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KAMPALA, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Ugandan government has ended its talks
with the Buganda Kingdom but without reaching any deal on the kingdom's demand
for a federal status, state-owned weekly Sunday Vision reported.
After a three-hour meeting chaired by President Yoweri Musevenion Friday night, the two
sides decided to hold further talks to resolve outstanding differences on Aug.
19.
The Buganda Kingdom has demanded the government to grant the central region
a federal status. The region mainly forms the over 150-year-old Buganda Kingdom
which is about one-fifth of the area in the country. The kingdom says that with
a federal system of governance, the kingdom can easily take off economically.
The weekly said that although the two sides agreed that Kampalais in
Buganda, the government side was opposed to the idea of leaving only a square
mile for Kampala to consist of the administrative areas that are to be under the
central government.
Museveni asked for more rational boundaries since the city had grown over
the years but the boundaries are yet to be agreed upon.
On federal system, the kingdom feels that federating regions must make
their own constitutions since each region has its peculiar issues.
The central region used to be governed under a federal system but in 1966,
then president of the country who was also the king of Buganda, Edward Muteesa
II, disagreed with prime minister Milton Obote. This led to Obote to abrogate
the constitution thus banning federalism and all cultural institutions in the
country.
However in the 1995 constitution, cultural institutions were reinstated but
their heads are not allowed to participate in politics.
Buganda Kingdom currently has a government and a parliament butit has no
powers to collect taxes from the people. It survives on projects and some
donations
Buganda like other kingdoms in Uganda had in a memorandum to the
Constitutional Review Commission called for a federal system of governance for
the whole east African country. Enditem
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