Executive, military frustrating our case: Mumbere

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Rwenzururu cultural leader Charles Wesley Mumbere has said that the military and the political leadership have vested interests in the ongoing court case against him.

More than 100 people lost their lives during the joint security attack on Mumbere’s palace in Kasese town, in November 2016.

Mumbere and more than 100 royal guards were arrested and subsequently charged with several offences including treason, murder, attempted and robbery before Jinja Chief Magistrates’ Court. Mumbere, his Prime Minister Johnson Tembo Kitsumbire and six others were granted bail in 2017. As part of his bail conditions, the court barred Mumbere from accessing Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kabarole districts for fear of interfering with the investigations.

In January last year, the Jinja High Court released 132 royal guards on bail.

In a recorded message broadcast on the Kasese based Messiah Radio on Thursday evening, Mumbere said that whereas court in 2020 temporarily waived his bail condition to allow him to go and bury his late mother, Biira Christine Mukirane, its decision was “nullified” by the executive and the military without any excuse. He added that court also allowed him to travel to India for eye treatment in 2019 but this was equally frustrated.

Mumbere said that the interest of the military and the executive in his case should be explained well to his subjects.

Mumbere said that he remains as though he never got court bail because he is under the control of the military. He noted that whatever decision the military and the executive powers take, the courts cannot challenge it. He asked his subjects to continue praying for him.

In his message, Mumbere also thanked area Members of Parliament for helping in transport and burying of a number of royal guards that died in prison. He said the government has never helped in this process and its vital that the legislators be recognized for this noble cause because families and Rwenzururu as an institution would have not afforded the cost.

Mumbere added that some of the royal guards who remain incarcerated in prison are sick and require specialised treatment.

Mumbere asked the United Nations and countries in the region to act against what he called an ongoing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“In Eastern Congo in most of the areas of Ben and Ituri, there has been genocide, people have been killed… The United Nations and big countries are watching these images of people being killed like goats as they try to defend their identity, we are mourning together,” Mumbere noted.

The cultural leader asked his subjects to preserve their culture and protect the environment emphasizing the need to make acceptable cultural sacrifices to appease the spirits.

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URN