Whilst we sympathize with the problems that the banyoro are having, we should be clear on the following self inflicted problems. essentially the banyoro need to take their lesson from history and focus on cultural development (learning how to work hard), and on social emancipation (they started it all).
1. Ankole, rukiga, busoga, toro, etc are all fundamentally part of bunyoro. however, these regions sought to become independent due to the bad practices at the core of the kingdom. for instance, at the burial of every king, 100 bashambo (a clan that cuts accross ankole, rukiga, and rwanda) would have to be killed / buried with the king. the bakiga have every right to be anywhere in bunyoro. this derailed potential future sympathy for its causes.
2. Due to excessive ruthlessness in handling POWs by bunyoro, the growing buganda kingdom was forced into an align with whites … just to find a lasting solution to that everpresent looming danger of bunyoro. of course, victory resulted in “annexation” of bunyoro land and genocide, which was largely a revenge killings. note that the rest of the region sat and watched as this campaigm against bunyoro was orchestrated. No body really “felt sorry for them”
3. It is true that in principle kabalega is correctly a hero in fighting colonialisn. and this is confirmed by the fact that his earlier foe, king mwanga, joined him. although the motives were more survival than nationalist. with hindsight we see this, but we also do not say that this war was bound to fail because the leader kabalega did not have moral authority. u see, people compared british / bugand rule to the omukama’s rule .. with the bunyoro leader doing badly in that mental “elections”. the rest is history.
4. That hard line stance by banyoro is the same one showing its ugly head. It goes against all lessons of history. one that obama had to take himself. learn the + and – of your history and resolve to adopt the pluses only and replace the minuses with a better value from other cultures. for instance, in this day and age, in a republic, why do u call fellow citizens abafuruki? Remember that with the advent of colonization, the laws of Uganda gave everyone the right to settle anywhere. this was crowned by the 1974 land decree. these revelotionary land laws are just as binding as other state decisions during these times. for instance courts of law have instructed current governments to pay benefits to soldiers of uganda army recruited during amins times. similarly, the resulting decisions to collapse cultural land boundaries are just as binding.
5.This particular aspect of moving forward also affects buganda and the stance taken by mengo. it also affects the acholi region and “their land”. It is the same reason why the other east African states wisely do not recognize cultural governments. We actually feel Uganda needs to abolish them to become a positive member of the east African community.
6. Do you expect a lazy bum to bring development? The president may have good intentions, but; Jesus; it is not leadership per see, but what you can do with it. based on the accusations we see in the media about laziness, will the banyoro rise to the mark do disprove that they are lazy. it appears from the meida that the bakiga of Uganda are the most hardworking group, and on the contrary shoudl be allocated chunks of land in the idle north.
food for thought.
Thank you very much
Dr Adyeri Muchori
Kisumu – KENYA
UAH Forumist
Comments
I may agree with Dr. Adyeri on some historical facts like the killing of abasambu at the burial of a king, the ruthlesless of kings to their populations and neighbours etc. but evry nation has had its history and outgrown it. Great Britain had such kings and mannerism where live people were buried with kings but it outgrew them and is one of the most developed and democratic nations. Adyeri does not talk about the industrialisatio, mining, tunnel(infrastructure) and administrative structures of Bunyoro at the onset of colonialism which Bunyoro should have built on and consolidated had it not been for marauding colonialists.
I have consitently and i do it now disagree that we Banyoro are lazy-that is what colonialists wanted to sow in us by annihilating (killing) our population from 4 millions to current about 1million, killing and destrying our livestock, denying us education and health structures. But despit that we have risen from the ashes to regain our modest population, gain education to an extent we have had a few professors like Banage, Katongole, Katana and many doctors. We have contributed to all fronts including the army (Brig. Kyaligonza), charmanship Uganda National Farmers Association (Wanzala), Uganda Quary Engineers (Kyaligonza), first Uganda woman graduate (Sarah Ntiro) to name but a few. A lazy people cannot be such. Therefore the tendency to derail historical (mis)calculation by colonialists and current fight for redress and re-positioning by Bunyoro is unfortunate.
So where is the settlers(Bafuruki) in all this? We are all Ugandans who can live together and settlers have a right to live in Bunyoro but every right requires responsibility and at times guidlines. That is why laws exist. Some stitations require contextual handling like this.
So settlers need appropriate integration that can be co-ordinated by the government in consultation with Bunyoro kingdom, Bunyoro parliamentarians and Bunyoro social NGOs, and it should be sooner otherwise we are degenerating into chaos and every one in Uganda will feel the pinch of all this.
Omunyoro PK Byenkya-European Union.
Mr PK Byenkya,
i actually agree with you, and i am actually emphasising (your thoughts) that cultural leaders need to identify development based targets and rally people around them, not around the past as you have commented above. and yes, banyoro has proved that it can have great leaders as you have singled out. it is actually as simple as that, but alas very important because it makes all the difference.
the rest is actually details, really. because once that mind set is adopted, then the chips can be put in place and you then dont have to ring fence jobs for them because the right person for the job shall take it. a person who respects positive cultural aspects and is committed to development objectives.
essentially we are in agreement. i could not bring up all the positives as space was an issue. i know that bunyro did a lot of great for this region; getting this history corrected and reported can only be successful if we adopt a forward thinking approach as discussed above.
cheers,
Dr Adyeri Muchori.
KISUMU – Kenya.
Of course the Bunyoro question is far more complex than it has been made out to be by the media … and even perhaps by Mr. Museveni. But by you calling the Banyoro lazy, well. I feel you are merely over simplfying an issue by preying on a negative stereotype that has done nothing to bring change to the Bunyoro region.
Tumwijuke Mutambuka
THERE IS NO MUFURUKI BUT UGANDANS
By Anthony Rwaga
The last few months have seen a rise in tribal and sectarian news stories in the Ugandan media. First came the President’s letter to leaders in Bunyoro advising them to ring-fence elective positions for ‘indigenous’ Banyoro, thereby disenfranchising the Bafuruki (migrant) population that are in fact the majority in the kingdom. Rumours were also reported that ID cards were to be distributed to ‘indigenous’ Baganda. The reaction to the return of Otunnu has also reawakened some anti-Acholi sentiment. This appears a dangerous progression in divide and rule politics, which history tells us have had disastrous consequences both within Uganda and elsewhere.
However, surely the word Bafuruki applies to all inhabitants of Uganda? Everyone’s ancestors were at some point migrants so what defines a ‘real’ Munyoro, Muganda, Acholi or Musoga? THIS ISSUE OF CALLING NAMES NEED TO STOP. I believe the banyoro were there even earlier than expected if one is to be called a mufuruki lets start from Museveni himself and define how he became a mufuruki to Uganda
Concerned Ugandan