Moses Byaruhanga
8 September 2008
opinion
The country is mourning the late Kyabazinga of Busoga. Or should I say that we are celebrating his life? The Kyabazinga was a great man who brought unity to Busoga.
People of different shades of political opinion from Busoga all prided in him. Busoga is not like other places where politicians though they respect their traditional institution, some of the elected leaders see the institution as working against them politically.
For the late Henry Wako Muloki to have steered clear of politics and remained a cultural leader, we indeed have to celebrate his life. He will be remembered for many achievements, something that will be a challenge for the heir to the throne. The news of the passing on of the Kyabazinga found me in Orlando, Florida in the US where I had gone to attend the Uganda North American Association Convention (UNAAC).
As we approached the runway, I noticed a lot of waters around the airport. In a cab to the biggest Marriott in the world where the convention took place, I saw more water ponds on the way and on the dwellings. Curious as I was, I asked the cab driver why there were so many water ponds around the airport and along the way. He said that Orlando was below sea level that when it rains (to me it pours), a lot of water collects and that the ponds are meant for water retention to avoid flooding.
On the way from the airport to our hotel, which took us about 30 minutes, there were ponds 200 meters away from each other. Even the hotel itself was surrounded by ponds. I regarded them as a good technology to make use of wetlands, as the area referred too above is basically a wetland. If we employed the technology of ponds in a water logged area, we wouldn't be having flooding in Bwaise whenever it rains.
It is high time our city planners and Nema officials visited Orlando to study and establish how man has tamed nature. Whenever I am in Western capitals, one thing I notice is the public transport system. In many places especially Europe, you can get in and out of the airport by train or road. There are multiple carriage roads. Our planners need to study this as well.
In places like Naalya, even the single road to the housing estates is in a poor shape. Are the planners looking at roads leading to such estates? How will people reach your estate if it has one road and no shopping mall and other facilities? Development has moved faster than planning. For instance, there are good houses in Lubowa but with one congested Entebbe Road, how do you get there?
Back to Orlando. Among the many forums that took place, it was the land debate that attracted a heated debate. I recall reminding my friend former Katikiro of Buganda Mulyanyamuli Semogerere about the negotiations his Buganda team held with government before the Constitution was amended to allow for regional governments.
Semogerere informed the gathering that Mengo was still waiting for the return of the 9,000 square miles of land. I told him that in the negotiations already cited, it was agreed that Buganda was deemed to have formed a regional government and that under a regional government, a regional land board would be formed to control land in Buganda.
My argument was that if Buganda formed a regional government, which decision Semogerere agreed too in the discussions, and which was also endorsed by the Lukiiko and later translated into a constitutional amendment by Parliament, then the request for control of land would be a settled matter. The debate on NSSF land deal still rages.
In the sixth Parliament, Mr Jim Muhwezi and Mr Sam Kutesa were not given an opportunity to explain themselves before the caucus before they were censured. That was unjust and I wrote so 10 years ago. It's good that the Cabinate and caucus are asking Mr Amama to explain his case. We are making political progress.
Mr Byaruhanga is special presidential assistant on political affairs.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
