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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023
The Nubian community in Uganda is planning the first national parliamentary sitting as efforts by the Arua Nubian leadership to unify the scattered community starts to bear the first fruits.
The national assembly will be hosted in Adjumani district from September 1 to 3, 2023 where the Nubian national patron, Gen Moses Ali, is scheduled to launch a long awaited book recounting his life and time.
Akida Amin, the Nubian Sultanate Speaker, said the national assembly is a direct outcome of the public coronation in Arua of November 23, 2021 of Mulki, the Sultan Jafar Oyobo as Nubian king.
Mulki Oyobo made it as a priority to unite the Nubians in order to improve their public standing, organize trade in Nubian art and crafts and forge closer partnership with the ministry of health to promote public health.
Amin disclosed that following the installation of Oyobo, his cabinet embarked on a country wide tour to meet and consult with the different Nubian communities.
“We visited 21 of the 38 Nubian districts (districts with large Nubian populations) in Uganda and there was general consensus that unification is the way to go,” he said.
He added that their Lawyers are finalizing the national constitution for the Nubians in Uganda and that the registration process with the Uganda registration services bureau and the ministry of Gender, Labour and social development as a cultural institution is underway.
“The constitution of Uganda recognizes Nubians as an indigenous tribe or community. Now Mulki ta Nubi answers the call in the constitution to certify the status of the Nubians as a tribe by establishing the leadership structure.”
Each of the 38 Nubian districts will send two representatives to the national parliament which eventually will be expanded to have regional members representing the youths, persons with disabilities, the elite and entrepreneurs (business community).
The legislative assembly will among others review the term and age limit for the Mulki since that position unlike with other monarchies is not hereditary.
The Nubian community trace their ancestry to the former soldiers of Emin Pasha, a German-Ottoman Islamic convert and governor of the Equatoria region of Sudan who were driven to Uganda by the fierce Mahdist revolution in the 1980s.
They have a distinct art, culture and codes of public disposition that leans heavily on Islamic practices and speak pidgin Arabic as main language.
Currently, the Mulki or Sultan has a five year term and to be crowned a Mulki, Speaker Amin said in an earlier interview with Kigezi News Agency that an elaborate assenting procedure had been laid out.
“One of your parents must come from an original Nubian tribe- Dinka, Moru, Mondu, Kuku, Bari, Iafo, Zande, Asesin, Tagalao among others,” he said.
But the original Nubians also included people from West Nile such as Fadhel Mullah Murjan Babua of Terego and Fadel Mullah Ali Adhu of Yumbe who were former slaves eventually recruited by Pasha to become influential field commanders.
With intermarriages, contemporary Nubians have expanded to include other tribes such as Madi, Kakwa, Aringa, Lugbara, Baganda and Banyoro.
He said this is also how the Nubian community has expanded to include the legendary Khalfan family of Omanian origin that has two representatives in Oyobo’s cabinet- Abdallah Khalfan, the Secretary General and Dr Mbarack Khalfan who heads the medical department.
When the Mulki dies or his term of office ends, the council of elders and sheiks invites nomination of names of potential successors.
They make their choice basing on the public standing of the person, education level (at least O’ level), employment status, sound mindedness and being responsible determined by one being married and having a home with children.
The choice of the council of elders and sheikhs is forwarded to the Nubian parliament for blessing and then finally to the council of chiefs for approval.
Oyobo was a unanimous choice, having met all the criteria as proprietor of a fleet of transport vehicles branded as “proud Nubian,” he is also a driver for Bank of Uganda Arua branch, an A’ level leaver, practicing Moslem, married to two wives and has children.
Amin stated that there has been consensus during the national consultations that the five-year term is too short and that anyone from 18 years and above should qualify to be Mulki but the upper age limit and how long the person should stay in office has not been harmonized.
“Some people say the Mulki should rule up to 75 years, 80 years or for life,” said speaker Amin who added “anyone from any region of Uganda will also be eligible for election as a Mulki once the registration is finished.”
As a precursor to the National parliamentary sitting, the Nubians have organized a football tournament kicking off at Arua public play ground on Sunday August 20, 2023 as a strategy to mobilize the youth.
