Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and the Katikkiro of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga are set to address the media following a meeting in which the former officially apologised to the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, over his remarks that the king was airlifted for treatment in Germany in a presidential jet.
Owiny-Dollo in the company of former UPC president Olara Otunnu and several religious leaders arrived at the Buganda Kingdom headquarters in Mengo on Thursday before engaging in a closed door meeting with the Katikkiro.
Different religious leaders were also at the Buganda Kingdom headquarters. It was not immediately clear what transpired in the meeting.
However, the two leaders are set address journalists over the resolutions.
In comments at a vigil for Jacob Oulanyah, the deceased speaker of the 11th Parliament, Mr Owiny-Dollo, in rebuke of what he called “lumpens…wicked” Baganda elements who demonstrated over Oulanyah’s travel abroad for specialised care, said: “But your ethnic leader, you, you, you who were demonstrating, your ethnic leader was transported in a presidential jet to Germany using public funds. He was not entitled. You did not demonstrate…only a wicked person can fight a person who is fighting for his life, only a super wicked person can fight the dead. For us, it is an abomination which has no name.”
The claims sparked a deluge of criticism against the head of Judiciary, with some commentators, among them Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze, asking him to resign.
In a March 25 rejoinder, the Katikkiro of Buganda, Mr Peter Charles Mayiga, without mentioning the CJ by name, cautioned “leaders at all levels” to avoid making “unfounded statements, which can cause unwarranted debates” and more grief to a deceased’s family.
“Death cause[s] shock, grief and anguish and it often makes emotions run high. This is why it is required of all of us to be calm during difficult times like this,” Mr Mayiga wrote, recollecting a strong historical bond between the Baganda and Acholi, the latter being the tribe of both Mr Owiny-Dollo and Oulanyah.