Postcard from Masaka

Kariuki Mureithi writes from Masaka in the fifth of his reports from around the country in the run-up to Uganda's presidential election on 12 March

Masaka is Kabaka country.

This small vibrant town surrounded by rolling hills is at the centre of the controversial Buganda kingdom, whose current King is the flamboyant Kabaka Mutebi.

The 36th Kabaka: Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II

The kingdom has gone through turbulent times. It was only restored in the 1990s by President Museveni, following its abolition by Uganda's first Prime Minister, Dr Milton Obote, soon after the country's independence from Britain in the 1960s.

The people of Masaka pride themselves in the fact that most of the kingdom's prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Joseph Ssemogerere, hail from the town.

The town also houses one of the Kabaka's many palaces.

Local Municipal Engineer, Peter Ssebitosi, told me that the Kabaka is revered in Masaka, and any negative talk about him was most unwelcome.

History

The town has a long history. Like many Ugandan towns, it was set up as a trading post by Indian businessmen at the turn of the last century.

Kizza Besigye comes to town

Evidence of this is seen in the rundown stone buildings put up by the traders from the 1920s.

From Masaka you can access neighbouring Tanzania through the busy Bukoba highway, the route used by Ugandan dissidents supported by Tanzanian soldiers in the counter attack that led to the overthrow of the dreaded Idi Amin military regime in 1979.

The attack left the town with many horrendous scars.

Poster size matters

The post office, the municipal headquarters and many other buildings are today mere shells.

A local resident told me that the municipality had deliberately refused to put up new buildings where the shells now stand, in order to constantly remind the people about the evils of war.

Campaigning

On the day I arrived in Masaka, Dr Kizza Besigye, President Museveni's strongest opponent in the presidential race, had brought his campaign to town.

Candidates made sure they praised the Kabaka

On the following day the president also came to town in style.

A small aeroplane circled Masaka, dropping from its belly thousands of campaign posters.

This was obviously an indication of the importance that the candidates attached to the town and its surrounding areas.

In their speeches, the two candidates promised almost everything.

However, there was one thing that both of them dared not forget: to express their great love for the Kabaka of the Buganda Kingdom .