“What we call ours includes the federal system of governance, land, building, palaces and many others and these are indeed ours. We strongly condemn those who deliberately create a situation to divert us away from our main agenda of reminding the leaders of this country on what is ours,” he said.
“We have never taken any other step to demand for our property apart from through negotiations and remaining our leaders on the issues agreed upon and other issues regarding human rights, the leadership of truth and economic development of Buganda and Uganda at large.”
Kabaka asked the central government to go slow on the issue of the mailo land reform, adding that those fighting against the mailo land system that works only in Buganda and ignore other land systems used in other regions only aim at weakening Buganda kingdom.
“We have repeatedly heard about the issue of Buganda land talked about by different people and many people attributed it to Uganda’s slow development, this is not true. Those doing that aim at weakening the Buganda Kingdom. This prompts us to ask, why land in other parts of Uganda is not talked about. Why Buganda land?” he asked
Kabaka also refuted allegations that Buganda had intentions to break away from the rest of Uganda, asking the public to refrain from such misleading information.
“Buganda has never thought of breaking away from the rest of Uganda. Buganda Kingdom has never thought of even chasing away other Ugandans. Let me repeat this, we shall not get tired of reminding the government that just like other regions Buganda has particular things that must not be tied to conditions,” he said.
He applauded leaders and those who have given the kingdom a helping hand in search for truth, calling upon them not to give up.