Bunyoro-Kitara – A kingdom on the path to regaining it’s former glory

BUNYORO-Kitara Kingdom is one of the oldest Kingdoms in Africa. The Kingdom wielded the strongest military and economic power in the Great Lakes Region between the 14th and 18th centuries.

At that time the Kingdom covered much of the current Uganda, parts of Eastern Congo, Western Tanzania, Northern Kenya and small parcels of Burundi and Rwanda.

But in the 1880s, the British Colonial Officers, desperate for economic resources, waged war on the Kingdom.

The purpose was to weaken the authority, influence and prestige of Omukama Yohana Cwa II Kabalega and destroy the only remaining independent and wealthy Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom.

Indeed, King Kabalega, using his strong army of “Abarusura” and employing warfare tactics resisted, imperial colonisation for over 15 years even when his aggressors had superior military arsenal.

This imperial war occasioned heavy loss and suffering to the people of Bunyoro Kingdom. It is believed that by the end of this war, the population of Bunyoro was decimated from 2.9 million people to only 100,000.

The brave King Kabalega was betrayed and shot in April 1894 and it is said that his arm was maliciously amputated by the British Colonial agents.

Chunks of land were grabbed and donated to collaborators as a reward for fighting the wealthy Kingdom.

In today’s modern world, this mass killing constitutes genocide and abuse of human rights against which the perpetrators could be charged.

The Kingdom suffered another setback when cultural institutions were abolished by the Obote Government. However, the current Government restored cultural institutions and the Bunyoro Kingdom was restored and the current King, His Majesty Agutamba Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru crowned on June 11, 1994.

Since the crowning of the current King, the kingdom is steadily regaining her economic glory and influence. This year, on June 11, the Kingdom will be celebrating Empango coronation. His majesty will mark 18 years on the throne and over 1,000,000 people are expected to attend with President Museveni as the chief guest.

Since the beginning of this year, the kingdom has signed two major agreements that seek to promote awareness and the welfare of the king’s subjects. In March 2012, the kingdom entered into an agreement of $1.5m with MAP Overseas Holdings Company to provide financial services to the people of Bunyoro.

Under this arrangement, people will register as members to qualify for soft loans, insurance services and to access seeds and farm implements.

Since most of our people do not have collateral, the kingdom secured and guaranteed $300,000 as security for these financial services. This will strengthen the king’s efforts of promoting commercial farming whereby the Kingdom offers tractors to help farmers.

Also in February 2012, the kingdom signed a contract of $70,000 with Summit Consulting Limited to redesign, redevelop, rebrand and maintain the kingdom’s website to make it a one stop information centre.

In a bid to promote education, the kingdom entered into several memorandums of understandings with different universities and colleges.

The Nanjig University of China offered 10 annual scholarships for master’s programme and the first batch will graduate this year.

The South East Asian Education Trust of India has also offered 200 scholarships to support orphans and bright but needy children from the kingdom. The kingdom sends 250 students every year to the Pentecostal University and Mountain of the Moon University. The kingdom established Kabalega Royal College to teach vocational skills and a nursing school.

The kingdom has chosen Oil and Gas, a new dawn for Bunyoro as a theme for this year’s Empango celebrations. The purpose is to engage government in exploring opportunities for the Banyoro to economically benefit from oil and all resources being mined in the region. The kingdom is rising and will soon recover all her economic glory.

Article first published in Uganda’s National Newspaper Publication; New Vision of 3rd June 2012, Authored by then Minister of Information in the Kingdom: Mr. Moses Kirungi.