A letter written 32 years ago by Mr Charles Peter Mayiga has resurfaced as an important reference point in Uganda’s long-running debate over federalism and national governance.
The letter, published by the Daily Monitor on May 20, 1994, challenged the view that calls for a federal system of government were exclusively a Buganda concern. Mr Mayiga argued that although Buganda’s voice appeared louder, several other regions were also interested in a federal arrangement.
“The struggle for a federal form of government should not be depicted to appear like it’s Buganda’s affair alone. I do know that many other areas like Busoga, Bunyoro, Tooro, West Nile, Lango, Acholi are pushing for the same. The only difference is that Buganda speaks loudest because they are near the megaphone and mostly do so in large numbers,” Mr Mayiga wrote.
At the time, Mr Mayiga was Buganda Kingdom’s minister for information and official spokesperson. He later became the Katikkiro, or kingdom prime minister, a position he has held since May 2013.
His letter was a response to an article titled “What colour of dress should Uganda wear?” written by Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo and published on May 17, 1994. Mr Mayiga accused Mr Onyango-Obbo of taking what he called an anti-federal position, comparing it to the argument Milton Obote had used to justify the abrogation of the 1962 Constitution.
At the time, Obote was living in exile in Zambia after being removed from power by the military in July 1985. The former president and Uganda Peoples’ Congress leader died on October 10, 2005, at the age of 79 after suffering kidney failure in a Johannesburg hospital in South Africa.
Mr Mayiga rejected claims that federalism was mainly a demand of Buganda’s middle class, calling that interpretation simplistic. He argued that many of the objections to federalism echoed earlier efforts to preserve what he described as the totalitarian character of the 1967 Constitution.
He also dismissed the idea that federalism would undermine national unity and stability. In his view, Uganda’s experience under a unitary system, especially between 1967 and 1986, had instead weakened those values.
Mr Mayiga wrote that national unity could only be built where democracy existed, and that democracy required the values and interests of Uganda’s diverse communities to be recognised and protected.
He further urged critics of federalism to consult Justice Benjamin Odoki, who chaired the Constitutional Review Commission, saying no Baganda had proposed breaking up Uganda.
According to Mr Mayiga, Buganda’s demand was to operate as a unit, as it had done during earlier constitutional and administrative arrangements, including those of 1894, 1900, 1955, 1962 and up to 1966.
He argued that federalism would not give Buganda or its king special political privileges. He said the monarchy in Buganda was rooted not in federalism but in the Kiganda clan system, and that Buganda’s internal administrative structure before 1966 had a unitary relationship with Mengo.
The Odoki Commission began its work in 1988 and produced the draft that guided delegates elected on March 28, 1994, to debate and write the 1995 Constitution. Those delegates were elected after the National Resistance Council, then serving as Uganda’s fifth Parliament, passed the Constituent Assembly Statute, 1993.
Mr Mayiga also argued that Buganda’s continued place within Uganda showed that the kingdom was not interested in secession. He said that if Buganda had wanted to exist as an independent nation, its traditional administrative structure would likely have supported a unitary system.
He rejected the view that the Buganda Lukiiko’s May 19, 1966, resolution asking the central government to leave Buganda’s soil amounted to a desire to secede.
According to Mr Mayiga, the resolution was not driven by Buganda chauvinism but was a desperate response to what he described as the actions of an emerging despot who had no regard for constitutionalism and the rule of law.
He then traced the events that led to the 1966 resolution. Among them was Obote’s August 24, 1964, decision to dissolve the Kabaka Yekka and Uganda Peoples’ Congress alliance and call a referendum on the lost counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi.
The KY-UPC alliance had helped UPC form Uganda’s first post-independence government after Kabaka Yekka swept most constituencies in Buganda. Under that arrangement, Kabaka Edward Muteesa became President, while Kyabazinga William Wilberforce Kadhumbula of Busoga became Vice President.
Buyaga and Bugangaizi had originally been part of Bunyoro Kitara but were annexed by Buganda with the approval of the colonial administration. As independence approached, Bunyoro demanded their return, but Britain granted Uganda independence without resolving the dispute.
On August 24, 1965, the government tabled a Bill before Parliament seeking to address the matter. Buganda opposed the proposed law.