Do you know that nobody knows exactly how Ssekabaka Mutesa I looked like?

Kabaka Mutesa I

Do you know that nobody knows exactly how Ssekabaka Mutesa I looked like? All the images of him are paintings. The first photographs of a Kabaka of Buganda were of Mwanga.

The paintings of Mutesa I were the result of interviews of elderly people during the reign of Daudi Chwa but who had seen Mutesa I. These old people ended up describing a person resembling the Kabaka at the time (i.e Chwa). And Prince Joseph Musanje (who painted them) did not even see Mutesa I because Mutesa I died before Musanje was born.

This is why one can see a resemblance between Mutesa I’s paintings and Daudi Chwa’s photographs. There is, however, no resemblance between the photographs of Mwanga and the paintings of Mutesa I (Mwanga’s father). Further, there is also no resemblance between Mwanga and his son Daudi Chwa. Daudi Chwa’s features were from his mother Evelyn Kulabako “Masombira.”

Deo Kasansula

Death of the Architect on the Bulange, Roger Freeman

Roger FREEMAN was the Architect who designed the Bulange. Mark Andrew worked for him in Kampala and was the Resident Architect during the Construction.

Roger died peacefully in his sleep on 11th December 2011, at Frimley Park Hospital. Much loved husband of the late Pamela, devoted father of Cherry, Nicholas and Holly, grandfather and great grandfather. Private family cremation followed by Service of Thanksgiving at St Andrew’s Church, South Warnborough, on Friday 16th December at 12.30 p.m. Family flowers only. All enquiries to Kemp & Stevens, 93 High Street, Alton, Hants, GU34 1LG, 01420 83177.

The attached picture shows him seated with his wife Pamela, next to the Kabaka’s attendant, alongside The Governor Andrew Cohen and Lady Cohen. It would be nice to let people in Uganda know of his death.

Roger Freeman at opening of Bulange

This notice has been published in the UK Daily Telegraph and Times.It has been sent to Ugandans through Abbey Semuwemba by Mark Andrew who said that he cannot attend the funeral as it is a long way from his home but he has posted a message on the Telegraph page.

Mark Andrew photos(In 1955-56) was the Resident Architect for the Bulange building as indicated in the photos below:

mark andrew

mark andrew standing next to Sir Edward Mutesa 11

The last days of Kabaka Edward Muteesa

Kabaka Muteesa talks to his chiefs in the 1950s. Courtesy photos, Uganda a Picture History, Fountain Publishers

Posted  Thursday, November 24  2011 at  00:00

 

In the second and final part of our series, Apollo Makubuya, the current Attorney General of Buganda writes that even with all the odds stacked against him, Kabaka Edward Muteesa stood his ground and refused to give in to the demands President Milton Obote had set.

Milton Obote left nothing to chance – in ensuring that Muteesa was rendered a destitute. He personally oversaw that Muteesa had no access to funds from Uganda. According to a memo from the British High Commission in Uganda dated January 4, 1967, Obote himself actively pursued the question of Muteesa’s finances. On one occasion, he summoned a Standard Bank official and asked him if he could shed light on the possibility of funds being passed from Uganda to Muteesa.

The discussion, at which Obote was said to be pleasant and amiable, lasted two hours but the official explained that he was unable to help the President on this question. On another occasion, Obote twice summoned the local Barclays Bank Manager, Mr. Woodcock, and interrogated him at length to establish that the Kabaka had no funds. The Bank official confirmed that there was no money available to Muteesa. In the mean time, Sam Odaka discussed with the British High Commissioner the possibility for Mutesa’s land and property to be sold by his sister Princess Victoria Mpologoma.

But, as the High Commissioner saw it, even if the land was sold there was “no reason to think that the Uganda Government will allow Muteesa to receive these moneys without paying the political price” or “eating a full measure of humble pie”. Alongside the Ugandan Government, the British maintained an intense search for Muteesa’s assets in Uganda so that they be sold and, hopefully, the proceeds would go to Muteesa to “keep the wolves away from his door for at least a few months” if one may use the language of the High Commissioner.

While HMG’s agenda on Muteesa was more obscure than Obote’s, it was equally uncharitable. In spite of his plight, some senior officials felt that HMG was handling Muteesa with “kid gloves”. The Commonwealth Office for example pressed the Supplementary Benefits Commission to work with Muteesa’s solicitors to obtain “a more precise statement of Muteesa’s assets and how they can be realised, than Muteesa is prepared to make”.

The Commonwealth Office’s primary aim was “to help the Supplementary Benefits Commission to relieve themselves of the burden of Mutesa” by arranging “so far as we can, for his assets to be made available in some way or the other”, in other words, by hook or crook.

The wolves were not only at Muteesa’s door, they were also on Princess Victoria Mpologoma’s door. Indeed, according to the Daily Telegraph of February 18, 1969, she together with 15 others were arrested and detained under emergency laws. She was to be charged with high treason. It was believed by Basil Bataringaya, the Minister of Internal Affairs, that she supplied money for an abortive army mutiny in an attempt to overthrow the Ugandan government and secure the return of the Kabaka.

British government declines to help
When Muteesa’s friends asked the British government to intercede in Princess Victoria Mpologoma’s long detention without trial, HMG’s response was that it could “do nothing about the detention of Victoria since she is a Ugandan citizen. To them, her detention was “a matter for the Uganda Government and any approach by HMG would be taken by President Obote as interference in the internal affairs of Uganda”.

On the matter, a senior British official stressed that “President Obote is extremely sensitive to the question of Sir Edward Muteesa and his family” adding that “we have had to be very careful in the past to avoid any action which could conceivably be construed as support for Sir E Muteesa by HMG”. Mr P.M. Forster, the British High Commissioner in Uganda wrote that on matters concerning Muteesa, Obote’s “emotions are strongly engaged and his behaviour tends to be irrational.”

At home Muteesa’s assets were left to the vultures. Nobody was in charge. Taifa Empya reported cases of some senior Baganda lawyers and politicians scrambling for his personal property. It is said that Obote, like Governor Andrew Cohen before him, cajoled the Baganda to forget Muteesa and install another prince as their Kabaka. But, like Cohen, his plans were met with dismal failure.

Muteesa was worried about his family. Naturally. In particular, he was concerned about the wellbeing of his sister Victoria and Sarah Kisosonkole. Through his solicitors, he asked HMG for information about them. HMG was reluctant to provide this information fearing what Obote may think or suspect.

Because of the fear to insult Obote, HMG also declined a request made by Muteesa who wanted to send his son Ronnie (the reigning Kabaka) to his mother in Kenya for Christmas in 1969. The mother feared that the young prince may be kidnapped. HMG’s view was that it was a difficult matter and did not think that it “could offer any view” as “it was for the boy’s parents to make their own judgement”. The British bureaucrats believed that if their advice “came to the ears of President Obote, which it easily could, we should have insulted him”.

Kabaka refuses to accept Obote’s demands
However, and in spite of the blackmail and torment that Muteesa suffered at the hands of his British hosts and Obote’s regime, he did not relent. He never gave up. And, in an interview with officials from the Supplementary Benefits Commission on his financial affairs, it was perfectly clear that Muteesa was “not prepared at present, either publically or privately, to make the declaration which would enable the Uganda government to permit the transfer of some of his assets to this country”.

Much to their chagrin. It is not difficult to imagine what would have followed if Muteesa had yielded to Obote’s conditions. According to HMG, Muteesa did not seem to be especially concerned about his own plight and gave them the impression that he was “lethargic and complacent”. This must have infuriated Obote and his cronies even more.

In The Desecration of My Kingdom, Muteesa writes that Obote was “behaving much as the British did when they exiled me, and making the same mistakes, though he has added violence and chaos. The army rules… but just as I was supported by my faith in the loyalty of my people in the dark years of exile, now I believe utterly that the Baganda will show their devotion, though it demands great courage and perseverance. In the end I shall return to the land of my fathers and to my people”. Indeed Muteesa returned to the land of his forefathers. But as a dead man.

Unclear circumstances of the king’s death
It is said Muteesa died of alcohol poisoning in his London flat in November 1969. The British police claimed that he committed suicide. Other accounts say that he was poisoned by Obote’s assassins. Others claim he was grossly neglected by his minders – who failed to deliver him to hospital in good time. But a British journalist John Simpson, interviewed him in his flat only a few hours before his death.

He found that Muteesa was sober and in good spirits. And, although Simpson reported this to the police the following day, this line of inquiry was not pursued. Simpson says he that he “tried to tell the British police my story and even though I was the last person to see him they didn’t seem to want to interview me, which I have always found very strange and rather disturbing.” HMG has never offered an explanation for this. It seems therefore, that we shall never know what or who killed Muteesa. What we know though is Obote’s regime made Muteesa’s final years hell on earth.

In fact he refused Muteesa’s body to be returned to Uganda for burial. We know that, when it mattered most, the British establishment did little or nothing to help Muteesa or his family. To them he was a burden and an object of scorn and ridicule. One wonders why, once he had fallen, HMG had Muteesa’s casket draped with the Union Jack and let the Grenadier Guards carry it in full ceremony and honour.

But, whatever or whoever killed him, we know that, in the end, Muteesa died a frustrated but firm man. He never gave up and never let us down. He kept the faith. We salute him as our true hero. His spirit endures. We shall always remember him for many things not least – standing up to British imperialism at a youthful age of 29, his heroic triumph against Governor Andrew Cohen, his grand and heroic home-coming on October 17, 1955, his role in Uganda’s Constitutional making process in Lancaster, his fight against Obote’s dictatorship; his love for his people and respect for the Lukiiko plus his charm, dignity and sense of optimism.

And, most of all we shall never forget the historic return of his body and burial at Kasubi in 1971. Of course it is ironic that it was Idi Amin, he who led the attack on Muteesa’s palace in 1966, who was showered with praises for allowing his body to return home.

So, what do we learn from this tragic story? Many lessons abound. For 27 years, Buganda Kingdom was “abolished”. But was Uganda any better off? In this sad episode of our history, Buganda lost. But Obote and, notably, Uganda did not win.

And, although it is now almost 20 years since the colourful coronation of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi at Nnagalabi, the wounds of 1966 have not fully healed. It hurts to see that no one has ever been tried and/or convicted for these heinous crimes. How will these wounds heal and how will Buganda and Uganda forge ahead in a united, peaceful and prosperous way? This question ought to bother our leaders yet there is little evidence that it actually does.

Fred Mpanga, Buganda’s former Attorney General and Muteesa’s old and friend, opined in 1968, that the “monarchy, where it existed in Uganda is not an anachronism. It was a vibrant political force and a stabilising factor. That is why its untimely abolition may prove the weakest link in the chain of the events that began in 1966 when Obote seized all the powers of government”.

What is the way forward?
Forty two years after Muteesa’s death, the Kingdom of Buganda remains a square peg being forced to fit in a round hole. Often, its attempts to resolve issues on land, federalism, the position and role of the Kabaka, for example, are thwarted and sometimes violently so. When shall we learn that the politics of betrayal, brinkmanship, force and violence cannot secure us a peaceful and joyful future? When shall we learn that dialogue and mutual respect is the way to go?

The challenge to us, mostly the politicians, is to resolve the Buganda question in Uganda alongside other burning national issues such as the economy, oil resources and corruption. The time is now. We cannot afford to wait any longer to lay a foundation that will guarantee our children and their children a stable future in Uganda and East Africa. And, more importantly, we can no longer afford politicians and schemes that seek to divide rather than unite; that seek to coerce rather that engage; and those that aim to destroy rather than build.

As we ponder these issues, as well as Uganda’s future, the lessons in Muteesa’s long and arduous journey – from his Palace in Mengo to a small one-bedroom flat in England where he died – dare not be lost on all of us. Therein may lie the answer.

Long live the king.

Last Will of King Muteesa II

This is the official translation of Ssekabaka Edward Mutesa’s will, approved by Mayanja Nkangi (then Katikkiro), as a true translation and authenticated by Andrew Frederick Mpanga on March 3, 1970 in London:

• I, Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II of MMENGO, P.O.Box 58, KAMPALA. This is my Will, which I am making in the event of my demise when the Lord pleases to take me away from this world.

• My children. The following are my natural children, sons and daughters:-

  1. Ronald Frederick Muwenda Mutebi (the son of Omuzaana Kabejja).
  2. Dorothy Namukabya Nassolo.
  3. Anne Sarah Kagere.
  4. Suna (who lives in Mr. Augustine M. Bakaluba’s home).
  5. Ndawula (the son of the late Muzaana Nalwoga).
  6. Catherine Nabaloga
  7. Mukarukidi (who lives in Toro).
  8. Masamba (who lives with the Namasole at Namulesa).
  9. Goloba (who lives at Mr. Blasio K.Kavuma’s)

• MY HEIR. My child No.1. Ronald Frederick Muwenda Mutebi is my heir whom I have chosen to succeed me (to succeed to my Mutuba).

• Succession to the Kabakaship. On the matter of the election of the Kabaka or the successor to the Kabakaship. This is well known that he is elected by the Lukiiko, he is that Prince chosen by the majority of the members of the Lukiiko, however, in this MY WILL I feel that I must indicate my opinion to my people.

  The Princes enumerated in the following order should be considered first for election:-

  (i) My heir Ronald Frederick Muwenda Mutebi. As I have not got a son born within wedlock, my said heir should be considered first of all for succession to the Kabakaship.
  (ii) Or – one of my children the brothers of that Prince No.1 above.
  (iii) Or – my younger brother Henry H. Kimera

• The Election of the Kabaka. As I have already pointed out in the foregoing, I leave this matter to the people (the Lukiiko representing the people) to elect from among those I have already mentioned above.

• MY property. All my property, and its distribution among my children and some other members of my family, are listed in a schedule attached to this Will.

• Trustees: The following are the Trustees whom I have chosen and hereby empower to deal with my children’s affairs:-

  1. The Namasole
  2. The Nalinya Mary Nakamanya
  3. Owek Mikaeri Kintu
  4. Omw. A.R.Lule

  It must be understood that if one of the Trustees mentioned above dies the remaining three shall meet and choose another person to fill the vacancy caused by that death; and the person chosen shall first of all be introduced to the Katikkiro, the Ministers and the Regents, after which introductions the person will act as one of the Trustees.

  AND if the Trustees find any difficulty in the execution of their duties they shall bring that difficulty to the notice of the Katikkiro in office for the time being for his advice and decision, for according to the Kiganda customs and traditions, The Katikkiro is charged with the welfare of this country’s Princes and Princesses of the Mugaguzo.

• Regents: As the custom is the matter of the election of Regents before a young Kabaka comes of age, that matter is within the competence of the Lukiko; but if my No.1 heir Prince Ronald Frederick Muwenda Mutebi, is elected to be the next Kabaka whereby his mother becomes the Namasole, then the Namasole must be elected as one of the Regents.

• I have signed this MY WILL and approved of same while in complete possession of my faculties and in good health, today 6th August 1956, before my Trusted Witnesess who were present and saw me put my signature to this Will.

I, Edward Frederick Wm. Mutebi Mutesa.

WE THE WITNESESS PRESENT:-

1. I.T.M Sewanyana.

2. Musa K.Parma Ntanda

3. Robert H.Ntambi Mukasa.

I the undersigned Andrew Frederick Mpanga of 37 Elgin Crescent London W.11 hereby certify that the above is a true and accurate translation from the Luganda language into the English language of the Will of His Highness the Late Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II, K.B.E.; Kabaka of Buganda.

Dated March 3, 1970 (Signature appended)

Both the British and Baganda Highly Respected Sir Edward Muteesa II

Sir Edward was not only a British trained military officer, but was an instructor himself in the Grenadier Guards. As you might guess, British Army is not some *taka taka* African army where some officer might be made an instructor simply because of some top connections. Sir Edward was worthy his pips and medals and so, had to make the right decision at the right time after weighing a situation that deserves a split of a second action.

Sir Edward though still a minor, had the advantage of receiving lectures from his father; the late Sir Daudi Ccwa II. It was not just by chance that he was made the 35th Kabaka of Buganda.  Sir Daudi Ccwa II, himself was also a trained British Officer.

The Cohen Plan “B” was to be executed in the beginning of November 1939 (Note the coincidence of the month of November) by the then Governor, Sir Philip Mitchell, but due to the failing health of the Ssabasajja, the British thought it unwise in Military Strategic terms, to appear to be antagonising a sickly man (equivalent of shooting a defenceless man in the back). They instead banked on ‘terrorizing’ the next of kin. Unfortunately for them, the next of kin was even more tough a nut to crack than Sir Daudi Ccwa II. Sir Edward’s resistance to the British gave a booster shot in the arm of the Mau Mau.

Sir Edward Muteesa II touched not only the social life of the Baganda and Ugandans, but also the British. For your information, this was evident on 15th October 1955 when he organised a party to bid farewell to his colleagues after the blunder of Sir Andrew Cohen on 30th Nov 1953. To the surprise of many Britons who thought that Sir Edward by now  would harbour ill-feelings towards them, the Knight of the British Empire  invited even the Lords, Dukes, Duchesses, Counts et al of the British  Empire, the very one that had tried to humiliate them.
The point here is that despite that reported lavishness, the Brits loved and  respected him (Sir Edward) for bringing them together, as you know  the  Brits are inward people (we call it *Ggume* in Luganda) and rarely make  get-together parties, so they always enjoyed being brought together by this Royal from the Pearl of Africa, King Freddie.
So, whoever is attacking Sir Edward should know that he/she is not only  attacking Buganda, but also the descendants of the Lords, Dukes, Duchesses, Counts, Grenadier Guards Comrades-in-Arms Association and the Royal family of England, who held Sir Edward in high esteem thereafter.

Awangaale Ssabasajja

Robert Nviiri

Kings of Buganda

People:

I have copied word for word from Mr. Nyakatura’s book some educative information on the Kings of Buganda.  As you read, bear in mind that Mr. Nyakatura wrote his book during the reign of HH Kabaka Chwa. It was published in the present from in 1973 and contains an entry about the 31^st Kabaka.  Readers will also notice that Mr. Nyakatura’s list of Buganda Kings may not tally with other lists. For an explanation, see the entry after the 29^th Kabaka.

Other than that, readers should pay particular interests to 6, 7 and 22.

Everything you see is Mr. Nyakatura’s work, therefore I cannot be of any help clarifying anything. The book is considered by the library to be a classic, and thus cannot be photocopied or photographed. Read on

WBK

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The Kings of Buganda

From,  Nyakatura, J.W. 1973. Anatomy of an African Kingdom: A History of Bunyoro-Kitara, New York: NOK Publishers, pp.210-219

1. KATO KIMERA

His mother was the lady Nyatworo of the Bakwonga clan. Kato Kimera came from Bukidi with his brother Rukidi Mpuga. He was given Buganda to rule by his brother Rukidi Mpuga, who was then king of Kitara. Kato Kimera rebelled against his brother and declared himself king of Buganda. His tomb is at Lunnyo. The Baganda historians try to distort his real identity. They deny that Bunyoro-Kitara was the first to have a ruling dynasty.

1. TTEMBO

He became King of Buganda in succession to Kimera. It is said that he was a mental case and this eventually caused his death. His mother was the lady Nattembo of the Mmamba clan. His tomd lies in Luwoko.

1. KIGGALA MUKABYA KUNGUBU

He succeeded his father Ttembo. His mother was the lady Najjemba. We are told that this king reigned for a very long time. His tomb lies in Ddambwe.

1. KIYIMBA

He is not really counted among the kings of Buganda because he became king while his father was still alive and died before his father died. His father became king once more. Kiyimba was very much hated by his people because he was a very bad man. His body lies in Ssentema. His mother was the lady Nnabukalu.

1. KAIMA

He was a son of a mere prince called Wampamba. His mother was the lady Nnabuso. He was the first king to lead an attack on Kitara and lost his life in the undertaking when he was fighting against the saza chief of Bwiru [Buddu]. He died in Isunga after being wounded. He died during the reign of Winyi I. His body lies in Kkongoije.

1. NNAKIBINGE

He succeeded Kabaka Kaima, his father. He was the son of Nnakibinge. He is mostly remembered for his bravery. He was killed by Olimi I, the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara. Omukama Olimi I wanted to reconquer Buganda but he was advised against his undertaking because it was not god for one kingdom to swallow another. He therefore gave up idea. The Baganda put his wife Nnannono on the throne.  Nnannono was pregnant at the time and it was hoped that the child she bore would become king. But she was, however unfortunate because she had a baby girl and not a boy.

1. MULONDO

He succeeded his father Nnakibinge and became King of Buganda while a baby. His mother was the lady Namulondo. He lived to a ripe age. The royal chair of Buganda started to be called Nnamulondo [after his mother] during the reign of Kabaka Mulondo. His tomb is found in Mitwebiri.

1. JJEMBA

This king succeeded his elder brother, Mulondo. His mother was the lady Nnajjemba. He did not reign long because he had come to the throne while already an old man. His body lies in Mubango.

1. SSUNA I

He came to the throne while already a very old man. He was a son of Kabaka Nnakibinge. He succeeded his elder brother, Jjemba. His mother was the lady Nnasuna. Ssuna I did not reign for long because of old age. His body lies in Jjimbo.

1. SSEKAMANYA

He became king while a very young man and succeeded his father Ssuna I. His mother was the lady Nnakku. He did not reign for long. His body lies in Kkongoije.

1. KIMBUGWE

He became king in succession to his elder brother, Ssekamanya. He was also a son of Ssuna I. His mother was the lady Nnalugwa. Kimbugwe also did not reign for long. He died soon after being poisoned by Kateregga, his young brother. He was buried in Bugwanya. He was the one who captured the county of Kaima from Kitara and gave to Omulangira [Luganda word for prince] Mpandwa.

1. KATEREGGA

He became king in succession to his elder brother, Kimbugwe. He was also a son of Ssuna I. His mother was the lady Nabuso-Nabagereka. He was buried in Mitwebiri. He was the man who began the process of seizing areas of Kitara and adding them to Buganda. He captured Butambala County and gave it to Kawewo. This happened in the reign of Winyi II.

1. MUTEBI

He succeeded his father, Kateregga. His mother was the lady Nnamutebi. His body lies in Kkongoije.

1. JJUKO

This King succeeded his elder brother, Mutebi. He had the same mother as Mutebi. He commissioned his young brother Kayemba to conquer Buvuma which was also added to the kingdom of Buganda. He was buried in Bujuko.

1. KAYEMBA

He was also a son of Kateregga. He succeeded his elder brother Jjuko. He came to the throne while a very old man and was buried in Lunnyo.

1. TEBANDEKE

He succeeded his uncle, Kayemba, and was a son of Mutebi. He is said to have been a man of very bad temper. He killed all the witch doctors [who were regarded as small gods -or Embadwa] and he himself became the only witch doctor in the country. He was buried in Merera. His mother was the lady Nabuto-Nnabukulu.

1. NDAWULA

He succeeded his cousin, Tebandeke. Ndawula was the son of Jjuko. He is mostly remembered for his peaceful reign. His mother was the lady Nandawula. He died a very old man. He was buried in Musaba.

1. KAGULU-TIBUCWEREKE

This king succeeded his father, Ndawula. He is said to have been man of difficult nature. He ordered all his people to kneel on knives [with sharp ends] when they came to greet him. But the people rebelled against him. His mother was the lady Nnagujja. He was not given a royal burial like other kings because of is evil character. His body was thrown into Bukule River Valley.

1. KIKULWE

He succeeded his elder brother, Kagulu-Tibucwereke. His mother was the lady Nnamirembe. He did not reign for long. His body lies in Kaliti.

1. MAWANDA

He succeeded his elder brother, Kikulwe. He was also a son of Ndawula. He was the one who conquered the Basoga and it was during his reign that Busoga first became a colony of Buganda. His mother was the lady Nnakidde. He was buried in Sserinnya. He was the Kabaka who cut off Kyaggwe from Kitara and made it part of Buganda. This happened during the reign of Kyebambe II.

1. MWANGA I

He succeeded his uncle Mawanda. He was a son of prince Musanje, the young brother of Mawanda. Musanje and Mawanda had one mother-Nnakidde. Mwanga I is not really counted among the lists of the Kabakas of Buganda, because he only spent nine days on the throne. He was killed by his [maternal] uncle called Nkunnumbi. His mother was the lady Nnalugwa. He was buried in Kavumba.

1. NNAMUGALA

He succeeded his elder brother, Mwanga I, with whom he had the same mother-Nnalugwa. He is said to have been a drunkard. He is said also to have been the first king to start the ceremony of the succession rite which takes place on the Budo hill [like that of Kitara which takes place on the hill of Buru]. Kabaka Nnamugala did not die a king, having been dethroned by his younger brother, Kyabaggu.

1. KYABAGGU

This Kabaka succeeded his elder brother Nnamugala, from whom he had usurped the throne. He too was the son of Prince Musanje [like Mwanga I and Nnamugala]. His mother also was the lady Nnalugwa. Kabaka Kyabaggu is also counted among the brave kings of Buganda. He was the one who finally defeated and conquered Busoga and built his capital at Jinja in Busoga. His body lies in Kyebando.

1. JJUNJU

This Kabaka succeeded his father, Kyabaggu. He is also counted among the brave kings of Buganda. His mother was the lady Nnanteza. He is the one who captured Bwiru [Buddu] and Kooki counties from Kitara and added them to Buganda. His body lies in Luwunga.

1. SSEMAKOKIRO (1796-1818)

He became king in 1796 in succession to his elder brother Jjunju. They had the same father and the same mother [Kyabaggu and Nanteza]. From this came a proverb which says: “A banana tree does not bear fruit twice except the womb of Nanteza”, meaning that she provided tow kings. He was also brave like his brother. Ssemakokiro killed his brother Jjunju and usurped the throne. But Ssemakokiro turned against his agents who had helped him to kill Jjunju and these escaped death by feeling to Bunyaruguru. Ssemakokiro’s tomb is in Kisimbiri.

1. KAMANYA (1818-32)

This Kabaka succeeded his father, Ssemakokiro. His mother was the lady Ndwaddewazibwa. Kamanya was also very brave. He was the Kbaka who extended the Kitara-Buganda border to Wesigire near Mubende. From this time onwards no other king of Buganda annexed big chunks of Kitara territory until the advent of the Europeans. It was these Europeans who annexed large areas of Kitara to Buganda during the close of the last century.

1. SSUNA II SEMUNYWA KALEMA KANSINJO (1832-57)

He succeeded his father, Kamanya. His mother was the lady Kannyange Nnakkazi. It was during Ssuna II’s reign that foreigners [Arab slave traders] started coming to Buganda. He was the first King to receive clothing [cotton cloth] from foreigners. He is said to have married very many wives. He dies in Bwiru [Buddu] when he was on his way back from Kiziba, where he had gone on a raiding expedition. His body lies in Wamala.

1. MUKABYA MUTEESA SEWANKAMBO WALUGEMBE (1857-84)

He succeeded his father, Ssuna II. His mother was the lady Mungazirwazza. This king was a good and wise man and ruled prudently. He was the first king to meet Europeans, in February 1862 in the persons of Captains Speke and Grant.  Christianity also arrived in Buganda during his reign. He was on good terms with the Christian missionaries and did not try to fight them. The Protestants were the first to arrive in Buganda in 1877. They were followed by the Roman Catholics in 1879. The king himself was a Muslim. But it is not known whether he was ever circumcised, because a king’s blood could not be shed. He had very many children but many of them were burnt to death by his brother Kalema. Kabaka Mukabya died in 1884, and his tomb is found at Kasubi.

1. MWANGA II BASAMMULA-EKKERE (1884-97)

He became king on 24^th October 1884 in succession o his father Mukabya. Mwanga II did not have the goodness and wisdom of his father, for he was unstable in character. And for this reason, Mwanga II did not enjoy the throne peacefully, for he was on and off it. He was driven away from the throne twice, first by Kiweewa and then by Kalema . He, however struggled back to power again but was finally deposed on 6 July 1897, when he revolted against the Europeans. He fled through Kiziba, Bwiru, and finally reached Kitara. He again moved on through Kitara to Bukidi, where he met his uncle Kabalega of Kitara. These two followed the path which Isingoma Mpuga Rukidi and Kato Kimera, their ancestors, had followed on their way to Kitara . These two kings were arrested by the British in April 1899 and were exiled to the Seychelles Islands, where Mwanga II died in 1908. Hid body was brought back to Buganda and was buried with his father’s at Kasubi. His mother was the lady Abisagi Bagalyaze.

Kiwewa

In our custom [Banyoro custom] Kiwewa should not have been counted as king because he came to the throne while the rightful heir, Mwanga II, was still alive. Kiwewa spent only seventy-two days on the throne and was killed by another brother of his. But in the custom of the Baganda, Kiwewa is counted as king and that is why he has been included in this list of Baganda kings. He was the father of Prince Augustini Tibandeke. His tomb is found in Masanafu. His mother was the lady Kiribakka.

Kalema

He is also counted among the rebel princes against their brother kings. He became king in succession to his brother Kiwewa, whom he killed. He is the one who sought help from Kabalega. He appealed to Kabalega for help and was given an army led by Rwabudongo. The army helped to put Kalema on the throne of Buganda. Kalema spent more days on the throne than his brother Kiwewa. He ascended the throne on 12 October 1888 and was driven off on 5 October 1889. He thus spent almost a year on the throne. He was the father of Princess Yosefu Musanje Walugembe and Edimond [Edmund] Ndawula, now deceased. Prince Edmund Ndawula was first a Muslim by the name of Aramanzani but later became a Christian. Kalema was also the father of Maria Kamuhanda, the Rubuga, or official sister, of Sir Daudi Chwa II. Kalema died in Kitara when he had fled to Kabalega asking for help. Kabaka Kalema is said to have had a very bad temper and also to have burnt to death his brother, and thus destroying the royal clan because he feared that they might one day rebel against him and usurp his throne.

His mother was the lady Ndikubwani. His body lies in Mmende. His body was removed from Kitara to Buganda to be buried as was the custom.

1. SIR CAPTAIN H.H. DAUDI CHWA, K.C.M.G. (1897-1939)

Kabaka Chwa is the present king in Buganda at the time I am writing this book. He is counted among the very powerful and honorable kings of Buganda. He succeeded his father, Mwanga II, on 14 August 1897, while his father was still alive and fighting against the Europeans. His mother was the lady Everini [Evelyn] Kulabako. Daudi Chwa’s ability was very much tried by the wisdom of the Europeans. Buganda progressed during his reign and was peaceful. His people are very rich. They have built nice and strong houses made of stone and iron roofs or tiles. Things seem to be going well in his reign. At present, Buganda has twenty big countries with many people living in them.

1. MUTEESA II, EDWARD, S.M. LUWANGULA

He succeeded his father, Sir Daudi Chwa on 24 November 1939. The Second World War had begun at this time he is the one who sent a section of the army, the 7^th K.A.R., to go and fight in other areas. During his reign, a strike broke out on 11 January 1945. This resulted in the arrest of Samuel Wamala, who was then Katikiro of Buganda, and he was exiled to Bunyoro.  P. Kitaka and Ganya, the Assistant Katikiro were arrested and exiled to Seychelles Islands. S. Bazongere, Saza Chief of Kyaddondo, Njuki, Saza Chief of Ssingo and sixteen others were detained in Kitgum and others parts of Uganda. Muteesa II went abroad for further studies and stayed there for two years from 1946-47. His country is progressing. His mother is the lady Airene [Irene]. D. Namaganda, the daughter of reverend Jonasani Kaizi.

MUTESA RETURN FROM EXILE

“Men shouting their voices hoarse dran rivers of waragi, a potent banana juice ferment.  A crowd casually kicked to death a man who did not kneel before the Kabaka…..”

[Life, 14 November 1955, Vol. 39, No. 20, p.63]

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto

The most peaceful era Uganda ever had post political independence was during the regime of Sir Edward Muteesa

King Freddie

The most peaceful era Uganda ever had post political independence was during the regime of Sir Edward Muteesa save the Obote dirty schemes that he Obote was striving to hatch against the Kabaka until he succeeded in April-May 1966 when he attacked the Kabaka’s palace.

While the rest of Uganda was peaceful during Obote’s first regime, Buganda was unhappy because Dr. Obote had abolished kingdoms and the Kabaka Muteesa was in exile in London. The Baganda felt marginalized save those who embraced UPC and were given government positions.

There are those who think that DP + Baganda + Acholi; a reference to the fact that DP is mainly a Catholic and Baganda party and that with Nobert Mao who hails from Acholi – cannot work to rule Uganda.

To those who think like this I have thi sto say: stereotyping is undesirable. In Uganda’s population are more Catholics than any other religion, unless if in recent years Christain evangelicals (the Born-Agains) have gained more numbers than Roman Catholicism.

If there are more Catholics in Uganda I do not see why these catholics let the DP in theb hands of Baganda for decades. Where were they? Certainly, there are more Catholics in Uganda outside of Buganda than there are in Buganda. Why didn’t they use their votes to elect anyone outside of Buganda to head the DP?

To say that the Baganda and the Acholis cannot rule Uganda is absurd. Again this is another of the stereotyping habit some people unfortunately have, Before Museveni who ever thought that a man who hails from Ankore could have been Uganda’s president for over twenty years? Museveni has been voted into office three times so far not by his kinsmen of Ankore but Ugandans generally.

The Baganda cannot rule only because they are marginalized by the rest of Ugandans out of envy and jealousy on account of Buganda’s geographical location as the center of the country’s politics and seat of government.

In addition, the fact the Baganda have by numbers been the most educated by the time of independence, and may be up until today simply because they happen to be the biggest single tribe in Uganda.

Of course it is not because they are smarter than anyone. They were favored by natural circumstances. So, the rest of ethnic groups usually do not vote for a Muganda to become the nation’s top leader. Is it a kind of political punishment based upon envy or what?.

The fact is that even if each adult Ganda voted for a Muganda in the DP President General’s elections, they would win versus  the rest of Ugandans. The only reason a Ganda has been elected DP President General over the years could be that Ugandans in other ethnicities have not been participating in the Party Elections; may be they have not always been sensitized and mobilized to vote.

For this reason it is wrong to accuse the Ganda people for monopolizing the Democratic Party over the decades. If Ugandans in other parts of the country awaken and get mobilized into the politics of their nation, there is no way for the Baganda to win elections as a people if other ethnicities do not elect them. But that would be tribalistic marginalization of a people.

Those who accuse the Gandas in this matter forget the Ugandan political history where the Ganda have been shown to transcend ethnic lines and elect non-Ganda Ugandans to political leadership. From Obote to Museveni and now to Nobert Mao the Gandas have demonstrated they can vote any one irrespective of ethnic background.

And therefore, to accuse them and keep poiting fingers to them for every political imbalances in the country is wrong and unfair.

Out close to 30 millions Ugandans, there are only about 4.5 million Baganda. There is no way this percentage of people can control the nation’s politics the way they are being portrayed every time some one wants to apportion political blame.

This is true especially since the 1960s many ethnic Ugandans have been highy educated; during Obote’s two eras, more Langi and Acholi ethnicities became more educated.

During Idi Amin’s era, it was the Lugbaras and Kakwas and the Muslims at large who woke up to academic education. During the Museveni era, we have seen more and more people from the Ankore and Kiga ethnicities getting more educated and joining national politics than ever before.

In such a matrix, there is no way one can stii be blamingthe Baganda for political monopoly in Uganda. The Baganda are hence tired of being blamed thus.

.

If Ugandans other than the Ganda ethnic group desire to unite to monopoloze Ugandan politics they can very ably do so without having to point finger at the Gandas for any mistake. It is a just a question of poulation demographics or ratio.

Museven has studied this and has taken advantage of it to great lenghts and this is how he wins. If other political leaders want to win in the elections, they need to apply mind-logic recreation to the political game of Uganda.

Personally, I look forward to the day when Ugandans will look to themselves as Ugandans first and this or that ethnic group second. United as Ugandans we can do a great deal for our country than when we continue looking at each other based upon our ethnic backgrounds.

Nepotism exists in Uganda because our leaders have failed to unite us as Ugandans; instead, they resort and lean more to their personal ethnic lines than to our national identity first and foremost. Uganda needs a leader that will build Uganda as a single nation in the spirit and heart of every Ugandan.

Bhuka Bijumiro-Jjumiro

Virginia, USA

How Obote and Museveni have shrewdly destroyed Buganda

‘Awo olwatuuka…..’  Once upon a sorry time!….
 
Once upon a time, there was a crow.  That crow sat on her eggs in a nest, waiting for those eggs to hatch. One chilly morning, in 1876 as the crow continued sitting on her eggs, aslick, slithery serpent stole its way into the nest.

The smooth, sleek reptile punctured the eggs one by one, sucking all the yolk and white, and wiping out their viability once for all; doing so without the crow’s notice. After accomplishing its mission, the serpent slid out of the nest as stealthily as it had slunk in; all the while, never barging the mother crow’s slumber.

Like all incubating she-birds do every now and then, one warm afternoon, the crow left her nest for a minute or two to stretch and grab a snack, leaving her ‘eggs’ unprotected. It is then, in 1966 that tragedy struck – at least according to her.  Alas, a hawk (kamunye) swooped at her nest.  In a lightning’s moment and with unimaginable ferocity, the hawk snatched all the ‘eggs’ from the nest.
 
A fierce tussle for the ‘eggs’ ensued between the two beasts of the air. It did not take the Kamunye long to register that it had swooped at empty shells, prompting it to jettison them into the undergrowth below, all without the notice of the combative crow. Thus the stage was set for an eternal, misdirected and futile feud between the hawk and the crow. 

Weeks later, 1986 another bird, (hatched in 1946), an ‘enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in mystery’ started gracing the airwaves.  It is a bird that is one time a menacing vulture and another time the dove of peace; then another time, the wise old owl, yet another time a cuckoo that lays her eggs in other birds’ nests; then again an agile kingfisher and also a maladroit duck; one time an alluring rooster that heralds the arrival of a new day, and another time the hornbill that silences all feather wearers with its deafening melody, through 1996, 2006, who knows, 2016. 
 
That Delphic new bird on the block shrewdly extricated the ‘eggs’ from the undergrowth and delicately placed them back in the now derelict nest, to the utter glee of the crow which has since then, continued to jealously and fiercely incubate the shells days on end, as new mating seasons continue to come and pass.  And she whispers to herself that tragic lullaby, ‘Awangale’, ‘Hangiriza Agutamba’, ‘Rukirabasaija’, ‘Isebantu’, Irema………..
 
That was my sorry.
 
 
L/Cpl (rtd) Otto Patrick

SABASSAJJA SIR EDWARD FREDERICK WILLIAM DAVID WALUGEMBE MUTEBI LUWANGULA MUTESA II AND THE REALITIES OF LIFE:

SABASSAJJA SIR EDWARD FREDERICK WILLIAM DAVID WALUGEMBE MUTEBI LUWANGULA MUTESA II AND THE REALITIES OF LIFE:

WIVES (9)	TRIBE	OFFSPRING (18)
NESTA M. RUGUMAYO	MUTOORO	Prince (Kiweewa) Robert Masamba Kimera
Sarah Nalule KISOSONKOLE	MUGANDA	Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II Prince (Omulangira) Richard Walugembe Bamweyana Prince (Omulangira) Patrick Nakibinge
Edith Kasozi	MUGANDA	Prince (Omulangira) Suuna Frederick Wampamba Princess (Omumbejja) Alice Mpologoma Zaalwango
Damali Nnakawombe Kisosonkole	MUGANDA	Prince (Omulangira) Henry Kalemeera Prince (Omulangira) Katabaazi Mukarukidi Princess (Omumbejja) Dorothy Kabonesa Namukaabya, Nassolo
Muzaana Nalwooga	MUGANDA	Prince (Omulangira) George Michael Ndawula
		Prince (Omulangira) Daudi Golooba
Princess Kaakako Rwanchwende	MUNYANKORE	Prince (Omulangira) Herbert Kateregga
Princess Winifred Keihangwe	MUNYANKORE	Prince (Omulangira) Daudi Kintu Wasajja
Beatrice Kabasweka.	MUTORO	Princess (Omumbejja) Dina Kigga Mukarukidi
Kate Ndagire	MUGANDA	Princess (Omumbejja) Anne Sarah Kagere Nandawula Princess (Omumbejja) Catherine Agnes Nabaloga,
?	?	Princess (Omumbejja) Diana Balizza Muggale Teyeggala
?	KIKUYU	Princess (Omumbejja) Stella Ndagire

How Mutesa shot his way to safety

UGANDA’s 60 YEAR OLD CONFLICT (PART 5): How Mutesa shot his way to safety

Feature

Written by Observer Media Ltd

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 19:56

In his book, Desecration of My Kingdom, Sir Edward Mutesa vividly describes the May 24, 1966 attack on his palace and how he made his escape. Here are some extracts: Mutesa (R) chatting with Obote It was not yet dawn – about 5.30 in the morning – when I was awakened suddenly by the sound of gunfire: quite near, I reckoned, certainly inside the wall that surrounds my palace and grounds. As I hurried into a shirt, some trousers and a pullover, and sat on my bed to pull on some suede boots, I tried to work out more precisely what was happening and where the shots were being fired. Somewhere beyond the garages, it seemed; perhaps 200 or 300 yards away. I strapped on a webbing belt with a heavy automatic in the holster, grabbed a carbine, and dashed into the cool, dark garden to look for the commander of the bodyguard. Troops from the Uganda Army were attacking my palace on the orders of the Prime Minister, Dr. [Milton] Obote. So much was clear. Nor should it have been in the least surprising. We had been suspecting such a move for weeks, and I myself had been surprised when nothing happened the previous evening. Yet I was filled with a sense of outrage now that it was happening. The Constitution allowed me a bodyguard of 300, but I only had about 120, and many of these were absent. Each man had a Lee-Enfield rifle and we managed to get hold of three carbines, half a dozen Sterling sub-machine guns and six automatic rifles. There was, unfortunately, no hidden arsenal, though Obote said later that that was what his soldiers had called at this early hour to collect. Photographs of this cache tried to make something of an ancient German Spandau, a machine-gun, which bad been rusting gently on my veranda for years, and my brother Henry’s ceremonial R.A.F. sword. Nor was the palace designed as a fortress. The main gate is indefensible, and the two buildings, which are separated by gardens, are easy to approach under cover… First man down Mutesa (L), Mayanja Nkagi and other Buganda officials I quickly collected a few men and we made off to the west. I had in mind a group of trees from which we could command a clearing and possibly defend one of the bottom gates, Nalongo, if it had not already been breached. We did not get there. A light fence surrounds the garden, and suddenly we saw two or three men standing in a half-opened doorway, peering cautiously in. We dropped one and the others made off. That was the first of many unfortunate deaths I saw that day. We made that first foray with no idea as to how many men were attacking or from which angle. Now friends approached in the half-light and told me something of what had happened and what was happening, though still we did not know how many had been sent against us. Perhaps that was just as well, as it would scarcely have raised our spirits to know we were faced with over 1,000, odds of ten against one, with our equipment much inferior. However, my men were the more experienced in service, and a great number of the enemy were occupied in surrounding the wall. This high brick wall encloses an area much larger than the palace and gardens. Inside are school buildings, white bungalows with corrugated iron roofs, football pitches, many houses with mud walls and thatched roofs that were to burn easily, and above all, dividing the open, grassy spaces, plantations of banana trees. With our knowledge of every inch of the terrain, there was enough cover, confusion and resistance for us to elude our pursuers indefinitely, deployment plans having previously been sanctioned by myself. Treasure hunt The Special Force that had been sent against us was not very subtle. They had foolishly used lights to burn some thatched huts just inside the wall, and, thus lit up from behind, made themselves into very easy targets. When one lot did break through the gate called Kalala, they ran across an open sports ground to join others who had come through the main gate. A pocket of my men commanded the open ground and held up their much larger force for some time, inflicting heavy casualties. We had done as well there as we could have hoped, and now fell back. Another entrance had been forced through the southern gate, Sabagabo, and it was those men that had awakened me. The western corner was still ours, or at least disputed throughout the action. It was well known that I preferred to live in the old palace, which stands smaller, darker and more African behind the gleaming white European building, which is used mainly for formal functions. For the time being, this newer palace was left alone while they closed in on the rooms I used. It began to look as if it was me personally that they wished to destroy. I heard someone shout, “Has he a safe?” as they entered the far side, and saw through a window my papers being torn up and my filing cabinets smashed with rifle butts. We had not the strength to counter-attack, but we took up a position amongst some eucalyptus trees, which covered Nalongo, a white wooden gate, and held on. Nobody ever came through that gate. As the sun got up, dispersing the morning mists, our gloom increased. There seemed to be an endless follow-up supply of enemy soldiers, many of whom were occupied with destroying my rooms. I think they believed their own stories about hidden supplies of arms, and even indulged in fanciful ideas that a king must have hoards of treasure buried beneath his palace. I was sustained throughout the morning by anger. I had known that an attack was probable, but I had not foreseen the random, pointless quality of their violence. Huts were burned for no conceivable tactical reason and I heard the screaming of an old woman as she burned. Kabaka shoots ‘looter’ The captain of my guard, Major Kibirige, disappeared and must have become a casualty. Once I was overwhelmed with emotion, and foolishly returned to the palace garden alone. There, I selected a looter and shot him out of honest rage. I felt calmer and somewhat uplifted as I made my way back. Someone had loosened the horses, and they added to the atmosphere of disorder as they galloped to and fro in a frenzy of fear. Though firing of small arms and mortars was almost continuous until midday, and though we held our position, it was getting desperate. I decided to abandon the trees and defend a cattle kraal with the same arc of fire, though it had mud walls and a thatched roof that might be fired. We were there when it started to rain. It rained, as it can in Uganda, with a violence that made fighting impossible. For an hour visibility was reduced to a minimum and the main noise was the water thudding on to the roof and hissing in the trees. Though the kraal would have been a useful place to hold, to save ourselves from being encircled, we decided we were not strong enough, and moved out into the rain to go a little to the north. Many thought we had escaped at this time and it would have been an opportunity, but we were surrounded and had not prepared a route. Nor had we yet taken the decision. At first I had thought it was to be merely a skirmish. We saw now that it was more serious than that, but still hoped that in the face of such prolonged and successful resistance the troops might call off the threat. Otherwise we hoped to resist until evening and escape in the dark. Wife detained Soon after the rain, a scout called for us to watch a sight which horrified me. From the palace a strange procession of women emerged, my sister and wife among other relations and maids. I had not seen them during the fighting, but could imagine their feelings. Now they walked slowly towards the gate we were defending. I piously hoped they would stop, but they did not hear me and continued out of sight. A moment later, there was a burst of fire and I exclaimed, “It can’t be true,” certain that they had been massacred. I am still not sure what happened, but they were allowed through and later put in prison. As they disappeared, there was a new attack on the gate, which was already surrounded with corpses. We beat it off yet again. Our own ammunition was low and there was no indication of the troops pulling out. Nor was there a chance of driving them away. I began to plan an escape as the decision was clearly forced. To the north the bandmaster and another group of the guard were firing gallantly, and with their protection behind us we moved a little to the south and started to attack some vehicles which were on the road outside the wall. For a time our attack seemed to have little effect, though we gave them all we had and their counter-fire was feeble. Then at last a truck moved off and a minute later two more disappeared. We had made that area a little too lively and now there was a gap. How long it would remain open we could only guess. As nine of us made for the red-brick wall, there was a shout and a girl rushed up to us from the direction of the enemy. She was Katie Senoga, a kindergarten school teacher. “What on earth are you doing?” I asked her, but there was no time to do anything but take her with us. Poor girl, she was crying and trembling all over. I remember thinking that, if she had had a gun, in her excitement she would probably have tried to kill us all. Window of death We wasted ten valuable minutes, trying to open a hatch in the wall. There is a tradition that no [dead] body save that of the Kabaka should leave through the palace gates, so if a commoner dies inside the walls there is this opening through which he may pass. Unfortunately, it was locked and we could not break the lock. So we had to climb. The wall, which had seemed quite low as a defence, suddenly loomed large when we stood beneath it. It is in fact ten or twelve feet high. Luckily, the bodyguard are trained to scale such an obstacle, and by standing on each other’s shoulders we could haul ourselves on to the top, still slippery from the rain. Speed was essential. I threw my rifle down, and as I jumped I eagerly bent over to reach it. It was a mistake I was to regret every day for a month. Landing unevenly, I dislodged a bone in my back from its place and I felt a sharp pain. There was no time even to swear then, and we ran across the road into a plantation of banana trees, horribly aware how conspicuous we had been on the wall and unsure whether we had been seen. Several bodies had been left on the ground, but there seemed to be no living opposition. For a moment we waited, with the rain still dripping from the leaves and the irregular firing behind us. In less than five minutes, the most curious incident of the whole escape took place. Two taxis driving without particular urgency came into sight. After a momentary qualm as to whether they were full of soldiers. I waved them down. They behaved as if it was the most normal event in the world, and if this was because we were armed to the teeth, they gave no sign. We clambered in and asked them to drive us a couple of miles to the White Fathers near the Roman Catholic cathedral. Huddled on top of one another, we felt far safer, though in fact we must have been very lucky not to have been stopped. The Fathers received us, calmly accepting the unfamiliar clatter of rifles on the refectory table with aplomb. The Kabaka eventually escaped by walking and hitch-hiking for over a month to Burundi through Congo. He later continued to England where he died on November 21, 1969.

Where Mutesa stayed during exile

                                                                                       April 3, 1876
                                                                                        Nabulagala
 
From King Mutesa, the greatest King of the interior of Africa , 3 April 1876.
 
This letter is from M’tesa, the greatest King in Africa . It is I Mutesa, King of Uganda , Usoga and Karagwe. Listen then to my word which I tell you. Oh! thou European  I have become your true brother, I am a Christian, only I have not yet been baptised. 
 
I believe in God the Holy Father, Almighty, Creater of heaven and earth, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Son of God, begotten of the Father before the creation of the earth, He is God of God.
 
May your Queen be a mother to me, and may I become her son. May her sons and daughters be my brothers and sisters, It is I, Mutesa, King of Uganda .  Formerly the Mahommedans tempted me saying that Mahom­med was the first and last of good people, but we find this  is not the truth but a lie. May we both be united.
 
Oh! Colonel Gordon, listen to this letter which says Oh! God, let there be peace between England and Uganda . Oh! may England be joyful always. Oh! Colonel Gordon, come quickly to me, and, if you do not come, at least send one of your white men, who you have with you, I want the reply to this letter to be printed.
 
May God be with the Queen, May God be with your Majesty and I beg you to send me paper, ink and pens, because all my paper is finished.
 
                                                                           Mutesa King of Uganda
April 3, 1876.
 

 
 
 
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

Note:

During the days in exile 1953-1955 Kabaka Mutesa stayed at No. 15 or 17 Sloan Square. This is a very upmarket place in London next to Knightsbridge. I am not sure if Kabaka Mutesa II bought that place,and what might have happened?Buganda also had a hostel for Baganda students in London called Muteesa
House. But it seems Uganda Government morgaged it.

KABAKA MUTESA TO ALL WHITE MEN

Ssekabaka Sir Edward Muteesa , Princess Ndagire and Prince Badru Kakungulu

date]
      To all the English who are with Colonel Gordon.
   
    Oh! all the men of England , hear what is said in this letter, for I am Mutesa, King of Uganda . I will tell you the truth, because I am a King and will not lie. Because I am on your side.  If at times I say I do not want white men, it is in order to pretend, because if I always say it, others will say why does Mutesa want white men and does not ask for us. 
  
Therefore I say in my heart I will receive in secret the English letter. Therefore I pray you, listen my friend to what I say. Send a letter to England and tell them that Mutesa wants one of the priests of England .
 
    But you yourselves come here and quickly so that I can tell you all that I have in my heart and then you can go to England with joy.  May the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all always. Amen.
 From Mutesa, King of Uganda , son of Suna.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

UGANDA 60-YEAR CONFLICT (PART 4b): 1966 attack splits baby,mother and sick father

UGANDA 60-YEAR CONFLICT (PART 4b): 1966 attack splits baby,mother and sick father

Feature

Written by Michael Mubangizi

Wednesday, 06 January 2010 17:37

. Ocheng’s widow gets  caught in crossfire EMMA NAMULI OCHENG, the widow of Daudi Ocheng, who was a confidante of Kabaka Edward Mutesa and a leading critic of the then Prime Minister Milton Obote, tells MICHAEL MUBANGIZI how she remembers the 1966 attack on the Kabaka’s palace: I met Daudi Ocheng in Ssese Islands where we had gone with Sir Edward Mutesa for a picnic. The Kabaka introduced him to me. He said they had studied together at Budo and he was his good friend. I’m not a princess, but I grew up in the Lubiri and whenever there were parties in the Lubiri, he (Mutesa) invited him (Ocheng.) I remember one of the parties, I think it was [Mutesa’s] birthday, that he attended. Ocheng loved music so much; he sang for the Kabaka at that party. He was well-dressed in a maroon suit and a bow tie and so I continued to get to know him. Later, I left Mengo and went to Ntinda. I ran away from the palace because I loved music and Sir Edward never allowed me to go dancing. We used to start dancing at midday and everyday, I would disappear from home and go dancing at Top Life Club in Mengo. Other times, we would go to White Nile in Kibuye and Sir Edward would beat me for that because he never wanted me to go dancing yet, for me, I loved music. In fact, that is one of the reasons that drew me to Ocheng because he loved music. While in Ntinda, I again went dancing at Top Life Club with friends. Ocheng found us there. He was so happy to see me. He asked me how I had found my way there, and if I had been allowed. I told him they hadn’t allowed me, but I came because I loved music. I remember he gave me a lift with my two other friends in his brown Benz back home. That was a Wednesday. We went to that same place on Friday and he again drove us home. From then, we became real friends and later we married. Ocheng’s Congo gold motion He never asked me [about it] as his wife, but I remember people came at home and briefed him. I don’t remember who they were, but they were mostly KY (Kabaka Yekka, Ocheng’s party) members. They also included (UPC Secretary-General) Grace Ibingira and another man, Hajji Kulumba, from Mbale. They complained about the rampant theft of amasanga (ivory). They asked him, as an MP, to help them move a motion [against the culprits]. They told him about the place where they (ivory tusks) were being collected and he insisted on seeing them first before taking any action. They took him to that place the following day. That is how he brought the motion to parliament [in February 1966 implicating Prime Minister Milton Obote, Minister of Defence Felix Onama,  Deputy Army Commander Col. Idi Amin and Minister of Planning Adoko Nekyon in the plunder of gold and ivory from Congo]. That motion annoyed many people in government. Indeed, it didn’t take long before he was arrested and given poisoned food which later killed him. I won’t repeat it because I have ever told you that story. (See Poisoned in prison: Daudi Ocheng’s widow looked on as Obote minister fed her husband on poisoned food, The Weekly Observer, June 21-27, 2007). Ocheng warns of attack At the time of the 1966 crisis, Ocheng’s health had deteriorated and he was bedridden in Mulago, Ward 6B. By then, I had a one-month-old baby.  There was a heated debate between Mengo and the central government. The talk then was that the Kabaka would be removed and the whole institution (the monarchy) abolished. Being a close friend of the Kabaka, people were always at home [before Ocheng’s admission to Mulago] asking him about those issues and he gave them advice. Ocheng used to tell them that the Kabakaship would be abolished. “Obote has decided to abolish monarchism, and he is going to close Mengo. Prepare to defend the kingdom,” he always told them. They never believed him and always asked him how the Kabaka could be removed and his kingdom abolished. It was when they saw [Obote’s forces] attacking the palace that they believed what Ocheng had always told them. That is when they started asking where Ocheng was getting that information from. Secret package for Kabaka On the day the Lubiri was attacked (May 24, 1966), Ocheng sent me from Mulago to go and tell Sir Edward that soldiers would be attacking his palace that day. I drove to Makindye, where Sir Edward was, and conveyed the message. “We are already aware that they want to attack us but we are also ready. We are waiting for them,” he responded. After I had spoken to him, some people came and drove him to his palace in Mengo. I think it was his decision to leave Makindye because that wasn’t part of my message to him. The battle started when he was inside the palace and I don’t know how he left the palace. As I drove from Makindye to my home in Nansana, I was told that someone wanted me in Mulago. So I drove to Mulago where I found a white man. I don’t remember his name, but he gave me some things in boxes to take to the Kabaka. I don’t know what was in the boxes, but I took them to the Kabaka. When I reached the palace, there was commotion and confusion at Wankanki gate. There were many people at the gate holding stones, spears, guns and all sorts of things. I gave the things to the Kabaka and started driving back to Nansana. Sleepless night By then, the city was disorganised. Electricity had been disconnected in most areas. There were so many people who had dug trenches in the roads. I failed to drive to Nansana because all the roads were full of trenches. [Heavy shooting] could be heard at this time. I parked at the home of a lady I didn’t know in Ndeeba. She told me to hurry inside her house and hide there. That is where I spent the night. It rained heavily. It was a terrible night for me. Remember I had a one-month-old baby who was at home alone with a maid, and a patient in Mulago. That was a difficult night and I never slept. I was thinking about the two. I feared my baby would be killed. I was also worried about the patient. I feared they would find him in the hospital and kill him. I remember about a week before the attack, some government officials visited [Ocheng] in Mulago and we were suspicious of their intentions. He told them, “I know you have come to see whether I will get well or die. Don’t worry about me. I am about to die.” So that night was far from good for me. I was thinking about the fate of my baby, my husband and of course Sir Edward. Dead or alive? Early in the morning, around 5am the following day, I drove to Nansana. The road was full of armed soldiers who were checking all the vehicles that were moving. I think they allowed me [to go] because I was alone in the vehicle with no things in it. Moving was risky because the soldiers were beating whoever they saw. Because of the baby and the patient, I had to brave the road. By God’s grace, I reached safely in Nansana. I breastfed her, bathed and drove to Mulago to see him [Ocheng]. That was around midday. There were still soldiers on the road. They were beating people, making them sit in the mud. They would kill some of the people they found with sticks and spears. I never saw dead bodies myself, but I could see people lying down. I couldn’t tell whether they were alive or not. I couldn’t look towards the roadsides because they could beat me for nothing, asking what I was looking at. Dying for a fight I didn’t know Kiswahili. At some stage, they asked me in Kiswahili where I was going. I told them that I was going to Mulago. A soldier told his colleague to let me go. They thought I was a doctor.  During that time, they thought it was only doctors who had vehicles. [I found] Ocheng badly off. He asked me about the baby. He told me to look after the two children we had, saying that he was leaving them young. He also told his young brother, Dr. Martin Aliker, to look after the children. I won’t tell you whether he has looked after them or not. He also asked me whether Sir Edward was killed or not. “I was hearing gunshots at night. I wanted to go out and fight but I couldn’t because I don’t have energy,” he told me. I told him I didn’t know [whether Mutesa was safe] because I had slept in Ndeeba, but I hoped he was okay. He didn’t believe that. He insisted that I tell him the truth about the fate of Sir Edward. He thought I was hiding the truth from him. It was after two or three days that we heard that the Kabaka had flown out of the country. Shortly after that, [Ocheng’s]  state deteriorated and it didn’t take long before he died (on June 1, 1966.) Give Caesar his due I think it was wrong for UPC and KY to enter into an alliance. That was the start of the problem – getting somebody closer when he had different intentions about you. I think that was a mistake. I’m no-longer close to people in Lubiri, but I think the Kabaka should refrain from politics. That is my view, but I don’t talk to him. He should [limit himself to] cultural matters with all his honour and respect and all the things he is entitled to.  But you have to sympathise with him too. I think what disturbs him is to hear that his land is being taken from him. His land has been there, and people built and stayed on it for even 100 years without a problem but then, you suddenly hear that his land has been taken. Even if it were you, that would certainly annoy you. That is why he speaks and when he does, people accuse him of getting involved in politics. Yet he can’t remain silent. Even if it were you, you wouldn’t remain silent when your things are being taken away. I don’t know how this (government-Buganda stand-off) will end. I’m not a politician, but I think our leaders should sit, discuss and resolve it. I also think all people should retain what is rightfully theirs to avoid problems. // <![CDATA[// <![CDATA[ var prefix = 'mailto:'; var suffix = ''; var attribs = ''; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy25795 = 'mcmubs' + '@'; addy25795 = addy25795 + 'observer' + '.' + 'ug'; document.write( '‘ ); document.write( addy25795 ); document.write( ” ); // ]]>mcmubs@observer.ug

UGANDA’S 60-YEAR CONFLICT (Part 4a): Mutesa appeals to United Nations

UGANDA’S 60-YEAR CONFLICT (Part 4a): Mutesa appeals to United Nations

Feature

Written by Michael Mubangizi

Wednesday, 06 January 2010 17:42

After Prime Minister Milton Obote abrogated the 1962 Constitution and declared himself president, Edward Mutesa appealed to the UN to intervene. These are extracts from his petition to the UN Secretary-General: Your Excellency, In both my capacities as the duly and constitutionally elected President of Uganda, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, and the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, I am writing to you…after a situation has arisen in Uganda which may…endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. Uganda, a former British Protectorate, became independent on 9th October, 1962. I was elected by the National Assembly…as the first President of Uganda on 8th October 1963. The events which led to the present situation are more fully amplified in the document headed ‘The background to the events leading to the suspension of the Uganda Constitution etc’ [attached to this letter]. On 11th March, 1966 when the [background document] was written, the Uganda Constitution had been partially “suspended”. I must point it out here that the Constitution does not provide for its own suspension either in part or as a whole by Parliament or anybody, or any individual whatsoever. Constitution in three hours On 24th February, 1966, the Prime Minister [Dr. Milton Obote] purported to suspend some parts of the Constitution. On 2nd March, 1966, the offices of the President and Vice President were said by the Prime Minister to have been abolished. This process culminated in the abrogation by the Prime Minister of the Uganda Constitution [of] 1962 on Friday, 15th April, 1966. The 1962 Constitution was on that day replaced by another drafted on the initiative of the Prime Minister and passed by the National Assembly during a three-hour session. The Prime Minister introduced his Constitution to the Assembly and on division 55 Members voted for and four Government supporters voted against the Constitution. The Opposition simply walked out. The Members after that session found their copies of the document in their respective pigeon holes: The other 33 Members either did not vote at all or they were absent. Out of a total membership of the National Assembly of 92, 33 is by no means a negligible number. If the 1962 Constitution was going to be amended, at least 62 Members would be required before the proposed amendment became effective. It is interesting to note that while the Prime Minister was introducing his new Constitution, troops surrounded the Parliamentary Building and Members of the Opposition were searched before entering the debating chamber. In those circumstances, Dr. Milton Obote was sworn in as President — this time an executive one. From the new Constitution, it is not clear whether there will be general elections which were due in February 1967. Federo no more The most important feature of the new Constitution so far as the Kingdom of Buganda is concerned is that the federalist concept is taken away from our Constitution; we now have a unitary form of government. In regard to the “federalist   concept,” I should like to mention what appears to me to be some of the most important events in Buganda’s history, at least during my reign. (a) A disagreement arose between myself and the Governor, Sir Andrew Cohen over the question among other things, of whether the Kingdom of Buganda should relate to the Central Government unitarily. Sir Andrew insisted that I should agree to Buganda being a local government unit within a unitary Uganda. I thought this was most unrealistic because since 1900, as a result of the Buganda Agreement of that year, this Kingdom had enjoyed a special position vis-a-vis the rest of the country. Since that time, it had state powers which it could not be expected to lose. As our points of view were irreconcilable, I had to live in exile for two years. Fortunately, my own view prevailed and the subsequent Buganda Agreement 1955 recognised that fact, while the Kabaka was made a Constitutional Monarch instead of an absolute Monarch, which the 1900 Agreement had made him. At the same time, the powers of my Government were increased enormously, e.g. instead of the three Ministers recognised by the 1900 Agreement, the 1955 Agreement created another three Ministers to take care of Health, Education and Natural Resources. These services were in the executive power of Central Government, but they were “transferred” and were to be administered by my own Government. These “arrangements” have been preserved by [the 1962 Constitution]. While the services within the executive authority of the Central Government, in regard to which “arrangements” have been made in relation to the administrations other than Buganda, may be taken back by the Central Government, this cannot be done in connection with Buganda, according to section 79(3) of the Uganda Constitution 1962. The new Constitution however, purports to wipe out this power. (b) At the end of 1960, the Lukiiko [Buganda parliament] declared Buganda’s own independence. The cause of this unilateral act was the refusal by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to grant Buganda a federal status i.e. to let Buganda have its own exclusive legislative list and absolute power over its own budget. The subsequent negotiations between Buganda and the Colonial Office resulted in the 1961 Agreement [giving the Kabaka administrative powers over Buganda]. Privileged Buganda In order to bring the picture into as clear a focus as possible, it is necessary for me to point out: (i) That only Buganda and no other part of the Country   enjoyed the concurrent   legislative powers, (ii) that the 1962 Constitution was made as a result of the recommendations made by the “Uganda Relationships Commission, 1961”, popularly known as the “Muster Commission.” In paragraph 149 of its Report the Commission says: “Our own analysis, given above, leads us to recommend a federal position for Buganda, because she has virtually reached that position already and a semi-federal position for the three Kingdoms in order to emphasize their right to preserve their traditional characteristics…” “The feature which emerges, therefore, is one of a composite state containing a single federal Kingdom (Buganda) in association with the rest of the Country, which would be governed unitarily”. In trying to persuade the Secretary of State for the Colonies to grant Buganda a federal status, my former Katikkiro (Prime Minister) [concluded] in his speech as leader of the Buganda: “I should like to stress the fact that Buganda has endeavoured to bring about unity in Uganda and will continue to do so: only that unity, as far as Buganda is concerned, will be achieved in diversity. We in Buganda believe that the survival of parliamentary democracy for a long time even after Uganda’s independence will greatly depend on the effective survival of the traditional institutions which most of our people do understand and respect. We are not averse to change, but we want the new superstructure to be based on the rock foundation of our tried and trusted customs and traditions. Naturally, we would prefer evolution to a revolution. We have learnt from recent history that Western democracy based entirely on non-African or foreign concepts can easily defeat its own ends. We are not willing to make those mistakes: we do not want military dictatorships or sham representative democracy or even resort to the United Nations troops immediately after Uganda’s independence…” Your Excellency, in the circumstances in which Uganda finds itself today, those might be called prophetic words. Survival tactics The Constitution which eventually emerged and took concrete shape in the form of the document with which Uganda launched her ship of independence has been and is still workable. The question now is how is it that a good and workable Constitution has been abrogated by one man? I can give only two answers to that question and they are both personal in the sense that Dr. Obote has accused me of inviting foreign troops to invade my own Country. This would not be proper forum to try and prove my innocence against that accusation. All that I can say here, and I have already stated it, is this that the Uganda Constitution of 1962 as amended, gives the Prime Minister power to move in Parliament…a resolution to remove the President. This procedure was open to Dr. Obote. Why did he not avail himself of that procedure? The reply to this is also the second answer to the question I posed earlier on. The taking of all the government powers, the suspension and the eventual abrogation of the Constitution, all add up to one single thing: survival. The most crucial debate in Parliament on 4th February, 1966 clearly revealed to Dr. Obote that his support there had dwindled to almost nothing. On 15th February, 1966 we found ourselves in a most embarrassing and unenviable position when the Cabinet had to recommend the appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry whose terms of reference were, in part, as follows: (a) to inquire into the allegations of the receipt by the Hon. Dr. Apolo Milton Obote, Prime Minister, the Hon. Felix Kenyi Onama, Minister of State for Defence, the Hon. Akbar Akaki Adoko Nekyon, Minister of Planning and Community Development and Colonel Idi Amin, Deputy Commander of the Army, of gold, ivory, moneys or other property from the Congo…. (b) to inquire into the allegations of conspiracy, plot or plots intended to compel by force of arms or constraint or otherwise the nullification, abrogation or the defeasance of the Constitution… Now before the Commission has had time to report, the same person has elected himself Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces.    The Commission’s findings as to the allegation of conspiracy to abrogate the Constitution will now be superfluous. Their other findings are bound to be of doubtful validity after this one-man coup d’ etat. Dr. Obote is deliberately disrupting Uganda. After the experience of KATANGA [in Congo], it would be wrong to wait and see. This is more than a domestic matter. The intervention of the United Nations, in any way, would not be justified in the circumstances of a popular revolution, but we have already seen that this is a one-man coup, which is bound to be resisted by an unarmed people with which he is likely to deal ruthlessly. I am, Your Excellency’s sincere friend, MUTESA PRESIDENT OF UGANDA KABAKA OF BUGANDA

UGANDA 60- YEAR CONFLICT (PART 3): Was Mutesa plotting a coup against Obote?

UGANDA 60- YEAR CONFLICT (PART 3): Was Mutesa plotting a coup against Obote?

News

Written by Michael Mubanginzi & Henry Lubega

Wednesday, 30 December 2009 21:34

1962 – Obote recieves instruments of power In this part of our series on the conflict between Buganda and the central government dating back to the colonial times, MICHAEL MUBANGIZI inquires whether Kabaka Edward Mutesa was planning to overthrow the government in 1966 as alleged by the then Prime Minister, Milton Obote: As security forces heavily clamped down on protesters in Kampala during the September 10 – 12 riots, President Yoweri Museveni asserted that some Buganda Kingdom officials had received foreign funding to fight his government. “I also got information that Mengo elements got foreign funds to further their aims of fighting the NRM and undermining the Constitution… I encourage my friend His Highness Kabaka Mutebi to distance himself from the Judases,” said Museveni in his address to the nation on September 10. The riots, in which at least 30 people died, were sparked off by government’s refusal to let Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II visit Kayunga, a part of his Buganda Kingdom. Whether Museveni’s claims are true, or they were intended to provide justification for the heavy use of force against the rioters, will remain as much a mystery as similar claims made by President Milton Obote in 1966. Armed or not? When he ordered his troops to attack Kabaka Edward Mutesa, forcing him to flee into exile, Obote alleged that the Kabaka was plotting against his government. “It’s my duty to inform the House that there has been an open declaration of rebellion by Buganda Lukiiko and by Sir Edward Mutesa. The government is in possession of documentary evidence that Sir Edward Mutesa had already decided by April 12, 1966 to mount a full-scale rebellion against the authority of the Government of Uganda….,” Obote told Parliament on May 24, the day of the attack on the palace. Obote claimed that Lubiri (the Kingdom’s seat of power) was full of guns and that his government had captured people with illegal guns who confessed to getting them from the Palace. This was his justification for the attack. “My orders did not include the detention or arrest of [the] Kabaka. I was only interested to find out whether there were arms in the palace,” Obote later said, according to The Uganda Argus. In his address to Parliament on Friday April 15, 1966 when he announced the abrogation of the 1962 Constitution, Obote referred to his earlier correspondences with Mutesa and the media. For instance, he had said on March 3, 1966: “During my tour of northern region, the President (Mutesa) did not hesitate to summon some ambassadors accredited to this country and made firm requests for military assistance…without notifying the foreign office or myself or any other minister of the government…” He continued: “The diplomat concerned has written to me acknowledging that he was asked about this military assistance.” Obote added: “I had established beyond doubt and in writing that Sir. Edward Mutesa had actually, in my absence and by himself made the requests in question…In so far as I was concerned I am convinced that he was plotting against the Government of Uganda.” Obote also claimed that Mutesa’s Principal Private Secretary had on March 4, 1966 issued a statement in which he admitted to making “precautionary requests” for military assistance. Mengo has always denied Obote’s allegations. But those who were on the opposite side of the conflict maintain that Mengo was arming to topple Obote’s government. In his book Desecration of my Kingdom, Mutesa says that apart from the guns and a bodyguard of 300 people that he was entitled to, he had no secret guns in the Lubiri. “There was unfortunately, no hidden arsenal, though Obote said later that that was what his soldiers had called at this early hour to collect… I think they believed their own stories about hidden supplies of arms, and even indulged in fanciful ideas that a king must have hoards of treasure buried beneath his palace.” Mutesa admits, however, that he at one time planned to raise his own force. “I had thought at first of trying to raise a force, but discarded the idea as impossible. I would rally all my most loyal subjects only to have them shot. Obote continued to think that I had about twenty men, and perhaps that is why I slipped through his fingers.” Uganda Land Commission Chairman, Jehoash Mayanja Nkangi, was Buganda’s Katikkiro (prime minister) at the time. He backs Mutesa, saying in an earlier interview with The Observer, that the authorities might have misunderstood the over 100 guards that the Kabaka was entitled to. Sticking to their guns However, former President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, who was the central government’s Attorney General in 1966, insists that there were hidden guns in Lubiri. “It all started when Obote sent his police to find out about weapons that had been brought by the Kabaka into the palace. The Kabaka had his own personal guns, but these were guns for fighting, he wanted to throw out Obote. He wanted to become the real president because he was almost ceremonial. That is when Obote realised that he wanted to take his seat,” Binaisa said in an earlier interview (Lubiri attack: Kabaka had guns, wanted to overthrow Obote; The Weekly Observer, August 30 – September 5, 2007). Recently, Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) President, Miria Kalule Obote, told The Observer that her husband’s attack on the palace was meant to get the “big guns” that, she said, were in Lubiri. “In 1966, the situation was more serious because there was shooting in Lubiri. When they first sent the special force to investigate whether there were guns or not, they were all killed. So the government had no choice but to send the army to Lubiri…There were also big guns in Lubiri,” she said. “1966 was different. That was a serious matter. You had guns firing, people digging trenches across roads, people attacking police stations and army lorries with guns,” she added. There were reports at the time that Mutesa had sought military assistance from the British government, as well as Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. If he, indeed, asked for foreign assistance, it would seem that he didn’t get it. Like other Buganda officials, former Mengo minister and city lawyer, Peter Mulira, rubbishes claims that the Kabaka had hidden guns in Lubiri. “What powers did the Kabaka have to compromise people at all border points to smuggle guns in the country unnoticed?” Mulira argues that the guns worthy of overthrowing a government must be big guns to be brought in by air or road. “It is the central government that mans all borders and all entry points, so how could guns have entered the country without their knowledge?” With all parties holding their positions, it is unlikely that Ugandans will ever find Lubiri’s smoking gun, so to speak. // <![CDATA[// <![CDATA[ var prefix = 'mailto:'; var suffix = ''; var attribs = ''; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy77111 = 'mcmubs' + '@'; addy77111 = addy77111 + 'observer' + '.' + 'ug'; document.write( '‘ ); document.write( addy77111 ); document.write( ” ); // ]]>mcmubs@observer.ug // <![CDATA[// This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it // <![CDATA[// <![CDATA[ document.write( '’ ); // ]]> Next Thursday, Kabaka Mutesa appeals to the UN for help.

GOVERNOR COHEN TO KABAKA MUTESA II, 27 OCT 1953: WAKE UP!

“Moreover the separation of Buganda from the rest of the Protectorate might well be objected to by some sections of the public in Buganda and particularly the minorities, and might even lead in the case of the minori­ties to requests for separation from Buganda.”

“If the Protectorate were to be divided into separate parts, each of these parts would be much weaker economically and in every other way than the Protectorate as a whole; and not only much weaker, but much less able to hold its own in dealings with the neighbouring territories.”

“A strong and united Protectorate rather than weak separate units must therefore be the aim of all our efforts in the interests both present and future of the people of the Protectorate.”

“Buganda geographically lies at the centre of the Protectorate and economically and in other ways its affairs are completely bound up with those of the Protectorate as a whole. These economic and general ties, reinforced by Buganda’s geographical posi­tion, have been built up over many years and,…..it would be virtually impossible now to break them down.”

Entebbe

27 October 1953.

To: HRH Kabaka Mutesa 11,

I have the honour to refer to your letter of the 6th August regarding the relations of the Uganda Protectorate with the other East African terri­tories and to inform you that I duly referred this letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies as soon as it was received. I subsequently discussed the contents of the letter with Your Highness and your Ministers and during my recent visit to London I discussed the matter with the Secretary of State.

2. The Secretary of State has instructed me to inform you that he has considered your letter with the greatest care and that he fully realizes from its contents and from what I have myself told him the strength of feeling on the part of the people of Buganda on the subject of Federation. Your letter and recent expressions of public opinion in Buganda reveal fears and suspicions about the intentions of Her Majesty’s Government in this matter; the purpose of this reply which the Secretary of State has instructed me to convey to Your Highness is to dispel these fears and suspicions and to convince Your Highness and your Ministers, and the people of Bug­anda, that they are groundless. The Secretary of State attaches the greatest importance to removing these fears and suspicions and he has asked me, as Governor, to do everything in my power to achieve this object.

3. The reply which the Secretary of State has instructed me to make, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government to the points raised in Your High­ness’ letter falls into four parts. It deals first with past statements on the subject of federation; secondly it contains a further statement by Her Majesty’s Government on this subject: while the third and fourth parts of the reply comment on your request that responsibility for Buganda affairs should be transferred from the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office and your request for the separation of Buganda from the rest of the Protec­torate.

4. Past statements on the subject of federation made by or on the instructions of Ministers of Her Majesty’s Government have been examined and it has been found that no statement has been made in the past ruling out the possibility of federation for all time. The statement in the letter of the 18th March, 1922, quoted by Your Highness, which was repeated in 1924, specifically referred to the possibility of federation of the East African territories, and it is clear from all the discussions which followed up to 1931, when H.M. Government decided on the advice of the Joint Select Committee of the two Houses of Parliament not to proceed with the matter at that time, that this possibility included the Uganda Pro­tectorate. East African federation, including Uganda, was being actively discussed in 1931, when a deputation from Uganda, including Mr. S. W. Kulubya, went to London to give evidence on this subject to the Joint Select Committee.

5. No further statements on the subject are on record until 1945, when proposals were put forward, in paper Colonial 191, for the establishment of an East Africa High Commission and Assembly to deal with certain common services of interest to all three East African territories, in the spheres particularly of communications and research. Colonial 191 stated in paragraph 9 that the proposals then made involved ‘neither political closer union nor the fusion of the East African Governments’, and gave as the reason for this in paragraph 10 that ‘H.M. Government in the United Kingdom have accordingly come to the conclusion after taking the advice of the East African Governors that political federation or fusion in any of the various forms which have been discussed in the last twenty years is not practical politics under existing conditions’. In his statement to Parliament of the 28th July, 1947, Mr. Creech-Jones, in announcing that it had been decided to implement the proposals in the subsequent paper Colonial 210, said: ‘The scheme is not to be regarded as a step towards political union or the fusion of the East African Governments.’ Mr. Griffiths in his statement to the Great Lukiko on the 15th May, 1951, said that the statement that the present inter-territorial organization did not involve the political union of the East African territories still held good. Your Highness will observe that none of these statements ruled out federa­tion for all time and I am instructed in particular to draw your attention to the use of the phrase ‘not practical politics under existing conditions’ in paragraph 10 of the Colonial 191.

6. In my letter of the 27th July, I informed Your Highness, on instruc­tions from the Secretary of State, that as regards the present intentions of Her Majesty’s Government the Secretary of State’s speech did not indi­cate any change of policy on the part of Her Majesty’s Government; that the future development of Uganda and the other East African territories must be largely guided by local public opinion; and that the assurance which I gave to the Great Lukiko in my speech of the 23rd April, 1952, still holds good. I also said in my public statement of the 11th August, again on the instructions of the Secretary of State, that ‘there should not be read into the Secretary of State’s speech any intention on the part of H.M. Government at the present time to raise the issue of East African federation’. In the view of the Secretary of State this assurance, so far from falling short of past assurances, in fact went somewhat further in that, in addition to ruling out federation at the present time, it stated that future developments must be largely guided by local opinion. It appears to the Secretary of State that you may not have fully appreciated the im­portance of this part of the statement in my letter of the 27th July. But, in view of the terms of Your Highness’s letter, the Secretary of State has decided that it is necessary to amplify the statement and make it more definite. I am accordingly instructed to inform you as follows.

7. Her Majesty’s Government has no intention whatsoever of raising the issue of East African federation either at the present time or while local public opinion on this issue remains as it is at the present time. Her Majesty’s Government fully recognizes that public opinion in Buganda and the rest of the Protectorate would be opposed to the inclusion of the Uganda Protectorate in any such federation; Her Majesty’s Government has no intention whatsoever of disregarding this opinion either now or at any time, and recognizes accordingly that the inclusion of the Uganda Protectorate in any such federation is outside the realm of practical politics at the present time or while local public opinion remains as it is at the present time. As regards the more distant future, Her Majesty’s Government clearly cannot state now that the issue of East African federa­tion will never be raised, since public opinion in the Protectorate, includ­ing that of the Baganda, might change, and it would not in any case be proper for Her Majesty’s Government to make any statement now which might be used at some time in the future to prevent effect being given to the wishes of the people of the Protectorate at that time. But Her Majesty’s Government can and does say that unless there is a substantial change in public opinion in the Protectorate, including that of the Baganda, the inclusion of the Protectorate in an East African federation will remain outside the realm of practical politics even in the more distant future. The Secretary of State is confident that you will agree that in this statement he has gone as far as he possibly can and has given you safeguards which cannot fail to be regarded as satisfactory.

8. Having given the firm assurances contained in the preceding para­graph, the Secretary of State feels sure that you need have no further fears on the question of federation. Nevertheless he thinks that you will wish him to comment on the suggestions put forward in paragraphs 10 and 11 of your letter. He does not propose to comment on the remarks about Central Africa in paragraph 7 of your letter, but this must not be taken as meaning that he accepts these remarks.

9. The Secretary of State has asked me to say that your request for transfer of responsibility for the affairs of Buganda to the Foreign Office is evidently based on a misunderstanding. The Foreign Office is respon­sible for the relations of Her Majesty’s Government with foreign countries outside the British Commonwealth. The Colonial Office deals with the affairs of territories inside the British Commonwealth for which Her Majesty’s Government is responsible, whether they be Colonies, Pro­tectorates, Protected States or Trust Territories. Your Highness has sug­gested in paragraph 6 of your letter that Buganda is a Protected State under Her Majesty’s Government; but this is not correct in the accepted constitutional sense of the term. Under the terms of the 1900 Agreement Buganda is clearly stated to rank as a province forming part of the Uganda Protectorate (Article 3), a position which has recently been reaffirmed in the joint statement on reforms in Buganda issued by Your Highness and myself last March. Not only Article 3 but other articles made it clear that Buganda was to be merged both fiscally and legislatively into the Protec­torate as a whole, and this in fact has been done. The whole tenor of the Agreement made it clear that Buganda was to be part of the Protectorate. Your Highness has referred in paragraph 9 of your letter to the 1894 Agreement as well as the 1900 Agreement. The Secretary of State is ad­vised that it is the 1900 Agreement which must be regarded as the pre­vailing document and the instrument regulating the relations between Her Majesty’s Government and Buganda. The Agreement was freely entered into and has ever since its signature been accepted both by H.M. Government, and by the Buganda Government and people as the document defining their relations with each other.

10. Even were Buganda a Protected State, which constitutionally it is not, its affairs would still be dealt with on behalf of Her Majesty’s Govern­ment by the Colonial Office, as those of other Protected States within the British Commonwealth are. Your Highness has claimed in paragraph 6 of your letter that the transfer of responsibility for Buganda from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office in 1902 involved a reduction of status; but this is not correct. As has already been stated, the 1900 Agreement clearly laid it down that Buganda should be administered as part of the Uganda Protectorate. In these circumstances there could have been no alternative but to transfer responsibility to the Colonial Office, a step which in any case logically followed once Buganda came under the protection of H.M. Government.

11. Furthermore the Secretary of State has asked me to point out that, even if it were appropriate to transfer responsibility for Buganda to the Foreign Office, which constitutionally it is not, this would not alter the position regarding federation at all. As far as Her Majesty’s Government is concerned it is not any particular Government department or Minister who decides major constitutional issues of the importance of federation in the territories for which Her Majesty’s Government is responsible, whether in East Africa or elsewhere; such major decisions can only be taken by Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom as a whole, where necessary with the approval of Parliament. It follows that, since Buganda is under the protection of Her Majesty’s Government, it would make no difference as regards federation whether it were dealt with by the Colonial Office or some other department, since the ultimate decision on this matter could only be taken by Her Majesty’s Government as a whole. Therefore it is clear first that this request cannot constitutionally be acceded to and secondly that even if it could be this would not achieve what Your Highness has in mind.

12. In paragraph 11 of your letter Your Highness has asked that a plan should be put into effect designed to achieve the independence of Buganda. It is not clear to the Secretary of State from your letter exactly what is meant by ‘independence’; but I reported the subsequent discussions which I had with yourself and your Ministers and the Secretary of State under­stands that you are not asking to go outside the Commonwealth – the wording of the first sentence of paragraph 11 indeed implies that you are not asking this. The Secretary of State also understands that you have informed me during the course of the discussions that Buganda has no wish to leave the protection of Britain. The Secretary of State in fact understands that you were seeking, without leaving the protection of Her Majesty’s Government, to safeguard Buganda against the possibility of East African federation in the future, either by separating Buganda now from the rest of the Protectorate or at any rate by removing Buganda from the jurisdiction of the Protectorate Legislative Council.

13. The Secretary of State asks me to say that he is glad that Your Highness does not wish Buganda to leave the protection of Britain because he is sure that this would not be to the advantage of the people of Buganda. Your Highness will no doubt agree that the Baganda have received many benefits from British protection and that the association between the Baganda and the British people has been fruitful over the years and con­tinues to be so. You will also, the Secretary of State is sure, agree that, apart from the many benefits received by the Baganda in the past, there have recently been very significant advances. In the political field there are the reforms announced earlier in the year, under which the people of Buganda will play a greater part in their system of government and the Buganda Government will be given substantial increased responsibilities for the operation of certain services in Buganda. In the economic field important benefits have been brought to the Baganda by the work of the Protectorate Agricultural and Veterinary Departments for the improve­ment of agriculture and cattle-keeping; by the expansion of the co­operative movement through the efforts of the Protectorate Department of Co-operative Development; and by the cotton and coffee reorganiza­tion schemes. In the field of education, to which so much importance is rightly attached by your people, the Protectorate has embarked on a great programme of expansion both of general and technical education which will greatly benefit the Baganda, while Makerere College is con­tinuing to expand, again to their great advantage. All these are benefits which have been brought to Buganda through its association with Britain and through action on a Protectorate-wide basis. The Secretary of State is therefore sure that Your Highness is right both from the point of view of the present interests of the Baganda and their future interests not to wish to leave British protection.

14. The points which require to be considered, therefore, are whether it would be possible or desirable in the interests of Buganda and its people, and whether it would affect the position regarding federation, either to separate Buganda from the rest of the Protectorate or to remove it from the jurisdiction of the Legislative Council. I have informed the Secretary of State that in discussion with me Your Highness has recognized that both these steps would involve amendment of the 1900 Agreement, since the Agreement lays down in Article 3 that Buganda ranks as a province of the Protectorate and in Article 5 that the laws made for the general government of the Protectorate are applicable to Buganda except in so far as they may be in conflict with the Agreement. Before discussing these suggestions in detail, the Secretary of State feels bound to say that he is surprised that they should have been put forward so soon after you had joined with me in stating at the end of our joint statement on the reforms in Buganda that ‘the Uganda Protectorate has been and will continue to be developed as a unitary state. The Kingdom of Buganda will continue to go forward under the government of His Highness the Kabaka and play its part, in accordance with Clause 3 of the Agreement, as a Province and a component part of the Protectorate.’

15. As regards separation from the Protectorate, the Secretary of State seriously doubts whether this would be practicable, even if it were desirable in the interests of your people. Buganda geographically lies at the centre of the Protectorate and economically and in other ways its affairs are completely bound up with those of the Protectorate as a whole. These economic and general ties, reinforced by Buganda’s geographical posi­tion, have been built up over many years and, in the Secretary of State’s view, it would be virtually impossible now to break them down.

16. Nor does he consider that this would be in the interests of the Baganda. In recent years they have been playing an increasing part in the economic life of the country as a whole and they are now entering industries which are established on a Protectorate-wide basis. Your people, with a longer experience of organized government than many of the rest of the people of the Protectorate, are well fitted to play an increasing part in public life on a Protectorate-wide basis and are in fact doing so. If Buganda, while remaining under British protection, were to be separ­ated from the rest of the Protectorate, Her Majesty’s Government would of course continue to do its best to help the Baganda develop in the political, economic and social spheres. But this would be infinitely more difficult if Buganda were separated from the rest of the Protectorate than it is now. The Secretary of State is convinced that such a separation would gravely upset the economic stability of the country; would seri­ously interfere with schemes for the economic development of the Baganda and other Africans in the Protectorate which are now being actively carried forward; would reduce the amounts of money available for development and for the advancement of the people; and in a word would completely disrupt all that is now being done to help the Baganda forward. The Secretary of State is certain, therefore, that such a separation would be prejudicial to the present and future interests of the Baganda. Moreover the separation of Buganda from the rest of the Protectorate might well be objected to by some sections of the public in Buganda and particularly the minorities, and might even lead in the case of the minori­ties to requests for separation from Buganda.

17. On the question of taking Buganda out of the purview of the Legislative Council, while retaining it within the Protectorate, this, in the Secretary of State’s view, would be seriously damaging to Buganda‘s interests. There are many laws of great and sometimes of vital importance to the Baganda which could not be passed by the Lukiko because they affect not only the Baganda but also Europeans and Asians. Notable examples of these are the cotton and coffee reorganization laws; but there are many other examples. If Buganda were taken out of the purview of the Legislative Council laws such as these would have to be applied to Buganda by the Governor by proclamation, and there would be no opportunity, such as is provided by the Legislative Council, for members representing Buganda to take part in the discussion of them, speaking for the interests of the Baganda. Such a situation would be detrimental to the interests of Buganda and would give the Baganda legitimate grounds for complaint that their views were not being properly put forward. In the Secretary of State’s view, therefore, it would be wrong to take Buganda out of the purview of the Legislative Council. Indeed the Secretary of State would go further than that and say that the members from Buganda ought to be selected by the Lukiko rather than nominated, seeing that this would link the members with the people whom they represent.

18. It remains to discuss how the separation of Buganda from the Protectorate, or its removal from the purview of the Legislative Council, would affect the position regarding federation. It is evident from what Your Highness has said to myself in discussing this matter that you fear that the Legislative Council could of its own act bring Buganda into a federation; but the Secretary of State has asked me to point out that this is not so. So long as Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom is ultimately responsible for the administration of the East African terri­tories, any scheme of federation which might be put forward could only come into force with the approval of Her Majesty’s Government; with Buganda under British protection this would apply whether Buganda was separated from the Protectorate or not. Her Majesty’s Government would of course take into account the views of the Legislative Council of the Protectorate; but would also take into account the views of the Buganda Government. Separating Buganda from the rest of the Protectorate or taking it outside the purview of the Legislative Council would not there­fore alter the position regarding federation – a position that is in any case safeguarded by the assurances conveyed to Your Highness in paragraph 7 of this letter. In so far as it would affect the situation at all, taking Buganda outside the purview of the Legislative Council would weaken rather than strengthen the position of the Baganda in this matter; for the Legislative Council, with its substantial number of African members, would provide an important mouthpiece for the expression of African opinion should this matter ever be raised. With Buganda members on the Legislative Council, these would have full opportunity to express the views held by the Baganda on this subject; but if they were not on the Legislative Coun­cil this opportunity would be lost.

19. For all these reasons the Secretary of State does not agree that the separation of Buganda from the rest of the Protectorate or its removal from the purview of the Legislative Council would be in the interests, either present or future, of the Baganda; nor would either of these steps alter the position regarding federation. The Secretary of State has instructed me strongly to advise Your Highness that the proper course is not to suggest breaking up the Protectorate into separate parts, but to strengthen its unity and to work for its future political, economic and social develop­ment. If the Protectorate were to be divided into separate parts, each of these parts would be much weaker economically and in every other way than the Protectorate as a whole; and not only much weaker, but much less able to hold its own in dealings with the neighbouring territories. A strong and united Protectorate rather than weak separate units must therefore be the aim of all our efforts in the interests both present and future of the people of the Protectorate.

Andrew Benjamin Cohen

Governor

MORE HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS: KABAKA MUTESA TO ALL WHITE MEN

[no date]

To all the English who are with Colonel Gordon.

Oh! all the men of England, hear what is said in this letter, for I am Mutesa, King of Uganda. I will tell you the truth, because I am a King and will not lie. Because I am on your side.  If at times I say I do not want white men, it is in order to pretend, because if I always say it, others will say why does Mutesa want white men and does not ask for us.

Therefore I say in my heart I will receive in secret the English letter. Therefore I pray you, listen my friend to what I say. Send a letter to England and tell them that Mutesa wants one of the priests of England.

But you yourselves come here and quickly so that I can tell you all that I have in my heart and then you can go to England with joy.  May the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all always. Amen.

From Mutesa, King of Uganda, son of Suna.

DALLINGTON MAFTAA, PPS OF KABAKAS MUTESA I AND MWANGA

Addressees,

The African chap in that picture is one Dallington Maftaa, arrived in Buganda in 1876 as part of HM Stanley’s entourage.  He is responsible for all the correspondences from the Buganda royal court to the outside world.  In the Picture, he is with Mapeera (Father/Mon pere Lourdel) during Kabaka Mwanga’s reign.

In one of the letters to Muwanga, the writers are Dallington and Kabaka Mutesa.

1 WK LATER, GOLD AND GUNS NOT COMING: KABAKA MUTESA CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

April 3, 1876

Nabulagala

From King Mutesa, the greatest King of the interior of Africa, 3 April 1876.

This letter is from M’tesa, the greatest King in Africa. It is I Mutesa, King of Uganda, Usoga and Karagwe. Listen then to my word which I tell you. Oh! thou European  I have become your true brother, I am a Christian, only I have not yet been baptised.

I believe in God the Holy Father, Almighty, Creater of heaven and earth, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Son of God, begotten of the Father before the creation of the earth, He is God of God.

May your Queen be a mother to me, and may I become her son. May her sons and daughters be my brothers and sisters, It is I, Mutesa, King of Uganda.  Formerly the Mahommedans tempted me saying that Mahom­med was the first and last of good people, but we find this  is not the truth but a lie. May we both be united.

Oh! Colonel Gordon, listen to this letter which says Oh! God, let there be peace between England and Uganda. Oh! may England be joyful always. Oh! Colonel Gordon, come quickly to me, and, if you do not come, at least send one of your white men, who you have with you, I want the reply to this letter to be printed.

May God be with the Queen, May God be with your Majesty and I beg you to send me paper, ink and pens, because all my paper is finished.

Mutesa King of Uganda

April 3, 1876.

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS: KABAKA MUTESA TO COLONEL GORDON

6 Februay, 1876.

To Sir Canell Gorlden

My Dear Freind Gorden hear this my word be not angry with Kaber­ega Sultan of Unyoro. I been head that you been brought two manwar ships but I pray you fight not with these Wanyoro for they know not what is good and what is bad. I am, Mutesa king of Uganda for if you fight with governour if you fight with governour you fight with the king.

I will ask you one thing but let it may please you all ye Europeion for I say if I want to go to Bommbey if the Governour and if the Goyernour of Bommbey refuse me to past will l not find the orther road therefore I pray you my friends hear this my letter stop for a moment if you want to fight put ships in the river nile take west and north and I will take east and south and let us put wanyoro in to the middle and fight against them but first send me answer from this letter.  Because  I want to be a freind of the English. I am Mutesa son of Suna king of Uganda let God be with your Majesty even you all Amen.

Mutesa King of Uganda

Februay 6, 1876.

KABAKA MUTESA TO COLONEL GORDON: NJAGALA FEEZA, ZAABU, MUNDU NE’DDIINI

24 March 1876.

Kabaka Mutesa 1 and Dallington to Gordon,

To Sir Colonel Gordon, My dear, Friend, I wish you good day. It is I Mutesa, King of Uganda who sends you this letter. I wish to be the friend of the white men, Therefore, hear my words which I say.

I. I want a priest who will show me,the way of God.

2. I want gold, silver, iron and bronze.

3.1 want clothing for my people and myself to wear.

4. I want excellent guns and good cannons.

5. I want to cause to be built good houses for my country.

6. I want my people to know God.

Mutesa King of Uganda

24 March 1876.

mutesa’s letter to queen victoria

April 3, 1876

Nabulagala

From King Mutesa, the greatest King of the interior of Africa , 3 April 1876.

This letter is from M’tesa, the greatest King in Africa . It is I Mutesa, King of Uganda , Usoga and Karagwe. Listen then to my word which I tell you. Oh! thou European  I have become your true brother, I am a Christian, only I have not yet been baptised.

I believe in God the Holy Father, Almighty, Creater of heaven and earth, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Son of God, begotten of the Father before the creation of the earth, He is God of God.

May your Queen be a mother to me, and may I become her son. May her sons and daughters be my brothers and sisters, It is I, Mutesa, King of Uganda .  Formerly the Mahommedans tempted me saying that Mahom­med was the first and last of good people, but we find this  is not the truth but a lie. May we both be united.

Oh! Colonel Gordon, listen to this letter which says Oh! God, let there be peace between England and Uganda . Oh! may England be joyful always. Oh! Colonel Gordon, come quickly to me, and, if you do not come, at least send one of your white men, who you have with you, I want the reply to this letter to be printed.

May God be with the Queen, May God be with your Majesty and I beg you to send me paper, ink and pens, because all my paper is finished.

Mutesa King of Uganda

April 3, 1876.

Lance Corporal (Rtd) Otto Patrick

Mukaabya Walugembe Muteesa is the architect of Uganda

The role of Muteesa is not under estimated. Just read STanley’s Trhough the Dark Continent. At first Muteesa thought that Buganda was the World’s super power. After hearing aboput other powers, at least it was the one in Africa. Thus he befriended Arab and Europeans. His diplomatic resistance of colonialism including offering to marry Queen Victoria, helped Buganda and Uganda to be administred as a protectorate other than a crown colony like Kenya was. His letter brought missionaries who were negotiators between African chiefs and colonial masters. The westernisation that was brought by the missionaries was partly due to Muteesa’s letter and the one of Stanley that was written in Daily Palagraph.

According to Baganda, Muteesa was the Kabaka that was between the ancient kingdom and the new generation. He was admired , imitated and resisted but not ignored by the rest of Uganda and beyond.

Mukaabya Walugembe Muteesa was the actual archtect of Uganda. No wonder, Prof.Matiya Mulumba Ssemakula Kiwanuka, wrote a book entittled “Muteesa of Uganda”

Ahmed Katerega

NewVision journalist