How State House bribed Katikiiro Ssemogerere to fail "federo"

The government of President Yoweri Museveni paid the former Katikiiro of Buganda, Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemogerere a handsome fee to abort the talks between the central government and Mengo.

Reliable sources say the government paid the Katikiiro one billion Uganda shillings (about $550,000) to plunge the talks over the regional tier and Buganda's demands for a federal status into chaos.

The sources, who saw a duplicate of a receipt on which Ssemogerere signed to acknowledge receiving the money, said the payment was effected through the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

Rugunda was chosen to process the payment because it was feared that if State House paid the Katikiiro, there were too many people inside State House who would leak the secret deal to the public.

Just days after the Kabaka Ronald Mutebi sacked his entire cabinet on December 23, 2005, a former minister in the Buganda government, Peter Mulira, confirmed that he believed that the Buganda ministers had received money from State House to cause the talks to breakdown.

The Katikiiro was asked to resign by the Kabaka as a way of preserving the dignity of Buganda.

Ssemogerere attended Dar es Salaam University at around the same time Museveni was a student there in the late 1960s.

To stop the damage to Buganda, the Kabaka appointed a hardline monarchist, Daniel Muliika, as successor to Ssemogerere.

In an opinion article published in the Daily Monitor on February 2, 2006, writer and former Ugandan diplomat Jenkins Kiwanuka revealed that Mukiika visited Kibuli mosque and spoke abut the federo debacle in strong words that indicated his and the kingdom's anger at Ssemogerere.