November 27, 2016 will remain a black Sunday in the history of the Bakonzo, and the Rwenzururu kingdom. Driven by very ambiguous allegations, the Ugandan state descended onto civilians in the royal palace. A day before, at least eight civilians had been shot dead by the state at the Obusinga offices in Kasese town.

As of now, it is unclear how many lives have been lost on the side of civilians, but different media indicate the numbers are more than 100 lives and the number will likely increase. The attack also culminated into the humiliating arrest of Omusinga Charles Mumbere – after literary surviving death – and was later arraigned in court for a murder case allegedly committed in March 2016.

Numerous kingdom property and cultural installations were burnt or vandalised, including the palace. In most dictatorships, violent and humiliating arrests are regular and thus not shocking. However, what still shocked many are the barbaric killings that ordinarily could have been avoided.

“I saw it, I witnessed it; with my own eyes…the king had already agreed to the royal guards’ surrender,” recounted Atkins Katusabe, the MP for Bukonzo West, who had been sent as advance party to start negotiations.

By the time of the attack, Katusabe had successfully agreed with the king to adhere to ‘terms and deadlines’ set by the president. What still baffles many is the urgency with which this dialogue was terminated in favour of an assault. Interestingly, the commanders on ground indicated that they were working on ‘orders from above’.

What started as allegations on social media later turned out to be horrifying as gruesome pictures of heaps of dead men and women with
hands tied at the back were shared! It was a clear violation of human rights to have people tied up and shot at close range.

It became apparent that a government with responsibility to protect life and property had failed in its responsibility. From witness accounts, it seems clear that the state had several other options, including having the palace under siege until a non-lethal arrest happened.

The choice of invasion over dialogue or other possible options available to the state suggests a predetermined objective to accomplish no matter what came its way.

The palace is not only home to the Omusinga and his royal guards, but also visitors, children, and several servants. Reports also emerged that following the UPDF killing of eight royal guards a day before, several Obusinga loyalists took refuge in the palace. Probably these innocent souls were caught in the melee the following night.

Even more disturbing has been the way government spin machinery has taken control of the airwaves to give the unsuspecting public information that casts them in good light and the kingdom as the enemy of the people. They adopted several keywords – militia, terrorists, attackers, killers, murderers, rebels, etc.

Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu is a legally- existing cultural institution. Criminalising the right to belong as embedded in the Ugandan constitution is an abuse of the rights and a criminality in itself. The utterances from government are, therefore, a well-calculated attempt to cast the Obusinga in bad light as if it is an illegal institution.

For many years, the kingdom has worked with government, yet these allegations had never surfaced. The constitution prohibits cultural institutions from engaging in partisan politics. However, to Mr Yoweri Museveni, partisan politics meant opposition politics.

As long as a cultural institution is promoting his agenda, that’s not partisan politics. It is until the Kasese political terrain shifted towards opposition that issues of a subversive kingdom started emerging. Thus, King Mumbere’s troubles have been partially traced around his perceived denial of support to Mr Museveni.

At least nobody has shown us an exchange of fire at the palace to signify the royal guards’ resistance to the state. It has become a tall order for the state to now create “evidence” – to the extent that now common home tools (machetes, spears) and a handful of ‘rotten’ guns are being paraded.

The force fighting is the same force parading bullet shells as exhibits. Again, many items displayed are also common royal regalia – we saw some of these similar tools when the ‘amasiro’ in Kasubi were burnt in Buganda. I would also ordinarily expect a guard to possess some form of equipment, other than firearms.

This is not, however, to disregard the possibility that some royal guards could actually be criminals. Similarly, several police and UPDF officers have committed crimes, including capital offences. Crime preventers have been cited in many cases including murder, but this does not imply the entire force is criminal.

It was important that cases be handled one at a time. The state should not fuse previous or isolated security incidents with the massacre that happened on November 26, and 27.

What is clear, though, is that this is a replica of the famous Mengo palace invasion by Milton Obote in 1966. The aftermath and how Museveni and the Rwenzururu people, in particular the Bakonzo, will relate looks predictable. Government must ensure and guarantee the safety and security of the region, as one can’t rule out reprisal actions.

Our community needs healing. However, this process must start with an accountability mechanism on the part of the players in this crisis. As a starting point, it is our hope that an independent commission is set up to investigate this crisis. It is also important that those arrested be produced in courts of law and allowed a fair trial.

edwinkam11@gmail.com

This article was co-authored with Chrispus Mayora, residents of Kasese district.