Africa-Press – Uganda. The Kooki cultural institution is still stuck with new counties created three years ago as one of the ways to extend services to the people. In 2020, the cultural institution’s cabinet passed a resolution on the creation of new counties out of the existing counties, to be reinstated because Kooki had regained its glory.
The proposed counties are Mayango, Ddungu, Kibaale and Bulaga and according to the arrangement, each new county is expected to comprise at least three sub-counties.
Bulaga County, for example, is expected to consist of Kacheera, Lwamaggwa, Ddwaniro, and Kagamba sub-counties, whereas Lwanda, Kifamba, Rakai Town council and Byakabanda sub-counties will form Ddungu County. Mayango County will comprise Kyarurangira, Kiziba and Kibanda sub-counties.
“Our Kamuswaga appointed people to assist him in serving his subjects and they ended up with a resolution of reviving the counties, which existed in the 1800s. We still have it in plan and will be implemented at an appropriate time,” Mr Richard Sseggwaanyi, the speaker of Kooki Lukiiko (Parliament), said on Wednesday.
Mr Samson Kakembo, one of the Kooki elders, said the counties existed before Kooki became part of Buganda Kingdom and are just being revived.
“My grandfather used to tell us a lot of history about Kooki because he even spoke Lukooki language, which gave me a chance to grasp some history about the chiefdom. I remember him telling us that we had three counties and I am happy there is a plan to revive them,” he said.
Mr Stanley Ndawula, the Kooki information minister, said: “Putting in place something that has not been functioning for the last over 100 years is not an easy thing. The ministers did their work and so, it is the Kamuswaga to tell us who the county chiefs will be and we can’t ask him when they will be ready.’’
When asked about Kooki’s intention of creating counties, Mr Ndawula said: “Kooki is no longer on good terms with Buganda and we want to prove that we can move on as an independent cultural institution.”
In an earlier interview with this publication, Buganda Kingdom’s minister for Lukiiko, cabinet affairs and protocol, Mr Noah Kiyimba, said: “Our boundaries are well known and Kooki is one of the counties of Buganda. If there is something they are planning, I am sure out of courtesy they have to inform us”.
Kooki officials, however, insist they will only renew their cooperation with Buganda after Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II has had direct talks with Kamuswaga Apollo Kabumbuli II.
Kooki-Buganda ties
Kooki and Buganda have in the past decade been at loggerheads with the former insisting that it is an independent cultural institution.
Kooki officials have on several occasions blocked their counterparts from Buganda from entering their territory, claiming they have to first get clearance from the Kamuswaga, an arrangement Buganda rejects. There have been negotiations between the two parties in the past year to resolve the impasse, but no tangible results as yet.
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