By John Nzinjah
THE Rwenzururu kingdom has been cautioned against using force to acquire land for the cultural institution.
“A uniting kingdom of the people around the Rwenzori mountains was not in place until Isaya Mukirania Kyibanzanga I was installed by all the chieftains in the region in 1965.
“Therefore, the kingdom did not have land of its own as an institution,” Omusinga (Rwenzururu king) Charles Wesley Mumbere observed.
He referred to the recent bickering between the Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu administration and an investor over land on Base Camp Hill overlooking Kasese town centre.
Mumbere noted that the institution, which was officially recognised by the Government last year, had 30 acres of land in Kasese town.
He was addressing about 500 guests at his palace in Kasese town at the commemoration of the death of his father, Isaya Mukirania, on Thursday.
Mukirania, who died on September 2, 1966, was the first uniting king of the Bakonzo (Bayira) and Bamba around the Rwenzori Mountains.
Mumbere described his late father as a hero of freedom, unity and peace and called on his subjects to maintain the prevailing peace in the region.
Every September 2, hundreds of Rwenzururu subjects and officials walk over 20 kilometres north of Bwera town to Bulemba hill in Kasese district to pay their respects at Mukirania’s grave.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority has put up a permanent tourist shelter at the place located within Rwenzori National Park.
