When Busoga king Kyabazinga Henry Wako Muloki breathed his last in 2008, Prince Edward Columbus Wambuzi thought it was his turn to take the reins and steer the cultural institution.
But the throne has eluded Wambuzi for 14 years now and it seems there are no chances that he will ascend to it any time soon.
Unable to beat Kyabazinga William Wilberforce Nadiope Gabula IV, Wambuzi seems to be employing an invisible hand to engineer some sort of secession from Busoga Kingdom so as to form his own cultural institution named Bulamogi Kingdom.
Prince Wambuzi and Gabula IV have battled over the Busoga throne since the death of Kyabazinga Muloki, with the succession race starting within the month Muloki passed on.
Prince Wambuzi would take the day during the first election undertaken by royal chiefs. However, Chief Fred Menhya Kakaire would cut short Prince Wambuzi’s celebrations after challenging his election on grounds that there was lack of requisite quorum.
Although Royal Chief Kakaire’s court case was thrown out, it marked the beginning of Wambuzi’s woes and of more legal battles for the throne of Busoga because the courts of law and President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s government declined to recognize the election of Wambuzi as Kyabazinga Muloki’s successor.
For a cool six years, there was a stalemate in Busoga, with the kingdom having no officially recognized Kyabazinga or king.
In August 2014, the Council of Royal Chiefs, comprising 11 members, convened to elect a Kyabazinga. Gabula was elected, leaving Prince Wambuzi with no option but to run to the Jinja High Court to seek orders nullifying his rival’s election as king.
Wambuzi’s argument was that he was the legally elected Kyabazinga and that the chiefs should never have met to choose another king when he was still alive and capable of reigning.
Awaiting the court ruling which took nearly a decade to be delivered, the Lukiiko or Parliament of Busoga convened and approved the election of Gabula as the new Kyabazinga of Busoga.
In February 2022, the High Court of Jinja delivered its judgement in Wambuzi’s case, making it clear that Gabula Nadiope IV is the duly elected Kyabazinga of Busoga. (Read Story Here).
Ahead of that landmark February 18 judgement, pro-Wambuzi chiefs had fired Kyabazinga Nadiope Gabula IV. (Read Story Here).
NEW MOVE: BULAMOGI KINGDOM
A move that is now seen as Wambuzi’s plot to break away from Busoga Kingdom by seeking recognition of Bulamogi, his chiefdom, as a tribe of its own is already underway.
On October 03, Leonard Okema, the acting executive secretary to Speaker Anita Among, wrote to Norbert Mao, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, addressing a petition to recognize the Balamogi as one of the indigenous Bantu ethnic tribes in Uganda and to be included in the 1995 Constitution and to recognize Lulamogi language as one of the recognized languages spoken in Uganda.
“I have been instructed by the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda to forward to you copy of a petition from Isingo Initiatives for Humanity on behalf of the indigenous ethnic tribe of the Balamogi living in Kaliro District for consideration by the Constitution Review Commission,” Okema wrote to Minister Mao, copying the letter to Yona Walya, the Team Leader of Isingo Initiatives for Humanity.
“The referral is in accordance with Rule 30 (6 and 7) of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.”
It should be remembered that a plan by pro-Wambuzi royal chiefs to fire Kyabazinga Gabula collapsed in January and February 2022. Gabula is the kyabazinga and is officially recognized by Museveni’s government.
In fact, just a few days ago, top Government officials were with the Kyabazinga at the Busoga Symposium in Canada where a top Museveni minister survived being punched by an angry Bobi Wine activist. (Read Story and Watch Video Here).
