Buganda was a multicultural kingdom
LETTER OF THE DAY<br><br>EDITOR—President Yoweri Museveni has made his explanations convincing by explaining well the issues of the balalo and the multiculturalness of the Buganda Kingdom from 1900. Certainly, the British could not have affirmed what did not exist in Buganda in their rule, knowi
LETTER OF THE DAY
EDITOR—President Yoweri Museveni has made his explanations convincing by explaining well the issues of the balalo and the multiculturalness of the Buganda Kingdom from 1900. Certainly, the British could not have affirmed what did not exist in Buganda in their rule, knowing that they exploited what was on the ground, especially, with regard to the state of Buganda. Sometimes, I have wondered as to the names of some of the kings of Buganda.
Kabaka Daudi Cwa’s name is a testimony that Buganda is multicultural. Moreover, he was Cwa II. Again, those who understand any Luo language will interpret ‘cwa’ as the tamarind tree. But has the word or name Cwa got any specific meaning in Luganda as a language?
‘Cwa’ might also mean a man among men in Luo. Most Ugandans name children after their ancestors in ancestral spiritual worship.
To this end, one would agree with the president that Buganda was a multi-cultural kingdom in its origins.
It is certain that the rulers of Buganda are well aware of all this and it is only the selfish who are trying to hijack history and obscure it for their dreams. Another thing that I have always wondered about is the name of Kampala. The Baganda will contend that it was the king’s hunting ground or hills where the hunted impala. But in Luo, ‘Ka’ means place of.
Therefore Kampala would mean ‘a place of impala’ in Luo. Could the Luo speakers have been instrumental in naming Kampala?
And if they named Kampala, did not a section of them co-exist there then with the ancestors of the contemporary Baganda? Usually, no one names a place unless one has the power, ownership, or right to do so.
Shouldn’t this be the time for the Baganda to relinquish their convictions based on half-truths, and stop telling other ethnicities not to come to Buganda soil, bearing in mind that the people who traversed Buganda region earlier were not a homogeneous group but diverse. In Kenya, there are some people hailing from western Kenya who are Baganda, living among the Abaluhya ethnic communities and have names such as Nsibirwa.
When I asked one such person if he was a Muganda, he unequivocally said yes. His clan, together with a few others, migrated a long time ago to western Kenya but retained the clan names. What prompted my asking the young man about his heritage was because there was a prominent Ugandan doctor, a Muganda, practising in Nairobi called Nsibirwa.
Therefore, the Baganda have also experienced dispersals all over Uganda and East Africa. In Mbale too, there are Baganda living in the area, who are the descendants of Semei Kakungulu and other colonial administrators.
Kakungulu petitioned the British to crown him king over Bukedi that comprised of Sebei, Bugisu and the former Bukedi district though he was a Muganda. Kakungulu was responsible for ushering the Baganda into Bugisu where some of them remain today.
Jenn jagire
Ontario, Canada
EDITOR—President Yoweri Museveni has made his explanations convincing by explaining well the issues of the balalo and the multiculturalness of the Buganda Kingdom from 1900. Certainly, the British could not have affirmed what did not exist in Buganda in their rule, knowing that they exploited what was on the ground, especially, with regard to the state of Buganda. Sometimes, I have wondered as to the names of some of the kings of Buganda.
Kabaka Daudi Cwa’s name is a testimony that Buganda is multicultural. Moreover, he was Cwa II. Again, those who understand any Luo language will interpret ‘cwa’ as the tamarind tree. But has the word or name Cwa got any specific meaning in Luganda as a language?
‘Cwa’ might also mean a man among men in Luo. Most Ugandans name children after their ancestors in ancestral spiritual worship.
To this end, one would agree with the president that Buganda was a multi-cultural kingdom in its origins.
It is certain that the rulers of Buganda are well aware of all this and it is only the selfish who are trying to hijack history and obscure it for their dreams. Another thing that I have always wondered about is the name of Kampala. The Baganda will contend that it was the king’s hunting ground or hills where the hunted impala. But in Luo, ‘Ka’ means place of.
Therefore Kampala would mean ‘a place of impala’ in Luo. Could the Luo speakers have been instrumental in naming Kampala?
And if they named Kampala, did not a section of them co-exist there then with the ancestors of the contemporary Baganda? Usually, no one names a place unless one has the power, ownership, or right to do so.
Shouldn’t this be the time for the Baganda to relinquish their convictions based on half-truths, and stop telling other ethnicities not to come to Buganda soil, bearing in mind that the people who traversed Buganda region earlier were not a homogeneous group but diverse. In Kenya, there are some people hailing from western Kenya who are Baganda, living among the Abaluhya ethnic communities and have names such as Nsibirwa.
When I asked one such person if he was a Muganda, he unequivocally said yes. His clan, together with a few others, migrated a long time ago to western Kenya but retained the clan names. What prompted my asking the young man about his heritage was because there was a prominent Ugandan doctor, a Muganda, practising in Nairobi called Nsibirwa.
Therefore, the Baganda have also experienced dispersals all over Uganda and East Africa. In Mbale too, there are Baganda living in the area, who are the descendants of Semei Kakungulu and other colonial administrators.
Kakungulu petitioned the British to crown him king over Bukedi that comprised of Sebei, Bugisu and the former Bukedi district though he was a Muganda. Kakungulu was responsible for ushering the Baganda into Bugisu where some of them remain today.
Jenn jagire
Ontario, Canada