Uganda: King Mswati Arrives
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New Vision (Kampala)
5 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Barbara Among
Kampala
HIS Majesty King Mswati III of Swaziland arrives in Uganda on Sunday for a four-day state visit.
The Swaziland head of state is slated to arrive at 6:00pm, accompanied by one of his wives and 30 government officials.
President Yoweri Museveni is scheduled to officially receive him at State House Entebbe and host his guest to a private dinner.
The King will visit the Source of the Nile on Monday and be hosted on a state banquet in the evening.
On Tuesday, he will visit the Kabaka at his palace in Mengo and later proceed to Sameer Agriculture and Livestock factory as well as Quality Chemical Industries, one of the few sub-Saharan anti-retroviral drug factories based in Luzira.
This is the second visit to Uganda by the head of state of the land-locked kingdom of Swaziland.
At 38.5%, Swaziland, with a population of only 1.2m, has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world. That is five times higher than the average for sub-Saharan Africa.
In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the King in September 2001 placed all unmarried women under the chastity rite of "umcwasha". This rite bans sexual relations for Swazis below 18 years of age.
In 2004, the Swazi government declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster and it is in the process of establishing the National AIDS Strategic Plan. The visit to Uganda is intended to learn from the country's successes in the fight against the epidemic.
Mswati III succeeded his late father in 1986, at the age of 18. The king and his mother, whose title is Indlovukazi (Great She-Elephant), rule jointly.
Today he is Africa's last absolute monarch in the sense that he has the power to choose the prime minister, other top government posts and traditional leaders. Even though he makes the appointments, he has to get special advice from the Queen Mother and the council in choosing the prime minister.
When it comes to appointing the cabinet, he gets advice from the prime minister. He also appoints some members of parliament.
Relevant Links
Swaziland has a unique form of democracy, called the Tinkhundla system, an administrative unit smaller than a district. Each of the 55 tinkhundla elects one member to the House of Assembly. The constitution allows freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.
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