Methinks this report in The Daily Telegraph, London, will be of interest to
the Colacos, Collacos, Vasus and other Pandus (not President Pandurang
Fernandes) of Goanet. Excerpts:
HOIMA (UGANDA), MARCH 13. A colonial expedition to subjugate an African
kingdom over a century ago could leave Britain bankrupt if a Ugandan king
succeeds in bringing a �3.7 trillion suit against the Crown.
Solomon I, omukama or king of the Bunyoro kingdom in western Uganda, has
never forgiven the British for deposing his grandfather, Kabalega II, and
stealing his cattle during a five-year war in the 1890s.
Dressed in his blue velvet coronation robes, richly embroidered in white and
gold, the king looked down from one of his thrones and condemned the
��colonial terrorism�� of Queen Victoria�s government.
��The British burned down houses, destroyed crops and introduced syphilis to
my people,�� he said. ��They were responsible for the deaths of 2.4 million
people. Moreover they stole my grandfather�s cattle and ivory. It is not
what we expected from civilised people. What they did then is no different
to what Al-Qaeda is doing today.��
The King and his courtiers have retained lawyers in both Britain and Uganda
and say they are planning to begin proceedings, possibly in London, within
the next few weeks.
The �3.7 trillion figure was arrived at by the king�s private secretary,
Yolamu Nsamba, who read economics at the University of Hull. Britain�s
annual gross domestic product runs at about �1 trillion.
Were the Bunyoro kingdom to win that amount, it would be the equivalent of
every Briton paying out more than �60,000. The British Government would be
forced to nationalise private companies and the economy of the Western world
probably would be plunged into a depression.
On the other hand, Bunyoro�s 800,000 subjects would each receive �4.63
million.
However, Mr. Nsamba says the figure reflects only the costs of an initial
suit based on possessions looted from Kabalega himself. ��This money is for
the cattle, food, ivory and salt stocks that were taken from the royal
household,�� he said. ��It does not take into account the land that was
stolen from the people or for all the people who were killed. We will look
at that later � but it could be 10 times that amount.��
Another courtier, Ernest Kizza, the Speaker of the Bunyoro Parliament,
appeared shocked when told that a multi-trillion-pound payout would have
such a detrimental effect on the British economy. ��I am sure they can
afford it, though,�� he said. ��I think they spent that much in Iraq. But it
is their problem. If the British had not destroyed our kingdom, today we
would be a superpower. We would be telling America to shut up.��
The evidence for the case rests largely on military field notes, diaries and
dispatches by colonial officers who served in Uganda. Some letters clearly
suggest that the British did plunder the kingdom, which once had a vast
population of elephants.
King Solomon will also rely on oral evidence to show that the plunder,
especially of cattle, led to widespread starvation and misery. Some of the
most common names given to children born during the war, according to Mr.
Nsamba, included Gafausa (waste of time), Alifaijo (he will die tomorrow)
and Ndoleriire (we are waiting for this child to die also).
The king won several battlefield victories against the British, but was
finally captured in 1899 and exiled to the Seychelles for 24 years. Fellow
prisoners included the equally troublesome kings of the Ghanaian Ashantis
and of Bahrain. Kabalega was released in 1923 but died on the journey back,
just before he reached the borders of his kingdom.
Milton Obote, the Ugandan dictator, abolished the country�s five kingdoms in
the 1960s but they were restored by the current President, Yoweri Museveni,
in 1993, though purely with ceremonial powers.
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