Ssabawolereza w’Obwakabaka bwa Buganda Oweek. Christopher Bwanika awandiikidde RDC w’e Sembabule Kabuye Nickson okukomya okuwagira abaagala okubba ettaka ly’Obwakabaka okutudde embuga y’essaza ly’e Mawogola.
Mu bbaluwaye, Bwanika agambye nti RDC okusaba Obwakabaka okumuwa ekyapa ky’ettaka ly’embuga y’essaza kyenyamiza naddala mu kaseera kano ng’ensi yonna eri kubwerinde bwakawuka ka coronavirus.
Bwanika agambye nti Bulange, ewali ebiwandiiko byonna ebikwata ku ttaka lino nzigale nga era tekisoboka kumuwa biwandiiko bino nga ennaku z’omwezi 9 omwezi guno.
Ebbalu ya Ssaabawolereza mubujjuvu egamba bweti mu lungereza.
OBWAKABAKA BWA BUGANDA
(KINGDOM OF BUGANDA)
8th April, 2020
Mr. N Kabuye Nickson
The Resident District Commissioner,
Sembabule District, Office Of The President, P. O.Box 1388, Masaka.
Tel No. 0481432289
Sir,
RE: AIDING AND PROCURING TRESSPASS ON THE MAWOGOLA SAZA HEADQUARTERS LAND RETURNED TO THE KABAKA OF BUGANDA
Your letter under reference RDC 76/1200/05 of 6th April 2020 (a copy of which is attached) addressed to Haji Serwadda Mohammed, Owesaza Muteesa (SAZA chief) of Mawogola who is the Kabaka’s representative in Mawogola ,has been placed in the hands of the Attorney General of Buganda and the same is being responded to on behalf of the kingdom of Buganda as follows:
- The Buganda Kingdom has received and noted the contents of your letter with shock and consternation that, you as Resident District Commissioner of Sembabule, who represents the President Of Uganda in the district of Sembabule, appear not to appreciate that the Land in question is the Saza Headquarters of Mawogola Saza which was returned to the Kabaka by His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, vide an agreement signed by President Museveni and Kabaka Mutebi on 1st August 2013 under the auspices of the Traditional Rulers (Restitution of Assets and Properties Act cap 247).
- We are surprised that you are asking Owesaza Muteesa to “Submit to Police without fail a copy of the title not later than Thursday 09 April 2020 as proof that the land in question belongs to Buganda Kingdom” during the COVID-19 lockdown ! !!
You very well know that Buganda Kingdom reported a case of Criminal Tresspass Vide SD 35/03/04/2020, in the-wake of;-an earlier complaint was tresspassing on the Kabakas land, allegedly on instructions of Sembabule District Administration, Vide SD 42/26/3/2020, a case reported late in March 2020.
- We wrote to the District CID officer of Sembabule on 27th March 2020 and copied you in, indicating that Buganda Kingdom offices had closed down in obedience to the orders of President Museveni which culminated in the Public Health (Control of COVID-19 ) order 2020 and other related Presidential orders, which restricted movements and interactions of people, to control the spread of the Corona Virus. Accordingly I promised and indicated that, the Ministry of Local Government of the Buganda Kingdom which I lead, will provide to the police, all requisite information regarding the matter, when Government lifts the bans when we can access the Kingdom offices. A copy of my letter dated 27th March 2020 which was copied to you is attached for ease of reference.
- Buganda Government is shocked and surprised that, although we protested to the tresspass and reported a criminal case at Police and investigations could not effectively be carried out when there is a lock down, quarantine and curfew ordered by the Government, there is haste on your part to authorise developments and construction to be carried out on the land which is not going to move away tomorrow!!! Can it be fair to give an ultimatum to the kingdom to produce documents which are at Bulange, which is currently inaccessible, on Thursday 9Th April 2020 ??
- It is in my knowledge that the NRM Government which cherishes the Rule of Law, fair play and non-oppression, can not condone what you are trying to order on behalf of the same Government, to ask a citizen and our Administration which are not allowed to move and have no access to the offices, to produce the documentation as you have directed. It is not only not feasible but it is also illegal to violate the Presidential directives and the law. The Presidential orders were promulgated into law and created offences on the part of anybody who violates them.
- The Legal process can take judicial notice of the agreement which returned all Saza Headquarters land to the Kabaka and particularly the land in question. You as Chairman of Sembabule District COVID-19 Committee should be the last person to violate President Museveni’s directives and the 2013 Agreement he signed with the Kabaka of Buganda.
- Your directive that construction continues on the Saza land which was returned to the Kabaka, contrary to the advice of the Police, for the construction to be halted until the COVID-19 Government ban is over, violates the law and will definitely expose the Uganda Government to liability in damages for which you will be personally held liable because your conduct is at variance with the President’s act of returning and restoring Kabaka’s land and the COVID-19 directives to halt business during this period. There is no justification for rushing to construct a canteen illegally on Kabaka’s Land during this lock down.
- The haste with which you are acting is mischievous and is likely to embarrass the Government of Uganda which has at all material times handled the matter carefully. We are accordingly copying this letter to the Minister in charge of the Presidency and the Office of the President as well as the Attorney General to seek the intervention of the said high offices to render appropriate advice to avoid causing embarrassment to Government and exposing it to liability in tort.
- Your conduct amounts to inciting and aiding the contractor who is tresspassing on Kabaka’s land. You have no power to confer title to the purported developer in contradiction and violation of the Agreement of 1st August 2013, lest you embarrass the office which you represent and the government you serve.
- You are therefore, put on Notice , (and the copy of this letter to the Attorney General constitutes the requisite STATUTORY NOTICE ) to desist from proceeding illegally to permit or aid, the commission of tresspass on Kabaka’s Land which was returned and restored to the kingdom, in broad day light.
- There is no urgency for your rushed action when there Presidential bans and measures to control the spread of Corona Virus in place during the COVID-19 lock down. Buganda Kingdom or its officials have not committed any capital offence which creates an emergency calling for rushed investigations and we reiterate the contents of our letter of 27th March 2020 to the District CID officer Sembabule Police Station which we have attached.
STAND DULY NOTIFIED that Buganda Kingdom is a law abiding cultural institution which respects the Presidential directives and has at all material times promised to co-operate with the police in all its investigations and work. The Kingdom will, at an appropriate time when the COVID-19 restrictions and bans are lifted by Government, take up the matter and resolve it with the Police at Sembabule as was communicated earlier.
ADVOCATE, ATTORNEY GENERAL AND
MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUGANDA KINGDOM
CC: Hon. Esther The Minister In charge of the Presidency
Office of The President
Kampala
CC: The Principal Private Secretary to HE The President Of Uganda
CC: Katikiro
CC: Attorney General of The Republic Of Uganda
CC: The Director Of Public Prosecutions
CC: The Inspector General of Police
CC: The Principal Private Secretary to the Kabaka
CC: Minister of State for Local Government Buganda Kingdom
CC: The Director of CID
CC: The Regional CID officer Greater Masaka
CC: The District Police Corñtña der Sembabule
CC: The Chief Administraive O cer Sembabule
CC: The District Internal SecuÅ Officef Sembabule
CC: Owesaza MuteéSå Haji Sééwadda Mdhammed
CC: The Deputy Owesaza
I-IS-I. C 1b