Like many other African kingdoms that were established long before the coming of foreigners, it is hard to get a fix on when the Buganda Kingdom came to existence, but the generally accepted narrative is that it began coalescing around the 1300s, under the guardianship of one Kito Kintu, who cobbled up a state from 6 rather disparate clans around Lake Victoria in what is now known as Uganda.
The Buganda kingdom is the domain that gave Uganda (meaning the land of the Ganda, the dominant ethnic group in the kingdom) its name, for that was the name given to it by Arab traders and the name that stuck when the British claimed dominion over the nation.
Even though it now exists as a subnational kingdom within the modern state of Uganda, it was at one point the most powerful polities within Uganda. It operated as a centralized state, with the sseKabaka, the king, with virtually all power in his hands.
Powerful as he was, the Kabaka did not rule alone; he had the lukiiko, the Bugandan parliament that nowadays deliberates in the bulange (parliament building). The lukiiko consisted of members of the royal family, chiefs and other administrators, virtually all of whom were in later years appointed by the kabaka.
Administratively, the kingdom was divided into amasaza (counties) which were composed of several amagombolola. The amagombolas were further divided into emikura. The smallest administrative unit was a bukungu, essentially a village.
The kingdom was administered from the kibuga, the capital, always located on a hilltop and relocated with every new kabaka. However, during the 1800s, a permanent kibuga was established on Mengo Hill. Buganda had a well-established standing army that was considerably superior to its neighbors, allowing it to massively increase its territory especially in the 1800s, even though expansion had started as far back as the 1600s. At the height of its power, it controlled 20 counties, a significant gain from its initial 4.
Even though Buganda had a well-developed bureaucracy, its greatest weakness lay in the succession of the kabaka, for the reigning kabaka married many wives to consolidate power. The downside with that is that it resulted in too many claimants to the throne, and in the end what came to matter was the strength of the clan/clans backing a claimant. It thus became the norm for one to slay all other claimants before ascending.
Buganda produced Uganda’s first president, Edward Mutesa II, but the kingdom came into trouble 3 years later, when Milton Obote overthrew him (1967) and abolished all kingdoms in Uganda. The kingdom was only restored in 1993, with Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II at the throne.
By Matengo Chwanya
Africa Global News Publication
