BY

Yolamu Ndoleriire Nsamba

Dip. Ed. B.A., M.A. (M.U.K), M.Ed. (Hull)
Principal Private Secretary of the Omukama

BUNYORO-KITARA KINGDOM
ADVOCACY PUBLICATION

Published by
Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, Royal Palace Karuziika
P.O. Box, 1, Hoima-Uganda

Yolamu Ndoleriire Nsamba

(All Rights Reserved).

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER ONE
A Kingdom Bonded in Chains of Poverty 4
CHAPTER TWO
Why You Must Read On 7
CHAPTER THREE
What Happened to the Population of Bunyoro-Kitara? 9
Killing Non Combatants in Cold Blood 9
A Syphilis Scare crow 11
Racial Prejudices 11
Anti Banyoro Policies 12
Hesketh Bell’s Bad Policies 14
Uprooted Communities 14
Residues of Colonial Policies in Modern Uganda 15
MAP OF UGANDA 16
MAP OF BUNYORO KITARA KINGDOM 16
CHAPTER FOUR
Anti-Banyoro Reserves 18
Legislation to Destroy Bunyoro 18
Destruction of Livestock 19
Stolen Ancestral of the Banyoro 20
CHAPTER FIVE
Negative Colonial Health Policies 23
Doses of Evangelism to Treat Diseases 23
CHAPTER SIX
The Way Forward 27
REFERENCE /BIBLIOGRAPHY 29
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 31

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 2 of 31

 INTRODUCTION

This book has an advocacy message from the Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara.

What is advocacy? It states the concern of the Omukama of Bunyoro–Kitara
for his subjects over poverty, the need to improve the poor health of mothers
and halt deaths of children. To save both they need food for nutrition. This
calls for an end to distortions in the economy that hinder raising livestock
i.e. cattle and crops for nutrition. Causes lie in the sad history of the
Kingdom.

Limited space in this booklet has not allowed it to be told in full but you will
read enough to start thinking out a better future. It is not its purpose to
glorify the past. This advocacy is built on study of historical sources. This is
a message written for very many people and you are one of them. It is in
simple language so as to reach a cross section of busy people. It is intended
to raise public awareness for informed democratic participation. It quotes
sources that you can look at for more details. It will be read in homes,
offices, buses, taxis, flights waiting rooms etc. Political leaders,
industrialists, investors, diplomats, civil servants, religious leaders,
development workers and students of development studies will find here
useful information. The text is short and readable in one sitting without
strain. Enjoy this for purposeful reading.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 3 of 31

 CHAPTER ONE

A Kingdom Bonded in Chains of Poverty

You must wonder why in the fertile Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara people lack
sufficient food for adequate nutrition for children. The population is hostages
of wild life reserves that are infested with vermin. Since 1927 the poorest of
the poor have been growers of tobacco that has earned Uganda a lot of
money leaving its growers very poor. Tobacco growers are over taxed as
tobacco companies raise taxes from the produce of the poor. On Tuesday,
August 17, 1999, The New Vision, an Ugandan daily reported that British
American Tobacco (B.A.T) paid the Government of Ugandan Shs. 46 billion
and the tobacco growers Shs. 9.5billion. (Kalyabe, Milly, Reporter, “British
American Tobacco Pays Shs. 2 b”, in the New Vision: Business, August, 17,
1999, P33.) The bulk of tobacco produce was exported as row leaf with no
value added. Government got revenue which was four times the earnings of
the growers. There was over taxation of the growers. Tobacco growers were
taxed over 80%of their produce. They earned less than 20%. While taxes
were counted in billions the Company spent only Shs. 170 million on helping
the communities. For the billions Government earned from tobacco you will
wonder how the taxes paid benefited the people who grow tobacco as you
travel up and down the kingdom. Yet people in this Kingdom are growing
more tobacco that in previous year. They have no time to grow food for their
families and especially for nutrition. The growers are the helpless poor who
are powerless to fight for their rights they lament saying Gafabusa nka
agalima simonko (translated growing tobacco is wasted effort). Another
saying is Okumatara nka kalima Simonko (drifting aimlessly as a tobacco
grower). Children suffer kwashiorkor and Marasmas as B.A.T extension
workers strive for quality tobacco the World Market wants. They must
overwork the sick, poor and hungry growers’ families that produce it at their
Persil.

Wild life makes it difficult for the poor to grow other crops. It covers 54% of
the Kingdom’s most fertile lands. Crop vermin numerous in the Kingdom
destroy all crops except tobacco. Hence a Kinyoro saying Binkwatireki
empunu n’eraba omutaaba (I don’t care grunts a pig going past tobacco).
Ugandan law protects wild life from the population but not the reverse. The
British displaced farms and livestock to create wild life reserves as well as
herds of cattle and other domestic animals that provided animal protein for
children vanished.

Lugard wrote that since Bunyoro- Kitara’s population had been killed, and
the cattle reduced, the country was ready for exploitation by British
agriculture and industry. (Lugard, F.D,) The Rise of Our East African
Empire, London, 1893, p.42 to 433). We shall see that nearly 2.5 million
people were killed. In 1904, the Colonial Governor of Uganda implemented
Lugard’s will and imposed on the cattle–keepers colonial crops. The Zones
excluded food crops. Large areas were set aside for wild life conservation,
forests, coffee, cotton, tee and tobacco. Cotton led followed by coffee. After

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 4 of 31

years of experiments commercial tobacco was planted in Uganda at
Kyabigambire a Sub-County in this Kingdom in April 1927. Samples were
sent to the British American Tobacco Company (B.A.T). (Purseglove,J.W ,
B.Sc, A.I.C.T.A, FLS, Agriculture Officer Tobacco in Uganda, Government
Printer, Entebbe, 11951, p.3). We shall see that in 1927 at the time of its
introduction the death rate in this Kingdom was higher that the birth rate.
Mothers and babies were always sick. They lacked of food for health and
nutrition.

The state collected revenue on a crop that the sick and the poor people
cultivated with introduction of this crop considered with the population
decline. The Colonial State never cared about the welfare of the Banyoro. It
was happy to see people grow crops that had no value for family health and
this being done on the most fertile soils. Now days 28,000 households grow
tobacco. This happens in an area that B.AT calls Bunyoro Mubende Division.
It covers the pre-colonial territory of this Kingdom. In 1995 this area yielded
2,700,000 KGs. Produce in 1999 rose to 9,500,000 KGs Growers numbers
are increasing. (Allan, Smith Area Leaf Manager speech to B.A.T. workers,
Kolping Hall, Hoima 28/10/1999).

In a modern democracy in the year 2000, the poorest of the poor pay in
indirect tax of colonial origin. Banyoro are poor because they were denied an
opportunity to restock grazing lands and resume cattle keeping. Today they
would also be spending the full value of untaxed produce on family welfare
like their brothers in Ankole. A cow sold Shs. 200,000= and taxes paid as
on tobacco amounting to 80% would mean a farmer loses Shs. 160,000= in
taxes and earns only Shs. 40,000/= only.

Taxes cut the purchasing power of the tobacco growers. Yet, tobacco
producers earn foreign exchange that brings goods into Uganda. Services
and public investments in the Kingdom where national export earns are
generated are poor. Government makes excuses of low international rates of
return when deciding roads to be improved. They flow of goods and traffic
into Bunyoro-Kitara they say it too small to justify spending money. Few
motor vehicles use the roads because very little money is left after heavy
taxation. Other untaxed communities take unfair advantage. They buy the
goods that Banyoro’s toil raises money to import into Uganda. This has gone
on for the last seventy-two years. The Banyoro says (Obwembeba bukuza
obwenjango). The baby rat feeds baby cats. Not enough money is invested to
equal the revenue the Uganda Treasury gets from this g. The tax burden
limits the ability of the tobacco companies that spend Shs. 170 million on
helping communities although they want more done for the people that grow
tobacco for them.

Uganda has got mature out of primitive taxes levied on a section of the
population. All Ugandan must shoulder the tax burden. The income that
tobacco brings into Uganda is of little benefit to the grower. Tobacco
companies may care about the problems that the growers of tobacco face in
the daily lives of their families but their hands are tied. They have no

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 5 of 31

mandate and dare not advocate for fair prices for the growers. In other
countries where they operate the farmers are paid much more than what the
poor farmers of Bunyoro-Kitara get for a similar tobacco. The only fulfill their
contract obligation to pay taxes but maintain a 72-years old chain of poverty
has kept the Banyoro poor. Untaxed commodities in future are bound to
push tobacco out of production.

There are selected chains of poverty all over the Kingdom. In 1998 out of
135,188 children below 5 years of age, stunted growth affected 40,556
children particularly of tobacco growers, 24,334 were under weight. 7,463
were wasted. Hence 74,353 children were vulnerable. The birth rate among
the Banyoro is only 1.9% the Ugandan average is 2.9% (1998, District
Population Profile. “To All Stake Holders in Hoima District”, p5). Reasons
include very scanty animal protein. 5% of the people own cattle (an average
of 20 animals per family) 40% own none milk goats (6 animals per family)
33% own pigs (only 3 animals per family, 76% own miserable looking
chicken (one 12 birds per family which provide occasional eggs. (DPO,
Hoima, Ibid. p6). Malnutrition causes many diseases and death. Bunyoro –
Kitara has a bad record of wasted fertility. The Banyoro calls this Okucweka
(Infant mortality). Kinyoro names the story of tell infant morbidity and
mortality that has lasted four generations. Names such as: Nyamayarwo
(Meat for death), Nkuzaarwo (firewood for death), Byakutaaga (Baby for over),
Nkurukenda (as death wills), Kwebiiha (self-deception), Ndoleriire (awaiting
death), Rwahwiire (stored for death, Gafabusa (waste of energy). This is
evidence of the poor health of mothers and babies in the Kindgom’s Oral
Tradition, Karuziika, Hoima, 2998, p.6). To outwit death people produce
many children but dig a lot of graves. (Republic of Uganda Ibid .p. 22).

Girls in families of the poor 12-19 years old are sexually abused for simple
gifts. Women are powerless. In 1998 at Hoima 523 teenagers gave birth
(DPO. Hoima ibid. p.3) single teenager mothers are too poor to support
babies motherhood overtakes Girls who leave school early. Colonial rulers
made morality laws in 1918 to control the women now accepted as a culture.
Girls were forced to stay at home with their mothers. (op.cit, p.12) they spent
and still spend many weeks guarding crops. Vermin became rampant after
1913 when a lot of land was given to wild life. Girls are trapped in early
pregnancies and teenage motherhood. They commit unsafe abortions ensure
life long suffering and die early. They get difficult labor and are exposed to
STI/STD/HIV/AIDS infections (Republic of Uganda, I bid, p/8-13) in ten
mothers at Hoima Hospital two had AIDS. January to October, 1998, there
were 240 AIDS victim (DPO, Hoima Ibid. p.6). Use of condoms by young
people was 3% -4% the national average is 7.8% (Republic of Uganda, I bid.
P. 10) Awareness is very low. Mothers and babies ail due to lack of food
especially animal protein. Donor funds hardly reach the poorest of the poor.
The Banyoro have become a marginal community. Genocide, loss of
livestock, farmlands pasture, now tobacco earnings taxed ruthlessly doomed
them. The untaxed elsewhere enjoy the toil of the poorest of the poor while
malnutrition and diseases are killing children in Bunyoro-Kitara as you are
reading this text.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 6 of 31

 CHAPTER TWO

Why You Must Read On

At Uganda’s independence, 3000 square miles of Bunyoro-Kitara’s 5,619

square miles land area was either game or forest reserve. Settlement was
prohibited in these reserves. Bunyoro is the only country in the World whose
fertile territory measuring 54.4% is closed to the indigenous population.
Elsewhere in the World conservation is put on marginal land. People welfare
has been sacrificed for conservation in this Kingdom. This was done after
making this Kingdom a lonely wild country to break the resistance of the
Banyoro. They defied colonial occupation. Between 1893 and 1900 Bunyoro
–Kitara’s pre Colonial population was estimated by Lugard to be 2.5 million.
It was reduced to 100,000 by 1921. The remnants were further reduced to
98,533 (Uganda Protectorate, Census Returns of 1911 and 1921). Producing
children among the survivors was stopped by calculated colonial policies.
People who died were always more than the children born between 1900 and
1936. (Dunbar, A.R the History of Bunyoro- Kitara, 1965, p. 153).

Samuel Baker invaded this Kingdom in 1872 as an agent of the Kedhive of

Egypt. Twenty years later the agents of the Chattered imperial British East
African Company (IBEAC) on behalf of the British crown over run this
Kingdom committing crimes against humanity. They looted thousands of
cattle that provided nourishment for children. They perpetrated atrocities
unequalled in history. They looted thousands of cattle that provided
nourishment for children. They perpetrated atrocities unequalled in history.
They indulged in covert brutality. It was disguised in civil policies. These
have affected four generations. Bunyoro-Kitara was impoverished, weakness
and her children mal-nourished. This was as a direct result of British
policies. She has not developed despite her endowment of fertile soils and
abundant rainfall. The Banyoro have suffered since this Kingdom was over
run and annexed to the (B) Uganda Colonial Protectorate State. Repressive
policies imposed on her have continued through the years. Ugandan became
independent 38 years ago but these policies and practices hardly changed.
This suffering is the subject of a recent study at the London School of
Oriental and African Studies.

Bunyoro –Kitara is of interest first because of its extreme population decline

resulting from an unusually severe period of conquest and its remarkable
poor health record in the first deceases of colonial rule. What really sets
Bunyoro apart from its regional neighbors? In particular and sub-Saharan
Africa in general, however, is the absence of a demographic resurgence from
the mid-colonial period. (The bold is mine) (Doyle, Shane, Sexuality, Poverty
and Population in early Colonial Bunyoro. (UN. Pub. Thesis), London School
of Oriental and African Studies, 1994, P.4.

When this kingdom was invaded human rights were abused. People were
massacred. Colonial rule created conditions that led to diseases among war
survivors. They died in large numbers. The post war situation was not

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 7 of 31

managed in a humane manner. People were ruled with harshness unknown
anywhere else in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa. This legacy

was disguised in civil policies seen even today such as the over taxation
discussed above. National population policy deals with the impact of events
that happened in the history of Uganda affecting the population and the
economy “influencing future demographic trends and patterns especially
fertility, mortality and migration,” (Republic of Uganda, National Population
policy, Makerere University Printery, 1995, p.3) Data about regions and
minorities in the country indicate issues that can not be handled as one
bundle. Policies imposed on “(B) Unyoro” by the agents of the State set the
Kindgom apart from the rest of Uganda. They are still in force and continue
to harm the Banyoro today. The British covered up their bad actions by
blaming the Banyoro for their suffering. Uganda’s public servants must be
aware of this trap and tendency. It is a legacy of British rule still with us.
When Bunyoro’s population declined between 1900 and 1936 the Banyoro
were abused and called names. The 1995 constitution of Uganda protects
the rights of minorities. The Banyoro are a minority in a country of 20
million people. They must benefits from this constitutional provision.
Banyoro do not have the voting number to move issues in their favor
majority Ugandans have a moral obligation to support the rights of the
under privileged few. The Kindgom’s problems dating back one hundred
years ago are an un broken string of misfortunes that violate human rights.
They are at the root of the people’s present difficulties. Colonial policies in
merited by the independent Ugandan State were meant to undermine the
welfare of the people of Bunyoro-Kitara. These policies have never been
dismantled. They have deluded remedy and agents of the State use them in
ignorance. The public must begin to be sensitive to the evils of the policies
the British left in place. They must be abandoned to save Banyoro now and
in future. This study supports the advocacy work of Omukama Solomon Cwa
11, Kabaleega the prime victim of British repression among Uganda’s
traditional rulers. The King of Bunyoro – Kitara wants the World to know
about the difficulties facing his subjects. This book articulates the right of
the ordinary Banyoro to live decent lives and bring up healthy children. We
need actions from people of good will around the World to tackle poverty
issues raised. This study is also for the over taxed tobacco growers of West
Nile, coffee growers of Buganda Nebbi and Bugishu, the people of Kasese,
Kabarole and Karamoja that like the Banyoro are victims of wild life reserves.
This study despite its focus on Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom is a Uganda study
with development implications for Uganda and the developing World. Please
read it as a case study

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 8 of 31

 CHAPTER THREE

What Happened at the Population of Bunyoro –Kitara?

The British invaded Bunyoro –Kitara to control resources of the Kingdom.

We shall see evidence is in the records of the agents of Britain who
massacred large numbers of Banyoro. Lugard had estimated in 1893
Banyoro to number over 2.5 million people. He wrote, “Unyoro is probably
more populous than (B) Uganda and Ankoli about equal to it. (Lugard, op.
Cit.) Dunbar estimates the population was reduced to 400,000. Human
rights violations left the remnants numbering only 100,000. (Dunbar, Ibid. p
68) in 1899 Reverend A. Fisher, said disease was killing many Banyoro
because they worshiped the devil. (Byaruhanga Akiiki, Religion in Bunyoro,
1980. p 97).

Before Colville invaded Bunyoro- Kitara, there was a lot of trade, agriculture
and livestock rearing. Seven years of military occupation stopped
production. Famine, diseases and epidemics followed. In four years of British
rule Gregory estimates that the population was reduced to a fourth,”
(Dunbar, I bid p.88). Soldiers, historians and Kinyoro oral sources record
looting of the Kingdom. The invaders ignored the sustained upsurge of
popular resistance in the Kingdom. The population fought colonial military
occupation for more than 30 years their determination could not be broken.
(Morehead, Ibid, p. 151 it all started on 29th April 1872 when Baker built
headquarters at Masindi preparing to preparing to annex Kitara to Egypt.
The Banyoro were angry at Baker’s pride and rudeness imposing himself on
the Kingdom ignoring their king and his chiefs. On 14 May 1872, he
announced the annexation. He started buying ivory cheating the Banyoro
Kabalega ordered his subjects to sell ivory only to the King. This monopoly
over the ivory trade to protect his subject annoyed Baker. To provoke the
King Baker demanded food from the Chiefs for soldiers daily. He ordered the
to mistreat the Banyoro. On 7 June he sent Abdul Kader and Mounsuru to
the King to demand food (Nykatura, John Anatomy of an African Kingdom:
Translated by Uzoigwe p.120-121).

Killing Non Combatants in Cold Blood

Both Nyakatur’s and Allan Morehead say that Baker wanted to start trouble
in Bunyoro and create an excuse to dominate Kabalega by force. (Morehead,
Allan, The White Nile Hamish Hamilton, London, 1960, p 150). The wars to
silence Bunyoro Kitara had no credit as military actions wrote Major
Thruston.

There were not worth the name of a war he said. He summarized it in a

French saying Chasse aux Negre. It was banditry to rob the country its
cattle, ivory and well watered agricultural lands Lugard looked with greedy
eyes at the elephants “most plentiful in Bunyoro, which is a well watered
country with large forest interspersed with large open tracts of elephant
grass, affording good cover an inexhaustible food and water supply”. “ The
largest tusks are to be found in Bonior also, which country they seem by

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 9 of 31

instinct to have chosen as the safest retreat in which they can find secure
hiding places, where their enemy man would find it both difficult and
dangerous to hunt them. Reads: (Wallis, H.R., C.M.G, Chief Secretary to the
Government, The Hand book of Uganda Crown Agent for the Colonies,
London, 1913, P.105). Since the country had its owners it was impossible to
steal the ivory. The British plotted genocide to grab the wealth. Kabalega
tried in vain to make friends with them. In March, 1891, his envoys called on
Lugard to request for peace terms, which was refused. In March, 1892,
Kabalega sent a second delegation that was also rejected. (Dunbar. Ibid.
p.82) Lugard and Coolville had a fixation to kill the Banyoro. Macdonald,
acting as British Commissioner of Uganda agreed with Owen to launch a
full-scale military campaign against Kabalega. They had feelings of guilt.
Sudanese troops ordered to raid southern Bunyoro for food turned it into
lonely wild country. They reasoned: “Since Lugard refused Kabalega’s offer of
friendship, he must be an irreversible enemy, embittered by the destruction
of his country,” Major Thruston attacked Kabalega to fulfill Colville’s wish
either to force Kabalega to fight, or to give him an opportunity to attack the
British.” (Thruston Ibid. p.138).

“The Uganda Protectorate revenue in this and the previous year was chiefly
obtained from the sale of ivory captured in expeditions in Bunyoro-Kitara”.
Between 1893 and 1898. The IBEAC looted ivory worth 337,253pound
sterling. (Wallis Ibid. p.171) from 1904 to 1913 ivory from Bunyoro- Kitara
brought to the Protectorate an income of 224,196 pound sterling, (Wallis
Ibid.p.171) From 1904 to 1913 ivory from Bunyoro- Kitara Brought to the
Protectorate an income of 224,196 pound sterling. (Wallis, Ibid. p .166)
Going by hearsay that “Kabala hid his ivory at Umruli (Mruli) near the place
the Kafu joins the Victoria Niles, Gibb was dispatched” from Kampala with
soldiers to find it. They searched for the ivory said to be hidden on island but
there was no island and no ivory. They returned empty handed. (Thruston, I
bin .p. 194-194).

The invaders used “scorch earth” tactics. People were killed all along military
routes. Homesteads, crops and livestock were looted or destroyed. Colonel
Ternan allowed carnage to be committed. He ordered soldiers to kill non-
combatants. He got pleasure from killing the Banyoro. He wrote that after
Foster escorted Kabalega’s mother taken captive. A porter, “killed by a
Wanyoro, with a spear two miles from Masindi was avenged “As a village
bearing a very unfriendly reputation was close to the scene of the murder, it
was subsequently visited by a patrol under Foster and destroyed”. He
concludes: “… the Wanyoro richly deserve all they get”. (Thruston Ibid. p).

Major Thruston confessed that he had, “to take to shooting the Wanyoro,
and it was not long before the sport began”. (Thruston, Brevel Major A.B
African Incidents, Personal Experiences in Egypt and Unyoro, 1990, p.155.).
He moved around the country looking for the house of a chief loyal to
Kabalega. “I burnt his village, destroyed his banana plantations” (Thruston,
Ibid, 128). At a small village. ..” within a yard of the road there was a house,
and coming up to it, I could see a blazing fire, and that three men were

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 10 of 31

sitting round a fire and were smoking… I stopped and turning round I made
a sign to the soldiers. As I did so one of the men got up and went to the door.
But the soldiers had understood me well: they had fixed their bayonets. In a
moment a dozen had run into the house and silently done their work….. The
transaction I know comes very near to mere assassination”. (Thruston, Ibid,
p. 225). British soldiers violated human rights of the Banyoro whom they
describe in writing as savages. They killed for fun. The British Government
was different to rumors that reached the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He
rumors that reached the secretary for Foreign Affairs. He assured the House
of Lords, Britain and never annexed Bunyoro-Kitara. Those natives were not
under British protection. He telegraphed this statement to the British
Military officers at Hoima. After they read it at the mess table they decided
that the unprotected natives were to be shot on sight. (Dunbar Ibid. p .88)

A Syphilis Scare crow.

The British said Banyoro died in large numbers because of “sexual

immorality ignorance superstition and dirt “, said Katherine Cook, a
missionary nurse. Sexual immorality made many people in Bunyoro-Kitars
sick. The British did not see the ill effects of their colonial policies. (Doyle,
Ibid p.7) After conquest many babies were either born dead or died in early
infancy. The state did not relate shortage of food for nutrition and population
decline. Bunyoro- Kitara, Colville wrote in 1893, was “thickly populated”.
Her people were well fed, nourished and healthy. (Colville, Sir Henry Edward.
The Land of the Nile Springs, Edward Arnold, 1895, p.114). Returns of 1906
showed 8,572 births against 15,011 deaths. Deaths went on for more than
40 years. This made this Kingdom a lonely wild (Abating). Colonial Office in
London acted to stop these death after three years had passed. The Banyoro
say: (Oukitatwaliire nyina- if a beast has not grabbed your mother). A
Commission was sent to Ugandan in 1980 he declared that 80% of the
people suffered venereal syphilis. A venereal syphilis epidemic had broken
out in the country. This he said was a result of a break down of social order.
He blamed Christianity and colonialism that replaced native rulers. Too
much freedom in the country gave Satan an opportunity to tempt
promiscuous native women who engaged in acts of polyandry he said.
(Brian, O’ Brian, That Cood Physician, 1962, p 164).

Racial Prejudices.

John Roscoe lied that there was a strange custom of polyandry among the
Banyoro. He said this custom turned upside down ideas of morality common
to most tribes in Uganda. Hospitality forced Banyoro to share wives with
guests. (Roscoe, John, Twenty five Years in East Africa, CUP, p. 257). He did
not mention the Banyoro who extended to him that privilege. He cited no
evidence to support his claims. His words were biased notions to entertain
and amuse audiences in Europe. It was a way of making money during
Roscoe’s time. White people wrote about savages in distant lands and sold
the stories. Nearly all 19th Century travelers, missionaries, soldiers or
explorers in Bunyoro-Kitara sold stories about this Kingdom. The

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 11 of 31

information about distant lands nowadays is got from radio, television and
the internet. Printed fantasy and distorted fact in Roscoe’s time paid the
writers a lot of money. Greed to grab the information market attracted Henry
Morton Stanley to Africa. He wrote news paper articles and a book about the
journey. Members of his expedition signed an agreement not to publish
anything until six months after his story had appear “Business as well as
politics had entered into African travel” (Morehead Ibid. 306. 19th Century
men in Europe despised women. They also despised black people. Both
Roscoe and Lambkin belong to that era. They lied about this Kingdom
because they were gender blind and racialists. Both saw native women and
perhaps all other women as “animals with strong passions to whom an
unrestricted opportunities for gratifying those passions were suddenly
afforded” (Doyle. Ibid. p. 11) Uncontrolled female sexual lust, they said,
made Banyoro victims of venereal syphilis. This disease they claimed was
introduced in the country ten years before Lambkin’s commission.
(Vaughan, M. Curing Their Ills, Colonial Power and African Illness, Stanford,
1991, p. 134) For Bishop Tucker Bunyoro- Kitara Kingdom needed Christian
teaching. Only the word of God was going to make native women stop
fornicating, halt the syphilis epidemic and save a lot of people to die (Doyle,
Ibid. p. 11).

Anti Banyoro Policies.

Major Macdonald says that the Colonial State of Uganda fed its troops by
looting the Banyoro like, the IBEAC did before it. Lugard employed former
soldiers of Emin Pash. They were 8000 people including their dependants.
(Lyns Ibid. P.72) the company had no money to buy the soldier food. He
allowed them to raid for food in southern Bunyoro. “By the spring of 1893.
They had laid waste 1,500 square miles of territory (plus) provinces of Kyaka
and Kitagwenda “(Macdonald, Major J.R.L. R.E. Soldiering and Surveying in
British East Africa, Edward Arnold. London 1897, P. 174). They provoked
Kabaleega to defend his Kingdom. The British plot to destroy the power of
the Omukama and rob the country started to unfold. The British made a
military strategy to kill the fighting sprit of the population with hunger.
Colonel Colville made this plot in 1894. Southern Bunyoro: Buyaga
Bugangaizi, Buwekula and Singo suffered a double tragedy. It was looted a
second time on Colville’s order to his solders and the chiefs he imposed to
raid the country. He did this to escape responsibility to pay the people he
employed. They killed the men, seized and raped the women and looted
livestock. (Dunbar Ibid. p 87) They also grabbed land. Close to the village of
Kited, In Guyana Kibaale Muliisamaanyi (the name means grabber) grabbed
five square miles of land and was issued a land title. These areas came to be
known as the lost counties. They were called lost counties because Colville
made them part of the Kingdom of Buganda. Fertile agriculture land that
produced a lot of food and livestock became a wild country. The villages
surrounding Bujogoro, the location of Omukama Nyamuktukura’s tomb
became will country. The servants of Colville become landlords but they
found condition in the lonely wild country difficult and returned to their

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 12 of 31

homes. They abandoned severely malnourished landless peasants. These
lands remain undeveloped to this very day.

Colonel Colville drove a wage between Bunyoro- Kitara and Buganda

Kingdoms. This wage did not last long because the two kings could not be
kept apart for very long. The two kingdoms had a long history of working
together. Having encouraged quarrels among the Baganda by fueling the
religious wars Lugard posed as a protector of the Christian against the
Moslems. He wanted money and turned his attention towards Bunyoro-
Kitara. He planned an expedition to raid the kingdom for ivory that Baker
had looked at with greedy eyes twenty years earlier. Relations between
Bunyoro –Kitara and Buganda had been cordial for many years. Mutesa I,
the father of Mwanga had assisted young Kabalega to become the king of
Bunyoro-Kitara. He lent his an army that helped him to defeat his brother
Kabigumire who was being assisted by Matambuko, the Omugabe of Ankole.
(Nyakatura, Ibid. P.110) Lugard drew Kabalega into the Buganda conflict by
forcing the Muslim army to seek refuge in Bunyoro-Kitara. Since Baker’s
time the British had always looked for an excuse to break Kabalega’s power
and control the wealth of this Kingdom. Lugard instructed Colville to attack
Kabalega or to give the Omukama an opportunity to attack the British.

Colville in 1894 decided to march on Kabalega. His plan was to weaken the
Banyoro with hunger. Fearing trouble during his absence by the Baganda
soldiers that he never trusted he marched with the entire Buganda army to
keep an eye on it as usual he did not have money to buy food for the
soldiers. This suited his sinister plan. After crossing the boarder. He ordered
the hungry army to raid for food. “ The county was devastated for miles
around, banana plantations cut down, sweet potatoes gardens torn up and
houses burnt” (Thruston, Ibid. p 132-136).

The Banyoro lost life, food and livestock. The forces devastated crops,
granaries, herds of cattle and other livestock. Within two months there was
no food in the Kindgom. The Baganda hungry deserted for home. Colville
was forced to withdraw. This abuse of Buganda’s army failed to divide the
Omukama Kabalega to fight British occupation. The two kings were captured
and exiled together.

It was colonial policy to deny Banyoro food. The British destroyed farms and
pastures. This led to famine and poor nutrition for many years famine
occurred many times. Some famines were named: Igorra, Kabakuli,
Kiromere, Ky’omudaaki, and Zimyetaara (Dunbar Ibid. p 107, 109, and 124)
food shortage increased as youth run away from forced labor. For 20 years
every grown up man did two month an un paid labor per annum for the
British. Others resisted quietly saying; Ogw’omujungu guitar ataguhikireho
(Whiteman’s work kills those who fail to report). Chiefs imposed by the
colonial administration extorted land rent from every man annually causing
the Kyanyangire rebellion in 1906. Healthy young men were conscripted to
join the British forces in World War I robbing the Kingdom of vital labor to
produce food. (Richards, A., East African Chiefs, Oxford, 1960, p.108). The

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 13 of 31

British upset the lives of the Banyoro so much so that, “the delicate balance
of the natural relationships between indigenous people and their disease
causing pathogens was thrown into chaos Violent changes in Human
ecology, including famine, exhaustion and disease, resulted in increased
stress and lowered resistance.” (Lyons, Ibid. p.65). Upsetting people’s lives
was the way British rulers handled Africans throughout their rule and some
of these bad methods of work were inherited by their successors. (Steinhert,
E., Conflict and Collaboration: The Kingdom’s of Western Uganda, Princeton,
1977. 77).

Hesketh Bell’s Bad Policies.

In 1904, a sleeping sickness epidemic that killed 200,000 people 200 miles
away around Lake Victoria became an excuse Governor Hesketh Bell used to
drive people from farm and grazing lands in Bunyoro-Kitara. Many domestic
animals died especially cattle. He ignored the scientific advice Dr. Hodges,
the Principal Medical Officer gave people were to cut the bush around
homes. The flies that carry this disease would not come near them. Bell
preferred to displace people completely. He wanted to “provide a new and
understaffed colonial administration with…. Highly authoritarian measures.”
He did this to control the population. (Op. Cit.) The advice Dr. Hodges gave
to Governor Hesketh Bell exposes this lie taken for granted and stated by the
Ugandan Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities. It hid vendetta against
the people of Bunyoro –Kitara. It was an excuse to make a huge area of
193,000 hectares of 772 square miles to be left without people in North
Bunyoro-Kitara. This country was labeled a ‘sleeping sickness restricted
area’, and in 1910 declared the Bunyoro Game Reserve extended in 1928 to
include a block on the north bank of the river” (Op.Cit).

Uprooted Communities
The inhabited territory of the Kingdom remained only 1119 square miles.
Governor Bell disorganized, controlled and effectively repressed the Banyoro.
Passive resistance ended once clans were scattered. The passive resistance
to colonial rule popularly called Kyanyangire (I have refused) rebellion ended.

It is not true that sleeping sickness killed 6000 people at Pajao. This is
another lie told to give a human face to injustice penetrated when large parts
of this country were made conservation areas.

The natives of Pajao, the Abakwonga or Bakibiro clan traditional

grandmothers of the Omukama were scattered to Kitana, Hoima and
Panyimur and Deyi, Nebbi. (Rubenda Kassim, Interview at Hoima on 12th
March, 2000). The Ababyasi clan that thickly populated Kyangwali and
attracted the Church Missionary society (CMS) to build the first church in
Bunyoro-Kitara on a five square mile estate that has remained undeveloped
to this day. Families and clans scattered were forced to leave their ancestral
homes. The town of Baranywa and Mugabi hills were depopulated by a
garrison stationed at it and are wild country to this very day. Thousands
“were removed from northern Bunyoro forcing the abandonment of fishing

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 14 of 31

grounds, fertile lands, cultivated gardens, including the Pabidi coffee
shambas, that became part of the Budongo Forest Reserve. Knowledge of a
vast area was lost. Removing cattle keepers and cultivators made room for
forests, tsetse flies and wild animals to colonize formerly cultivated lands.” (
Doyle, Ibid. p.4). The policy to make and keep Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom
lonely and wild, stopping people to use it, was written in the Bunyoro
agreement of 1933. It stated that natives were subject to the “provisions of
the Sleeping Sickness Rules and all other Protectorate legislation from time
to time in force” but Sleeping Sickness had ended 18 years before. ( Uganda
Protectorate, Bunyoro Agreement 1933, p.5) reserved to the Government of
the Protectorate State of Uganda the right to appropriate and place under his
direct control any area which he…. Required for a forest”, (op.cit) it is
declared “control of all existing forests and all areas hereinafter declared to
be forests vested in the Governor” (Op.Cit.).

Residues of Colonial Policies in Modern Uganda.

People are still forced to leave their homes even today. Between 27th and 29th
August 1999, residents of the villages of Mpumwe, Kibyama, Kirooko,
Bunyama and Kahara were chased away from their homes and displaced by
a Mr. Thomas Okora, Game Warden, in Charge of the Karuma Game
Reserve. He evicted 580 households. He displaced 3000 people. There was
no compensation for their land, houses burnt and crops destroyed. The
British made the boundaries of the reserves and the poor people who lost
their homes did not know about them. (Kyetume, Kasanga Information
Officer, Masindi District Administration, September, 1999). Similar eviction
was done to the inhabitants of a whole parish in the sub-county of Biiso.
The natives of Nguedo in Buliisa sub-county also lost agricultural lands in
equally high handed manner at the hands of the agents of the state in recent
time.

Because wild life reserves cover more than fifty percent of the land area in
Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom wild animals that destroy crops are numerous. No
single village escapes the raids of crop vermin i.e baboons, monkeys,
chimpanzee’s wild pigs etc. Crops are destroyed daily. The farmers toil and
labor is wasted.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 15 of 31

MAP OF UGANDA

MAP OF BUNYORO KITARA KINGDOM

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 16 of 31

Wild life, both a national and World’s heritage does not benefit the Banyoro
who have been its custodians from time immemorial. Animal lovers who
commit vast resources towards conservation cannot afford to be indifferent
to the welfare of the Banyoro. It is an irony that children die of malnutrition
as the World community cares for wild animals. Yet the World could care for
both. The Banyoro protected wild life. Protection of wild life was integrated
with community life. Institutionalized conservation created reserves. This
method of putting things into pigeonholes may look neat but it is neither
cost effective nor sustainable. In western civilization patients, children,
disabled persons, the elderly criminals, soldiers, priests, nuns, cult leaders
and wild animals must live in special places or institutions.

In Bunyoro–Kitara wild animals were concerned as clan totems. This system

was maintained through the generations. Clans neither hunted nor killed
them. The bush back enjoyed the protection of 26 clans including
Abakwonga, the Abanywagi and Ababiito clans. As result, this species is
numerous. The Abasingo protected the leopard. The Abafumabogo protected
the Buffalo. The Abairuntu protected the Elephan, Muguta a native of
Kabwoya protected lions. In the 1950s wild lions visited his household and
lived with his family. There was integration of wild life and the communities
from time immemorial. When a totem died the clan mourned it like their
blood brother. They never ate its meet. Wild pythons frequented homes. They
were known as Nyinabarongo. It was taboo to harm them. In the Omukama’s
palace it was usual to find a wild leopard lying in the grounds and doing no
harm. The Banyoro were a pastoral society that hunted animals for meat
only in time of famine. Children of cattle owners were prohibited to engage in
hunting. Cattle and wild game shared the same ranges. Community based
protection sustained wild life for many generations.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 17 of 31

 CHAPTER FOUR

Anti Banyoro Reserves

In 1913, conservation reserves in Uganda were located only on the territory

of Bunyoro-Kitara. This was to make this Kingdom wildness. It was part of
the abuses against the Banyoro. Reserves permanently changed the
character of the country. They took up areas formerly used for pasture and
agriculture. Dr. Albert Oliver writes about “archaeological evidence revealed
by erosion gullies near Para and Chobe (that) indicate…. The banks of the
Nile within today’s National Park (Once) occupied by man as early as the
middle stone age (pre-10,000 years BC). Speke and Grant in 1862 and Baker
in 1864 saw villages and cattle at the site of the MFNP. The exotic tree
species seen in MFNP belong to this period. The town of Pajao that has
disappeared illustrates recent human history within MFNP. (Oliver, Dr.
Robert, The Murchaison Falls National Park Management Plan, 1992-1997,
Uganda Institute of Ecology and Agri-consulting SpA, Rome, May 1992, p
13). Uganda’s largest game reserve is in Bunyoro-Kitara. MFPN is
“magnificent tract of grassland and bush country,” grazed by thousands of
cattle before colonial rule (Oliver. Op Cit.)

In 1910 an area labeled Budongo Sleeping sickness –restricted area was

expanded and renamed the Bunyoro Game Reserve. (Doyle, Ibid, p.31). in
1928 an area north of the Victoria Nile was added MFNP together with
Karuma plus the Bugungu game reserves cover 4267.5 square miles. They
covered the country of Cope Kihuukya ruled by Kihykya Katongole Rukidi
that was erased and all its inhabitants displaced. It is the location of the
Royal Tomb of Omukama Kyebambe the second buried in 1710. Survey
maps published in 1952 omit the site of this Royal Tomb at the village of
Nyamiringa. The county boarder extended from Pajo at the bottom of the
Murhison Falls run westwards to Nyabuzaana hill and eastwards to boarder
Kibanda Country. Its headquarter was at Panyadoli. Its chief was a Mucwa of
the bush back totem. To the west half of this country is within the MFNP
while the eastern half is within the Karuma Game Reserve. The First Mubiito
Kingo of Bunyoro Kitara is also buried in this country at Dyang two and half
miles west of the town of Dima. On the map series Y72 Sheet 30/14 it is
located close to Grid reference 410241. the second county affected was
Kibanda Cope ruled by Materu, a native of Mwenge belonging to Bayonza
clan. Its headquarter was at Mugungo, Koki. It stretched from river Titi and
its boarder run western wards to Lake Albert at Pawiri. The third county
affected was Bugungu now the Bugungu Game Reserve. Cultural sites in the
game reserves were desecrated. (Nyakatura, John, Abakamba Bunyoro-
Kitara, 1947 p.159-160). Royal tombs are unmarked: erasing the history of
this Kingdom.

Legislation to Destroy Bunyoro

The Game Ordinance of 1913 describes the territory of Bunyoro-Kitara

Kingdom declared game reserves. It starts from the mouth of River Sonso

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 18 of 31

running along the shores of the Lake Albert and turning north wards to the
Victoria Nile. It follows the South bank of Victoria Nile to Foweira and along
the old Masindi road up to the point at which River Titi crosses it and
proceeds in a straight line towards the highest point of Nabaza Hill until it
meets the River Waiga running along its north eastern bank up the
escarpment following its top until it reaches the River Sonso running along
its north bank to Lake Albert.

This area was declared the Bunyoro Game reserve. An are bounded by the
left bank of the Muziz River from its mouth at Lake Albert to the falls and up
the escarpment overlooking the Semuliki Valley to Busaiga where the old
Fort Portal Mboga road cuts it. It follows the right hand side of the said road
to river Wasa. Then it follows the right-bank of the Wasa River to its mouth
at Lake Albert. It runs from the mouth of Wasa along the southern shore of
Lake Albert to the mouth of Muziz River. This area was declared the Toro
Game Reserve. (Wallis Ibid. p. 219). This law closed any chances for revival
of the herds of cattle in this Kingdom. Making this country wild, increased
food and nutritional insecurity. It was as a weapon to destroy the
population. The diaries and books of British army officers contain evidence.
“The kings of Bunyoro had always been famous for their magnificent herds
of cattle, which were computed to have numbered thirty thousand and the
total number in the country was very large”, (Ternan, Brigadier General
Trevor, Some Experiences of an Old Bromsgrovian Soldiering in Afghanistan,
Egypt and Uganda, 1930, p.183). in 1921, the Kingdom had only 318 cattle
owners against 1097 of 1911. The number of heads of cattle had been
reduced to a mere 2720 cows. Vast grazing areas were left without stock.
There was contrast to the pre-British cattle population. (1994-Dotle, Ibid.
p.33). The British knew the food culture among the Banyoro who depended
on cattle Samuel Baker instructs his countrymen that “the Banyoro are
clean feeders” 1874, p.92) Banyoro are very selective and never ever
scavenge for food.

The British denied them a diet dear to them and as health failed their
resistance crumbled. Knowledge of feeding culture gathered between 1872
and 1893 was used to destroy food security. The Banyoro would rather
starve than scavenge for food even when at war. Colonial military effort set
out to destroy food security. Records of military officers mention thee abuse.

Destruction of Livestock

British military officers joked as they destroyed the Kingdom’s livestock.

Brigadier General Ternan wrote with a smile that, Kabalega suffered
considerable loss. He “lost in addition many cattle when the later were
brought down to the river to water … our party consisting…. About 500 and
all of them had to live practically on meat only… on November 2nd , (1896),
Abura turned up, very cheerful as usual … He said that owing to the locusts
his crops had been destroyed, and that he would otherwise have brought us
a lot of food. He said that he was afraid the soldiers would be much annoyed

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 19 of 31

with him for not doing so, but I reassured him that we were busy eating
Kabarega’s cattle”. (Ternan, Ibid. p. 260-265). The King’s of Bunyoro-Kitara
owned cattle in trust for their subjects. Every morning at Court, orphans
were presented to the King. He served them milk with his own hands. He
gave to each orphan a heifer in calf for milk to feed the orphan. This is what
the British destroyed. Events recorded are not isolated incidents.

They happened daily for twenty-eight years between 1872 and 1899. A “note
from Owen dated at Butiabwa, a place 15 miles off (says) that he had
captured 400 goats and sheep. Elsewhere the soldiers. “ .. had the
satisfaction of capturing 3,000 goats and 60 heads of cattle “. (Ternan, Ibid.
p. 216). He also wrote that in May 1895, “ while we were making our way
along to the Murchison Falls I heard from Cunningham, who said that(his
Soldiers “ had managed to capture 600 head of cattle”. Loss of livestock did
not end with this looting. In World War I , the remnants of livestock died
because the Kingdom was denied veterinary services provided in other parts
of Uganda. The excuse given was lack of personnel during the wars to attend
Bunyoro-Kitara’s surviving cattle. State neglect led to further decline of
livestock. 1913 Wallis estimated the number of cattle in Bunyoro to be only
4,146 (Wallis Ibid. p. 146). Between 1914 and 1919 a rinderpest epidemic
found no veterinary staff in the Kingdom and killed the surving cattle.
(Dunbar, A., History of Bunyoro Kitara, Oxford, 1965, p.124).

Stolen Ancestral of the Banyoro

In 1899, Colonel Ternan who had played an active role in genocide against
the Banyoro proposed that all, “un inhabited regions were to belong entirely
to the Government (Low, Antony D. and R. Cranford Pratt, Buganda and
British Overrule, OUP, 1970, .p.19) This statement was to be echoed by Sir
Harry Hamilton Johnson, who turned ancestral farm and grazing lands into
property of the British Crown under the Colonial State of Uganda. He
decided that, ..” the crown must secure control of all uncultivated land and
turn it to its own profitable use” (Low, p.16) The regents in Buganda were
quick to protest pointing out to him in their letter written in January, 1900
that “depopulation in the last ten years gave a wrong impression of the
amount of waste land available” (Low, Ibid p. 52).

Hesketh Bell pursued this policy his predecessor made and expelled
communities from these lands under the excuse of sleeping sickness to
make them appear wastelands. Wild life reserves were imposed on these
lands uprooting the communities. This destroyed social cohesion and the
mobilization of communities for civil and military tasks. Clans the basis of
economic and military organization became weak. No where else in Uganda
were clans uprooted and scattered as in Bunyoro –Kitara. Villages bear the
names of clans that lived on them such as Kisiita for the Abasiita,
Kyabasengya for the Abasengya, Buhamba for the Abahamba, Kiriisa for the
Abaliisa but rarely do we find members of these clans resident on clans
lands. The Governor rejected mass resettlement after the sleeping sickness
epidemic. A government epidemiologist called Fiske Jackson in 1915

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 20 of 31

suggested it when the sleeping sickness scare ended. Like Hodges, he
recommended bush clearance. He said it was as an effective measure to
exclude the sleeping sickness vector from human habitats. (Doyle, Ibid. p30)
The Governor rejected this advice out of desire to keep this land as property
of the British Crown. Johnson at the end of his carrier in Uganda
Contemplated as follows:-“Imagine then the sudden discovery of …
enormous mineral wealth (as in Transvaal) provision in my opinion ought to
be made for a similar surprise in the value of Uganda”. (Low, p 16-17).

Natural forest cover in Bunyoro-Kitara covered smaller land than today. It

was less than 500 square miles. Lugard described it is as land between the
Masindi Pajo road and Lake Albert. This was 160 square miles. It included
Nyamagana forest, east of the road. It extended to the border of Chope. He
saw also isolated patches of forest outside the main body of Budongo forest.
The province of Bunyoro he observed was densely wooded. Besides Budongo
he saw smaller forest and the Bugoma forest which he estimated covered
160 square miles, and forests under the control of the Uganda
Administration covered only 1500 square miles. This was 7.5% (Uganda
Protectorate, The Uganda Agreement 1900, Mengo 10th March, 1900, p.8).
Northern Masindi where the Omukama Cwa II , Kabalega made his last
stand suffered most. Brigadier General Terman saw it as ideal pastoral
lands. Large parts of the coast of Lake Albert were also restricted. Before
they were very extensive ranchlands occupied by the Abaliisa of Bugungu, a
clan of cattle keepers, who were displaced by the Bugungu Game Reserve.
Cattle grazing and fishing were forbidden. Hundreds of square miles of
Savannah grasslands in Bunyoro-Kitara were converted into forest reserves.
Examples are Panyadoli, in north Masindi Bukerenge (part of Bujawe Forest
Reserve) close to Hoima town had never been a forest at all. It was the
location of the Enkerenge, underground grain and legume store during wars
Bukerenge was for a long time an area of resistance. The Abarusura (the
Kingdom’s army) from here intercepted the British military route between
Kibiro and Hoima. The British over run the area and made it a lonely
wildness. It was declared a forest reserve. (Kitalibara, Erinadi, Interview on
27th October 1999, Hoima). This area which had once been thickly populated
is a reserve without forest cover. It is one of the Savannah farming and
grazing areas declared forest reserve.

Area declared forest reserves became breeding grounds and hiding places for
vermin and teste flies. Today, both are a menace to livestock and crops.
Conservation policies ignored the welfare of the people; farming, cattle
keeping and fishing were forbidden in many areas. Protein ceased to be
available (Lyons, Ibid. p.91) Malnutrition became severe. The health of
mothers and babies declined. People that fed properly: a self-sustaining
agricultural and pastoral society underwent systematic deprivation over the
years Colville 1894 and 1895 observed Unyoro. Thickly populated, had
inhabitants that planted “large quantities of beans, sweat potatoes and
(seemed) generally to have some idea of laying by for a rainy season,” (a)
“habit, usually an advantageous one for them, proved also to be greatly to
our profit. Had I been obliged to depend entirely on banana, I do not know

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 21 of 31

how I should have provisioned the forts that afterwards I left in Unyoro. But
thanks to the nice little stores of beans and grains that we found buried
about the country, I had no difficulty in this respect”, (Colvile, Ibid. p. 114).
Food destroyed by the colonial armies unleashed on the population led to
malnutrition. The expulsion of agricultural, fishing, and pastoral
communities from productive land worsened it.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 22 of 31

 CHAPTER FIVE

Negative Colonial Health Policies

Government Hesketh Bell noted in his diary the arrival of Colonel Lambkin
on 11th December 1906 to inquire into unchecked diseases and deaths that
increased daily. He was to spend six weeks on the job and to be paid 500
pound sterling. After six weeks he announced that he had found it 80% of
the population was infected with venereal syphilis which caused babies born
dead or dying in early infancy, (Hesketh, Bell Sir, Glimpses of a Governors
Life, Sampson Low Maroton and co. Ltd. London, 1906 p. 172). He used a
test that did not distinguish between venereal syphilis, endemic syphilis,
yaws and malaria. It was called the Wasserman’s test reaction. These results
were false and he sounded a false venereal syphilis epidemic alarm (Orley, J,
“Indigenous concepts of diseases and their interaction with scientific
medicine” in E. Saben etal. (Eds) Health in Tropical Africa during the
Colonial Period, (Oxford), 1980, p.127-134.

This was very serious miss information. It distorted future British Colonial
health policy. The diseases he talked about had existed in the country long
before British rule. They did not kill people often. Local names for the
diseases were Kaberebenje, Ebisonde Ensonjogo, and Omuswija. Except for
Kaberebenje people did not get the other three from sexual intercourse.
European travelers that also saw these common diseases mistook them for
syphilis but noted that no social stigma was attached to them. This suggests
that they were not acquired by venereal infection. (Doyle, Ibid. p.18). These
diseases were controlled with inculcation, and a nutritious diet syphilis had
been treated by old women for generations. Infants were immunized against
it. Babies were wrapped in bark-cloths used by syphilis patients sometimes
syphilis patient was asked to handle the baby. Pregnant women drank herbs
to protect the babies were given medicine in milk (Roscoe, John, The
Bakitara or Banyoro, CUP, 1923,p. 290). Anti bodies were developed and
immunity enhanced in this manner. Katherine Cook called these methods “
superstition and dirt.” (Roscoe, Ibid, p 239-257).

Doses of Evangelism to Treat Diseases.

Although Lambkin’s findings were published in 1908, nothing was done

about them until towards the end of World War I. it took the British ten
years to act. It did not matter since the epidemic was killing savages. In
1918. the CMS, Mill Hill and White Father wrote a joint letter to the
Governor of Uganda. They asked him to restrict the movement of youth and
women, outlaw exorbitant dowries, uphold the sanctity of the home and
enforce morality laws among natives. Then the state set up venereal syphilis
treatment centers at the insistence of the missionaries. These measures were
to halt the venereal syphilis epidemic. Hason, H., Church Mission and State
in Colonial Setting, Uganda 1896-1925, 1984, p12-13). Major Wiggins on
behalf of the State proposed. That Katherine and Albert Cook should be

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 23 of 31

asked to undertake a social purity campaign. This meant preaching against
Satan through areas with large populations in the Protectorate as a support
for anti-venereal disease measures of the government. The suggestion was
agreed to by the Synod. The Local Governing body of the Mission also
confirmed it. (Cook, Sir Albert, Uganda Memories, Kampala 1945, p. 342).
Dr. Albert and Katherine Cook accepted to spearhead the social purity
campaign. Being missionaries they liked the job. The doctor was also to give
treatment to sinners afflicted with venereal syphilis. The nurse was to train
midwives to replace the dirty native traditional pagan midwives to replace
the dirty native traditional pagan midwives. She was determined to break
their superstitious sinful hold and influence but (Obrien O’ Brian, Ibid . p.
208). Taylor says mothers rarely “died in child birth labor. (Taylor, The
Western Lacustrine Bantu, London 1962., p.39.) Albert Cook used the
opportunity to escape from the quarrels his wife got involved in at Mengo
Hospital. The social purity campaign to him was a personal mission. In
1920-1921 he had been infected by venereal syphilis and was on a course of
injections. (1994, Doyle, Shane, Ibid. p. 10). He says that he was infected
while treating patients.

Government provided Dr. Cooks and his wife transport and all the logistics
they needed. They traveled to Banyoro as preachers to make native balokole
or born again Christian under a colonial Government program which was
launched at Hoima Town in 1921 before it want to any place in Uganda. It
was a state sponsored mixture of bible reading and cult practices whose
exponents claimed to have talked with Jesus Christ often in visions. Some
claimed to see the savior. The couple started their mission at Hoima the
capital of “ Unyoro” Because “ the need for this campaign in Bunyoro was
very great since no other country in the Protectorate Blue Book showed such
a bad record of death. In the previous seven years taken together the births
totaled 15,791 while the total deaths and still births for the same period
were 30,699”. Hoima deserved evangelization. Indeed this evidence of sin
was the numerous babies born dead or dying in early infancy. Also the birth
rate in the Kingdom was diminishing. Roscoe had told Europeans that
Banyoro women practiced polyandry. Katherine’s hear went out to save the
poor creatures. (Cook, Ibid. p. 44). Another reason for starting at Hoima was
that between 1911 and 1921 the number of Christians in Bunyoro-Kitara
dropped sharply. The Protestant followers dropped from 25,761 to 5,085 and
the Catholics dropped from 16,927 to 4,819. Evangelization would
rejuvenate the churches. The Cook’s mission was supported by both
missions the Banyoro during the Kyanyangire rebellion of 1907 had rejected
not only non-Banyoro chiefs did not support missionary work. They refused
to supply food to the missionaries. People had no confidence in colonial
medicine.

Too many of them were dying. It was not effective dealing with disease and
deaths especially infant mortality and stillbirth deliveries.

Colonial medicine was devoid of genuine concern for the health of the people.
Even the friends of colonialism like Semei Kakungulu rejected it saying “

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 24 of 31

Today you can see all the hospitals which Europeans have built. How many
people go there are cured their illnesses?... people go there and they go there
to die”. He joined the Malakite sect in protest and remained its follower until
his death in 1928. (Twaddle, M.; “ Bakungu Chiefs of Buganda Under British
Colonial Ruled 1900. – 1930” in University of East Africa Social Science
Conference 1968/69 History Papers, Makerere Institute of Social Research,
p. 251-254). Malaki Musajakaawa an Anglican catechist in 1913 started
and spread the malakite religious sect into South –Bunyoro . Native chiefs
who rejected colonial medicine and opposed Christianity supported him. He
mobilized over 100,000 followers. Sect members attacked and molested
health workers. (Cook, Ibid. p 323). Rejection of church teaching was
popular among the Banyoro. They reverted to traditional worship of
Ruhanga. The new chiefs supported people who refused to attend the
churches. ( Byaruhanga, Ibid. p. 48).

On arrival at Hoima, Dr. Albert Cook examined 403 cases and declared 351,
of them infected with venereal syphilis including the Omug, i.e Queen of the
Omukama Duhaga, 11. The good missionary doctor immediately
administered a “606” injection. (Cook, A., Uganda Memories, 1945, p.343).
He addressed the chiefs and told a big gathering that out of 500 patients he
saw in two days over 80% were syphilis cases. (Brian, Ibid. p. 208). The
Omukama Duhaga 11, both the District and the Provincial Commissioners
attended. Some of his listeners became the first balokole or born again
revivalists in Uganda. Converts of this sect on behalf of the colonial income
more preaching the same message Dr. Albert Cook stored than eighty years
ago.

The Kingdom benefited a venereal disease treatment center built at Hoima

plus five dispensaries in 1921. for well over ten years these initiatives failed
to halt the rampant diseases mistaken for venereal syphilis. The health of
mothers and babies declined further. In 1936 venereal syphilis treatment
centers were abandoned. The buildings at Hoima were converted into a
general hospital. Parochial treatment of veneral syphilis was also
abandoned. It had made no impact at all. Poor health and diseases reached
levels of affliction never known before in Bunyoro-Kitara. The social purity,
the midwifery and the evangelization campaign did not achieve their
objective which was to halt the declared venereal syphilis epidemic. Stillbirth
deliveries and infant mortality rates remained very high. Broad medical
services replaced the venereal diseases treatment centers. Hoima Hospital
became a general hospital that served five dispensaries as a referral center.
Through the 1940s and the 1950s general medicine dominated medical
services in Uganda. This policy halted that population decline but did not
rejuvenate growth. In the 1959 census, the Kingdom (en the present Hoima
and Masindi districts) had a population of 191,200 of whom 15% were
internal Ugandan immigrants.( Kean, Ibid., p. 20).

After Uganda became independent, there was growth of general curative

medicine. In addition to Hoima and Masindi new general hospitals were built
at Kiryandongo and Kagadi plus several dispensaries and aid posts. Good

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 25 of 31

services were provided up to the beginning of the 1970s. Uganda entered an
era of modern dark history. The economy was mismanaged. There was no
rule of law, political stability and peace. Hospitals for two decades offered
poor services by medical workers with poor motivation. Medical supplies
were scanty (Republic of Uganda, National Population Policy, Makerere
University Printery, p.1). Medical services in the 1970s and 1980s were
inadequate but the population increased of internal immigration. It was not
matched by medial services.

This endangered the health of mothers and babies. The Policies to destroy
the population continue as you finish reading this book.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 26 of 31

 CHAPTER SIX

The Way Forward

1. Repair the harm done to Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom caused by acts of

genocide, destruction of a livestock, crops and granaries of food and
denied/lost opportunities to revive the agricultural and cattle economy
that nourished mothers and babies. British have a moral obligation to
save starving children by undoing the work of her agents.

2. Enable national and International Affirmative actions to improve the

welfare of the suffering population. Avail technologically up to date
agricultural, livestock and community based conservation inputs.
Uganda, her bilateral partners and multi-national investors and
donors must get involved in this endeavour.

3. Give tax relief on the 80% taxation o tobacco (and other produce) to
eradicate poverty. The meagre funds of poverty eradication
(Entandikwa and PAP schemes) of the Government of Uganda trickling
into this Kingdom do not reach the poorest of the poor taxed billions of
shillings. The poor lack skills to access those small funds. They are
illiterate. Project proposals and cash flows demanded alienate them.

4. Invest into the wild life reserves infrastructure and proper

management, in this Kingdom so that they cease to endanger life and
food security and become of beneficial to people. Control wild animals
to enable many crops to be grown for nutrition and income.

5. Empower people, particularly the youth, with skills, training, tooling

and capitalization for effective participation in economic activities
including agriculture, workshop. Practices, conservation and tourism.

6. Empower women to overcome abuses. Enable them cope with

motherhood for effective antenatal and post-natal care of mothers and
infants. Emancipate girls from all forms of bondage including guarding
crop vermin.

7. Tobacco companies must be enabled by tax relief to increase spending

on community causes that their extension workers come across in
their daily field operations and are better positioned and have the
capacity to handle better that Government functionary.

8. Invest into this Kingdom enough public funds that match revenue
Government earns by tobacco production, forestry and agriculture.
Show value for money in the benefits to justify taxes the poor are
made to pay.

9. Mitigate non-food crops i.e. tobacco that have zero nutrition. Tobacco
companies work for quality improvement all round including the
health and welfare of the grower’s families.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 27 of 31

 10. Abandon State centred conservation. Introduce community-centred
conservation. People and wild life must mutually benefit each other.
Make conservation culturally sustainable.

11. Support further research into development issues in this Kingdom.

Support this advocacy initiative. Tell friends, colleagues, partners and
associates about Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom. Give them a copy of this
book.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 28 of 31

 REFERENCES / BIBLIGORAPHY

Baker, Sir Samuel White, Ismalia, London, Macmillan, 1874.

Brian, O’Brian, That Cook Physician, 1962

Byaruhanga Akiiki, Religion in Bunyoro , 1980.

Colville, Sir Henry Edward, The Land of the Nile Springs, Edward Arnold,
1895.

Cook, Sir Albert, Uganda Memories, Kampala 1945

District Population Officer, (Un pub. Paper). Hoima, Hoima

District Population Profile: To all Stakeholders in Hoima District, 1998.

Shane, Doyle, Sexuality, Poverty and Population in Early Colonial Bunyoro,

(Un. Pub. Thesis). London School of Oriental and African Studies, 1994.

Dunbar, A.R History of Bunyoro Kitara, Oxford, 1965.

Hason, H., Church Mission and State in Colonial Setting, Uganda 1896-
1925, 1984.

Hesketh, Bell Sir, Glimpses of a Governors Life, Sampson Low Maroton &
Co. Ltd. London, 1906.

Kalyabe, Milly, Reporte, “ British Abercan Tobacco Pays Shs. 2”, in The New
Vision: Business, August, 17,1999.

Kasanga Kyetume, Information Officer, Interview of 6th March 1999, Masindi

District Administration, September 1999.

Lugard, F.D., The Rise of Our East African Empire, London, 1893.

Lyons, Sleeping Sickness and Public Health in the Belgian Cong, 1992.

Nsamba, Yolamu (Un Pub Paper), records in Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom’s Oral
Tradition, Karuziika, Hoima 1998.

Nyakatura, John, Abakama ba Bunyoro-Kitara, 1947.

Nyakatura, John Anatomy of an African Kingdom, (Originally titled,

Abakama ba Bunyoro-Kitara translated by Uzoigwe), 1947.

Orley, J, “ Idigenous Concepts of Disease and their Interaction with Scientific

Medicine” in E. Saben etal. (Eds), Health in Tropical Africa During the
Colonial Period, (Oxford), 1980.

Roscoe, John, The Bakitara or Banyoro, 1923.

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Roscoe, John, Twenty five years in East Africa, CUP, 1921.

Statistics Department, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. 1991

Population and Housing Census, Summary Series, Hoima/ Masindi Districts
October 1992.

Steinhert, E., Conflic and Collaboration: The Kingdom’s of Western Uganda,

Princeton, 1977.

Taylor, The Western Lucustrine Bantu, London, 1962.

Thruston, Brevel Major A.B., African Incidents, Personal Experiences in

Egypy and Unyoro, 1897.

Low, Antony D. and R. Cranford Pratt, Buganda and British Overrule, OUP,
1970.

Macdonald, Major J.R.L., R.E., Soldiering and Surveying in British East

Africa, Edward Arnold, London, 1900.

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Protected area of Uganda, Phase 1, September 1995 to January 1996
Kampala, March, 1996.

Oliver, Dr. Robert, The Murchison Falls National Park Management Plan,
1992-1997, Uganda Institute of Ecology and Agri-consulting SpA, Rme, May
1992.

Purseglove, J.W., B.Sc., A.I.C.T.A.,F.L.S., Agricultural Officer, Toabacco in

Uganda, Government Printer, Entebbe, 1951.

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Bromsgrovian Soldiering in Afghanistan, Egypt and Uganda 1930.

Twaddle, M., “ Bakungu Chiefs of Buganda Under British Colonial Rule

1900- 1930” in University of East Africa Social Science Conference 1968/69
History Papers, Makerere Institute of Social Research, p. 251-254).

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Printery, 1995.

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Handbook of Uganda, Crown Agent for The Colonies, London, 1913.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 30 of 31

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yolamu Nsamba, is Principal Private Secretary of the Omukama, a post he

has held for six years.
He was a lecturer in Extra Mural Studies at Makerere University Institute of
Adult and Continuing Education. He spent five years working as a
consultant in functional literacy with the Hoima, Kibaale and Masindi
District Projects for intervention into maternal and infant mortality.
He is a co-author of functional literacy readers in Runyoro Rutooro including
the popular Webale Kucumba (Thank you for Your Cooking). He has served
on the program and Finance Sub-Committee of the Family Planning
Association of Uganda as a senior volunteer.
He was Chairman of the Policy advisory Board of the Danish Association for
International Cooperation, MS Uganda. He has a wealth of experience on
development issues. He was headmaster of Duhaga Secondary School for six
years and was the founding Director of the National Teachers’ College at
Masindi. He holds B.A and M.A degree of Makerere University plus a Master
of Ed. Degree of the University of Hull.

Breaking Chains of Poverty page 31 of 31