*I have heard of Kakungulu's atrocities in Mbale. I've heard of the shooting of of Banyoro in Ndaiga - they were used for target practice, by Sir Edward Muteesa and his goon of a friend Daudi Ochieng.
But "Baganda" going to Kabale to kill Bakiga is new to all of us. I guess Muniini is jumping on this "evil Baganda" thing since it is fashionable today. But word from the grape-vine says that over the last twenty years a group around Ruhakana Rugunda has been ferrying buses and buses of Bakiga into Bunyoro to grab land there !! Look, Bakiga have the right to settle anywhere in Uganda. Only it is proper they do it during the day rather than under the cover of darkness. And now they have the gall to say it is the fault of Baganda !!. Is there no honour with these fellows? * OPINIONS & COMMENTARIES *Letter to a Kampala Friend* | Muniini K. Mulera ... Banyoro, Bakiga: Seek common ground Dear Tingasiga: There is no doubt that the Banyoro suffered great indignities, extensive exploitation, loss of land and massacres during the early years of British colonialism and Buganda sub-imperialism. It is also true that the majority of Banyoro continue to live in want despite nearly 47 years of Ugandan independence. Yet those Banyoro politicians, along with President Yoweri Museveni, who are using this argument to bolster their ethnic chauvinism that is directed against Bakiga citizens of Bunyoro may wish to advance a more plausible reason. Bunyoro does not have a monopoly on a painful history or ongoing poverty and neglect. For example, the conquest of Kigezi, part of the colonial homeland of the Banyakigezi (including Bakiga), was a very ruthless job, directed by the British, executed by their Baganda agents and their local collaborators. The bloody resistance to colonial rule in Kigezi has been well documented, though it has not been sufficiently told beyond Kigezi itself. The names of great military leaders, men like Omutware Nyindo of Bufumbira and Chiefs Birahiira, Mushakamba and Hagumakamwe are firmly etched in the history of Banyakigezi resistance to colonial conquest. The most famous Kigezi rebel leaders were Omukama Katuregye Rucumitana Akasimba ka Musigi, the chief of the Bakongwe clan and Ntokibiri of the Bahunde clan who led armed rebellions against the British between 1914 and 1919. Katuregye, gravely wounded in battle, died in early 1915. Ntokibiri, betrayed by his “friend” to the Baganda agents, was killed in 1919. His left hand, which had only a thumb and forefinger, was cut off to be displayed as trophy on the district commissioner’s verandah. Later, Ntokiibiri’s corpse was exhumed and the head was removed by the authorities. Such indignity! Such barbarity by the colonial British and their Baganda agents! This is enough to make one demand a pound of flesh from those who did this. Forty seven years after independence, Kigezi remains steeped in poverty and underdevelopment. What development you find is largely due to the industry of the local population, not a result of generous attention paid by the post-independence rulers. The pain and suffering of the Banyakigezi under the British and their Baganda agents pales in comparison with the non-violent neutering of the Kingdom of Buganda. It began with the advent of colonialism, was intensified with the 1955 agreement that greatly diminished the power and prestige of the Kabaka, and reached a climax in 1966 with the flight of the Buganda King into exile. Buganda, of course, has lost hundreds of thousands of her citizens in wars and battles fought on its soil since independence, nearly all of which have been led by non-Baganda. And notwithstanding the relative peace in Buganda over the last two decades, the economic development in that region has left millions of peasants behind, even as many non-Baganda have become the new landed gentry in what was once a formidable kingdom. But if Buganda’s experience has been a painful one, the colonial experience of the Acholi was no different in character from that of most of Africa. Yet that colonial experience was a picnic compared to the death and despoliation that has been Acholi’s life over the last two decades. Clearly Bunyoro does not have a monopoly on suffering and neglect. Yet such colonial experiences may be of historical interest, and may remind us of a painful past, but they are irrelevant to the poverty and the myriad challenges that the Acholi, the Baganda, the Banyakigezi, the Banyoro and all the other nationalities of Uganda face today. To dwell on the dark episodes of brutality and indignities suffered by our ancestors during the colonial period is to seek solace in a history that has no bearing on the failure of the present regime to meet its obligations. It is to yield to the president’s Machiavellian trick of shunning responsibility for his regime’s failure to create a just society, founded on the rule of law and balanced social and economic development that transcends political calculations. It is to feed into the President’s agenda to balkanise the country in order to weaken all potential centres of power that might challenge his dominance of the state. We must resist this manipulation by the President who at once engages in tribal politics and threatens grave consequences upon those who follow his sectarian cue. It is the interest of the Bakiga to reclaim the harmonious co-existence that characterised their lives alongside their Banyoro brothers and sisters before the advent of the Museveni era. The Bakiga, who were granted permission to settle and live in Bunyoro nearly 60 years ago by Sir Tito Winyi, King of Bunyoro at the time, should reciprocate that generosity with respect for the traditions and sensitivities of the Banyoro. On the other hand, it is in the interest of the Banyoro to maintain peace and stability in their kingdom by recognising, promoting and defending the full rights of citizenship of all Ugandans who call Bunyoro home. This includes the Bakiga. We cannot change a history that was partly foisted upon us by forces beyond our control. However, we can shape our future by placing reason above emotion; shared opportunities above greed; realism above wishful thinking. I am a Mukiga by birth, but I am a human being first, a pan-African second, and a Ugandan third. I have very strong family ties in Bunyoro. My younger sister was married to a wonderful Munyoro gentleman, now deceased. They gave me lovely Banyoro-Bakiga nieces and nephews whom I adore and hope to see living and flourishing in a better country than their father did. They are lucky that they do not have to take sides in the current stand-off between their two heritages. My first cousin and his Munyoro wife gave me two marvellous nieces whose genetic heritage and worldly outlook represent a future that may be less parochial than the times in which we live today. President Museveni and the others who are sowing seeds of discord between the Bakiga and Banyoro would do well to seek the opinions of this new breed of Ugandans. The future is theirs. [email protected]
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