- June 10, 2018
- Posted by: Communications
- Category: Empango 2018 Magazine
By Kwesiga Pascal
Sometime in February 2017, I was asked to set up a WhatsApp group platform by some of my colleagues in the media business to discuss a wide range of issues pertaining Bunyoro. I had never set up any such group and was hesitant to do so.
I was afraid that, most times, such groups get misused and they become virtual grounds for dumping all manner of stuff that people come across in their social media fishing expeditions.
But the justifications for setting up one such group platform overrode the fears. We realized we could have a WhatsApp group platform dedicated to achieving certain objectives and direct discussions and information shared towards a cause.
Veteran journalist Jonathan Akweteireho and I moderate the discussions on the platform which we called Bunyoro Hard talk.
We resolved that the platform be composed of people from a wide spectrum of Bunyoro society, deeply interested in Bunyoro affairs and uncomfortable about the status of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom and how the people charged with leadership are running affairs on our behalf.
Following days of heated discussions, some members suggested that we hold a conference to brainstorm under one roof and make resolutions to address some of the identified issues.
When the proposal for a Bunyoro conference was first floated on the platform, it seemed like a big project and we couldn’t fathom immediately how it could be pulled off with results.
Our initial fears notwithstanding, we accepted to take up the task. We posted a message asking people interested in taking part in organizing the conference to show interest.
Mr. Owagonza Robert, Mr. Nyaika Gilbert, Mr. Kyamanywa Julius, Princes Doreen, Mrs. Akiiki Grace Koojo, Owek. Mugerwa Francis and Mr. Sam Mugisa indicated their interest in organizing the conference.
Together, we set up an organizing committee, with Mr. Akwetereiho and I being part of it. We selected Mr. Owagonza to chair it and we started charting ways of raising resources to finance the meeting. In the whatsapp platform, members had suggested the meeting to address specific issues.
A lot of information had been shared on the platform showing how the Kingdom was being mismanaged and how it could be run into the ground in a matter of days if something had not been done immediately.
The documentary evidence showed how chunks of Kingdom land and the institution’s shares in Kinyara had been disposed of fraudulently. The kingdom was apparently under siege from people expected to protect it! So, the conference was called to try to reverse the trend by naming and shaming the culprits and considering legal actions against them.
But we also discussed opportunities in the oil and gas industry and how to safeguard land rights of the people in the Kingdom blessed with oil and gas.
For the first time in modern history of the Kingdom, the platform members collected sh10.5m to facilitate the conference in a matter of days. This demonstrated the level of interest the people of Bunyoro and our current leaders have in the affairs of the kingdom.
Some of the contributions came from our political leaders at various levels. We wish we had space to mention the contributors. We are grateful and optimistic that spirit will remain.
We held a very successful conference on March 25, 2017 at Kontik hotel in Hoima. We are also grateful to all the people of Bunyoro who attended the meeting and the central government ministers – Hon. Matia Kasaija, Hon. Ernest Kiiza, Hon. Kasirivu Atwooki, Hon. David Karubanga and MPs –for supporting and attending the conference. Many members do not forget Hon. Kasaija’s words at the conference “Boojo na kinu kitatufeera omungaro”
What has been done?
Since we walked out of the gate of Kontik hotel as the night fell on that historic day, with Owek. Akiiki Grace Koojo smiling from ear to ear as she said her byes byes to us, a lot of good things have happened. Through the platform, members set up an interim steering committee for the proposed Bunyoro University. Eminent scholars from Bunyoro are spearheading this cause, and they delivered a presentation at the Bunyoro Kingdom symposium in April this year. The committee has engaged a number of stakeholders and top leaders in the country to fast-track the establishment of the proposed University in Bunyoro.
People who have listened to the committee’s presentations on the nature of the University Bunyoro needs have only nodded in approval. They are not suggesting anything like conflict resolution studies that President Yoweri Museveni usually makes fun of when talking about the courses some Ugandan Universities offer and they only compound the unemployment problem. “What if there are no conflicts to resolve,” the president usually says in reference to a course on conflict resolution.
The members have also set up a tourism taskforce to profile Bunyoro’s tourism potential and promote it to the world. The task force ably represented Bunyoro at the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo at Sheraton Hotel Exhibition ground in February this year. Again, members facilitated the task force financially.
Then, there are the Bunyoro Education Fund and Investment Club Task Forces. We hope all these initiatives will sprout into big ventures for the benefit of Bunyoro. The platform has proposed a series of sweeping reforms in the Kingdom and we are happy some are being implemented. Just one of them is the re-establishment of the Royal Commission to handle specific tasks as and when need arises. The platform has also been making recommendations to the Royal Commission and the Kingdom administration.
By the time Owek. Francis Mugerwa asked me to piece up this article, I had collected financial contributions worth about sh10m from members on Bunyoro Hard Talk group platform towards Empango 2018. More money was still in pledges. In making these contributions, members are motivated by the desire to restore Bunyoro’s glory. They are also a testimony of the renewed optimism and interest in Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom affairs.
The new administration of the Kingdom has an opportunity to take advantage of this fresh optimism. The Banyoro will keep a close watch on affairs in their Kingdom.
As contributions came through, someone sent me this WhatsApp text, “Weewe aba Hard Talkers mugira sente)”. I hope the person did not mean we are rich. If that was the intended meaning, Oh Lord, bless us all. Thank you.
The writer is a journalist and an admin of Bunyoro Hard Talk whatsapp Group.