They died for defying the king
May 30, 2008
AN uncircumcised Kabaka Mutesa I was the first man in Uganda to conduct prayers in a Mosque. <br><br>According to the writings of Sheikh Khatwibu Hussein Mukuluwakika, Mutesa was such a devout Muslim that he once ordered all his subordinates to follow the five pillars of Islam, fast during ramadha
By Titus Kakembo
AN uncircumcised Kabaka Mutesa I was the first man in Uganda to conduct prayers in a Mosque.
According to the writings of Sheikh Khatwibu Hussein Mukuluwakika, Mutesa was such a devout Muslim that he once ordered all his subordinates to follow the five pillars of Islam, fast during ramadhan and pray five times a day.
That is how Buganda adopted the Kanzu (tunic,) and the obukalabanda (wooden flip flops) from the Arabs.
In one of his good moods, Mutesa invited all believers in the kingdom to a banquet at the palace.
“This is when things began to fall apart in Buganda Kingdom,†narrates the Rev. Michael Wasswa of Namugongo. He explains that the Arab Muslims and some converts boycotted the function because the meat and chicken was from animals that had not slaughtered by a fellow believer.
As if that was not enough, they called for him to get circumcised. “And yet in Buganda tradition a King never sheds royal blood,†Wasswa added.
By 1876, Mutesa had started feeling like he was being challenged by the religions of the Arabs and Europeans. Oral literature has it that after the royal dinner boycott, 70 Muslims were stabbed to death over questioning the might and spirituality of a Kabaka.
Musa Mukasa, a.k.a Muzikiti, a local Muslim who used to guard the King’s Mosque, did not survive the blood bath. Others were Mafembe, Namuwaanira, Nsereko, Kalule, Muwanga, Bazzekutta, Mponyebuwonyi, Mukeeka, Bbira, Bamutalira, Namwanira, Muddu Awulira, Kaganuyulo and Mabende.
“The majority of the victims’ names are not known. A similar fate befell numerous anonymous Christians who were killed in Namanve, Nateete and Buziga,†says Wasswa. “Some never reached the executioner, Mukajanga’s Ndazabazadde (the tree where he tortured convicts).â€
The Muslim victims of the Kabaka’s rage were recognised during Idi Amin’s regime, when he built a Mosque in Namugongo in their memory. Full of surprises he (Amin) even sired a son and named him after his hero - Kabaka Mwanga.
But in Islam martyrs are not celebrated the way Christians do it.
Religions were received in Buganda with intense excitement. The converts were ready to pay any price. Some even denounced their native practices, because it denoted commitment to the new religion. The converts had to switch allegiance, and that is how the new flock of abasomi (converts) got to be regarded as rebels when they transferred their loyalty from the Kabaka, to God.
Legend has it that tragedy struck shortly after the death of Mutesa I in 1884. He left the fate of the kingdom in the hands of 18-year-old Mwanga, who lacked his father’s charisma and political astuteness in dealing with foreigners and his subjects.
He was also unprepared for the arrival of the Christian missionaries who triggered new political and social developments. This marked a turning point in the Kingdom’s history, as rivalry among the Muslims, traditional healers and Christians grew.
In Buganda tradition, the king is the centre of power and authority and he can dispense with life as he feels like, thus the old adage, Namunswa alya kunswaze (the queen termite feeds on her subjects). So when Mwanga, who had seen the power his predecessors Kabaka Mutesa I and Kabaka Suna had enjoyed, slipping away as the missionaries garnered more support, he snapped. On November 15, 1885, he ordered the execution of Bishop James Hannington in Kyando (Mayuge district), who had been ordained Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa on June 24, 1884.
The Bishop’s offence was travelling to Buganda through Busoga, when other guests took the route from south of Lake Victoria.
In Buganda, Busoga was regarded as a backdoor to their kingdom and it was believed that any one coming through it must have evil intentions towards the Baganda. A foreteller had also earlier predicted that the destroyer of Buganda Kingdom would come from the east. Hannington was arrested and speared to death, becoming the first Catholic martyr.
For this, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, Mwanga’s senior adviser and a Catholic convert, condemned Hannington’s death.
This open challenge of his power pushed Mwanga further. From December 1885 and May 1886, Kabaka Mwanga set a crucible for the converts. He asked them to choose between their new faith and him. And with the courage of a charging leopard, the beievers chose their faith.
June 3, 1886, marked the climax of the campaign against the “rebels,†with the execution of 26 Christians at Namugongo.
The executions continued, albeit on a smaller scale, with the last one carried out in Mengo on June 27, 1887, when Jean-Marie Muzeeyi was beheaded.
As he battled the Christians, Mwanga also faced the threat of the Muslims, who were plotting to overthrow him and replace him with a Muslim prince.
The political upheaval, combined with religious instability, constrained the kingdom’s moral stamina. Muslims fought Christians. Traditionalists were plotting against all creeds.
Shortlived alliances were created to survive against common enemies, and the kingdom broke into civil strife until Mwanga was deposed.
And contrary to Mwanga’s expectations, rather than deter the growth of Islam and Christianity, martyrdom of the early believers sparked more interest, as their blood sowed the seed of faith.
As the poet, Okot P’ Bitek says: “You can never uproot a pumpkin from its homestead,†so Kabaka Mwanga died a traditionalist.
Like his father who rejected circumcision, Mwanga did not commit to any of the new religions.
AN uncircumcised Kabaka Mutesa I was the first man in Uganda to conduct prayers in a Mosque.
According to the writings of Sheikh Khatwibu Hussein Mukuluwakika, Mutesa was such a devout Muslim that he once ordered all his subordinates to follow the five pillars of Islam, fast during ramadhan and pray five times a day.
That is how Buganda adopted the Kanzu (tunic,) and the obukalabanda (wooden flip flops) from the Arabs.
In one of his good moods, Mutesa invited all believers in the kingdom to a banquet at the palace.
“This is when things began to fall apart in Buganda Kingdom,†narrates the Rev. Michael Wasswa of Namugongo. He explains that the Arab Muslims and some converts boycotted the function because the meat and chicken was from animals that had not slaughtered by a fellow believer.
As if that was not enough, they called for him to get circumcised. “And yet in Buganda tradition a King never sheds royal blood,†Wasswa added.
By 1876, Mutesa had started feeling like he was being challenged by the religions of the Arabs and Europeans. Oral literature has it that after the royal dinner boycott, 70 Muslims were stabbed to death over questioning the might and spirituality of a Kabaka.
Musa Mukasa, a.k.a Muzikiti, a local Muslim who used to guard the King’s Mosque, did not survive the blood bath. Others were Mafembe, Namuwaanira, Nsereko, Kalule, Muwanga, Bazzekutta, Mponyebuwonyi, Mukeeka, Bbira, Bamutalira, Namwanira, Muddu Awulira, Kaganuyulo and Mabende.
“The majority of the victims’ names are not known. A similar fate befell numerous anonymous Christians who were killed in Namanve, Nateete and Buziga,†says Wasswa. “Some never reached the executioner, Mukajanga’s Ndazabazadde (the tree where he tortured convicts).â€
The Muslim victims of the Kabaka’s rage were recognised during Idi Amin’s regime, when he built a Mosque in Namugongo in their memory. Full of surprises he (Amin) even sired a son and named him after his hero - Kabaka Mwanga.
But in Islam martyrs are not celebrated the way Christians do it.
Religions were received in Buganda with intense excitement. The converts were ready to pay any price. Some even denounced their native practices, because it denoted commitment to the new religion. The converts had to switch allegiance, and that is how the new flock of abasomi (converts) got to be regarded as rebels when they transferred their loyalty from the Kabaka, to God.
Legend has it that tragedy struck shortly after the death of Mutesa I in 1884. He left the fate of the kingdom in the hands of 18-year-old Mwanga, who lacked his father’s charisma and political astuteness in dealing with foreigners and his subjects.
He was also unprepared for the arrival of the Christian missionaries who triggered new political and social developments. This marked a turning point in the Kingdom’s history, as rivalry among the Muslims, traditional healers and Christians grew.
In Buganda tradition, the king is the centre of power and authority and he can dispense with life as he feels like, thus the old adage, Namunswa alya kunswaze (the queen termite feeds on her subjects). So when Mwanga, who had seen the power his predecessors Kabaka Mutesa I and Kabaka Suna had enjoyed, slipping away as the missionaries garnered more support, he snapped. On November 15, 1885, he ordered the execution of Bishop James Hannington in Kyando (Mayuge district), who had been ordained Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa on June 24, 1884.
The Bishop’s offence was travelling to Buganda through Busoga, when other guests took the route from south of Lake Victoria.
In Buganda, Busoga was regarded as a backdoor to their kingdom and it was believed that any one coming through it must have evil intentions towards the Baganda. A foreteller had also earlier predicted that the destroyer of Buganda Kingdom would come from the east. Hannington was arrested and speared to death, becoming the first Catholic martyr.
For this, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, Mwanga’s senior adviser and a Catholic convert, condemned Hannington’s death.
This open challenge of his power pushed Mwanga further. From December 1885 and May 1886, Kabaka Mwanga set a crucible for the converts. He asked them to choose between their new faith and him. And with the courage of a charging leopard, the beievers chose their faith.
June 3, 1886, marked the climax of the campaign against the “rebels,†with the execution of 26 Christians at Namugongo.
The executions continued, albeit on a smaller scale, with the last one carried out in Mengo on June 27, 1887, when Jean-Marie Muzeeyi was beheaded.
As he battled the Christians, Mwanga also faced the threat of the Muslims, who were plotting to overthrow him and replace him with a Muslim prince.
The political upheaval, combined with religious instability, constrained the kingdom’s moral stamina. Muslims fought Christians. Traditionalists were plotting against all creeds.
Shortlived alliances were created to survive against common enemies, and the kingdom broke into civil strife until Mwanga was deposed.
And contrary to Mwanga’s expectations, rather than deter the growth of Islam and Christianity, martyrdom of the early believers sparked more interest, as their blood sowed the seed of faith.
As the poet, Okot P’ Bitek says: “You can never uproot a pumpkin from its homestead,†so Kabaka Mwanga died a traditionalist.
Like his father who rejected circumcision, Mwanga did not commit to any of the new religions.