The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Mbale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Umukuuka wa Bugisu, His Royal Highness (HRH) Sir Jude Mike Mudoma, has urged Bagisu to ignore calls for election of a new cultural leader in his subregion.
Through a press release, the Umukuuka questioned the timing of the calls that come when Uganda is nearing the climax of a political election season, which normally comes with all sorts of selfish agendas aimed at disrupting peace, creating disunity among the people and generally causing widespread confusion.
Bugisu comprises Mbale City as well as the districts of Bududa, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Mbale, Namisindwa, and Sironko. Umukuuka Mudoma, however, also has cultural oversight in parts of western Kenya, especially in Bungoma and Kitale counties, which are in the ancestral lands of other Bamasaaba with a population bigger than that in Bugisu.
Umukuuka Mudoma’s Information, Media, and Communications Minister Alfred Geresom Musamali said the cultural leader had taken note of an advertisement in a national daily newspaper of 16th August, 2025, in which Ambassador Charles Pekke Walimbwa was calling a meeting of Inzu ya Masaaba (IYM) on Saturday, 30th August, 2025.
Musamali said Walimbwa had specified neither the venue nor the agenda for the meeting, adding that Umukuuka Mudoma had also read on various fora communications from Masaka Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Ahmada Washaki planning to convene an IYM meeting to elect their leader.
Both Walimbwa and Washaki were in the Umukuuka Cabinet till early this year, when they were dropped. They have since insisted that Umukuuka Mudoma’s five-year non-renewable term of office started in October 2020 and ends in October this year. However, while Umukuuka Mudoma was elected in 2020 following the death of his predecessor, Bob Mushikori, there arose electoral disputes with Amran Wagabyalire that delayed the installation of Umukuuka Mudoma till August 2023.
“There have also been several queries from the United Kingdom (UK) Bamasaaba Association (IMUKA) and its United States (US) and Canada counterpart (NAMCA) regarding the relationship between the IYM, which purports to be a cultural institution, and Umukuuka wa Bugisu, a corporation sole institution established under the Institution of the Traditional or Cultural Leaders (ITCL) Act Cap 242 in 2011,” said Musamali.
“Umukuuka, therefore, wishes to clarify that the issues related to the traditional or cultural leadership in Bugisu date far back in the early 2000s, when the Bugisu districts set up the Bugisu Cultural Board to consider ways of cooperation among the multiple districts that were being carved out of the Greater Mbale District (Bugisu sub-region),” said Musamali.
“That was before the enactment of the ITCL in 2011. The cooperation was then premised on the provisions of Art 178 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, which provided for cooperation among districts on matters of culture and development and, later, the failed Regional Tier proposed law,” he added.
Musamali said at that time, there was no guiding law on how to institute any traditional or cultural leadership, and indeed many communities in Uganda made several mistakes when they tried to set up what they referred to as cultural institutions, such as IYM. This institution was, he added, in particular, effectively an association and, to get a legal veil, opted to be registered as a company limited by guarantee in Oct 2011.
Musamali said, “For a long time thereafter, the illegality of IYM and similar associations that referred to themselves as cultural leadership institutions was ignored, in as much as the illegalities were pointed out by courts of law.”
“Somehow the government never took action for nearly 15 years, and it was not until April 2025 that line central government minister Betty Amongi took active steps to rectify the Gazettes issued from far back in 2014 to align them with the law through a corrigendum.
“The effect of the corrigendum is that Umukuuka and all the other traditional or cultural leaders are institutional corporation soles for the respective declared areas in Uganda,” said Musamali.
In this case, he said, the cultural leader is the Umukuuka, and the area is Bugisu; thus, the name Umukuuka wa (of) Bugisu.
He added that by virtue of that corrigendum, Umukuuka is a different legal entity from IYM, which is an association registered as a company limited by guarantee.
In any case, said Musamali, IYM was even struck off the register for failing to file Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) annual returns.
“On the issue of the logo, there is no way 2 different legal entities can perpetually share the same brand identities, such as logos, mottos, and anthems, so Umukuuka is addressing those issues, one by one; thus, the new logo has of late entered into use,” he said.
He assured the Bamasaaba that this does not mean that Umukuuka has disbanded IYM but that IYM is legally a different entity, with its membership, which would freely conduct its business if it had fulfilled the URSB requirements.
On the issue of Bugisu or Bagisu, he said this is a matter for Parliament and the laws of Uganda, since Bugisu and Bagisu have been known to be part of Uganda from as far back as 1929, and all the constitutions of Uganda are clear on that, making it unnecessary, time-wasting, and illogical for Umukuuka wa Bugisu to be drawn into some speculative sentimental arguments that have no foundation.
“Uganda is nearing the climax of a political election season, which normally comes with all sorts of selfish agendas aimed at disrupting peace, creating disunity among the people, and generally causing widespread confusion,” he cautioned.
“While it would have been okay for IYM to reconvene to reconstitute and put their association house in order, the timing during such a political season is, therefore, highly suspect, ill-advised, and extremely puzzling,” he added.
In any case, said the minister, some of the issues being speculated upon and likely to be discussed in the IYM meeting are before courts of law, and it would be sub judice to discuss them.
“Umukuuka is, therefore, calling on the people of Bugisu to ignore those calls for any meeting to elect a leader for the IYM,” he said.
