Buganda Kingdom Celebrates 25TH Coronation Ceremony
The 31st of July is a very important and significant day in Buganda Kingdom, however the one of this year came with such a great package of marking the Kabaka’s (king) silver jubilee on the throne.
The coronation celebrations may not be a surprise to travellers who have ever visited Uganda and embarked on a Uganda Cultural Tour since they already know that there exists a king in this peaceful and attractive Kingdom. The Kingdom hosts some of the most amazing cultural sites that include the amazing Kasubi Tombs, the burial grounds for fallen Buganda kings and many other cultural and historical sites.
Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II celebrated his silver jubilee since his coronation following the restoration of the Kingdom in 1993. The initial coronation ceremony took place at Naggalabi Buddo a Kampala Suburb and the King has been reigning since then at the helm of vast great lakes kingdom.
To many people especially the Baganda, Kabaka’s subjects, yesterday’s celebrations represented such a huge and significant landmark that the King together with the Kingdom at large have reached. Many came to congratulate the Kabaka for the great achievements and success he has registered for the kingdom and also to commend him for enduring and surviving through all the challenges that sometimes shake up the Kingdom.
To mark the significance of the ceremony, Kabaka invited his special guest who is his counter part for the Kingdom of Ashanti in Ghana, Asantehene Osei Tutu II who came with his royals to grace the ceremony. Kabaka also invited all the cultural leaders in Uganda who included Busoga and Ankole Kingdom leaders that attended the function. Other guests included officials from the central government headed by Vice President Edward Ssekandi, Members from the state and Buganda Parliaments, religious leaders, academicians and many other representatives of different institutions. The function was also open for all the well-wishers of the Kingdom who attended in very large numbers.
The excitement and joy that filled the people was not just to celebrate the event of the day but they were also celebrating the remarkable achievements of the kingdom that the king has presided over.
The Prime Minister of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga cites that one of the key achievements of the past 25 years is the unity and cohesion among the people of Buganda when it comes to Kingdom issues. With this, he says that people put their political and religious differences aside and work for the good of the kingdom. The kingdom has also registered tremendous success in education where the king has offered bursaries to many children and he has also built schools from primary, technical schools, to University.
Kabaka has also promoted more developmental programs including the launch of Bucadef, a program that gives technical advise to the people, especially on agriculture and the provision of water and other services. Together with other partners, the Kingdom also provides people with water and advises them on modern farming practices and with this assistance, some people have started embracing growing coffee, cassava, Matooke and other foodstuffs. Other fields where success has been registered include sports, infrastructural development, broadcasting services of both radio stations and Television and Telecommunication.
However, even with such visible achievements the Kingdom still faces some challenges that have impeded them from achieving some of their goals. For example, the people of Buganda demand a very modern hospital but the kingdom is still short of resources to execute this ambitious project. The kingdom is also short of formidable, committed and competent volunteers who can dedicate themselves to serve their King at all costs to help him implement more developmental projects.
Despite the yet to be achieved goals by the kingdom, it is worth to underline that there is such a clear path of success given the evidence of the achievements in place. The continued dedication and innovativeness spearheaded by the Katikiro (Prime Minister) that has helped the Kingdom to register the above successs can be counted on to take the kingdom to another phase of positivity.
