Banyoro-Bakiga Ethnic Rivalry Threatens 2011 Elections

East Africa  |  12.06.09   By Randy Odaga

Kibaale, Uganda — The Banyoro kingdom of Uganda has threatened to boycott the presidential elections of 2011 if the government does not work to immediately resolve the simmering tension fueled by a quest for political power and land ownership between indigenous Banyoro and the dominant Bakiga immigrant population.

A statement issued after a special meeting on Thursday, chaired by Katta Musoke, head of the Mubende-Banyoro Committee, said no indigenous person would present themselves as candidates or vote for other contenders in the forthcoming ballot until the sticky issue of ethnic rivalry is sorted out.

Whereas the call for a poll boycott would be illegal, its instigators hope this will bring sufficient pressure to bear on President Yoweri Museveni, who during a meeting with the rival parties at the State House in Entebbe on September 4, said his government would have solved the chronic Banyoro-Bakiga problems by October 9.

The initial talks led Dr. Kasiriivu Atwooki, the Presidential Advisor on Lands, collapsed after rival parties declined to cede ground. Dr. Atwooki supported ring-fencing of key political posts for Banyoro while the Bafuruki flatly rejected the unprecedented disenfranchisement, which critics label as “unconstitutional.”

By proposing to opt out of the 2011 vote, the leaders would deny the estimated 551,400 people in Kibaale their right to democratic representation in both local and national governance, meaning decisions affecting them could eventually be made without their input

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