Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kampala (Agenzia Fides) – The fighting that took place last week in Uganda between police and “Kabaka” (the traditional king of the Baganga, Ronald Muwenda Mutesi II) supporters, has raised the question of Ugandan traditional kingdoms on a national and international level.
It is a problem that dates back to the 19th century, with the arrival of colonization and the loss of balances among the various kingdoms that were established in what is today Uganda. The English colonial system incorporated the various Ugandan kings, according to the principle of indirect rule, which made the local African and Asian powers agents of the British colonial administration.
The most important kingdom was (and still is) Buganda, which extends in central Uganda along the shores of Lake Victoria. The English colonists, in exchange for the collaboration of the king (Kabaka) of Buganda, allowed the kingdom to extend itself into what was the kingdom of Bunyoro, causing a dispute to break out between the two kingdoms, that has lasted until today.
The kingdom of Bunyoro, which currently has 700,000 inhabitants, is located in western Uganda, along the shores of Lake Albert. The Bunyoro (from an “Omukama”), which in the colonial conquest was one of the strongest kingdoms in terms of military power, opposed colonization. Thus, it was punished by the English and had to cede some of its territory to the Buganda. The recent discovery of important oil deposits on the territory has made control of this kingdom strategic for central government authorities in Kampala.
On the eastern shores of Lake Victoria, the Busoga is one of the oldest kingdoms of the country. Governed by a Kyabazinga, the kingdom has nearly two million subjects. The kingdom has been in chaos for the fight for succession after the 2008 death of King Henry Wako Muloki. The enthroning of Edward Columbus Wambuzi as the new Kyabazinga (sovreign) has not entirely resolved the dispute. In western Uganda, there is also the Kingdom of Toro, with nearly 800,000 subjects, which has close ties with Libya's leader, Muammar Gheddafi.
In north Uganda, the Acholi are organized in groups of clans presided by a Rwot, or supreme leader. After two decades of violence against civilians from the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), nearly two million of the Acholi have been forced to live in refugee camps. As the members of the LRA are themselves Acholi, the local authorities are using the traditional justice system of this population, called “Mato oput,” in which the guilty are set free if they confess their crime and show repentance – to try to recuperate the members of the LRA who decide to abandon the guerrilla movement.
In southwestern Uganda, the Banyankore (or Banyankole) population is subdivided into two groups, the Bahima minority (shepherds) and the Bairu majority (farmers). These are the most important kingdoms from a historical and demographical viewpoint, however there are various others acknowledged by the Government in Kampala.
After the independence (1962), the relationship between the central government in Kampala and the various kingdoms was the center of political debate between supporters of a centralized State and those who wanted a federation in which the Kings would continue to have a political and administrative role. Following the coups of Milton Obote (1966), the kingdoms were abolished (1967). They were established as “cultural institutions” in 1993 by the current President Yoweri Museveni, whose rise to power was supported by the subjects of the Buganda.
The Buganda Kingdom has entered into conflict with central government authorities in Kampala, as two years ago, it reiterated the old request to turn Uganda into a federation. On the horizon are the presidential elections in 2011 and the territorial dispute among the various kingdoms, which if they are not carried out with canniness, could be a risk to national unity. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 16/9/2009)
