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A paper presented to a Federal Constitutional Seminar at Pope Paul Memorial Community Centre 9th to 10th May, 1991

The immediate decline and decay of culture and cultural institutions in Bunyoro-Kitara in the last quarter of a century is largely and justifiably attributed to the abolition of kingdoms in Uganda. The institution of the Omukama, as a cultural institution, is the one that embodies the cultural aspirations and accumulated wisdom of the people of Bunyoro-Kitara.

Bunyoro-Kitara is part and parcel not only of Uganda but of the African continent where the role of culture in development, in the economy and in politics has been pronounced by many African leaders, politicians and intellectuals of no less stature than, for instance, Okot p'Bitek, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Modiba Keita, Chief Awolowo, Julius Nyerere, Tom Mboya, Jomo Kenyatta, Sedar Senghor and many others.

In a sense, to this line-up we can add a whole college of negritude writers and thinkers of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s such as Gladys Casely-Hayford, Raphael Armattoe, Dennis Osadeby, Michael Dei-Anang, David, Diop, Birago Diop, Tchicaya U Tam'si and others. Okot p'Bitek who belong[s] to this school was more original and more sophisticated than most of the cultural protagonists. Some of these men and women had behind them the mighty influence of Aime Cesaire, Leon Damas and other Afro-American writers and thinkers as well as the influence of W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey's Back-to-Africa Movement of the 1920s [1].

All these people, all over the continent, realised that the condition of slavery and the condition of colonialism had alienated them from their African roots and African background. Their aesthetics was therefore a form of protest in order to reassert themselves, to rediscover their African values and traditions and roots. The greatest exponent of this aesthetics has been the literally giant Leopold Sedar Senghor [2].

Africa was a continent of many strong indigenous cultural and [technological] civilizations, and is by no means a dark continent as was once asserted by the early explorers. Some of the most ancient civilizations in the world are to be found in Africa, but it is beyond the limited scope of this paper to go into all this. Suffice to say that our culture in Africa has been violated and mutilated by centuries of colonial intervention which in turn gave way to neo-colonialism and African misrule after the achievement of independence.

Colonial rule in Africa was achieved by force. This has been ably demonstrated by Kabwegyere [3]. The brutality that was used during the time of colonial penetration and colonial administration harassed, frustrated and in some cases completely broke-up and shattered African society and institutions. The policies of administration in some cases also did the same. The policy of apartheid dehumanised the peoples of South Africa while assimilation in the former French Colonies turned whole peoples into Frenchmen and Frenchwomen. Christianity and Islam forced the Africans to worship God in an English way, in an Italian way, in a French way, to worship like Arabs, but never like Africans. We worship the same God through foreign culture. Our own forms of worshipping God which were culturally dynamic and more spirited were stamped out. All these came to crown centuries of slave trade in which Africans were either slaughtered or exported to other continents. With all this going on indigenous African culture and institutions had little chance of survival. When finally Western education arrived the cycle of cultural conflict and instability was complete. Thus Western education, Christianity, colonialism, and slave trade which became responsible for the Negro subculture in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean worked hand in hand to fight indigenous African culture and institutions.

But in spite of this tragedy one should make the observation that here in our midst there are African societies which have tended to survive the external influence and to remain strong, culturally integrated and culturally viable. Cases in point are the Baganda, the Ibo, the Yoruba and the Gikuyu. Scholars should find out the secret behind the relative survival of these peoples as viable traditional, yet highly modernized and Westernised African societies in situations where others have collapsed and collapsed beyond repair. One explanation might be that the colonial structure worked in their favour and/or that their institutions were sufficiently deep-rooted and sufficiently organised to resist negative incursions. Whatever the case, I think that the Baganda, the Ibo, the Yoruba, the Gikuyu and presumably a few others like them are a clear testimony of aesthetic dualism and cultural cross-fertilisation, which in the healthiest sensibility, for no peoples in the modern world nor even in the ancient world can and could afford to live in isolation. Nay, that is impossible.

It has been stated already that African statesmen, African scholars and African writers have stressed African culture in no uncertain terms. In the context of African culture many great African ideas have been enunciated. For example the concept of "African socialism", "African communalism", the concept of "black power" and even the concept of "Pan-Africanism". Whatever the merits of these ideas, at least they all symbolise a longing to reaffirm, to rediscover, our African roots. It is African culture that really provided the main impetus and the war-drum that ushered the Africans out of the colonial nightmare, and it is African culture that provides the fundamental cohesiveness behind modern African society.

The importance of culture therefore cannot be over-emphasized because it is self-evident.

African politicians were, however, ultimately concerned with the African personality for political and economic reasons, not essentially for cultural reasons. They found their objectives an uphill task because they failed to recognise and to emphasize the role of (a) the individual and the individual talent; (b) the family as the heart of culture and the heart of society all over the world; (c) the clan as the focal point of culture and social cohesion in many African societies; (d) the peripheral entities like the village, the tribe and the nationality. All these are pillars of economic development that cannot be overlooked. At this level, when we talk of "nationality" we are talking for instance of Bunyoro-Kitara, Buganda, Busoga, Ankole, Acholi, Teso, Lango, etc., a common history, a common culture and which are capable, on their own, of self-determination. By overlooking all these the African politicians overlooked and missed the grass-root effect.

The empire of Bunyoro-Kitara had risen by leaps and bounds to great eminence in the course of history. Its greatest extent and formal organisation were reached during the reigns of Isaza Nyakikooto, the 18^th King in the Abatembuzi dynasty and Ndahura Kyarubimba, the 1^st King in the Abacwezi dynasty, somewhere between 1300 – 1500 AD. At the time the empire is said to have stretched to Abyssinia, parts of Tanganyika such as Buziba and Sukumaland, parts of Kenya such as Kavirondo and parts of the Congo such as Buleega and Bukutu, and bestrode the borders of present-day Uganda. In subsequent centuries, however, hostile activities of war-like tribes began to press upon the empire. This was particularly so during the reigns of Duhaga I Chwa Mujwiga 1731 – 1782 and Kyebambe III Nyamutukura 1786 – 1835.

But the greatest blow against Bunyoro-Kitara came as a result of British intervention 1891 – 1900, starting with the activities of Lord Lugard through to Colonel Colville, Captain Thruston and others like Colonel Evatt, and coming, as it did, in the aftermath of intermittent civil wars.

By the year 1900 the situation of the empire was very desperate. The distinguished anthropologist and scholar, Professor John Beattie, says "the destruction of the ancient Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara was almost complete", and he goes on to give reasons for this assessment [4]. Much of the population, probably as much as three-quarters, was either dead or had emigrated to other countries or was living in lost territories under other powers and rule. The senseless killings of our people during the British wars upon the Omukama Kabalega as vividly reported all over the pages of Sir Apollo Kaggwa [5], and even men like Captain Thruston [6] and Colonel Colville [7] can only be described as genocide second to none in the history of Uganda. Territorial losses reported by Nyakatura following the Anglo-Kabalega war 1891 – 1899 amounted to 18 provinces or Ssazas, namely [8]:

Lugard in 1891 re-established the kingdom of Toro which Kabalega had restored to Bunyoro in 1876 by military victory. When Lugard installed Kasagama as Omukama of Toro and established Nubian fortifications to cut off Kabalega seven provinces constituting Toro Kingdom and two provinces in Ankole were lost to Bunyoro. The three provinces in what became Belgian-Congo were lost as a result of Anglo-Belgian frontier adjustments while in 1894 six provinces were ceded to Buganda by the British, precipitating the 'Lost Counties' struggle.

Sir Harry Johnston reports that part of the population that perished during the Anglo-Kabalega war was destroyed by plague, dropsy, dysentery, smallpox, leprosy and syphilis [9]. Severe and repeated famine forced women to become prostitutes. The most pronounced famine was: (a) Kyomudaaki (1898), (b) Kiroomere (1907), (c) Zimya Etaara (1914), and (d) Kabakuli (1918). At the same time Bunyoro-Kitara was suffering the torments of a king exiled to the Seychelles Islands 1899 – 1923.

Finally, Bunyoro-Kitara was a conquered territory and administered as such by the British and Baganda agents. In 1907 the Kyanyangire revolt pushed out the Baganda agents from Bunyoro-Kitara and proved that the Banyoro could still lash out at the British. Many Banyoro ended up exiled to Kenya [10]. To drive home their victory the British built fortifications all over Bunyoro-Kitara and filled them up with Nubian Soldiers. In 1891 a string of forts was established to safeguard Kasagama's kingdom of Toro including "Fort Gerry" which later became Fort Portal. In 1894 forts were established at Baranywa, Mugabi, Katasiha, Kitana and Kibiro. In 1895 at Masindi, Mahagi, Pajawo (Murchison Falls), Pawiri in Mutunda and Buruuli near Masindi Port. It is from these forts that troops went out to ravage the country. The fighting nationalities included Europeans, Nubians, Baganda, the Swahili, the Somalis, Indians and other assorted tribes.

The young Omukama Yosia Karukara Kitehimbwa was deposed by the British only five years after assuming the crown for allegedly being assertive [11]. The devout Omukama Andrea Bisereko Duhaga II was treated by the British like a common labourer, and when he complained he was at last allowed to appoint a Katiikiro to assist him in 1917 but on condition that he would pay the Katiikiro from his own pocket. So Petero Bikunya, the first Katiikiro during the turbulent years, was paid out of Duhaga's pocket, not from the state treasury [12].

Many of the events of the time since the declaration of the war against Kabalega did not favour a stable cultural situation. In fact the events worked directly against culture. Our people who were in other areas were sometimes persecuted and treated as second class citizens. I was amazed the other day. I met a group of young men while escorting the Agutamba of Bunyoro-Kitara on his tour of cultural sites. I was amazed to hear that some of these young men spoke Runyoro secretly. Although I was not disposed to believe them this showed me the extent of cultural alienation in areas that are no longer part of Bunyoro-Kitara.

In spite of all these hardships, however, history has vindicated Kabalega's resistance as representing the single most important nationalist struggle against British rule in Uganda, even surpassing by far the Mau Mau war in Kenya. The name of Bunyoro-Kitara has become known for and wide in the world because of this fact and because of Kabalega's prowess, military ability and innovations by virtue of which he defied British might  for a complete decade. Those thousands who died in the struggle deserve to be consecrated as the real heroes of our independence. The greatest tribute that we can pay to them for the blood that was shed is to resolve, as did Kabalega, never to surrender where the defence of our country and the defence of our rights is the issue in question. Kabalega is the father of Uganda's anti-colonial struggle.

As already explained in this paper the importance of culture in shaping human behaviour and determining human progress cannot be over-emphasized. This is especially so in Africa where traditional modes of life are a major factor in shaping public policy.

We in Bunyoro-Kitara recognise the fact that the Banyoro have lost their cultural base. This is because the colonial masters pursued a policy of suppressing our people. By the time the NRM Government came to power this policy had not been reversed. The Banyoro are not on the front-line where they should be in politics, in the economy, in Government, in all fields of human endeavour. It is, I think, T. S. Eliot who says that in order to be healed you must first of all be very sick. Therefore in order to rise up again we must have the humility to start afresh. Without this the people of Bunyoro-Kitara could very easily become slaves of others. This generation and the generations to come will not accept it. We have the right of survival and the right of self-determination. Every people should aspire to keep their cultural identity and to explore and exploit its positive potentialities. This Bunyoro-Kitara will do.

If the people are shy about their own culture or dislike it or by any reason fail to embrace it they will at first lose their individuality and become stereotypes, and finally will disintegrate and disappear into oblivion. At best they will be assimilated by stronger cultures.

We cannot run away from the fact that Uganda is a country of diverse cultures. From north, from east, from south and from the west we have different languages, different cultures, different behaviour and different tendencies. We should consider ourselves very lucky because what this means is that Uganda is culturally rich. We are particularly fortunate because our different cultures tend to complement rather than conflict with one another, even though some conflict would in fact be quite natural. We, as Ugandans, must maintain this equilibrium on the basis of mutual respect, tolerance and understanding, knowing that our cultures are but different pillars of one nation. Those who find it impossible to respect this position are enemies of the people and have no place in this country.

One pillar of Uganda's cultural diversity is the Bunyoro-Kitara axis. Few people can dispute the positive contribution of Bunyoro-Kitara to Uganda's history and cultural richness in so far as all conception of kingship in the interlacustrine region of East Africa originates from Bunyoro-Kitara [13]; and in so far as the kingdoms in this region, especially Buganda which was mere favoured by the climate, were found by the first European explorers like Speke and Grant to preside upon the most advanced civilisations in East and Central Africa.

If I am to disgrace a little, the alleged centrality of Buganda in Uganda is only geographical. As far as history and culture are concerned, however, it is Bunyoro-Kitara which is central to Uganda. This has to be recognised as such because it is historically true that what is Uganda today was not so long ago Bunyoro-Kitara. Nothing will change this fact. If therefore I was to propose a new name for Uganda, and I have no intention to do so, I would call her Bunyoro-Kitara.

Just when Bunyoro-Kitara was beginning to pick up culturally in the reign of the Omukama Sir Tito Gafabusa Winyi IV (1924 – 1967 years of reigning) Milton Obote struck, starting a fresh era of terror and violence upon our people; an era of such consequences that to-day even the name of Bunyoro-Kitara has been erased from the map of Uganda. This terror upon our people which started 100 years ago with the wars of Captain Lugard in 1891 has created an inferiority complex. Some Banyoro to-day will hesitate to speak their own tongue on the streets of Kampala, Nairobi, London, or New York. In many areas the Banyoro do not speak their own language until challenged to do so. In Mubende District Runyoro is spoken secretly. Professor Beattie reports that Banyoro-conscripts in the First and Second World War registered as Baganda for fear of the consequences of registering as Banyoro. Bunyoro-Kitara suffers from a crisis of identity and lack of vested interest. In turn, these are worsened by the lack of power to effect development.

To parody Taban Lo Liyong [14], we have no Spencer to sing our jungles; We have no Shakespeare to dramatise our tragedies, to extol our kings; We have no Milton to sing the music of our mbadwa gods – Kyomya Ruganda Amooti, Wamara Abooki, Ibona of Warage and many others; where is our Wole Soyinka, our Ecklas Kawalya, our Christopher Sebadduka to sing our clans, our Elly Wamala to give us a Kinyoro version of "Voila"? Where is our Chaucer to tell of hidden humour in our underworld? Where are they all? Who is to praise our rustic beauties – do we have an Okot p'Bitek? Do we have a Thomas Hardy? Where is our Endymion, our Lamia?

Cultural barrenness, I think, is a crime; and the responsibility for this crime lies with our oppressors. In less than one generation, unless the present situation is reversed, the whole question of our culture will be a completely forgotten issue. As a first step to redress the situation, the people of Bunyoro-Kitara have instituted a cultural revival forum known as Orukurato Orukuru Oruteraniza Enganda za Bunyoro-Kitara (a clans council of Bunyoro-Kitara) of which I have the honour to be Chairman, which is a forum of heads of clans, elders and their descendants.

As the name implies, we are trying to put our finger on the pulse of our society to promote unity through the clans, to revive culture through the clans and to create an institutional framework on top of existing cultural institutions. We would like to improve the inner vitality and supremacy of our people and to cherish culture as an instrument of development and production. We wish also to refine our morals, behaviour and social responsibility. We want to preserve our heritage, both man-made and natural. This will improve the environment and help to step up tourism in the country.

In this respect, we wish to call upon the Government, upon fellow Ugandans, the international community, and in particular, donor agencies to come to our assistance in executing any cultural programmes being identified, for example in the field of language, literature and publications; the development of cultural and historical sites; music, dance and drama and the other arts; games and sports, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Omukama's palace; the royal regalia, and other basic cultural programmes.

Bunyoro-Kitara is a geographical, cultural and historical entity with her own distinct cultural heritage and values. The Banyoro are bound together by block and cultural bonds and form an entity with irresistible psycho-biological linkages. Our cultural heritage, values and institutions, our customs and traditions, are enshrined in the unique institution of clans, which in turn have their focal point in the institution of the Head of Clans, that is to say the institution of Rukirabasaija Agutamba the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara. The institution of clans in Bunyoro-Kitara and the institution of the Head of Clans in Bunyoro-Kitara are one and the same thing. That is the cultural nature of our society. One is not only a reflection of the other, but it is the other, truly.

The clans and the Omukama jointly symbolise continuity, unity, stability, perfection and excellence. All the arts, sciences, etiquette and decorum, and the best in the whole range of human achievement depend on these institutions. In the Omukama's palace all the clans range together to uphold what is best in Bunyoro-Kitara. There is no other place where this is possible. The institution of the Omukama is the most central of all our cultural institutions, and to derogate from its honour and dignity is a direct insult upon our people. Other advantages of this institution have been given, though not necessarily supported, by Kanyeihamba [15]. Reference may be made to Buchanan for a greater insight into the centrality of clans in Bunyoro-Kitara [16]. The way to appreciate fully the institution of the Omukama is to become a Munyoro because this institution, as cattle is to a Munyankore or to a Karamojong, is integrated in the blood and outlook of our people.

Bunyoro-Kitara was an independent kingdom long before Uganda was known, and though oppressed, she was governed separately by the British through 1933 and 1955 Agreements. This status enabled Bunyoro-Kitara to preserve her customs, traditions and cultural institutions. The 1962 Uganda Constitution confirmed this position by granting some form of Federal status to Bunyoro-Kitara in which the enjoyment of our culture was guaranteed. This position could not be altered without the express consent of the Banyoro. Since the Banyoro were never consulted on the abolition of the 1962 Constitution nor consented to the abolition, it follows that the Orukurato Orukuru Oruteraniza Enganda za Bunyoro-Kitara would not like to be party to constitutional arrangements that do not in the first instance, guarantee the position accorded to Bunyoro-Kitara under the 1962 Constitution. Ultimately, however, Bunyoro-Kitara demands full Federal Status in order to be fully autonomous in certain vital spheres. Similarly, we would not like to be party to a Uganda Constitution that does not guarantee the cultural diversity of the people of Uganda.

Lastly, but not least, it should be stated categorically that there can be no question of culture without land. You cannot have culture hanging in the air. The most important aspect of culture is, in fact, land. The sentiments of our people are very clear on this matter of land in Bunyoro-Kitara. The land belongs to the Banyoro and their children and their children's children. Whereas we warmly welcome other Ugandans to come and settle with us, and even marry our beautiful women, wholesale alienation of land to non-Banyoro in Bunyoro-Kitara must stop as it is going to cause a lot of problems in future. We cannot have a cultural base when the land is being taken away. The fact that our people are peace-loving and have so far been silent on the matter should not be mistaken for their consent. I think in future the clans should be allowed to decide on who comes in and who goes out. The Banyoro themselves must control the land and not otherwise. This is not sectarianism; it is a question of having a base.

FOOTNOTES AND REFERENCES:

[1] See Chapter III in Ezekiel Mphahlele, The African Image, London, 1962. Some of the early aesthetic sensibilities  are present in (a) Black Orphans; (b) Transition; (c) Presence Africaine; (d) Mbari; among others. Also in Black Aesthetic, ed. Andrew Gurr and Pio Zirimu, Nairobi, 1973.

[2] The works of the people discussed are available in our libraries especially at Makerere University.

[3] Tarsis B. Kabwegyere, The Politics of State Formation: The Nature and Effects of Colonialism in Uganda, Nairobi, 1974.

[4] John Beattie, the Nyoro State, Oxford, 1971, p. 76.

[5] Sir Apollo Kaggwa, Basekabaka ba Buganda, Kampala, 1952.

[6] A.B. Thruston (Major), African Incidents: Personal Experiences in Egypt and Unyoro, London, 1900.

[7] H.E. Colville, The Land of the Nile Springs: Being Chiefly an Account of How we Fought Kabalega, London 1895.

[8] J.W. Nyakatura, ed. G.N. Uzoigwe, trs. Teopista Muganwa, Anatomy of an African Kingdom: A History of Bunyoro-Kitara, New York, 1973.

[9] Sir Harry Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate, London, 1902, p. 592.

[10] A full study of the hitherto undocumented Kyanyangire revolt has been undertaken by Uzoigwe. See G.N. Uzoigwe, Revolution and Revolt in Bunyoro-Kitara, Makerere Historical Papers, Longmans, 1970.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Lucy Olive Katyanku and Samu Bulera, Obwomezi bw'Omukama Duhaga II, Nairobi, 1950, p. 53.

[13] M.S.N. Kiwanuka, The Empire of Bunyoro-Kitara: Myth or Reality? Makerere History Papers, Kampala, 1968, pp. 13 – 14.

[14] Taban Lo Liyong, The Last Word, Nairobi, 1969.

[15] G.W. Kanyeihamba, Constitutional Law and Government in Uganda, Nairobi, 1973, pp. 124 – 131.

[16] Carole A. Buchanan, The Kitara Complex: The Historical Tradition of Western Uganda to the 16^th Century, Ph. D. Thesis, Indiana University, 1973.