museveni at kasubi tombs on wednesday last week

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Katikkiro J.B. Walusimbi yesterday informed the Lukiiko that the last Wednesday fracas at the burnt Kasubi tombs in which a couple of deaths and destruction of property were recorded, would have been avoided had the president heeded his advice.Walusimbi said on that day he received a call from Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura saying the president was planning to visit the burnt royal tombs. “My view was that as a cultural requirement, the president should go there after 3.00pm to allow the Kabaka perform some cultural functions first. To my surprise, the next thing I heard was that my advice was too late because the president had already arrived. This caused some confusion which was beyond our control,” the Katikkiro said. The President arrived in Kasubi at about 10:30am, about an hour after several people had been shot at by armed security personnel at the gate to the tombs.

The victims of the shoot out were caught in between a gang of youths blocking the entrance to the tombs and the police who were trying to gain access to the site.Since the entrance to the ruins of the mausoleum was blocked by a reed fence, Museveni went around the building to the site where the fire had started and accessed it through the back. In today’s intelligence briefing we reveal the hidden, but shocking truth as to why Museveni insisted on entering the charred Kasubi tombs through the back despite overwhelming protests and heckling from hundreds of radical Baganda youths and the Buganda premier. First, President Museveni is Uganda’s Fountain of Honour; he is the legitimate President of Uganda and the commander- in - chief of the armed forces.

The fountain of honour refers to a nation’s head of state, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry to other persons. This clearly shows the President can give orders but cannot be ordered by any one in that particular country. His order is final. The President can be advised but it’s upon him/her to take or otherwise, the advice. In this case, the Katikkiro advised Museveni not to travel to Kasubi but he did not take the advice.

In doing so, the President was executing his role of being a Fountain of Honour by being at the forefront of visiting some part of his country which had been hit by a disaster.Multiple security sources told our investigator Museveni wanted to prove to Ugandans that he is still in-charge as
PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of all armed forces and no one on this soil would at any one time stop him from accessing any part of the country as long as he is still the head of state.

That’s why, according to political pundits during the Joseph Kony war, Museveni would be the first to visit areas where the rebels had carried out massacres. Infact, a case in point is Barlonyo where the he visited shortly after the LRA rebels had killed more than 200 people.

“The President must be seen to be in-charge. Today is Kasubi tombs and you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. These guys may stage a roadblock at State House and order you to hold on for 24 hours. Do you think you would still be in-charge? The Kony infested areas were more deadly than Kasubi but the President had to visit whether people there liked it or not,” a security source said yesterday.

POLITICS AT THE TOMBS
It has also emerged that Museveni insisted on entering the mausoleum to be the first leader of a political party to arrive at the scene. He arrived at around 10:30am. Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi turned up at 11:30am, minutes after the president had left. Sources say Museveni could not contain a scenario where the FIRST POLITICAL MOURNER is chased because it would have given political ammunition to opposition leaders such as Forum for democratic Change (FDC) boss Col. Kizza Besigye. “If Museveni had retreated or bowed to the Baganda youths’ pressure, Besigye would come in as THE LIBERATOR, something we would not accept,” a PGB officer said. Besigye appeared later at the scene, but his visit was overshadowed by the shootings, making it politically insignificant.

THE LOSERS
Dr Olara Otunnu
Hardly a week after his election as Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party president, the former United Nations envoy elaborated how he was going to work towards reconciliation between his party and Mengo establishment. Indeed, Otunnu’s first move towards this healing process was on Wednesday at Kasubi. However, the violent Baganda youths did not accord him a warm reception. They pelted stones at him and his entourage. This means Otunnu, who is going to run for president in 2011, must go back to the drawing board to revisit his strategy

MENGO
The Royal tombs were one of the sources of revenue to Buganda kingdom, especially from tourists. With CBS, another source of revenue still closed, the kingdom is in a tricky position.

NRM GOVERNMENT
Although the government has made it categorically clear that it has no hand in the inferno, some opposition figures are insinuating it to discredit the NRM government among the Baganda voters. This leaves the ruling party in a defensive position.
OPPOSITION
Some members of the opposition anticipated that the burning of the royal tombs would ignite riots in Buganda but this was not achieved. 
 
WINNERS
KAAYA KAVUMA
As the former deputy Katikkiro of Buganda and an influential Muganda at Mengo, he had a business idea that part of the Kasubi land be leased to Shell Company so that it could construct a fence around the tombs as a security measure. However, his idea was opposed by then Katikkiro, Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere. By now Kaaya Kavuma must be saying, “I told you”.

UGANDA MARTYRS
Reports emerging from credible sources in the Catholic Church reveal that some clerics hold the theory that Uganda martyrs may have cursed the tombs. Believers in this school of thought say because the late king Mwanga burned the martyrs to death, they may have reported their case to God and in so doing, Mwanga’s house of rest was also burnt.
 
KATUMBA WAMALA
Katumba is a winner in the sense that some of the officials in the ruling government were stoned and chased out of the tombs, but he was accepted among the violent youths.

YOWERI MUSEVENI
In the face of intimidation by the violent youths, Museveni and his security stood ground and finished the tour without being harmed. In addition, he got sympathy and support from some members of the public who are against violence.