Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Democracy and the Issue of Culture in Uganda: Reflections on the (Non)Restoration of the Ankole Monarchy |
Author: | Barya, John-Jean |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights (ISSN 1021-8858) |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 1-14 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Uganda East Africa |
Subjects: | monarchy democracy Nkore polity Politics and Government History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Law, Human Rights and Violence politics Ankole (Uganda) Political development history |
Abstract: | The people of the former kingdom of Ankole (Uganda) have generally rejected the restoration of their monarchy. To the majority of Banyankore, the monarchy is a symbol of oppression of Bahima over Bairu. Moreover, in the case of greater Ankole, the monarchy has neither historical nor sociopolitical legitimacy. It is a colonial creation devoid of any ability to have or fulfill cultural roles or functions as democratically defined. Up to 1962 the kingship in Ankole encapsulated the political and economic domination of one segment of society over others. Between 1962 and 1967 it was an arena of struggle for political domination between the Democratic Party (DP) and the Uganda People's Congress (UPC). Currently, the controversy over the restoration question is manifested in the existence of two rival cultural organizations: the Banyankore Cultural Foundation (BCF), which represents the republican position, and the Nkore Cultural Trust (NCT), which is the vanguard of the movement behind the restoration of monarchism. However, restoration of the kingdom is not simply a question of the recognition of cultural rights. One of the more significant implications concerns land and other properties that formerly belonged to the monarchy. Restoration of the kingdom pits democratic values of equality, nondiscrimination and equitable access to resources against class and ethnic domination. Notes, ref. |