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REVEALED: Here’s How Kabaka Earns Billions of Money to Run His Kingdom

Kabaka Mutebi with Katikkiro Mayiga. Courtesy Photo

Buganda Kingdom is the most influential cultural institution in Uganda. It runs a budget in billions of Shillings. But how exactly does the king, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, and his kingdom earn the revenue they use to run development programs and facilitate palace operations?

In a liberalized economy, Mengo is steadily hitting the marketplace. The kingdom has over the years started companies to sell products and services to Ugandans.

From telecommunications to beer, Buganda is using joining every venture it believes it can mint money from.

The kingdom also has investments in education, agriculture, media and communications.

The other big revenue earner for the monarchy is land. Owning huge chunks of land and properties some of which are rented by the central government, the Kabaka and his men, led by Prime Minister (Katikkiro) Charles Peter Mayiga, are able to earn money.

According to figures from the kingdom’s budget for the 2022-2023 financial year budget, the kingdom’s top revenue earners are partnerships and donations at Shs49.7bn, cooperatives at Shs33bn, land at Shs31bn, schools at Shs16bn, communication services at Shs14.7bn and money paid by Government of Uganda (GoU) as debt.

In the 2022-2023 financial year, Buganda Kingdom’s revenue stood at Shs174.4bn.

Top Revenue Earners for Buganda Kingdom | Samuel Kamugisha/The Pearl Times

Land and rent remain some of the most important sources of revenue for Buganda Kingdom. But Mengo and Kampala have disagreements on the land ownership system in the country.

It should be remembered that Kabaka’s Buganda Kingdom and Museveni’s central government have been in some war of words over land in recent years. For example, while Buganda has insisted that State House is on Kabaka’s land, the central government has dismissed this claim. (Read Stories Here and There).

Museveni’s government has also made attempts to abolish mailo land, a move Mengo has vehemently opposed. (See Details Here, There and Over There).

Samuel Kamugisha

Samuel Kamugisha is a Ugandan journalist, editor, language instructor, poet, fiction and non-fiction writer. A Makerere University graduate of Journalism and Communication with a decade-long experience in news reporting, writing and editing, Kamugisha is Editor at The Pearl Times. Most of his previous work was published by The Observer. When he is not doing journalism work -- which is rare -- Kamugisha will be reading or writing a short story or a poem, or caught up in the writer's block.