Gabula Nadiope is still King of Busoga: Prime Minister

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Busoga Kingdom Prime Minister Joseph Muvawala has dismissed a letter in which six royal chiefs resolved to impeach King Gabula Nadiope.

The chiefs include; Yekonia Isiko, the royal chief of Kisiki chiefdom, John Ntale, the royal chief of Bunhole Bunanumba, Robert Mukajanga, the royal chief of Bunha chiefdom, who doubles as the secretary of the chiefs royal council, Vicky Okaali, the royal chief of Bukholi chiefdom, Godfrey Mutyaba of Bukono chiefdom, and Ayub Banamwita of Butembe chiefdom.

In their impeachment letter dated 3rd January, 2022, which was received by both the office of the Speaker of Parliament and officials from the Ministry of Gender, the chiefs say that Busoga Lukiiko members fraudulently approved a motion to allow Gabula to rule for life after his term expired in 2019.

The chiefs also protest lack of accountability as the kingdom runs without a justifiable operational budget despite receiving donations from both non-governmental organizations and the business community.

They argue that unlike other kingdoms where royal chiefs are wholly submissive to their kings, Busoga’s royal chiefdoms operate as semi-autonomous bodies under the chairmanship of the King, but they accuse Gabula of depriving them of their independence to freely serve their subjects without interference.

They further accuse Gabula of fostering infighting in the different chiefdoms, which has rendered the current royal chiefs weak and powerless before their subjects.

However, in his press release dated 14th January 2022, Muvawala insists that the current royal chiefs lack the requisite quorum of eight members needed to impeach the King.

Muvawala termed the current impeachment as false, illegal, and misleading since the current Busoga kingdom’s constitution warrants any elected King to reign for life.

Gabula was elected as Busoga’s king in 2014, defeating his then-rival, Columbus Wambuzi with eight votes against four votes.

Wambuzi resolved to petition the court to intervene in the matter, terming Gabula’s election as illegal, since he too had been enthroned to the same position, shortly after the death of the then Busoga’s King, Wako Muloki in 2008 and proceedings on the same are still ongoing at the Jinja high court.

However since then, some of the chiefs have been involved in endless leadership wrangles within their chiefdoms namely; Yasin Waguma, the then royal chief of Butembe was dethroned in 2015 and replaced with Banamwita, Luba Munulo, the then chief of Bunha was in 2016 impeached and replaced with Mukajanga.

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URN