Ugandans-At-Heart

‘When Sir Edward returned from deportation many religious thanks-giving services were held. Above after such a service a Nsambya Cathedral.’

The language that was used by the colonial administrators in relation to the Kabaka of Buganda, in this case Kabaka Mutesa II was “interview”, “summon the Kabaka and educate him”, “bring the Kabaka to his senses”, “acceptance of decisions of future co-operation”, “if he refuses to comply”, “in the interview I shall require the Kabaka”….etc. All those are quotations from a memorandum by the British Colonial secretary, Oliver Lyttelton around the 1953 crisis which as you very well know culminated in the Kabaka being shut out of Buganda.

‘Again visiting his old school, King’s College, Budo, soon after his return, 1955′

Alternatively, look back some years earlier at the situation of Kabaka Mutesa II’s grandfather, Kabaka Mwanga, following the events of 24 Jan1892 when a Catholic shot and killed a Protestant at Mengo, all in self-defence. Kabaka Mwanga (himself a Catholic) tried the culprit and duly acquitted him. Capt. Lugard demanded that the catholic be handed to him for trial and execution. Kabaka Mwanga rightly deemed that to be an infringement on his authority and he refused Lugard’s orders. Lugard immediately issued riflesto Protestants, deployed his Sudanese troops with two Maxim guns and by the time the “negotiation” dust settled, the Kabaka with his Catholic followers were out of Mengo, on to Bulingugwe Island at the mouth of Murchison Bay, where they were flushed out, running on to Bukoba.

Read carefully that TOP SECRET document written by the British Minister for colonies (or Secretary for Colonies) …and you will be able to understand the real relationship between Buganda and Britain. That memorandum spells out clearly what was in plan for Buganda had Kabaka Mutesa not boarded the plane on 30th November 1953…['panda ndege'] The memorandum gives a clear military plan for dealing with any eventualities…recall that 13 years later, Kabaka Mutesa maintained the same attitude towards the post-colonial government but this time, AM Obote had no mother country like Andrew Cohen, where to send the Kabaka to cool off. ‘Panda Ndege’ was no longer feasible! The dogs were unleashed on him outright….the rest is as much of history as it hysteria.

TOP secret for province of Buganda

I quite certainly think even in future, any likely stiff constipation in the relationship between Buganda and Uganda will be cleared in a manner that will be a re-enactment of 1966, and a mirror image of what Oliver Lyttleton had in mind in 1953…a coup d’etat.

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

The Concise Oxford dictionary tells us that, ‘a tribe is a group of barbarous clans under recognised chiefs’. In Roman history, we are told, a tribe is each of the three (hence ‘tri’) political divisions; individually representing up to 35 clans of the Romans. “….barbarous clans…”!

You have Acholi in Uganda, the space occupied by the Acholi people. In Eastern Equatoria in Southern Sudan, you have Acholi people, separated by their kith and kin in Uganda by the border. The largest clan of the Acholi, the Palotaka is in Sudan. Why can’t those Acholi (of Kit, Parajok, Aru etc) sit in the parliament of Sudan?

All the 19 or so communities in Uganda’s frontier zone straddle the common border with our respective neighbours. For ever one Alur in Uganda, there are three in DRC (the Lendu); Samias, Itesot, Madi, Bamba, Bakonjo, Batooro etc are indigenous to Uganda and to a neighbouring country. Why can’t a Mutoro in Boga, DRC not be an MP in Kinshasa just because there is a Toro Kingdom in neighbouring Uganda? Why should a Muhyarwanda of Kisoro be confused with a Munyarwanda of Rwanda or a Rwandese? Do we really know the Uganda that we like to talk about?

Several of the tongues are dialects of certain languages, but not languages in their own right. Acholi, Alur, Adhola, Lango for example…add on Labwor…all are part of the Luo language, enjoying 98%+ mutual intelligibility across their tongues. The Language is Luo, the names given to tongues deriving from subethnic clusters are dialects. Luo is spoken by as many as 18% of Ugandans just like Luganda.

The democratisation of Mmengo that was a result of the 1953 crisis, let alone the 1900 agreement has since been reversed. Remember the 1955 agreement that resulted in more than 65% of the Lukiiko being elected. After 1993, all that was lost, back to the situation of the Pre-Harry Johnston days. That is where Mmengo is now,…pre 1900

Please read the CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION (WILD) REPORT 1959:report of the commission that was set up to look into how the country was going to be steered towards independence. The link is: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35782371/Wild-Report

As many of you know, one of the dramatic outcomes of the implementation of the recommendations of the Wild Report was Buganda’s declaration of independence (at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/22058682/Buganda-Declaration-of-Independence-1960)

Available there also is the 1962 Constitution (http://www.scribd.com/doc/20262240/Uganda-Constitution-1962)

POSTED BY: OTTO PATRICK

Uganda Tech. College Board Members & Staff with the Minister of Education – Abu Mayanja. 1971′

These elements are ‘seeking to block the development of democracy in Buganda whilst pretending to pay lip-service to its principles. An example of this was the attempted intimidation of Makerere students by the Lukiko speaker when the former demonstrated against the reject of direct elections to the Lukiko. The Katikiro’s admonition of those who dared to criticize the speech from the Throne is another pointer in the same direction. So, too, is the recent statement by the clan leaders threatening those joining political parties with expulsion from the, clans. Nor is it purely coincidental that leaders of the political parties have been subjected to a spate of denigration and prosecutions – only to be acquitted after their reputations had been tarnished. Sir, it is not at all fanciful to see in these and other instances the presence of a plan not only to sabotage democracy within Buganda, but also to seek to entrench the anti-democratic system by cutting Buganda from the rest of Uganda where it might be subjected to democratic influences. I am not saying that it is wrong for anyone to be against democracy; the world is only too full of examples of anti-demo­cratic regimes. What I am pleading for is that we should recognize these facts for what they are. I am also appealing to those who think in this way to come out in the open and tell the country exactly what they believe in.

Benedicto Kiwanuka and Abu Mayanja, address a rally following Kiwanuka’s release from prison in 1971. Kiwanuka was the leader of DP, one of the earliest political parties that has been part of Uganda’s past and present. Abu Mayanja was the first Secretary General of UNC ( Uganda National Congress ) in 1950′s. Abu Mayanja was the minister of Health in Idi Amins Government.He is now late!died some years ago.

If they want Buganda to go back to the 18th century, with the Kabaka ruling through hand-picked men and clan heads, let them say so – they owe it to the country to speak the truth. I also think that the notion that the Kabaka’s Government – which is but part of the Government of Uganda – can defy the latter is a matter so grave that it must be clarified and the correct position authoritatively stated.

There is grave responsibility which these events cast on the Protectorate Government. There is obviously a clash of objectives between those who want to see a democratic system developing in Buganda , and those who do not.

It would be dangerously tempting for the Protectorate Government either to observe a benevolent neutrality, or to playoff one faction against the other. I hope the Protectorate Government will realize that it has a duty to pursue with vigour those policies calculated to fulfill Britain ‘s mission in her dependencies – to take Uganda to democratic self-government.

I hope that the Government will take this attitude not only in the full confidence that history is on its side, but also with the knowledge that it has the unstinting support of the overwhelming majority of the educated Baganda who will struggle tooth and nail to resist the reimposition of feudal tyranny based on the debasement of the human personality and the vagaries of the so-called customary law.

I should like to warn our reactionary rulers that they are running a great danger of discrediting our traditional institutions, and thus making it impossible for many of us to reform and adapt what is good in them to the conditions of modern life.

I also wish to address a word of warning to the forward-looking, edu­cated Baganda. I think we intellectuals (yes, though some people may laugh at this word) – I think we intellectuals have been much too timid so far. I think we have allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in strange beds for too long; I think we have compromised our position much too much; I think it is not too soon for us to declare from the hilltops what we believe in.

Speaking for myself I have crossed the Rubicon. I have set my face firmly against any autocracy whether it be foreign and imperialist or native and feudal. I stake my future and dedicate my life to the realization of democratic principles in my coup try no matter from which side the obstacles may emanate. This is a declaration of political faith, and I call on other intellectuals to do likewise.

Abu Kakyama Mayanja

Busujju.

Mr & Mrs Ham & Hannah Mukasa. Robert & Dorothy Sebuliba. 1901. At Mengo outside his father’s House near the post office in mengo

The Ham Mukasa’s and the Mulyanti’s family. The photo well could be in de 1930′s or even before,co’z u see de kabaka Mutesa en to de left is Mr.Ham Mukasa Sekibobo.This picture was taken in Mengo- Kewerimidde house in the back yard. I am almost sure about that

Nyakazaana was the wife of Zachary Kiwanuka Sensalire, and together, they were the parents of Ham Mukasa Rwamujonjoza (1871-1956), one of the greatest sons of Buganda. Ham Mukasa as you know was the Sekibobo of Buganda (i.e., the Chief of Kyaggwe), the longest serving chief in the history of Buganda. Zakariya Kiwanuka Sensalire was himself a descendant of a long line of Sensalires, i.e. heads of the balalo clan of Njovu who are known to have gained prominence right from the days of Kabaka Kintu as the official balaalo. Up to now, it remains the duty of the Njovu clan to educate every new Kabaka on the art of bulaalo (herding). Like other balaalo, Sensalire married from among his fellow Bahima, hence the Nyakazaana that you are now vilifying.

Nyakazaana, a Muhima, was the mother of Ham Mukasa as we have seen. Ham Mukasa, with his first wife Anna Mawemuko, then went ahead to father Victoria Sarah Nalwanga (b. 1910). Nalwanga was the mother of the two Kisosonkoles, Sarah and Damali, the wives of Kabaka Edward Mutesa II.

Sarah Kisosonkole, (the great grand daughter of Nyakazana), was Kabaka Mutebi’s mother. The Kiganda version of the Hima name, Nakazana has stuck around up to now. Kabaka Mutebi’s first Namasole was known as Edith Nakazana. She passed away recently in London, I think on 02 Sep 2008, and you may have even attended her funeral service!

Tracing the ancestry of Nyakazaana was not an end in itself but a means of shedding light on the basic facts that we disregard when we are stoking antipathy against certain groups. Key here is the extent to which groups have intermingled over time, and in case of Buganda, the extent to which it is indeed a bundle of bundles, one of which bundles are Bahima. One could almost argue that Buganda is a bundle of Bahima and balaalo.

Look at this: the mother of Kabaka Mutebi I, Wanyana, was the daughter of Mugalula Buyonga, the founder of the Nseenene (conjugated from Nswa enene) clan. Mugalula, originally called Mugarra, a Muhima from Busongora and a mulaalo, moved with others from Busongora, with their herds of cattle and settled in Bweera via Buddu, then eventually moving to Nakanoni village in Gomba and on to Kisozi.

One of Mugalula’s brothers, Kalyebala (whose Kiganda’s corruption is “Kalibbala) became the chief mulaalo of Chwa I, Kabaka Kintu’s successor, was to be promoted to the chieftainship of Kayima or Kaima (in Runyakitara, part of which Rusongora is, Kahuma or Kahima, the cattle keeper or mulaalo). The Kayima or Kaima is still the title of the Chief of the Ssaza of Mawokoto (just like we have the Mugema of Busiro, the Kasujju of Busujju, the Katambala of Butambala; the Pokino of Buddu, the Sekibobo of Kyaggwe etc). All those were Bahima. I am sure you know that, those of Nsenene clan that lost their herds of cattle to rinderpest in the 1880s and resorted to crop rearing are now called Baima abatasunda, that is, the “Bahima that no longer churn milk”.

Mutesa I’s mother, Ndwaddewazziba, was a Muhima; Prince Badru Kakungulu’s mother was a Muhima, Prince John Kintu Wassajja’s mother was a Muhima, Princess Teyeggala’s mother was a Muhima, and as we have shown you here at UAH, Prince Jjunju Suna Kiwewa’s mother is a Mututsi, the Muhima equivalent of Rwanda-Burundi. The whole process of the arrival on the scene of your likely next Kabaka has been a process of concentrating Hima/Tutsi blood at Mmengo. You do not have to hate or love the fact. That is how it is.

If you can, look up the history of the Nsenene clan of Buganda, and ask them why the title of the Ssaza Chief of Mawokota (one of the three core counties of Buganda) is “Kaima” up to now. Ask them about the first Kaima that was to be aloocated a large estate in North Mawokota, the only known grazing grounds in the Mawokota-Kyaddondo-Busiro heartland of the nascent Buganda. Kaima means Kahima or Kahuma, “the Hamite”.

As you try to “dig dip” the history of Bahima and balaalo in Buganda, I will refer you to some readings that might give you some basic facts. These might also be of some use for others that champion Buganda exclusionism and the anti-Hima and anti-Tutsi invective that abounds on this forum:

1.Reid, Richard J (2002), Political Power in Precolonial Buganda (Kampala: Fountain)…also available from James Currey and Ohio University Press.
2.Kaggwa, Apollo Sir (1934), The customs of Buganda (New York: New York)
3.Ashe, RP (1889), Two Kings of Buganda (London).
4.Roscoe, J (1911), The Baganda: An Account of their Naive Customs and Beliefs (London).

And on some people’s conviction that Baganda are pygymoid, I refer you to:

Mukasa, Ham (1904), Uganda ‘s Katikiro in England ; being the official account of his visit to the coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII ( London : Hutchinson ).

In Sir HH Johnston’s introduction to that book on page xvii, we read that, Apolo Kaggwa is “…a very tall and muscular man about 6ft 3in and of absolutely unmixed Negro race.”

And on the view that my reference to Bahima being part and parcel of Buganda history is contraband, on that same page of that book I quote above we read that Ham Mukasa is

“…somewhat lighter in colour and has about him a slight element of the aristocratic caste in Uganda (read Buganda) known as the Bayima or Bahima”

That corroborates the information you discounted as “smuggling” Bahima and Balaalo into Buganda history. And of course, you did not justify your use of the term “smuggling”: the best way to justify it would have been with counterevidence on the ethnicity and origins of Ham Mukasa’s mother, the Muhima lady Nyakazaana.

Note that Ham Mukasa was baptised the name “Ham”…that looks obvious. Do you wan to know why? Please let me if you want to know why.

If you want a copy of that last book I have quote, go to this link: http://www.archive.org/details/ugandaskatikiroi00mukaiala. It is a good 328 pages.

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick