Bunyoro writes to Attorney General over Britain case

Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom subjects have written to the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka opposing his opinion regarding their impeding case against the United Kingdom government.

The subjects under their umbrella organisation Mubende Banyoro United Association (MBA), want compensation from the British government for atrocities committed against Bunyoro by colonialists.

The letter dated June 10, this year, followed Kiwanuka’s opinion, dated March 27.

Kiwanuka’s letter is addressed to the Kingdom Prime Minister, Andrew Kirungi Byakutaga, dissuading the kingdom from suing the UK government.

In his opinion, Kiwanuka said even if Banyoro filed a case against the British government, it would be hard for them to win because the issue they presented had been overtaken by events.

MBA as a way to express their dissatisfaction also wants Kiwanuka to review the information they gave him.

Livingstone Bakumira, the MBA chairperson, said they met President Yoweri Museveni in 2016 where they requested him to support them to take the British government to court on the pretext of seeking for justice.

He said in response, the President wrote to Kiwanuka and asked him to study the Bunyoro claim and prepare an opinion for him on its merits before government’s intervention.

“He ignored the actual background of the matter, leaving Banyoro to continue living as squatters on their ancestral land at the mercy of Baganda absentee landlords.”

He added that to their surprise, Kiwanuka responded to Byakutaga instead of Museveni, who requested for the advice.

Recently, Bakumira told The Albertine Journal that they are demanding up to USD$10 trillion in war claims.

An MBA official disclosed that they have already gathered evidence from across the world where the tormentors kept it.

The Banyoro accuse Britain of plundering natural resources, torture, wrongful detention and genocide, among others, especially during the scorched earth counter rebellion that crushed the Kabalega resistance.

MBA said more than two million people are estimated to have died during and after the 1893 to 1899 war, mainly from starvation, disease and murder.

MBA has hired Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, a renowned Kenyan public speaker, law lecturer, historian and orator as their lawyer to represent them in the case.

Lumumba on June 8, 2023, was in Hoima City, western Uganda, to deliver a public lecture under the invitation of MBA titled: “Legal claim against the British Government and General Public Lecture on Pan Africanism-https://thealbertinejournal.com/in-full-professor-lumumba-public-lecture-in-bunyoro/

Byakutaga who confirmed receiving the letter, told local journalists that the kingdom has no problem with them expressing their dissatisfaction.

Joan Aheebwa, a lawyer in Hoima City told The Albertine Journal in December last year that the case stands to succeed given a declaration on the Mau Mau case.

She said the High Court in England ruling opened the door for all similar suits based on the same facts.

“Once a test suit succeeds, ground is created automatically for all other claims in the same class.”