Rwenzori politics, indeed a tip of an ancient iceberg between state and cultural institutions.

July 4^th 2014, the almost long forgotten chaos returned to the mountainous regions of Rwenzori after “unknown” group of armed assailants launched synchronized attacks on major govt installations. The attackers had enveloped their mission objectives under existing ethnic tensions between the Bakonzo and Ba-amba ethnic groups that dates back to 1950s before establishment of the state Uganda by colonial powers.

In the 80s, anomalies between state and cultural leaderships in Rwenzori had prompted creation of the ADF rebel group that had taken advantage of the then confusion between state and the kingdom by promising to settle repressions and unfair treatment of the minority, by installing an Islamic state system of governance on Uganda!

Now by then, the young and wise Mr. Museveni stealthily applied wisdom he had gained through long analytical study of faulty lines in various cultural settings in Uganda that had been left destabilized by colonial powers and early state operators. He skillfully involved processes of dialogue, amnesty and compensations to minority groups that felt mistreated and misrepresented. He had recognized co-existence of state and cultural institutions as a core value in forming peace deals throughout Uganda.

Days that followed people who had been involved in rebellious activities against the state (imams, tribal chiefs, princes and kings) abandoned their hostilities and were re-united through amnesty in nation building activities. In those wonderful days, the president’s wits in conflict resolution had worked a miracle on the self exiled Mumbere of the Rwenzururu [earlier believed to have been a potential  force that drove the ADF] into coming back home and represent his people in Ugandan politics through cultural leadership.

But today, there seems to be a change in the winds and mentalities that helped in forging peace and various freedoms as we’ve known them. Whispers are heard in corridors of power advising the president to reconsider liberties of cultural institutions, while at the same time requesting an iron grip on the Muslim communities of Uganda, but what happens if cultural leaders find an alternative to their current predicament or if currently the state fails to account for the three murdered Muslim clerics with links to past conflicts?