Posted by Ham Mukasa

www.hammukasafoundation.com�

�Buganda�s quest for secession is inevitable�

By ROBERT MWANJE

KAMPALA Talk of Buganda, which occupies the central region of present day Uganda breaking away from the rest of the country, has re-surfaced over the last weeks, dividing the country over the matter. What started like the wild ranting of a media seeking politician might yet turn out to be a well orchestrated plan of a section of Baganda seeking to recreate the old dreams of an independent state.MP Hussein Kyanjo of Makindye West re-awakened the debate, which last seriously came up in the early years of Uganda‘s independence at the height of tensions between the monarchy and the central government. Former Buganda Katikiro (Prime Minister) Daniel Muliika has in an exclusive interview with Inside Politics revealed that the calls for Buganda to break away from the rest of Uganda by MP Kyanjo represent a key section of the baganda. Mr Muliika served a dramatic one year at Mengo. He warns of bloodshed if Buganda‘s demands and needs are not paid heed to, the same message carried by Kyanjo. If the central government does not change its attitude towards Buganda‘s demands and interests, the kingdom’s plan to secede must be realised no matter how long it takes, the two men stated in separate interviews.
Muliika says Buganda does not need the central government’s goodwill to carry through her plans. But the titular head of the estimated six million Baganda, the Kabaka warned a congregation of Baganda in the Diaspora at the weekend that calls for cessation coming at this time only helps to weaken the kingdoms bid for meaningful federo.Mr Kyanjo, who unveiled Buganda‘s alleged intentions to break away from Uganda, insists that the plan must mature and no authority has the powers to block it.
Why break away? Kyanjo says that as an MP, the proposal to see Buganda breaking away from Uganda is his constituents’ demand and places his arguments against the fact that the central government has continually failed to honour the kingdom’s demands. According to Kyanjo, these include federalism, the demand for the kingdom’s property or, that government will stop the illegal and provocative giveaway of Buganda land, and an end to tribalism among others. He says all these are a well calculated plan to impoverish Baganda as a way of weakening the kingdom.Kyanjo says he was working out a plan to extend his campaign country wide with the aim of convincing other regions to support a break away from Uganda except western Uganda

. “It cannot be a coincidence that the army chief, prisons chief, minister of defence, police head, security and internal affairs minister are all from one region (West),” Kyanjo said.Citing examples to bring out the ‘greed’ inside government, Kyanjo said the current establishment has ensured that all juicy Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) contracts have been offered to people from western Uganda. “A lot of injustice has been exhibited to the extent that even the small Chogm contracts have been offered to people from the western region. From car importation to those who will wash them during the summit,” Kyanjo wondered adding that, “some thing must be done. It’s unjust and must be addressed quickly.”He said government has further exhibited a lot of segregation through the education and employment sectors. Kyanjo says government has launched an economic war against baganda and other regions saying concerned authorities have not given equal opportunities to local investors basing on their regions of origin.He said while government has exhibited a lot of tolerance and support to some companies like Apparels Tri-star (Tri-star is owned by an Asian businessman) and individuals like Hassan Basajjabalaba to the extent that state funds were diverted to rescue their private business, the same method has not applied to Baganda owned investments.

Does Kyanjo have a real strategy?
Kyanjo claims that his plans detail a “very simple way” to achieve an independent state of Buganda. He claims this is so because the public is increasingly realising selfish interests as exhibited by the government. He says his campaign has been much supported by members of Buganda Region parliamentary caucus and a special committee has been set up to follow-up the matter.“Buganda‘s secession is a fact which can be realised to ensure a bright future for our grand children. It does not matter how long it may take but it must happen,” he said. The MP says he is aware that his intentions may mean a number of consequences including death but he is ready for everything. ” I’m ready to pay the price for what am fighting for but they (government officials) will pay much than me,” Kyanjo said.

“Not mere dream” – Muliika
Mr Muliika supports Kyanjo’s idea and to him Buganda does not even need the central government’s goodwill to secede. Muliika lasted only 13 and a half months (Dec.28 2005 – Feb 13, 2007 ) as Katikkiro, an incredibly short time.In that period, Mengo the seat of Buganda witnessed the highest level of tensions with central government unseen since the restoration of monarchies in 1993.

Mr Muliika had replaced Joseph Ssemwogerere who held the reigns of power at Mengo for 11 years.
Now retired to his farm in Masaka, Muliika said the move was long over due since central government has failed to realise Buganda‘s position and interests in Uganda. “I support Kyanjo’s stand since his demands are clear that Buganda should be left to control itself in all aspects. Buganda is a nation which existed before Uganda and its independence was attained on October 8 1962,” he said.He urged Baganda not to yield to intimidation by central government saying, “this we must achieve. We are not dreaming. “Only that Baganda have not made-up their mind to pick guns and fight the enemy (central government). An enemy will remain an enemy and you can never solve problems through stealing,” Muliika said. He said whoever attempts to fight Buganda fights his regime, “Obote made the same mistake (fighting Buganda) and where did his regime end? The same applies to this regime, the moment it attempts the same mistake it will take the same direction.” He said Baganda and the Mengo establishment should rally behind the Kabaka to fight for the kingdom’s interests, strongly back Kyanjo’s concerns and draw clear avenues to realise the dream.Muliika cautioned Baganda politicians not to be diverted over their political inclinations since Buganda‘s quest does not affect their political parties and system of governance. “If we have a clear system of governance through which each political party operates things would be simple. It would clearly stipulate the status of kingdoms and their stake in Uganda,” he said. “Central government exists on the kingdom’s expense; we can achieve it with or without government’s backup. Any other objective kingdom can join us.” Debate on secession:
Rubaga North MP, Beti Olive Kamya, a member of the opposition front bench has also joined in the fray.
Kamya’s views on the cessation have kicked up a storm on an internet chat of mainly Ugandans in the Diaspora. In her posting Kamya wrote; “fact is, Baganda have all sorts of grievances which have led them to wish to call it quits. Does anybody have a problem with that? If it is about property in Kampala, no one is under any threat as they will be welcome to live in Buganda, as they do in the UK, USA etc and property can be shared out as we did when the EAC collapsed. Those are details. the principal is that Buganda wants to go it alone – and there 6 M + Baganda according to the latest census and I know many very able countries, with GDP and GDP per capita many times that of Uganda, whose population is much less than 6 M.
Ms Kamya’s proposals have attracted several angry responses especially from none Baganda.Ms Pam Ankunda notes that there is no special reason that Buganda is advancing in seeking cessation, “My humble opinion though is that Buganda has no cause to secede because our interests are one. No tribe deserves privileges over the other.”Officially government has remained silent about the demands but sources tell Inside Politics that a sense of discomfort over the bubbling demands.

Published By African Press International/African Press in Norway africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

At the United Nations Millennium Summit, the world’s leaders pledged to cut global poverty in half by 2015.

International Action Network, is at the forefront of today’s development dialogue in championing the cause for the poor, the disadvantaged and the abandoned. Assisting people living in extreme poverty. We are addressing the many dimensions of human development, including global poverty eradication based on local needs and priorities. HIV/AIDS is a world-wide problem, to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce its negative effect to global development, every country need to mobilize all levels of government and civil society as a trusted development partner.

Many countries are increasingly vulnerable to violent conflicts or natural disasters that can erase decades of development and further entrench poverty and inequality.� Through our global network, we seeks out and shares innovative approaches to crisis prevention, early warning on global warming, climate change and conflict resolution.

To make further progress on these commitments, we are inviting civil society organizations, Youth Organizations, Community organizations, Non-Governmental organizations (NGO’S), Socio-Cultural Organizations, Educators, Scholars, Researchers, Health Organizations, Professionals, Business Organizations, Human Right Organizations, Decision makers in the private & public sectors, Representatives of Governmental & Non Governmental Organizations, Religious organizations, churches & Women Groups, to join us in the 21st Annual global conference to be held in London UK from the 25th-31st 0ctober 2007.

THEME: HIV/AIDS POVERTY ELIMINATION IT’S POSITIVE EFFECT TO GLOBAL CHANGE.
�
This conference aims at the following objective:
(a) To Ensure global elimination of poverty in every country of the world
(b) To foster International understanding and solidarity amongs developed, developing and under developed countries.
(c) To create job and education opportunities to poverty ridden countries
(d) To create enabling environment for youths, women and children to express their feelings without molestation.

To participate in this conference, send your letter of interest to the conference organizing committee (rossnna_woodford@yahoo.co.uk) Send your participating information:

(a) Participant(s) Name
(b) Name of Organization
(c) Contact Telephone Number
�
�
By Mrs.Rossanna Woodford,
Member Organizing Committee.
International Action Network.

Published by Korir, API*APN africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

Readers of Aftenposten’s web site in China have been unable to connect to the news service for the past several days. Officials at the Norwegian embassy in Beijing say they will take up the problem with local authorities if the pages remain inaccessible. Readers trying to click into Aftenposten’s site get the same message — “Problem loading page” — that comes up when trying to click into the BBC News and Wikipedia sites. Both are reportedly banned by Chinese authorities.

Aftenposten’s correspondent in China was unable to get an explanation from Chinese officials. Spokespersons in various government departments referred questions to others, and no one would explain why the pages were jammed.

‘Not surprising’
“It’s not so surprising (since) the authorities deny that they ever censor anything here,” Andrew Lih, a Beijing-based Internet researcher, told Aftenposten. Lih, who has taught new media in Hong Kong and at Columbia University in New York, is viewed as an expert on Chinese censorship of the Internet.

He doesn’t think Aftenposten’s web site is simply suffering from a technical error. “The signals aren’t even coming into China,” he said. “Only the authorities can block the signals like that.”

Lih had no explanation as to why the site was being blocked, and said it might simply have been affected by blockage of other sites. “There’s also the possibility that something on Aftenposten’s pages provoked the Chinese authorities,” Lih said. “It’s not unusual that web sites, even those written in a relatively obscure language like Norwegian, get blocked because of their content.”

Embassy monitoring
Ola Breidal, cultural attach� at the Norwegian embassy in Beijing, said embassy officials were following the situation and would contact the authorities if the pages didn’t re-open. “If this proves to be more than just a technical error, we must take it up with the Chinese foreign ministry,” he said.

None of the other major Norwegian news sites has been blocked. Aftenposten’s is the only one with a news service in English as well as Norwegian.

By Kristoffer R�nneberg and Nina Berglund

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Erling Lae of the Conservative Party (H�yre) scored a personal victory when voters ensured that he’ll remain as head of Oslo’s Municipal Executive Board (byr�d). The more ceremonial role of mayor, however, looks set to be the target of a power struggle.

City council leader in Oslo, Erling Lae, has won voter approval to form another city government. Monday’s election swept the Conservatives back to power, after 12 years in control. PHOTO: Jarl Fr. Erichsen / SCANPIX

The Conservatives won 25.3 percent of the vote, while the more conservative Progress Party won 14.4 percent. That, combined with two other non-socialist parties gives them a non-socialist majority to form the city government.

One of those other non-socialist parties, the Liberal Party (Venstre), won 8.6 percent of the vote and doubled its seats in the City Council (bystyre). That amounted to a relative landslide for the small party in the center of Norway’s political spectrum that’s often the swing vote in forming governments.

Venstre, which literally translates to “left” in Norwegian but which actually is a more right-leaning “center” party, was thus quick to assert itself and even demand it be considered for the mayor’s job.

The party’s national leader also wants solid representation on the board but has said it refuses to rule with the Progress Party. That will leave Erling Lae with a challenge, as he needs to appease both sides.

Lae’s initial reaction was that all the non-socialist parties should now focus on issues, not on party positioning. He also noted that without the Progress Party, “there is no non-socialist majority.”

That’s because the Labour Party actually emerged as most popular, with 30 percent of the vote. But one of its likely socialist partners, SV, lost badly and wound up with only 10.4 percent of the vote, meaning the socialists can’t form a majority.

Now the non-socialist parties need to hash out a compromise before a new city government falls into place. The Conservatives will be in charge, though, overcoming a scandal just weeks ago when its former mayor was caught up in a case of tax evasion and had to resign.

By Nina Berglund

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<Nawaz Sharif was mobbed on his arrival at Islamabad

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been deported within hours of returning from exile.

After arriving at Islamabad airport he was arrested on charges of money laundering and put on a plane which later landed in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Sharif says he wants to challenge President Pervez Musharraf, who ousted him in a 1999 coup, ahead of elections.

Mr Sharif arrived in Pakistan weeks after the country’s Supreme Court affirmed his right to return.

On board the plane which flew him to Pakistan from London, Mr Sharif told the BBC he wanted to help restore the rule of law.

“It’s democracy versus dictatorship,” he said.

I have a duty, I have a responsibility, I have a national obligation to fulfil at all costs and that is democracy Nawaz Sharif

Once the plane arrived in Islamabad, paramilitary troops surrounded it and there was a stand-off on board as Mr Sharif refused to hand over his passport to immigration officials for nearly two hours.

Eventually he agreed to leave the plane and was escorted to the airport’s VIP lounge.

But shortly afterwards, he was separated from his entourage, returned to the tarmac and put on board a helicopter. Later, he was transferred to a plane bound for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Officials said he had been charged with money laundering and corruption.

Large numbers of police had set up barricades on roads to prevent Mr Sharif’s supporters from reaching the airport, while all domestic flights from Islamabad on Monday were listed as cancelled.

Plans abandoned

There were reports of clashes between police and crowds of Mr Sharif’s supporters in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Attok, where shots were fired and several people were said to have been injured.

One worker from Mr Sharif’s Muslim League party (PML-N) told the BBC he and about 20 others had been badly beaten by police outside the airport.

On Sunday, the party said more than 2,000 supporters had been arrested by the Pakistan authorities, while almost its entire leadership had been detained.

Supporters planned to launch a legal challenge to the deportation, which was “a violation of the court order under which Nawaz Sharif was allowed to arrive and stay in Pakistan,” his aide, Sadique ul-Farooq, told the Associated Press.

The religious affairs minister said the government believed it was acting in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.

Mr Sharif’s supporters were kept away from the airport

Mr Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after being deposed, under what the government says was an agreement that he stay in exile for 10 years.

The former prime minister has denied there was ever such a deal.

The European Union Commission issued a statement saying Mr Sharif should be allowed to defend himself against court charges in Pakistan.

“In our view the Supreme Court’s ruling is very clear and should be respected,” said a spokeswoman.

Political crisis

Mr Sharif had planned to lead a triumphal motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore, his political power base, but he was aware he might not be allowed the opportunity.

He decided at the last moment to leave his brother Shahbaz, also a politician, behind in the UK “to hold the fort” in case he were jailed or deported.

Mr Musharraf has made no secret of his contempt

for Mr Sharif, describing him as corrupt and incompetent.

But for the army, a decision to arrest him is as much a political as a legal decision, says the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan.

The military does not want to make Mr Sharif into a political martyr but it also does not want to see him campaigning for power, he says.

Gen Musharraf has been struggling to contain protests that have grown in strength since he tried to remove the head of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The president plans to seek a new five-year term in office in an election due in the next month.

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Nairobi (Kenya) President Mwai Kibaki has expressed concern that many Commonwealth countries in both the developed and developing world do not match the numbers of judges and magistrates to the caseload.

While opening the 15th Commonwealth Law Conference in Nairobi on Monday Kibaki noted that quality and capability of the prosecution services in the Commonwealth is often unable to cope with the demands of the criminal justice systems and emphasized that the administration of justice must be viewed as an integral part of the overall governance environment in the Commonwealth.

<President Mwai Kibaki

Kibaki said the rule of law cannot be divorced from cultural values and the aspirations of societies and observed that deficiencies in the criminal justice system are quite often the outcome of the way in which resources are structured and allocated to the various arms of the justice delivery systems.

\”Indeed, there is need for constant education and dissemination of the fundamental principles of the laws that we enact. When these laws become rooted in the hearts and minds of our people, it will be much easier to uphold them,\” he said.

He said the Commonwealth countries should not only uphold the rule of law but also promote the institutions and values that entrench the culture of equity and social justice.

\”I am happy that within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa\�s Development (NEPAD), African Union member countries have committed themselves to upholding the values of freedom, justice and accountability,� said Kibaki.

The five-day conference organized by Law Society of Kenya and Commonwealth Association of Lawyers has brought together lawyers and judges from 53 Commonwealth countries and is set to discuss issues including constitutional reforms and constitutionalism, refugee and immigration law, regional initiatives in the enforcement of human rights, corruption and economic crimes.

Published by Korir, API*APN africanpress@chello.no tel +47�932�99�739 or +47�6300�2525 source.apa

Norway’s oil-fuelled economic growth has outpaced all other western countries during the past four years, and statistics experts think the good times will keep on rolling.

Norway’s economic growth is expected to keep rolling. PHOTO: ARASH A.NEJAD

Norwegian statistics bureau SSB (Statistisk sentralbyr�) has released new data indicating that unemployment is expected to fall even further, remain at a low level and contribute to high wage growth.

While growth in production and employment may moderate in the years ahead, the cyclical upturn of the past four years will continue, predicts SSB. Economic growth already rose “sharply” during the second quarter of this year, agency researchers said.

SSB officials cited “good growth in Norwegian export markets, strong growth in petroleum investments, increased public sector demand and low interest rates” as the main factors behind “the strong and lasting upturn” in the Norwegian economy.

Even though the central bank has been trying to dampen growth by gradual increases in interest rates, the level of housing investments remains high despite a slight slowdown in recent weeks.

“”We think the strong cycle we’re in now will last a long time,” SSB research leader Torbj�rn Eika told newspaper Dagens N�ringsliv.

He and his colleagues are predicting economic growth of 5.1 percent this year. SSB’s managing director, �ystein Olsen, noted that Norway has had such strong growth before, but that it wasn’t sustained.

Leader of the pack
Mainland growth (excluding Norway’s offshore oil industry) is up more than 20 percent over the past four years and up 26 percent since 2000. That beats US economic growth of 13 percent and economic growth among European countries of around 9 percent during the past four years.

The other Nordic countries are doing well, too, but not as well as Norway. Sweden’s growth, for example, came in at 16 percent over the past four years, and is predicted to settle at 4.3 percent this year.

By Nina Berglund

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