Hate history must stop!
Nov 24, 2007
Ntegye Asiimwe’s defence of Karooro Okurut’s ‘mbwazirime story’ fails to address the central point: What are the facts, and how do they matter? Karooro stated in her column: “In many ways however, some people in Buganda, gathering from what is being spewed on the airwaves, seem to be eage
Ntegye Asiimwe’s defence of Karooro Okurut’s ‘mbwazirime story’ fails to address the central point: What are the facts, and how do they matter? Karooro stated in her column: “In many ways however, some people in Buganda, gathering from what is being spewed on the airwaves, seem to be eager to resurrect the derogatory sentiment attached to that name (mbwazirime), to the effect that whoever is not a Muganda is some dog that has no right to land in Buganda.â€
In my letter, I explained that the matooke in question takes its actual Luganda name, one which long pre-dates the 1950s period of the story, from flies biting (mbwazirume) the farmers of Kyaggwe, Mukono.
If Karooro’s dear mother chose to refer to the bananas in her own plantation as “digging dogs†(embwazirime), as she claims, that is hardly the fault of Baganda. Since that second name does not exist in Luganda, Karooro’s story cannot be true either.
And what has never existed cannot be “resurrectedâ€. This is simple “hate history†and should be stopped. Perhaps the real problem is that Uganda is too big for its ‘tribes’ to accommodate it.
Kalundi Serumaga
kalundi@yahoo.com
In my letter, I explained that the matooke in question takes its actual Luganda name, one which long pre-dates the 1950s period of the story, from flies biting (mbwazirume) the farmers of Kyaggwe, Mukono.
If Karooro’s dear mother chose to refer to the bananas in her own plantation as “digging dogs†(embwazirime), as she claims, that is hardly the fault of Baganda. Since that second name does not exist in Luganda, Karooro’s story cannot be true either.
And what has never existed cannot be “resurrectedâ€. This is simple “hate history†and should be stopped. Perhaps the real problem is that Uganda is too big for its ‘tribes’ to accommodate it.
Kalundi Serumaga
kalundi@yahoo.com