Buganda Kingdom’s Enkuuka: An Opposition Rally Disguised as a Music Concert

Buganda Kingdom’s Enkuuka annual music show is a multi-faceted fete that comes off as a blend of culture and politics with the overall motive of making billions while using Mengo as the rallying point.

When Mengo had a frosty relationship with the central government, the two major entities that spewed hate laced with tribal undertones were CBS radio and BBS television. They openly come out as an opposition mouthpiece to malign and blackmail the government to yield to a raft of demands including the nonstarter federal system.

Until the tempers were cooled, these two entities toned down their vitriol against the central government. However, this was a temporal verbal armistice after their demands were partially sorted. Till today, the ambers of opposition at Mengo aren’t doused. The demand for federal and outright hatred for the president has never abated. The programming at CBS has a slanted editorial, where regular news is presented in the form of analysis rather than dissemination of information as it is. All presenters are wired to tow a critical line against public policy and express a purported dominant public view. This is done insidiously considering that the negotiations are ongoing about their demands from the central government.

The negative public sentiments against the government have shifted from the bigwigs and relegated to either proxies like the Enkuuka or small individuals in the Mengo hierarchy like presenters or politicians like MPs and councilors. This is where Enkuuka comes off as a big rallying point to propagate opposition sentiments to a single massive gathering. The trend Enkuuka has taken, bears the hallmarks of a tacit approval of the Mengo establishment. Right from organisers, Bajjo Events and Abtex, media adverts, talkshow hosts and presenters up to musicians and artistes, the function is choreographed to amplify the opposition agenda.

The pre-event activities, ranging from media adverts, drives, promotions and talk-shows, the fete is portrayed as an opposition function. In the minds of revellers, Enkuuka pits Mengo against the central government. That is why any Musician perceived to support government is either pelted with stones and mineral water bottles or jeered at and heckled until they are hounded off the stage during their performances. There is a growing trend of outright promotion of tribalism, especially against westerners.

What has been propagated in the minds of revellers is that Enkuuka is a Baganda tribal function as opposed to a music show for all. The best example was when Ray G, a musician from western Uganda was chased off stage accompanied by derogatory comments against his tribe.

The irony is that one of the organisers, Abby Musinguzi of Abtex promotions is a westerner, but Bajjo Mukasa is used to drive the negative tribal sentiments.

The list of performers is carefully picked and crafted to portray two salient features, the tribe and political inclination. It is now turning out as a norm for all performers on stage to proclaim the allegiance to people power and NUP leader Kyagulanyi. Bajjo went to the extent of announcing that the show was specifically staged for his president Kyagulanyi to talk to ‘his people’. He justified this as the only way he would meet his supporters since he is barred from staging concerts.

What came out evidently was the genre of politicians that attended, most of them were opposition politicians and were given platform to excoriate government.

It was clear their views resonated with the revelers who had been primed to cheer them by the announcers. All the speeches were anti government, the comedy skits by Maulana and Reign portrayed the president as a thief who stole a phone in a taxi. This portrayed the image of the president in bad light as a petty thief out to steal even trivial items like a phone from passengers in a taxi. Ironically, it got wild cheers from the crowd.

The representatives of the Mengo outfit also didn’t help the situation as their speeches were a continuation of the salacious onslaught on the government.

They portrayed a gloomy situation of hopelessness in the country and called for change in leadership. They reminded them to always remain united behind one of their own, a veiled reference to back Kyagulanyi.

The absence of the Kabaka dampened the mood of the fete, though it was interpreted to mean that his absence was meant to offer a free hand to politicians to malign government without him embroiled in the mire if he were to be present. Maybe the views would be subdued for fear of a backlash. It is a delicate balance between expressing his tribal bigotry and keeping in good books with central government, given that negotiations about their demands are in piecemeal. The statements were guarded lest they rattle the government.

The icing on the cake was when Kyagulanyi came on stage, the kind of introduction, the praises, the salvo directed at government and the tribal rhetoric reached a crescendo as the crowd surged to his entry on stage. As expected his show was full of bashing the government, making the usual allegations of human rights violations, a failed state, call to overthrow the status quo by any means etc. You would clearly see a political rally disguised as a music concert. Enkuuka being a collection of mostly the wretched in town, his message was well received by all and sundry from the slums where his ilk resides. The language was bhangi the words were illicit alcohol and the conduct was weird and that was the aggregate of what could come from the ghetto king.

Any interested party needs to take keen interest in the trend Enkuuka is taking and take remedial measures to tame the growing trend of tribalism and toxic opposition sentiments.

A clear dichotomy between a musical concert and a political rally must be made to the organisers or else we sit on a time bomb ready to explode anytime when tribal bigotry will overwhelm reason.