PRESS RELEASE BY TWERWANEHO LISTENERS CLUB

FORT PORTAL [HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CLUB]

DATED THIS 19^th day of October, 2010 at Fort Portal

PROTEST AGAINST CONTINEOUS UNLAWFUL SELL OF KINGDOM LAND [PRIVATE AND PUBLIC MAILS] BY QUEEN MOTHER AND HER AGENTS

Under S. 143 of the Registration of Titles Act Cap 205 as at 4^th January, 2000 the Queen mother wrote to the Senior Registrar of Titles for her name to be entered on the 24 Title Registers as administratrix of the estate of the late Prince Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III after she had been granted letters of administration in 1996.

The Queen mother went ahead to offer the government 13 parcels of land covering 13.5 square miles to be purchased by the government in pursuit of S. 42 of the Land Act 1998. A copy of the letter dated 13^th August, 2004 from the office of the Minister of State (Lands) Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment signed by Mr. Baguma Isoke instructing the Chairperson Land Commission to receive the 13 titles is hereto appended as annexure A₁ to substantiate this illicit offer. Subsequently the Department of Lands and Surveys, Entebbe made several correspondences to the Resident District Commissioners of Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge and Kasese to oversee the exercise. Copies of these correspondences are attached as Annexure A₂ hereto.

Illicit as the business was, State House started paving its way forward for concluding the transactions by directing the Rt. Prime Minister of Uganda, writing to the Queen mother directly and the Prime Minister Toro Kingdom without consulting the sitting tenants and the Rukurato of Toro Kingdom. Copies of the said correspondences are attached hereto as Annexures A₃ and A_4.

Furthermore, the president exhibited personal interests in the Kingdom assets in the letter dated 25^th August, 2003 by directing the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Uganda, the Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to deal with Toro Kingdom land in the same way Prince Barigye’s land was handled yet the two are different in the way that Prince Barigye’s purported Kingdom does not exist at law and in fact where as Toro Kingdom exists with a fully fledged Rukurato and all the instruments of the Kingdom as such. A copy of the said letter is attached as Annexure A₄.

The government agents and the Queen mother by all standards executed the illicit deal in a fast food manner which conduct was inconsistent with innocence and alien to good reasoning.

Articles 69, 70 and 71 of the Constitution of Toro Kingdom should have guided merciless perpetrators of this cavalier act if wide consultations had been carried out. The said Articles are clear and precise on the administration of the Kingdom’s land and revenue. Copies of the three Articles are hereto attached as Annexure A_5.

It is our reasoned and reasonably considered view that irrespective of any written law in Uganda, the Queen mother and the government agent’s actions undermined the Toro Kingdom in the following circumstances;

1. Preservation of property and heritage of the Toro Kingdom; this is portrayed by sold Royal Tomb sites in Bunyangabu County, Kabarole District and several Saza grounds in Bunyangabu, Burahya and Kyaka.
2. Impoverishing the Kingdom in order to weaken it culturally and economically; this is evidenced by the perpetrator’s decision to trade as individuals as opposed to the institution of the Toro Kingdom.
3. Perpetual existence of the Kingdom and her subjects;

In the premises, we demand as follows;

1. That the government should return all the mentioned land titles it clandestinely acquired to the Kingdom of Toro unconditionally.
2. That the Queen mother apologises to the King’s Subjects for secretly betraying them through scam businesses with the merciless government agents.
3. That the Kingdom officials should seek means of revoking the letters of administration of the estate of the late Prince Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III the High Court granted to the Queen mother to save the Kingdom from further embarrassments and colossal losses.
4. The president himself should apologize to the people of Toro Kingdom for the alleged involvement in such scam businesses aimed at causing the down fall of the Kingdom.

Way Forward:

Should the concerned parties fail to respond as herein demanded within 7 days from this 19^th day of October, 2010, the following courses of actions have been reasonably considered among other options;

1. To file a suit in Court of Laws seeking several remedies for the injustices visited to the King’s Subjects.

1. To mobilize all the Clans through Clan leaders to denounce the government’s scam dealings with the Queen mother in defiance of the Attorney General’s legal opinion to involve the Kingdom in all land transactions of the estate of the late Prince Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III (Omukama Rukirabasaija of Toro).

1. To carry out peaceful demonstrations in all the Districts of Toro Kingdom in protest of the Queen mother and the government’s illicit actions.

Sd. .…………………………………………………..

A.P. Simon (BOD Chairperson)

For: Twerwaneho

Sd. .…………………………………………………..

Gerald Kankya (Project Coordinator)

For: Twerwaneho

Sd. .…………………………………………………..

Bintamanya Joram (Asst Coordinator)

For: Twerwaneho