FALSE: The Katikkiro of Buganda Did not Attack NUP Party President Robert Kyagulanyi
An X post claiming that the Katikkiro (Prime Minister) of Buganda Kingdom, Charles Peter Mayiga abused and attacked the National Unity (NUP) Party President Robert Kyagulanyi is FALSE.
A video was attached to the post and captioned, “Katikiro Charles Peter Mayiga goes bare knuckles with Bobi Wine, he calls him a local person who is not known anywhere”.
Evidence:
After downloading the video from Twitter/ X, we took a snapshot of the video and performed a Google reverse image search. The results indicated that the video footage was captured during the Lukiiko (Buganda kingdom parliamentary sitting) on Monday, June 24, 2024, at Bulange Mengo in Kampala, where the Katikkiro raised concerns about being harassed regarding the Buganda King’s health and people taking advantage of the Kingdom’s subjects.
We have since then noticed several social media users like on X have extracted the video and posted it with captions containing inaccurate representations of the original context for example, here, here, here, here, and here.
Analyzing the Video
Upon watching the video, it was clear that Katikkiro Mayiga did not mention anyone’s name or refer to Kyagulanyi as the claim states. Instead, he spoke generally about people who have been harassing him about the King’s health condition and using it to their advantage.
“Akawungezi k’eggulo, nayogeddeko ne Beene ku ssimu. Era Beene musanyufu nyo okulabanga emirimu gyo’bwa Kabaka nga jitambula, era yantumwe okubategeza nti musanyufu olwobumaliriivu obutusoboseza okulabanga etekateka zo’bwakabaka zigenda mumaso. Akawungenzi ko’lwegulo ku sawa kumi nabili. Ssabasajja Kabaka era musanyufu olwo’kubanti abantu ba buganda tebakiliza kutwalilizibwa banakigwanyizi. Banakigwanyizi abagala okukozesa obukosefu bwa Beene nga akaji webagala okuyita okutuka kubilubililwa bya bwe. Tulina banakigwanyizi balowoza embera ya’Kabaka kekadiye banayita babeko ne byebagusa. Bwebalaba nga Ssabasajja alikuno nga bagamba; Katikkiro Kabaka mutwale ajanjabibwe. Ssabasajja bwagenda okujanjabwa, nga bagamba Katikkiro Kabaka omukwese mulete. Ondowoza obwanakigwanyizi mubufuna. Bulibudde babelako kyebayiya. Waliwo ne bwe babika Omutadda nga agenzewano Kenya. Atte enkela nebamulaba ne President Uhuru. Tebalina nansonyi. Wandibadde ogamba nti kwolwo bandye’ntoze oba ne basilikira ddala. Webava’wo nti alimubuwambe, atte watabela mubuwambe, nti awo wali bamukumidde wo teyeyagalidde. Kabaka babadde bamuyita bano abana abo’kungundo. Omanyi omwana owa kugundo akamotoka ka city council kajja ne kabayola atte nebabatwala oba babatwala Kampilingisa ani amanyi. Naye olaba n’omutu owabulijjo wano juze wano omuntu bamukwatidde kukisawe omuntu atamanyidwa yadde kumanyibwa. Kabaka bamuyita mwana wo’kulugundo. Abakola bino balowoza nti abaganda bajja kwekyawa olwo’begugunge bo batuke nekubyebagala. Zimusanze okozesa Kabaka nga akapila. Zimusanze okozesa Kabaka nga akapila.Abantu bano mubamanyi, kambabulile nga omukulu wa mwe. Mubegenddereze. Sibalungi.” the Kitikkiro said in Luganda, a dialect originally from Buganda in central Uganda.
His Lukiiko address translates to;
“Last evening at 6 PM I spoke with the king on the phone, and he is happy that the Kingdom affairs are still moving on smoothly. He directed me to tell you how happy he is because of your dedication to see that kingdom affairs continue to move on.
His Majesty the King is also happy that the Buganda subjects have not accepted to be influenced by opportunists. Those who seek to take advantage of the King’s health condition as a door to fulfill their desires. These people tend to ask me to take the Kabaka for further treatment and when I do so, they accuse me of hiding him and demand I bring him out of hiding.
I hope you now understand who the opportunists are. They are always coming up with something, for instance, there was a time they announced the king’s death yet he was just here in Kenya and the next day they saw photos of him with President Uhuru. They are shameless you would think after such an incident they would apologize or just keep quiet altogether. After that, they will say that he is in captivity, if not they will say wherever he is currently, it is against his will.
They think the king is one of these street children. You see street children are always picked up by a Kampala City Council vehicle and are probably taken to Kampilingisa, who knows?
Recently a regular person not known to anybody was arrested at the airport. They think the king is one of those street children. Doers of such things think people from Buganda will be frustrated as they achieve their targets. Pity begets anyone who plays the king. You do know these people. Let me tell you this as your leader, be careful with them. They are not good.”
Another video of the event was aired on Galaxy TV’s show called Daily Dose, where they showed the speech of Katikkiro and on E Media on YouTube where they aired the whole speech. However, in both videos, he did not mention Kyagulanyi as claimed.
Still while monitoring the media reports about the event here, here,and here no other media house reported about his address being a direct fight directed against Kyagulanyi, or a fight at all.
Speaking to Israel Kazibwe Kitooke, Minister of Information, Mobilization, and Spokesperson in the Buganda Kingdom, he said that what the Katikkiro meant by “Banakigwanyizi” are literally and generally people fighting the Kingdom.
“The Katikkiro did not mean Kyagulanyi by “Banakigwanyizi”, but people who fight the Kingdom’s efforts and ways of doing things while promoting their selfish agendas. These can be the government, NUP, or just anybody with personal interests,” Owek Kazibwe said during a phone call interview with Debunk Media Initiative.
Verdict:
False, the Katikiro did not attack Robert Kyagulanyi, as claimed by several sources. There is no mention of the NUP Party President’s name in the address. The Katikkiro’s speech was a general response to individuals who harassed him about Kabaka’s health and those who exploited the king’s health situation for political gain. Therefore, the claim in question should be disregarded.
This fact-check post was produced by Debunk Media Initiative under the African Fact-Checking Incubator program, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).