The Kyabazinga of Busoga, William Nadiope Gabula IV. (PHOTO/PPU)
The aggrieved members accuse the duo of failure to convene Lukiiko meetings for over six months against in contravention of Busoga?s constitution which requires the Lukiiko to meet once every four months.
During an ?emergency? meeting at Bugembe Youth Center on Monday, attended by 36 members, they also recommended that the Isabalangira (chief prince) comes up with a committee to investigate the duo?s conduct.
?The speaker and his deputy should defend themselves on their behavior within 14 days,? they said in a communication signed by their chairman John Lukakamwa from Butembe chiefdom and Secretary Alisati Mutesi from Bunya chiefdom.
The two were elected by the group shortly after they were blocked by security personnel from holding the meeting at the kingdom headquarters in Bugembe on Monday.
Earlier on March 25, this year, they wrote a petition to speaker George Mutyabule asking him to convene a meeting to discuss ?urgent, crucial and very important matters concerning the administration and properties of Busoga which are continuously being lost in fraudulent deals?.
The petition was signed by 39 members, which is more than one third of the about 100 members of the Busoga Lukiiko.
For a petition to be considered by the speaker, the petitioners must raise one third of the members of the Lukiiko.
However, Lukakamwa said the mandatory three days within which the constitution requires the speaker to cause the meeting after receiving the petition elapsed without any response.
?We have no ill motives. Our Kyabazinga was brought to power by this constitution we therefore don?t want to see it being abrogated,? he said.
The petitioners are also concerned that despite expiry of the term of office of the interim Busoga executive committee on December 29, 2014, a performance report has never been sent to Busoga Lukiiko or the chiefs? royal council.
In a January 19, 2015 letter to Isabalangira Luba Munulo, Mutyabule wrote acknowledging that the tenure of the Interim Executive Committee had expired.
He however said to convene an extraordinary meeting to discuss the matter as Munulo has requested, he needed funds which were not available.
?Funds for conducting the said meeting since members of Lukiiko are still demanding for their allowances for the previous year (three meetings) are unavailable which you are fully conversant with,? he said
Commenting on the Monday meeting and its resolutions, both Mutyabule and kingdom spokesman Andrew Ntange said it was unlawful.
Ntange noted the meeting was made informally by a handful of Lukiiko members after being blocked from the kingdom seat.
?As a kingdom we take strong exception of what happened. What is not done by the mainstream administration is not part of Busoga,? Ntange said adding that though the Kyabazinga William Nadiope Gabula IV is away studying abroad, all organs of the institution are functioning well.
Mutyabule said the kingdom administration would meet to respond to the concerns.
Munulo on Tuesday said he would soon appoint a committee to investigate Mutyabule and his deputy Florence Biruma.
?They (speaker and his deputy) are lucky they have been given chance to defend themselves. We don?t want to return to the past,? he said in reference to the period between 2008 and 2014 when the kingdom was rocked by leadership disputes over lack of a substantive king.
Kyabazinga Gabula was coronated in September 2014 replacing Henry Wako Muloki who died in September 2008.
By Charles Kakamwa, The New Vision
