OPINION

By Dr John W. Bahana (PhD)

I have prepared this article to share with New Vision readers and to attempt to answer some questions and concerns expressed by some Ugandans, particularly on social media, and, to guide the youth on many aspects of our historical past and what we have come to be today as Ugandans under an umbrella that can serve as a lesson for national unity and pan Africanism.

The subject here is the International Community of Banyakigezi, a potentially powerful tool to drive nationalism of the state of the Ugandan nation.

Kigezi was one of the 17 districts that constituted the Uganda Protectorate which preceded the independent nation of October 9, 1962. Today, there are six administrative districts that have been carved out of the original entity. Kigezi, has an interesting colonial history being a border region and was a product of colonial manipulation in far-off Berlin in Germany in 1884 by representatives of colonial powers, the majority of whom had never set foot on the African continent. The Europeans used maps concocted by missionaries, adventurers cum representatives of colonial powers of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Germany. Like a carcass, Africa was divided up into pieces with the rigor mortis of the same having no effect on the “killers”.

Kigezi was, thus, created and named after some otherwise mundane site around a permanent swamp in today’s Kisoro district.

The created administrative unit, Kigezi, comprised of ethnicities (tribes) that were divided by the colonial boundaries and thus thrown into disarray with clans in Belgian-controlled Rwanda and Congo.

They were now to be found in today’s Kisoro, Kanungu and Kabale districts. The major ethnicities that transcended the colonial entity are Bakiga, Bafumbira, Bahororo, Batwa and Banyarwanda.

Fast forward, political instability over the period of Idd Amin and Milton Obote administrations created differing levels of exodus of Ugandans including people of Kigezi throwing them all over the world, particularly North America and Europe. The resulting generations were detached to varying degrees from their mother cultures in Kigezi.

In recognition of this cultural challenge, key elders from the diaspora in US, notably Dr Frank Byamugisha and Dr Henry Bagazonzya at the World Bank, Washington in recognition of this challenge, spearheaded the drive to start an organisation that would bring together Ugandans originating from Kigezi to start and strongly grow such an organisation that would consolidate information and promotion of cultural roots and their values.

Meetings followed that were sponsored by late Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile and effectively co-ordinated by the illustrious Athanious Rutaroh, a former chairman of Rukungiri and a stalwart of FDC; key Members of Parliament including Tress Bucyanayandi from Kisoro, the late Manzi Tumubweine, professors Mondo Kagonyera and justices George Kanyeihamba and Patrick Tabaro all supported the concept.

This led to a large gathering in UBOS’ conference hall, a meeting again sponsored by Prof. Tumusiime-Mutebile. Prof. Kanyeihamba gave a powerful presentation emphatically arguing that there was a need to bring together people of Kigezi. He would from then on underline the name Banyakigezi and called for their unity as a means of enhancing our culture and Africanness.

He further contended that Banyakigezi were well represented throughout Uganda from which locations and resulting intermarriages, their cultural roots were slowly being eroded and would eventually disappear.

Hence, by resolution, the creation of International Community of Banyakigezi (ICOB) was endorsed with a unanimous endorsement that the headquarters of such an organization would eventually be located in Kabale. The Kabale town, of course, was the district capital of Kigezi district for many years.

I write all this to provide the reader with the background of today’s International Community of Banyakigezi that should provide the pride of other Ugandan community association units of the Ugandan State that was inherited from European exploitation techniques.

Legal processes followed and resulted in the entity now known as International Community of Banyakigezi — the Uganda Chapter. This process foresaw the strengthening of cultural attributes of Banyakigezi to be passed on to young generations as acquired by the present one from their ancestors.

The process also recognized, that there had been historical agreements of Kigezi leaders, notably Paul Ngorogoza, who, with the Omukama of Tooro, Omukama of Bunyoro and Omugabe of Ankole, people had been encouraged to migrate from the densely populatedKigezi to settle in the relatively less populated neighbouring kingdoms.

Thus, thousands of families migrated and were named “Abafuruki”. The agreements go as far back as the 1950s. And so it’s fairly easy to count that the Abafuruki that originated from the then densely populated Kigezi are now in millions in their adopted homelands.

The conference that sat at UBOS recognised that this population trend of Banyakigezi represented all over Uganda and in foreign lands needed unity of purpose and thus sought to eventually have all chapters to relate and accept that the leadership of ICOB be headquartered in Uganda. This would require what is now known as ICOB Apex that was registered in the US to be governed from Uganda.

But first, legal processes in Uganda had to take place. ICOB the Uganda Chapter was registered under Uganda Registration Services Bureau, which process was guided by legal gurus Kanyeihamba and Tabaro and younger counsels. This led to the launch of ICOB-the Uganda Chapter at Kabale’s White Horse Inn with the guest speaker being none other than the head of state, Y.K. Museveni. This underscored the national character of ICOB and recognised the influential roles and partnerships the organisation would play with the Uganda Government.

There are and there have been challenges in ICOB’s growth and implementation of policies agreed upon at that historical UBOS gathering. Nonetheless, the Uganda Chapter has supported the US-based Apex in identifying needs of Kigezi’s institutions without which support; Apex would have encountered many insurmountable challenges.

In Apex’s desire to support ICT in Kigezi, ICOB Uganda was handy with good knowledge base and technical backup to projects. The back-up was always partly facilitated by Governor Mutebile who was the chairman and his small size committee of Prof. Ayekyereza, David Behena and Dr Bahana.

ICOB Uganda Chapter has been accused by some elements that are largely in far off America and Canada of being political.

These elements are too far removed from the national character of our politics and the fundamental question of addressing the needs of Banyakigezi and Ugandans at large by working closely with the political leadership at home. They, I get the feeling think Uganda is America or Canada.

Fortunately, the Uganda Government, under the leadership of President Museveni, with a pan African style and outlook, has steadfastly supported ICOB Uganda and in turn, ICOB Uganda will reciprocate by working as closely as possible with the Government on projects that promote growth and development of Kigezi people in their region and whenever they have migrated.

The writer is a retired international service expert, widely travelled and founder member of ICOB-Uganda Chapter