Contraversial Iddi Amin’s parentage that links him to the royal family in Buganda

Nyabire’s wife was Assa Aatte, the lady who was the obstetric herbalist for the Buganda Royal family in the days of Kabaka Chwa. Recall that she is claimed to have enabled Lady Irene Druscilla Namaganda to conceive, after many years of trying and failing. Assa Aatte was very close to the Chwa’s and this caused serious problems in the Nyabire family as you know. Iddi Amin was born during the time of that closeness (1922) and as you know, claims emerged that Kabaka Chwa was actually the father of Idi Amin, causing Amin’s parents to separate in 1931 when Amin was just 9. Nyabire threw Assa out of the Kololo Police Barracks, prompting her to shift to Lubiri palaca with the young Amin. When this started causing anxiety within royal circles, Kabaka Chwa decided to build a house for Assa Aatte at Kitubulu….

Amin’s parents only reunited grudgingly in 1964 when Amin had become successful, but even then, Mzee Nyabire remained convinced to his death in 1976 that Idi Amin belonged not to him, but to Buganda Royalty.

Idi Amin with Mariam in 1961

‘Geraldine Fisher, Daughter of a past headmistress of Gayaza High School visited Gayaza with her husband. Some old girls in the picture + Joan Cox, the Headmistress then in back row. ‘

‘Geraldine Fisher, Daughter of a past headmistress of Gayaza High School visited Gayaza with her husband. Some old girls in the picture + Joan Cox, the Headmistress then in back row.In the photo i can see late Mrs Lilian Mukwaya sister to QC Binaisa sitting between the two whites, second right standing is the late Mrs Rebecca Mulira. I am wondering whether a lady standing on the right is the late Sarah Nabikolo Mukasa( wife of the late Hamu Mukasa)

i can see late Mrs Lilian Mukwaya sister to QC Binaisa sitting between the two whites, second right standing is the late Mrs Rebecca Mulira.
I am wondering whether a lady standing on the right is the late Sarah Nabikolo Mukasa( wife of the late Hamu Mukasa)

‘Extreme left: Amin, Moi centre, Kenyatta, Onul Ir. Njoroge Mungai in Nairobi in 1972’

‘Joy Joy at Nile Mansions’

2.’Extreme left: Amin, Moi centre, Kenyatta, Onul Ir. Njoroge Mungai in Nairobi in 1972′.Idi Amin is 3rd frm left, then Moi and Kenyatta. 2nd from left is Njoroge Mungai.Njoroge Mungai.. I believe he was Defence Minister then in Kenyatta’s Govt.

Sultan Hamud in the 50s

Sultan Hamud in the 50s

Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France jet and forced it to fly to Entebbe, Uganda

Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France jet and forced it to fly to Entebbe, Uganda – the first hints of an accommodation between the Amin regime and the Arab rebels. This put both Prime Minister Amin in a difficult position; Amin did not want outsiders in Uganda, fearing that they would cause trouble for his regime; but if he did not permit the Imperial Military to deal with this new problem, he would confirm the allegations, and bring down on his head the very trouble that he hoped to avoid.

He took the only way out that he could see, deliberately misunderstanding the instructions he received. He was supposed to prepare accommodations and briefings for specialist Israeli anti-terrorist troops who were to be on-hand to storm the aircraft if the terrorists made unreasonable demands; instead, he “misheard” this to say that he was to use the Imperial Troops stationed in Uganda (and nominally under his command) to storm the aircraft because the terrorist’s demands were unreasonable.

In theory, most of the hostages would have been rescued had the task been left to the Israeli experts; instead, the B-grade Ugandan military botched the operation appallingly, and all but 3 hostages were killed outright. Prime Minister Amin was suitably apologetic afterwards, blaming the poor state of communications equipment throughout Africa and requesting £735 million to upgrade telecommunications throughout the continent in a programme to be administered by Uganda on behalf of the Empire.

The old terminal building of the Entebbe International Airport as seen from the air.The Israelis had wanted to buy it and turn it into a place of Pilgrimage in memory of “operation Thunderbolt” in which Israeli commandos rescued hostages from there during Amin’s regime.Uganda government was reluctant for obvious reasons!!!!The commander of that operation was killed by amin´s soldiers.He was the brother of the current Israeli prime minister.

The audacity of this request in a fiscally-restrained climate was breathtaking, and initially it served its purpose of distracting the Imperial Bureaucracy from any investigation of the Entebbe massacre; the proposal won considerable support in a number of quarters, especially France and Germany, whose industries would almost certainly be subcontracted for the job. It fell to “The Whisperer” to raise the red flags and begin the downfall of Amin.

A C-130 Hercules in front of old terminal of Entebbe Airport, after arriving with food and supplies for the Rwandan refugee camps in 1994. Bullet hole damage from the 1976 raid is still visible.

However, some people say that the above is a distorted version.Some thing that still baffles me – There was some sort of conspiracy to allow Idi Amin to live in Saudi Arabia in Exile in relative luxury.
1 Initially he escaped to Libya.
2 Gadaffi got tired of him and sent him to Saudi Arabia.
3 Saudi Arabia with connivance of Western powers allowed him to Live there on condition he makes no public pronouncements
4 Court of Human rights in Hague – in connivance with western powers never brought any human rights abuses charges against Idi Amin though he was responsible for killing 1/2 Million Ugandans.
5. Why did Saudi’s give him exile – It cannot be just because he was a Muslim. The Saudis provide him a safe harbor for more than 20 years and with a monthly stipend of about US$1,400, domestic servants, cooks, drivers, and cars.

Namugongo ‘martyrs’ were not really martyrs

‘Martyrs’ memorial and early converts’ No date, with a stamp from the Church Missionary Society in London.

I have been thinking about the Uganda Christian ‘martyrs’ prosecuted on June 3,1886 at Namugongo and its significance to Uganda as a country after one of the Ugandans raised it on the Ugandan At Heart(UAH) forum. So I asked myself questions like: ”were the Uganda martyrs really deserve to be called ‘martyrs’ or not?”, ” Could Catholics killed for faith be called “martyrs”?”, ” Why did kabaka Mwanga took this decision at the time?”.

Now it is my understanding that within the Buganda culture the execution of the Christian martyrs was both political and religious. It is the Buganda kingdom that invited the first missionaries who arrived in 1877 and the kingdom benefited tremendously from them particularly in developmental projects like schools. So we thank the insight Kabaka Mutesa 1 had at the time to invite these people.

Nevertheless, I’m still puzzled that we continue to call these people ‘martyrs’ due to the fact that they challenged the power structures of the Bugandan culture at the time because of their faith. If we are to go by the Muslims who keep challenging the power and social structure of the western countries because of their faith, then the word ‘martyr’ is not truly applicable to these people.

Muslims or Christians who attempt to do today what these ‘martyrs’ did during Kabaka Mwanga’s reign will feel the wrath of the law and some are even branded terrorists. However, we should not forget that those who die in this way in places like the Middle East are still branded as ‘martyrs’ by some Islamic factions. In Bugandan culture, which the kabaka (leader of Buganda) represents, the kabaka ruled with great authority, and to refuse anything he asked was not only to offend the kabaka but to dishonour the entire Bugandan kingdom. Mwanga perceived that Christians were a challenge to his political power, since Christian pages were not honouring and were taught not to honour their obligation to obey him. If we are to continue to call these Christians killed at Namugongo martyrs, then we have got a lot of martyrs now in Uganda.

Second, it is important at the outset to realize that the persecution of Christians in Uganda was not the norm. There were relatively few Christians actually killed for religious reasons compared to the large number of Christian Baganda. So I don’t think Kabaka Mwanga set out to kill Christians as in Christians or Protestants as in Protestants.

Third, all of the martyrs were Bugandan natives converted through the missionary efforts of British Anglicans and French Catholics. Thus, their lives and deaths were embedded from start to finish in a culture they were familiar with and understood; they were not killed due to a lack of cultural knowledge or a “foreigner’s mistake.” A man like Joseph Mukasa was the personal servant of the kabaka who oversaw all of the kabaka’s pages. He knew what he was getting himself into by confronting kabaka Mwanga over murder of Anglican Bishop Hannington. Mukasa told Mwanga “bluntly” that his ordering of the death of Hannington was wrong; this angered Mwanga, and Mwanga took Mukasa’s outbursts as a form of treason. Mukasa knew the drill about Buganda cultures at the time very well. To disagree with the Kabaka was not uncommon in Buganda but Mukasa’s assertive confronting of Mwanga was unique. The Kabakas used to allow passive forms of resistance and there were effective.

In addition, Mwanga chose Namugongo as a spot to execute these people because to die at Namugongo made one an enemy of the Buganda state. Namugongo was an equivalent of the England’s “Tower Hill.”

What is again more disturbing is how these Baganda natives who converted to Christianity ended up dying on the same fire for the cause of Christ in the midst of the Christian factions of Buganda. The church was divided at the time and it needed these people more alive than dead at the time. Before these ‘martyrs’ were killed, some people working under Kabaka Mwanga offered them a chance to run away but these guys decided not to -basically because they wanted to die for Christ.

Furthermore, a total of 32 baganda including the leader of the Christian ‘rebels’ called Charles Lwanga were killed- 13 of those were Catholics, 9 were protestants and 10 were unbelievers (who had been awaiting execution for non-religious crimes) but even the non-believers killed the day are counted as martyrs.

If we really still want to remember these political rebels as ‘martyrs’, let us do what Robert Royal did by publishing a remarkable new book in 2000 which he called ”The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History”, instead of people flocking to Namugongo every year. Much of Royal’s research is new. The project began with a sentence in one of Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. He said that the martyrs of our century “should not be forgotten.” A group of parishioners at Saint Aloysius Parish in New Canaan, Conn, took the words seriously, and began to accumulate materials. The word spread and materials started coming in from around the world. What began as a simple list became an amazing archive. With the help of his brother who is a priest, Royal began the work of putting the results in book form.

With due respect to my non-Muslim friends, I don’t think we should continue to call the 1886 Namugongo religious people ‘martys’ in the sense of the word in relation to the present events happening in the world. However, I’m happy to say that Buganda kingdom has changed greatly since that time. There is a lot of religious freedom. Catholics, Protestants, Christians and Muslims can all interact within the kingship of Buganda without any problem. It is more reason for Ugandans to support this kingdom that is not afraid of changes that make it stronger. What Kabaka Mwanga did at that time is inexcusable but at least we all learnt from it but most importantly we understand why he did it.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom

http://semuwemba.com/2008/11/25/namugongo-martyrs-were-not-really-martyrs/

Prince Nassolo while opening up the children’s ward at Namirembe Hospital

‘Oyo ye Mumbejja Nassolo ng’aggulawo waada y’abaana empya mu ddwaliro ly’e Namirembe. Oweekitiibwa Nnabagereka naye yooyo atudde ku ntebe.’

SOURCE: HISTORY OF UGANDA IN PROGRESS PAGE ON FACEBOOK

Shilling was introduced as a unit of currency in British-controlled areas of East Africa in 1921

Shilling was introduced as a unit of currency in British-controlled areas of East Africa in 1921. It replaced the East-African-based Rupee which was in circulation between 1906 – 1920. Prior to 1906, the Indian Rupee was used as the unit of currency.

2.this was a simoni 50 cents I believe.This particular one is a silver coin. The shilling & half-shilling coins were minted in cupronickel after 1948

3.10 CENT WAS CALLED tombola koja in Swahili

4. stamps

He reigned from 1910 – 1936.

The construction of the railway in the 1890s from Kenya to Uganda was hindered by several factors including hostile natives, marauding lions, rough terrain and diseases.

Construction of the railway line from Soroti to Lira District. The construction of the railway in the 1890s from Kenya to Uganda was hindered by several factors including hostile natives, marauding lions, rough terrain and diseases.

In Summary

Full steam ahead. The Uganda Railway had a dark side to it, with the deaths of thousands of Indian and African labourers but few developments can be said to have changed the region’s history more.

The original plan for the Uganda Railway was to have it cut through the interior all the way to Kampala but it would not be until 1930, three decades after most of it was fully constructed, that it did.

This fact probably helps explain the underlying reason for the construction of the railway. While the British were optimistic about commercial opportunities in the hinterland, their primary interest was to secure their hold on the source of the River Nile and the entire Nile Valley up to Egypt.

“It might have opened Kenya and Uganda to commerce, but that was merely a dividend to the interests of the British military in securing a line of supply to Egypt and the Nile,” writes Reuben Ellis in Vertical Margins: Mountaineering and the Landscapes of Neo-colonialism.

But fate has a funny way of changing history. Could the depot that was set up in Nairobi – which went on to become the biggest city in East Africa – have been built if the railway project had not been delayed by disease, desertions, tough terrain and man-eating lions?

In any case, by the time the railway arrived in Kisumu in 1901, the British had decided to change its route and have it terminate on the shores of Lake Victoria where a steamship would be built instead.

The decision to alter the plans was both political, from a hostile British society, and economic, from early white settlers in Kenya who preferred to have feeder lines built to support their fledging enterprises instead of extending the line to Uganda.

The white settlers, who later joined the Kenya Legislative Assembly, continued to complain about the Uganda extension when it was eventually built despite, according to historian Jan Elmert Jorgensen, that extension helping subsidise the low freight rates they enjoyed and the feeder lines they rode to their farms.

However, the impressive early production of cotton by peasants in Uganda, whose revenues far outstripped those of the white settlers and their plantation farms in Kenya, provided an economic incentive for the line to be extended into Uganda later.

In the interim, tracks were laid from Port Bell in Kampala into the city, allowing, with the help of a steamer ship in between, a train ride all the way to Mombasa.

It was not until the end of the First World War that the original railway line would be completed through Nakuru to Kampala. Extensions would be built from Tororo to Soroti in 1929, Kampala to Kasese in 1956 and Arua in 1964.
While the Uganda Railway cost the British government £5.3 million (about Shs21 billion) to construct, the evidence shows that this was, in reality an export subsidy, rather than a capital investment that wouldn’t look out of place with some donor projects today.

Of the £5.3m, some £2.3m was spent in Britain on rails and locomotives; under £1m in India on rolling stock and recruiting labour; under £0.2m in the United States on locomotives while British firms got the contracts, naturally, to ship in the materials.

The extension of the railway dramatically changed the trade environment in the region. In Mombasa, where the railway had first been built, trade through the Kilindini Harbour grew from £1.6 million in 1908-9 to £3.7 million in 1911-12, according to traveller and historian Norman Maclean.

“And the journey which cost the early missionaries and explorers three or four months of incredible hardships and peril, can now be done in less than forty-eight hours,” he noted.

Apart from Nairobi, other towns where the train had terminals, like Kisumu, Eldoret, Jinja and Nakuru, also saw an overnight growth in trading activity and population on the back of the train.

Trade in and out of Uganda had previously been restricted to high-value items such as ivory owing to the high cost of porterage by caravan and horse-drawn carriage to the coast.

Transport costs drop
The cost of transporting a tonne of goods from Kampala to Mombasa before the railway, had been estimated at between £130 and £300 yet export items like coffee were fetching around £70-90 per tonne on the world markets.
This all changed after the completion. “It was the railway which allowed Uganda to be integrated into the world economy as a producer of staples by cutting the Kisumu-Mombasa transport cost to £2.40 per tonne and the Kampala-Kisumu-Mombasa transport time from three months to six days,” Jorgensen notes.

The railways also allowed for everyday items like clothing, household goods etc to become more widespread and accessible to farmers who were cashing in on the cash crop trade.

The access to the coast and to the rest of the world would, in time, allow for changes in the politics, too.
But the story of the railway had a dark, bloody side. The man-eating lions of Tsavo had, by the time of their being shot dead by Patterson, killed 28 Indian coolies and an estimated 135 African labourers (the Africans were considered not important enough for an accurate count or record to be kept).

When the final count was done, out of the 31,983 Indian workers who had come to East Africa to work on the railway, 2,493 died while 6,454 were invalided back home notes J.S Mangat in ‘A History of the Asians in East Africa.’
It was, however, the 6,724 Indians who took up the offer to stay in East Africa after their work on the railway was done that would go on to change the history of the region and that of Uganda.

They were not the first Indians in the region or in Uganda and they were not the most pioneering or enterprising but they helped create a critical mass that would have long-term social, political and economic consequences.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

2.Building of East African Railway

Building of East African Railway

3.current state of Uganda’s railway system

jinja

busembatya

Jinja station

jinja

Railway station at Namasagali where from people took the ferry….. 1950s?

Railway station at Namasagali where from people took the ferry….. 1950s?

Railway station at Namasagali where from people took the ferry….. 1950s?

2.And the senior staff who built it … Ramsay and PearceNicholson (kneeling) with Senior Staff

3.Little history on jinja Uganda .Jinja Bridge in the late 1950s by which time the roadway had been removed. After the construction of Owen Falls Dam a mile or so downstream a roadway was constructed on top of the dam

4.Picture from 1930 …Namasagali ….Palango, the medicine man,on board a ship at Namasagali in 1930

5.Ferry from Namasagali.Third class passengers traveled on lighters pushed ahead of the stern wheelers

6.

Bombardment of Zanzibar by colonial powers. A Ugandan soldier by the name John Okello once staged coup in Zanzibar!

Bombardment of Zanzibar by colonial powers. A Ugandan soldier by the name John Okello once staged coup in Zanzibar!

The most pathetic thing is for a slave who doesn’t know that he is a slave – Malcolm X.

Monument to slaves in Zanzibar:From colonial slavery to Black-Black slavery

Germans were held accountable for the holocaust but here the Africans were enslaved by the Arabs who were the chief handlers and the buyers were mainly the Portuguese and the Spanish and to lesser extent other Europeans.The West African Africans were captured by North and West African Arabs while the East African Africans were mainly sold by Arabs from the North and Saudi/Muscat/Oman area. How should we go after them and sue all these people? The Mau Mau case is a good example where they have been successful in suing the British Government.

Jews were compensated,will Africans ever be compensated???? Jews have the control of media and so they can constantly remind the world of the holocaust and demand subsequent compensation. How can we as Africans lay the strategy to dominate the media? How many newspapers in USA, UK, France, Sweden, e.t.c are owned by Africans or Blacks?

Images taken by colonial Masters of various aspect of African Lives.From archives of BBC History.Until lions tell their tale, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

slaves were sent to America and were also sent to the British colonies in the West Indies and Spanish held colonies in Cuba and South America. There was a vast network of buyers and handlers both in East Africa , South Central Africa and West Africa. There were many many people responsible for the plight of the Africans. The questions I’m asking is who or better still, how do do you go about suing anyone? Is it worth suing anyone when there is now black-black slavery in our countries?

Jews were compensated around 1.5 billion dollars. This was a token amount to gain acknowledgement from Germany for Nazi atrocities. The idea was to shame them on the world stage. However they lost close to 6 billions in pilferaged properties and tangible assets they left behind. This was never accounted for by Germany as part of reparation.

The slaves were taken to America, the West Indies and South America by the slave traders because there was a huge demand for them. The sale of the slaves were advertised in various newspapers and were auctioned off to the highest bidders. Not all Americans were rich and not all could afford to own slaves but who do we sue in USA? Where do we start?. It wasn’t so much as greed but there was an acute shortage of labor to work the vast farms. The first slaves were ‘imported’ to work on the huge Virginian tobacco farms and as more and more colonies joined the Union, the need for man power increased and immoral trade of human trafficking increased. It was a profitable business for the handlers and there was no shortage of ship load of human cargo arriving everyday to be sold off.

Blacks that were taken as slaves are still treated in some countries as 2nd class citizens. Besides Americans, the Portuguese in Brazil where millions and millions of Black Brazilians live to this day in impoverished condition at the bottom of the social rung. They are like second class citizens in Brazil. In USA and Brazil there were laws passed by the govts to keep blacks in slavery and to deny them human rights.

You have to read the history of African-Americans in USA who FOR OVER 400 YEARS were subject to various laws to keep them oppressed such as BLACK CODE, JIM CROW LAWS. They were not allowed basic human rights such as meals on the counter with whites, barriers in hotel rooms, DISCRIMINATION on means of transportation last but not least no admission to white schools BY LAW.. For the first time in 1964 they were allowed to vote in the election, a law passed by President Johnson.Civil Right laws were passed in 1965 thus removing all forms of racial barriers.
So the govts were responsible for the slavery of blacks. If these laws were not passed then the history of Blacks would have been quite different from the one they suffered over 400 years.

EKIWANDIKO KINO KISASANYIZIBWE MU BAGANDA

EKIWANDIKO KINO KISASANYIZIBWE MU BAGANDA
Michael kintu nga akwasibwa obwa katikilo mu 1952 yalayira okugoba obufuzi bwo mungereza kutaka lya Buganda. Mu 1961 omulimu gwe yagutukiriza omungereza yamugoba mubufuzi bwa Buganda yadde nga omungereza ya kozesa abaganda ba Abu bakali Mayanja naleta Obote naye ekyo tekijjawo buwanguzi Michael Kintu bweyatusa ku Buganda kati obuwanguzi Michael Kintu bweyatusa kuBuganda tulina okudayo okubugoberera nga tukola bino.

Okusomesa abaganda nga tuba sindikira obubaka ku masimu obugamba nti Buganda nsiyaffe abaganda abalina ebika era buli muntu yena atalina kika azimbye oba akoledde ekintu kyona kutaka lyaffe mumenyiwa tteka lya Buganda eligamba nti ettaka lya Buganda teligurwa, telyazikibwa abaganda tulina obuvunanyizibwa okujja buli kintu kyona abagwira kyebatadde kuttaka lyaffe. Buli kyalo kilina okulaba nga abagwira abazimbye kubyalo byaffe bagobwako abo ababa baganyi balina okwokyebwa. Kunkola Michael Kintu gyeyeya mbisa okugoba abangereza yagamba nti abaganda tebaddamu kutunda mwanyi na pamba mu bayindi oyo yena anagana ogoberera etteka elyo ebintu bye byona byokyebwe. Enkola ya Michael Kintu eno gyetulina okugoberera okwegobako obuffuzi bwo bumbula ffe kenyini abaganda bwetwetaddemu olwo bulagajjavu.

Kasozi Mukasa

Kanzu was already prominent in Buganda by 1925

This must have been around 1925. That kanzu robe had become more prominent, after being introduced by Arab traders, and worn along with the European coat. The lorry here is more modern than others that dominated the scene in 1920.

Initially the kanzu was imported and was made from either cotton or linen, a combination of reasons that kept it out of reach of the majority. But as time passed, it began trickling down to ordinary Baganda. The men began making the kanzu from barkcloth, the traditional clothing material used then.

With time, they began making it from cheaper fabrics like silk and poplin, which was brought in by Indian and Arab traders. Today the kanzu is made from silk, cotton, poplin and linen. Linen kanzus are the most expensive. While adopting the kanzu, the Baganda made some changes to its design, making their version
different from all the other tunics worn around the world, especially those from its parent design from Arabia.This outfit originally was introduced by Arabs. The most significant addition to the kanzu by the Baganda was the embroidery added around the collar, abdomen and the sleeves. This embroidery, called ‘Omulela’, is unique to the Uganda kanzu and it is hand sewn.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the Baganda also added the tradition of wearing a coat atop the kanzu. By picking the blazer from the dress culture of the Europeans, who were the colonial power then the Baganda created a hybrid of Arabian and British dress code. The kanzu in Uganda today is worn in many areas complete with a coat, save for the Muslims who prefer to keep it as plain as the Arabs. However, some Muslims add a tarboosh on the head.

Tarboosh or ‘Entalabusi’ is mainly worn in Turkey and Morocco. However, Tarboosh (head cap) is not an Islamic requirement for men to wear. It is due to specific countries traditions and practice..

As Buganda’s culture spread to other areas of Uganda, the kanzu spread with it and could rightly be the ‘the unofficial national dress of Ugandan men’.Buganda folks have sort of created a hybrid from Colonial dress and Arabic version.The outfit is certainly Arabic in its origin.

So, basically Kanzu is a traditional dress of Buganda people and not Uganda although popular in many districts.

When a gomesi is really a knock-out, the expression these days is that it is “gomesi kiboko!”

Irene Drusilla Namaganda was born in 1896.Irene Drusilla Namaganda became the Nnabagereka (Queen) when she married King Chwa II. After his death she was the Queen Mother (Namasole) of her son King Mutesa II. The title of Nabagereka was new, created by Chwa II. Previously the wife of the King was called the Kaddulubaale. The Kaddulubaale had no official role, the First Lady was the Lubuga, a sister of the King. The Namasole was, however, a powerful person at court from ancient times.

Sanyu is wearing a suuka, the traditional dress of a maiden. It was an ankle length backcloth (later a length of cotton) wrapped around the body and belted at the waist. At the request of the headmistress of Gayaza High sch, a Goan tailor named Gomes modified the suuka to create a school uniform for Gayaza. By adding sleeves to the suuka the elegant robe recently some people(Otto Patrick & Co) dont want to call it a Kiganda dress- was invented. It was thus called the Gomesi, or the ” boarding” (after boarding school) or busuuti (the name of the robe worn by male VIPs over their kanzu).

I am sure Namasole is Queen Mother. The role of Namasole was really given its greatest focus when Mutesa I’s mother died. Alex Mackay was asked to make a coffin for her. The first coffin in Uganda’s history is said to have been that of Mutesa’s mother. Mutesa had asked Mackay what arrangements were made in royal burials the UK. Mackay’s explanation of Westminster Abbey arrangements led to Mutesa to ask Mackay to make a coffin for his mother and the Baganda royal builders to erect Kasubi Tombs to equal Westminster Abbey in stature and grandeur.

The gomesi is composed of about six layers of fabric on top of another two layers of striped undergarments, all of which is quite sweaty when worn in equatorial sunshine. There are folds and flaps, buttons, a giant belt, and tall, pointy shoulders. I’m told that some ladies put extra layers as padding beneath everything to accentuate the size of their posterior.

When a gomesi is really a knock-out, the expression these days is that it is “gomesi kiboko!”The stripped under garment is called “Kikoyi.”The accentuated posterior is necessary for shaking the hips for the traditional dance”NGOMA” or ‘AGALIBA ENJOLE’. Sexy? yes Sir!!!

There are many variations to the origins of the Gomesi. One such is that the Gomesi existed long before the missionaries and Indians came to Uganda, however, the missionaries introduced the use of cotton instead of the bark cloth, from which the Gomesi was originally made. When the Indians came to Uganda, they added the various fabrics from satin/silk blends and the vibrant colors to the traditional attire.Mr Gomes, an Indian tailor had designed the dress for a Royal Buganda member, and it took on his name. The same indian was hired to design uniforms for Gayaza high sch.

According to some scholars, the first Gomesi were made for schoolgirls in Gayaza, Uganda in the 1940s and 1950s. The Christian missionaries who ran the school hired Indian tailors to design the dress. Traditional Ugandan clothing was made from barkcloth. The Gomesi designed by Indian tailors was made from cotton fabric. The Baganda were the first nationality to wear the Gomesi. Today the Gomesi is the Kiganda traditional dress for women and is also worn by other ethnicities in Uganda.

The adoption started with the Buganda before moving to Busoga, West Nile and Teso and now almost the entire country. The two garments are what could be called Uganda’s signature dress. Gomesi and Kanzu.

‘Welcoming a tractor at the 1955 / 50yr celebrations’

Fifty-five years later, there are only three (3) tractors (the type of Massey Ferguson that can plough) in Masaka, Bukomansimbi, Lwengo and Kalungu districts, perhaps because the land has also been too much fragmented.

One of the three tractors (my father and I call them karakita) is stationed at Kamenyamiggo Agricultural Centre.

At least let us be aware of such ugly facts to know the descending highway our country has been fast sliding especially from mid-80s. Sadly, it continues to dive into the abyss.

The Lord Bless You.
Matovu Abdallah Twaha
+971502755731
—————————————————————————————
I thought your mind would go to the bare feeted girls and how their were being exploited. we are still in this kind of exploitation except that we now invite it and accept it officially unfortunately we dont know it. This photograph makes me feel disgraced

Prof Waswa Balunywa, PhD
Makerere University Business School
P.O Box 1337,
Kampala,
Uganda.
http://www.balunywa.net
http://www.facebook.com/jw.balunywa.9

Cotton was first introduced into Uganda by K. Borup, an industrial missionary

History on the cotton in Uganda …. A view looking along a cotton ginning plant with Ugandans at work at the machines which separate the cotton from the seeds. Cotton was first introduced into Uganda by K. Borup, an industrial missionary, who in 1903 distributed 62 bags of cotton seeds for planting. The Uganda Cotton Company, with Borup as manager, was founded in 1904. By the time of the Uganda Agricultural Exhibition in 1908 cotton output was estimated by the Governor to be worth UKP50,000 and was the major exhibit. By the time Sir Albert Cook wrote ‘Uganda Memories’ cotton output was second only to India in the Empire and it maintained this position until recent years.

Here are the trends for the cotton industry in Uganda from 1924 to 2004. Look at details here: http://www.worldbank.org/afr/wps/WPS_123_Uganda_Cotton_Case_Study.pdf. Below are the trends in the cotton industry in Uganda

OBOTE WASN’T THE 1ST PM OF UGANDA??

Ben was dreaming of Uganda’s independence when all other politician including the regime iniBuganda were fast a sleep.A brilliant Lawyer as well!
One of the reasons why he formed the democratic party(D.P) was in response to the marginalisation of people of the catholic faith in Buganda by then.

Remember Uganda was a British protectorate and most Britons were Protestants,furthermore the King embrased the Anglican(Protestant) ,thus ensuring the Anglican hegemony which was also the basis of the coalition between UPC and KY.

Professor Mazrui a reknown African scholar who was lectured at Makerere University but hails from Kenya,described Uganda as the Northern Ireland of Africa.Just like Northern Ireland,ugandan politics has been largely influenced by religion,which is sad!I think all ugandans lost out from this “madness” because it eventually gave rise to Amin!!!

In the late 1960s Uganda was in a state of instability. After strengthening his military base, Idi Amin overthrew Obote’s government and forcibly took control in 1971. Amin plunged Uganda into a deep crisis and an era of ruthless persecution.

Confusion surrounded Kiwanuka’s arrest in September of 1972. Witnesses reported that armed men seized him, although a military spokesman denied the arrest and suggested that government impostors may have been responsible for the capture of several important officials. Shortly after, Amin’s forces murdered him. Kiwanuka was one of many people slaughtered during Amin’s reigning years of chaos and terror. In his book Uganda Since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes, Phares Mutibwa asserted that Amin murdered Kiwanuka because he perceived him to be a potential rival leader.

History has it that the Late Benedicto Kiwanuka was a disciplinarian.On one occasion,he dismissed a magistrate from duty for late comming and drunkeness.This magistrate was a close friend of the late Dr Sembeguya who was the first Ugandan doctor to venture into private medical practice.It was said that when Mr Kiwanuka was murdered the Doctor organised a “party” for his demise,as a sign of pay back for having fired his magistrate friend.Late after afew months,Amins men came for the doctor’s life!Any lesson to learn???????????

 

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.

DP was founded mainly as a party to challenge the Royal ruling class which was mainly Anglican.Thus you find that most DP suppoters up to today are Roman Catholics.Uganda having been a British protectorate and most British were Anglicans,made sure that power does not go to the catholics.Thus Bishop Brown the Archbishop then in uganda had to advise them on a coalition.Obote was anglican and so was the Monarchy thus a marriage of convinience was consumated between UPC and KY.

Each party thought after doing away with the common enemy(DP),one would out manoever the other.Obote was more cunning and the rest is history.It was this greed,sectarianism,egos which has led to the bleeding of uganda up to today.I think if DP had won i doubt if Amin would have surfaced on the scene!remember Obote appointed Amin whom he felt could use to intimidate his opponents.A very sad piece of history filled with “what if’s”.

Politics is such a funny BUT deadly venture at the same time.  on second thoughts I should say weird thing that in the process of putting power in hands of certain group leads to such chaos and brutality that couple of generations of the innocent people pay a heavy price and many others perished for ever….very sad indeed.

Religious descrimination was rife in Buganda in terms of job opportunities and caused a lot of tension.Late Ben Kiwanuka saw Uganda as a nationalist while the traditionalist had a narrow view.At the end of the day the traditionalists were the biggest losers in terms of property and lives!!!

A quiz question most people failed during our time, and may still fail today: Who was the first Prime Minister of Uganda?Answer is NOT Apollo Milton Obote.Benedicto Kiwanuka was the Chief Minister from July 1961 to February 1962. On 1st March 1962 he was appointed the first Prime Minister[P.S. I know even Wikipedia has it wrong just like most historians in Uganda].

OTHER IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS IN UGANDA

1500 – Bito dynasties of Buganda, Bunyoro and Ankole founded by Nilotic-speaking immigrants from present-day southeastern Sudan.

1700 – Buganda begins to expand at the expense of Bunyoro.

1800 – Buganda controls territory bordering Lake Victoria from the Victoria Nile to the Kagera river.

1840s – Muslim traders from the Indian Ocean coast exchange firearms, cloth and beads for the ivory and slaves of Buganda.

1862 – British explorer John Hanning Speke becomes the first European to visit Buganda.

1875 – Bugandan King Mutesa I allows Christian missionaries to enter his realm.

1877 – Members of the British Missionary Society arrive in Buganda.

1879 – Members of the French Roman Catholic White Fathers arrive.

1890 – Britain and Germany sign treaty giving Britain rights to what was to become Uganda.

1892 – Imperial British East Africa Company agent Frederick Lugard extends the company’s control to southern Uganda and helps the Protestant missionaries to prevail over their Catholic counterparts in Buganda.

1894 – Uganda becomes a British protectorate.

1900 – Britain signs agreement with Buganda giving it autonomy and turning it into a constitutional monarchy controlled mainly by Protestant chiefs.

1902 – The Eastern province of Uganda transferred to the Kenya.

1904 – Commercial cultivation of cotton begins.

1921 – Uganda given a legislative council, but its first African member not admitted till 1945.

1958 – Uganda given internal self-government. Elections held in 1961 – Benedicto Kiwanuka elected Chief Minister.

1962 – Uganda becomes independent with Milton Obote as prime minister and with Buganda enjoying considerable autonomy.

1963 – Uganda becomes a republic with Buganda’s King Mutesa II as president.

1966 – Milton Obote ends Buganda’s autonomy and promotes himself to the presidency.

1967 – New constitution vests considerable power in the president.

1971 – Milton Obote toppled in coup led by Army chief Idi Amin.

1972 – Amin expels Israelis giving them 2 weeks to leave.

1972 – Amin orders Asians who were not Ugandan citizens – around 60,000 people – to leave the country in 3 months.

1972-73 – Uganda engages in border clashes with Tanzania.

1976 – Idi Amin declares himself president for life and claims parts of Kenya.

1978 – Uganda invades Tanzania with a view to annexing Kagera region.

1979 – Tanzania invades Uganda, unifying the various anti-Amin forces under the Uganda National Liberation Front and forcing Amin to flee the country; Yusufu Lule installed as president, but is quickly replaced by Godfrey Binaisa.

1980 – Binaisa overthrown by the army.

1980 – Milton Obote becomes president after elections.

1981-86 Following the bitterly disputed elections, Ugandan bush war fought by National Resistance Army

1985 – Obote deposed in military coup and is replaced by Tito Okello.

1986 – National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install Yoweri Museveni as president.

1993 – Museveni restores the traditional kings, including the king of Buganda, but without political power.

1995 – New constitution legalizes political parties but maintains the ban on political activity.

1996 – Museveni returned to office in Uganda’s first direct presidential election.

2000 – Ugandans vote to reject multi-party politics in favour of continuing Museveni’s “no-party” system.

2001 January – East African Community (EAC) re-inaugurated in Arusha, Tanzania, laying groundwork for common East African passport, flag, economic and monetary integration. Members are Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

2001 March – Museveni wins another term in office, beating his rival Kizza Besigye by 69% to 28%. Campaign against rebels

2002 October – Army evacuates more than 400,000 civilians caught up in fight against cult-like LRA which continues its brutal attacks on villages.

2003 May – Uganda pulls out last of its troops from eastern DR Congo. Tens of thousands of DR Congo civilians seek asylum in Uganda.

2004 December – Government and LRA rebels hold their first face-to-face talks, but there is no breakthrough in ending the insurgency.

2005 July – Parliament approves a constitutional amendment which scraps presidential term limits. Voters in a referendum overwhelmingly back a return to multi-party politics.

2005 October – International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for five LRA commanders, including leader Joseph Kony.

2006 February – President Museveni wins multi-party elections, taking 59% of the vote against the 37% share of his rival, Kizza Besigye.

2006 August – The government and the LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their long-running conflict. Subsequent peace talks are marred by regular walk-outs.

2007 March – Ugandan peacekeepers deploy in Somalia as part of an African Union mission to help stabilise the country.

2008 February – Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army sign what is meant to be a permanent ceasefire at talks in Juba, Sudan.

2008 November – The leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, again fails to turn up for the signing of a peace agreement. Ugandan, South Sudanese and DR Congo armies launch offensive against LRA bases.

2009 The UK oil explorer Heritage Oil says it has made a major oil find in Uganda.

2009 March – Ugandan army begins to withdraw from DR Congo, where it had pursued Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.

2009 December – Parliament votes to ban female circumcision. Anyone convicted of the practice will face 10 years in jail or a life sentence if a victim dies.

2010 January – President Museveni distances himself from the anti-homosexuality Bill, saying the ruling party MP who proposed the bill did so as an individual. The European Union and United States had condemned the bill.

2010 July – Two bomb attacks on people watching World Cup final at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala kill at least 74 people. The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab says it was behind the blasts.

2011 February – Museveni wins his fourth presidential election.

2011 July – US deploys special forces personnel to help Uganda combat LRA rebels.

2012 Aug- Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich winS the Gold Medal in Marathon at the Olympics ,Uganda,s second Gold medal ever, and third Olympic medal since joining the Olympics.

 

Kabaka Mutesa 2, Prince Badru Kakungulu, Captain Ronnie Owen and Lady Damali Kisosonkole

Kabaka Edward Muteesa II (C) upon his return from two years of exile in Britain on October 18,1955.

The lady behind Ssekabaka Mutesa is actually the late Princess Irene Ndagire (Mutesa’s sister);

The elderly lady to the extreme left of the photo is the Namasole Irene Druscilla Namaganda (Mutesa’s mother);

The elderly gentleman (next to the right shoulder of Badru Kakungulu) is the late Mzee Manyang’enda (the grandfather of John Nagenda, among others);

The white gentleman (by the Namasole) is Captain Ronnie Owen – he was a close friend of Ssekabaka Mutesa).

Mary stuat the one they named after the Makerere University hall and her husband.

The two people in this photograph are Bishop Stuart and his wife Mary Stuart (after whom Mary Stuart Hall in Makerere was named).

Gayaza girls were allowed to wear uniforms of different colors on any given day irrespective of the class or dorm.

1.Gayaza girls were allowed to wear uniforms of different colors on any given day irrespective of the class or dorm.This was done so that when one looked at a full class , just like the one photographed above, the students would look like flowers.I recognize quite a number of prominent women of today.Some I don’t remember names,but this is so nice.

2. CLASS OF 1968

King Daudi Chwa on his way to his grandfather’s tomb

1.General Manning, the King Daudi Chwa, and Colonel Hayes Sadler are in the front. Bishop Tucker stands at the right of the photograph

2.King Daudi Chwa on his way to his grandfather’s tomb

3.This is supposed to be the most stately way in which a royal progress can be made.Nalinya (The sister of the Kabaka) and the Kabaka this is a coronation the two are then carried on the shoulder of the clans.However, we have to note that, carrying the Kabaka on shoulder (okukongojja) was a common practice of welcoming the Kabaka and only the Mbogo (Buffalo) clan were the only one supposed to kukongojja the king.

4.Sir Apolo Kagwa (Katikiro of prime minister). lady Kagwa and family.

At his home in London, the Kabaka studies a copy of the new Buganda Agreement

1.’At his home in London, a flat in Eaton Place, the Kabaka studies a copy of the new Buganda Agreement. at Mengo, he will sign this Agreement with the Governor of Uganda, Sir Andrew Cohen.’. The Buganda Agreement, 1955 can be read on the folowing link: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7775/

2.’After their wedding in 1943, the Kabaka and the Nabagareka leave in an open car.’

3. I believe there is a prince Badru Kakungulu in this photo

‘Gayaza High School:3rd from left, Irene Drusilla Namaganda who became Queen Namasole of Buganda/GOMESI

‘Gayaza High School.  3rd from left, Irene Drusilla Namaganda who became Queen Namasole of Buganda.
3rd from right, Sanyu Mulira who became Mrs. Paulo Mukasa’

Irene Drusilla Namaganda was born in 1896.Irene Drusilla Namaganda became the Nnabagereka (Queen) when she married King Chwa II. After his death she was the Queen Mother (Namasole) of her son King Mutesa II. The title of Nabagereka was new, created by Chwa II. Previously the wife of the King was called the Kaddulubaale. The Kaddulubaale had no official role, the First Lady was the Lubuga, a sister of the King. The Namasole was, however, a powerful person at court from ancient times.

Sanyu is wearing a suuka, the traditional dress of a maiden. It was an ankle length backcloth (later a length of cotton) wrapped around the body and belted at the waist. At the request of the headmistress of Gayaza High sch, a Goan tailor named Gomes modified the suuka to create a school uniform for Gayaza. By adding sleeves to the suuka the elegant robe recently some people(Otto Patrick & Co) dont want to call it a Kiganda dress- was invented. It was thus called the Gomesi, or the ” boarding” (after boarding school) or busuuti (the name of the robe worn by male VIPs over their kanzu).

I am sure Namasole is Queen Mother. The role of Namasole was really given its greatest focus when Mutesa I’s mother died. Alex Mackay was asked to make a coffin for her. The first coffin in Uganda’s history is said to have been that of Mutesa’s mother. Mutesa had asked Mackay what arrangements were made in royal burials the UK. Mackay’s explanation of Westminster Abbey arrangements led to Mutesa to ask Mackay to make a coffin for his mother and the Baganda royal builders to erect Kasubi Tombs to equal Westminster Abbey in stature and grandeur.

 

‘King Freddie and Queen Damali: a photo worth printing and keeping in your lounge

This is a great portrait of this jubilee period

3.’His Holiness prays at the Church of Uganda Shrine at Numugongo. With him is the Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and the Bishop of Namirembe’

The Reason why most Baganda will never forgive Obote and UPC! Mutesa looked so tired after a long journey

End of Sir Edward Mutesa’s 400 mile journey on foot. Here he has just arrived in Burundi after being exiled from Uganda.We lost a great King Bse of Obote and UPC.Looking at this makes cry. This marked the starting point of the destruction of Buganda!! The Kawenkene era. I dont care if he later drunk himself silly while in London but Obote contributed to his eventual death in exile. They killed him and they will never be forgiven!

 

2.Before Sir Edward Mutesa II died he made his son Ronald Mutebi heir to the kingdom. Here he is with him just after he had arrived in London.

3.November 19, 1948 was a great day in the life of Sir Edward Mutesa II, it’s the day he got married to Lady Damali Nakawombe. So respect all the ladies whose surname is ‘NAKAWOMBE’ like UAH’s Rev. Jessical Nakawombe

 

Kamswaga: King of Koki,the origin of some Ssemuwembas in modern Buganda

The last photograph before the Kabaka Mutesa 11’s departure from Uganda

 

1.’Gayaza High School.
3rd from left, Irene Drusilla Namaganda who became Queen Namasole of Buganda.
3rd from right, Sanyu Mulira who became Mrs. Paulo Mukasa’

 

2.’The last photograph before the Kabaka’s departure from Uganda. It was taken on his 29th birthday, November 19, 1953, outside the Kabaka’s palace, where he sits surrounded by his Ministers, and Chiefs, the Abakama of Bunyoro, Toro and Ankole, and religious and civil leaders.’

3.’A delightful family study of the Kabaka’s children – the Kiwewa and his four-year-old sister, Princess Dorothy, teken shortly after Princess Dorothy’s return from London, where she was treated for the after-effects of poliomyclitis.’

THE MOST HANDSOME KABAKA OF BUGANDA

1. Edith Nakazaana seated =daughter Ham Mukasa, middle is Princess Irene Ndagire Kabaka Mutebi’s aunt and & Jessie Kitamirike

2.the late Mr. Mackay Kalula MUKASA (brother to the late Mrs Rebecca Allen Namugenze MULIRA)

3. Ssekabaka Sir Edward Muteesa II.Perhaps the most dashingly handsome King of Buganda Kingdom;who ever lived;he was light years ahead of his time,few folks both from within the Kingdom and outside;quite understood his love and vision and the direction;he passionately wanted his nation to take.Modern and well educated and well decorated army officer trained by the British;he read through the glaring hypocrises of the Imperial England,he was humiliated by deportations in 1953 to England for being part and parcel of Independence agitators as his people led the nation in calling for independence and self rule.I hope history will be compassionate towards him.

MRS. Miria Obote was such a beautiful woman at a young age

 

1.His – Holiness greets the First Lady of Uganda Mrs. Miria Obote at Entebbe Airport

2.Family Ya Zachary Makaabugo Ssensalire Ntambi the 17th in Mukono

3.Sarah N. Mukasa with Edith Nakasana standing next to nash Reg. No. K. 3066 in Mukono