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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Democracy and the Issue of Culture in Uganda: Reflections on the (Non)Restoration of the Ankole Monarchy
Author:Barya, John-JeanISNI
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.
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