Above: Students' dormitory at Kizinga Technical School, Kabale District

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Banyakigyezi gathered at Kihiihi

In the district of Kanungu 

On a wet rainy day

December, twenty-seventh

Of Twenty twenty-four. 

Many, dressed in yellow 

The ruling party colour 

Gathering of the Movement 

To pledge political loyalty

Camouflaged with claim not true.

Pleased me beyond all measure

To see that colour displayed 

With party symbols galore

For honesty upends deception

And frees the tongues and minds. 

The gathering billed a convention 

Of ICOB Uganda Chapter  

International Community of Banyakigezi 

And then for added drama

Declared twenty-seventh convention.

Another exaggeration, of course,

Erased remaining credibility 

But put a smile on my face

In Toronto birthplace of ICOB

Born twenty-one years ago.

Truth be told dear reader 

The gathering there at Kihiihi 

Was not an ICOB convention 

But was a partisan assembly 

Of Museveni’s ruling NRM. 

Led by brothers and sisters 

Of defunct Uganda chapter 

International Community of Banyakigezi 

Who claimed what they rejected 

In March twenty twenty-one.

The said Uganda Chapter

 As it was once known

Severed its branch from ICOB 

And lost its right to belong

To the mother Organization. 

Impersonating of ICOB 

International organization 

With branches in three countries

Headquarters in the USA

Not an accidental error. 

The effort is, of course 

To paint our ICOB yellow

Fate of many organisations

Swallowed up by the party

That sees all as a threat.

Let that not distract us

From joy of seeing Banyakigyezi

Gathered around the fireplace

In a manner of speech, you get 

To discuss our people’s fate.

Great opportunity it was 

To have Yoweri Museveni 

The ruler of our land 

And a Munyakigyezi at that

To listen to people’s needs.

What a joy for me it was 

To see him there in person 

For what I hoped would be 

A chance for brothers and sisters

To speak for kith and kin.

Shedding their partisan colours 

Dispensing with empty flattery

Engaging in serious talks 

With him who rules the land

Was what we thought would be.  

We hoped that these our people 

Would claim the legendary courage 

By which our parents lived 

And spoke the truth to power

For which they were celebrated.

What a chance to speak to him

President of our Republic 

With respectful seriousness

About what ails our Kigyezi

Home of industrious people. 

Yoweri Museveni is a man 

Who listens and engages 

With an ear that is guided 

By respect he has for you

That which you give yourself.

Flatter him, sing his praises

He smiles and sees through you

Decades in darkest politics 

He trusts none of the singers

Least of all your kind.

Challenge him with facts,

Museveni takes you seriously

And seeks to understand

Before pronouncing self 

On subject matter at hand.

Mouthpieces of Banyakigyezi

Squandered the opportunity

Chose to sing their songs of praise

As though in church or festival

Before our mortal president. 

Some expressed their gratitude

To him for having spent 

Public money to fund them 

On junkets abroad to attend 

Conventions of Abanyakigyezi.

Of no known value to Kigyezi

Enjoyed their time abroad

On shopping sprees and all

But claiming to represent 

People who knew them not.

Contrary to their claims 

To be part of ICOB projects 

For digital literacy in Kigyezi

These brothers and sisters must not 

Be accused of having participated.  

The work of ICOB-Apex

Diaspora-based organization

Received not a whiff of support 

From these our brothers and sisters

Who prefer to take free gifts

In the guise of serving Kigyezi. 

The people in Uganda 

Who freely gave through ICOB

Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile 

Peninah Kyoheirwe Ngategize 

Our dearly departed friends.

Tumusiime and Kyoheirwe

Understood and lived for ICOB

Like Narcis Tumushabe Rwangoga

Internet Communication professional  

Whose brains have built the projects.

Together with Lilian Kamusiime 

And Evelyne Ninsiima Kikafunda 

Henry Ariganyira Musaasizi 

Rwangoga steadfast believer 

In ICOB’s vision and mission.

 These four are the pillars of ICOB

 In our beloved Uganda

They serve with truth and honesty  

To make impactful difference 

In lives of next generations.  

To deceive our country’s president

Was daring to the extreme

Museveni is better informed 

Than some may presume 

He’s not in place by chance. 

Similar deception came 

From one declaring to him 

With a sweet Rukiga accent 

That said “Kigyezi erigye” 

Kigyezi is doing well. 

Kigyezi is doing well indeed 

For those at high table like them 

Who enjoy a life unknown 

To Banyakigyezi in our highlands 

And the valleys of our birth.  

Kigyezi is doing well

For those who access the money

From investments in Buganda and beyond

And the presidential campaign funds 

Whose tap never seems to dry.

The minister of ICT 

Who is also our national guide

Acquitted himself very well 

His brief to speak for government

Not for Abanyakigyezi. 

His script a lovely litany 

Of great things Museveni hath done 

For Kigyezi our beloved land

As though ‘twas personal funds

To subjects the president gave. 

By the time the minister was done 

The president was beaming with smiles 

For this great son of the soil

With eloquence and passion had spoken 

And rightly had earned his keep. 

Forget that what we heard 

About those projects to come 

Requests for roads in his place

Was dressed in usual promises, 

One takes with a spoon of salt.

The days’ voice of Banyakigyezi,

Leader of defunct Uganda chapter

One dear friend of mine

Overawed by king of kings

Got lost in song of praise.

Completely unprepared 

For dialogue with the ruler 

Or even the people’s needs  

My friend seemed to have forgotten 

The realities on the ground. 

She mentioned our promised city 

Of Kabaare in gorgeous highlands

Whose funding has now been halted 

For reasons unknown by people

Distressful to many Banyakigyezi.  

She quickly abandoned that issue

Buried it in commercial break

Announcing her personal plan 

To seek a place in parliament

In the name of Rubanda women.

What a loss of favourable moment

To put Museveni to task 

To explain why most Banyakabaare

And most of the Banyakigyezi 

Must live as though not citizens.

Museveni the wise man he is 

Seeing through all this court dancing 

And songs he knows by heart 

He chose to lecture the assembled 

About things they already knew. 

He taught them about themselves

Bakiga, Bahororo, Banyabutumbi

Who they are and where they be

Complete with his personal links

To the enchanting hills of Kigyezi.

I loved that bit a lot 

For he and I do share 

Contempt for disruptive borders

Created dysfunctional marriages 

Disastrous consequences for all.

The rest was his pet subject 

Of poverty eradication again

Entandikwa, bona bagagawale

Emyoga, Parish Development Model

And now the four-acre farm.

When up his chopper rose 

To heavens where kings reside, 

The problems and opportunities 

Of people overburdened

Remained unpresented to him. 

Kigyezi needs caring leaders 

Brave and liberated kind 

Ngorogoza and his peers 

Who proudly spoke as equals 

To presidents in their employ.

© Muniini K. Mulera