It is true. When Kingdoms and the Kyabazingaship were abolished by Apollo Milton Obote in 1966, Cultural leadership of the clans, which was largely free from the Kingdoms and Kyabazingaship, continued to manifest itself in the clans, because it can just independently of Kingdoms and Kyabazinga ship.
When President Museveni emerged from the bushes of Luwero, he declared that he did not go to the bush to return Kingdoms. But there was a lot of Pressure from Buganda, which seems to have supported his rebellion with the hope he would return the Kingdom of Buganda. Indeed at one time during the bush war in Luwero, the Kabaka appeared to support the rebellion.
It came as a surprise to Buganda when the President pronounce that he did not go to the bush to return Kingdoms. It perturbed all and sundry who loved Kingdoms as they were in the past: adequately political and free to take political decisions. With pressure heaped on him, he had no choice but to allow something akin to Kingdoms to be inserted in the 1995 Constitution.
The cultural leadership of the clans was pirated or adulterated and brought under a new creation or entity called Cultural Institution. Effectively Obote’s decision to abolish Kingdoms was preserved by the 2995 Constitution, since the created cultural institution with new cultural leaders who were previously Kings, were deprived of the political function, and were left with manifesting as ceremonial entities constitutionally. All power was as before invested in the President of Uganda. There was to be no sharing of power and authority with the new cultural entities. In fact, the LC Chairman 1, effectively the lowest structure of NRM, is politically powerful than a a Cultural Head, previously King or Kyabazinga, without political power and authority, and can take political decisions in the interest of NRM.
Government is proposing to support the cultural institutions without political power and authority with a salary of 60m Shillings per month. They cannot survive without the centre.
For God and My Country.
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