Human rights aside, the burning of the “Uganda martyrs” was another power struggle

Louis Namwanja Kizito

Instead of blaming Kabaka Mwanga for burning the Uganda martyrs, with the benefit of hindsight of human rights law, that was largely non- existent at the time, its best you understand the context of “immolation” we so passionately celebrate today.

The former British prime mister sir Winston Churchill once wrote, “In all revolutions the vanquished are the ones who are guilty of treason, even by the historians,” Vest said, “for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side.”

In other words, the world has rewritten history to credit the saying to one of the 20th century's greatest victors, but it’s always been very popular with history’s biggest losers.

The point I am driving at with this quote is that, the history that is so poorly taught in our schools was largely written by colonial masters with their brain washing agenda, and it’s the history that our schools devolve to generation after generation.

When will be ever get an African perspective to liberate the African mind?

The first Muslim missionaries arrived in Buganda in 1844, more than 30 years before the Christian missionaries, during the reign of kabaka Ssuuna 2.

Unlike the Christian missionaries who were specialized soul winners, the Moslems were traders from Yemen who had to play a duo-role of trading and converting Baganda to Islam. They successfully managed to convert Mbogo one of Ssuuna’s children.

The new religion which condoned slavery and bigamy already existent in the Ganda culture, quickly became popular The first protestant missionaries that arrived in Buganda in 1877, that were from England, followed by the Catholics that were French in 1879.

These came at the invitation of kabaka mutesa 1 (1856 – 84) who had succeeded hi father ssuuna 2.

They immediately set up missions at rubaga and mengo respectively. By the late 1800s all these three parties had been successful in dividing the kingdom along religious lines.

However, the kabaka, the grand prize all the three groups were targeting remained exclusive. Mutesa managed to balance the interests of all the three groups, for the bigger part of his rein; he managed to feign interest in all the religions.

Mutesa was fascinated by Islam, read the Koran and even observed the month of Ramadan.

He even bestowed on himself the title of imam, but because he ate unclean meat (prepared by non-Muslims) and also refused to be circumcised he could not be recognised as a true Muslim, and, his excuse for not getting circumcised was that the king could not shed blood.

When his Muslims subjects publicly charged that the king was a pagan, he retaliated by burning about 70 of them at namugongo in 1877. Although he was equally disillusioned by the Christians he was wise not to directly antagonize them for not supplying him with guns.

He skilfully said that the Christians would not baptise the kabaka because he would not give up polygamy. So he died a traditionalist. By the time of his death the divisions in the kingdom split it to the core.

The rivalry between the Catholics (French) and the Protestants (English) was only surpassed by their mutual hatred of Muslims (Arabs). By the time Mwanga acceded to the throne in 1884, the situation was really critical. Only at 18 years old, and lacking the wisdom, experience and charisma of his father (Mutesa 1).

Mwanga’s efforts to prevent the religious war sword of Damocles that hung over the region by a thread from falling onto the kingdom only made the situation worse. Mwanga tried to ban all the foreign religions and killed many converts in the period of 1885 – 1887.

But nothing could stem the religious that was threatening to drown the entire kingdom.

Totally fed up, mwanga decided to get rid of all Christians and Muslims.

His plot was to lure them onto a boat and leave them marooned on one of the islands of Lake Victoria where they would starve to death.

The plot, however, did not succeed it was leaked.

In 1888 the Muslims and Christians combined to depose mwanga, and the Christians who were more influential, with the highest ranks chose kiwewa, mwanga’s brother as king.

The Muslims that were enraged by the act decided to kill many Christian chiefs during a council meeting and also captured kiwewa.

Then the Muslims installed kalema, one of mwanga’s brothers after converting him to Islam, making him only one of the 36 kings who has reigned over Buganda as a Muslim.

His reign was short lived.

The leaderless Christian population fled the kingdom. After several botched solo attempts, the catholic and protestant factions agreed to join forces to restore mwanga to power.

The real power now lay in the hands of the Christian pages and chiefs.

The Muslims made several attempts to recapture power, but were repulsed each time.

With the common enemy defeated, the Christian alliance soon broke; the British protestant missionaries wanted Buganda under the British flag, while the French catholic missionaries (in the absence of the French imperialists) wanted the kingdom to remain independent.

In January 1892, fighting broke out between the Protestants and Catholics Baganda converts.

The Catholics quickly gained the upper hand, until Captain Frederic Laggard, a colonial agent representing the imperial east African company, intervened with a force of 200 Sudanese mercenaries backed by the famous Maxim gun, which quickly settled the issues in favour of the pro-British Protestants.

The victory was a genesis of the Protestants’ political supremacy in Buganda and the wider Uganda.

The catholic mission at Rubaga was burned to the ground, forcing the survivors to flee to Bulinguwe Island on Lake Victoria, where they were later joined by kabaka mwanga, who found the 1894 protection treaty accepting British “protection” too restrictive.

After some negotiations with the Catholics, Mwanga was reinstated as kabaka. In the 1894 agreement, land in Buganda was divided among the three religious sects.

Of the 20 counties that made up Buganda, ten were given to the Protestants; eight went to the Catholics and two to the Muslims.

The Catholics were deliberately denied active political participation in politics.

The 1894 agreement also included a clause that the kabaka of Buganda henceforth, would come from mutesa 1’s lineage.

That clause was included specifically to block descendants of Huru Mbogo, mutesa’s Muslim brother from making a claim to the Buganda throne in the future.

In July 1879, five years after being reinstated as kabaka, mwanga rebelled, but was defeated and deposed in favour of his infant son, daudi chwa.

Mwanga fled to German East Africa, but soon returned to joined kabalega in guerrilla opposition to British forces. In 1899 both were captured and exiled to the Seychelles, where mwanga died.

With mwanga finally off the political scene the 1900 Buganda agreement was signed between Sir Harry Johnston and the three Buganda regents with negotiations being undertaken by the missionaries.

Besides according Buganda a privileged position in Uganda, the agreement also put in place a system that openly favoured the Protestants.

Martyrs day was another battle in a war, but how their burning turned them into martyrs, should be largely blamed on our education system that has taken up the narrative that history is written by the victors.

Need I say more?

The writer is;  a business lawyer and a taxi consultant