MONARCHIES - ANKOLE KINGDOM

Obugabe of Ankole | Two Kingdoms

Prince Barigye awaiting for kingship

Life in this place is a comical contrast of extremes. On one hand you have long-horned cattle that seem to have more horn and bone than flesh.

Probably weighed down by the grotesquely oversize horns, they crawl along, passive and pondering.

In contrast, the people are full of life and passion and basically bursting with good health. They move about briskly and gaily, calling out greetings to one another with an enthusiasm that rubs onto the observer.

When you crack a joke to a Munyankole, chances are he will laugh loud and long and then tell you a much better version of the same joke.

But when you talk about Obugabe the mood slows down. Either, "We have no king and never you say that around here!"  Or:  "Museveni and Co. have denied us our right to a Kingdom and enjoyment of culture."

The bitter division about their kingdom - or what is left of it - is obvious.

One fine afternoon in September 1967, Ankole's Enganzi (Prime Minister) left his Mbarara office to grab a bite at home.  He intended to return that afternoon to complete the kingdom's duties for the day.

A casual phone call shattered his programme:  "Don't you bother - or dare - return to office.  Kingdoms have been abolished". The kingdom's offices were taken over by the central government.
As the Baganda broke down and wept, there was jubilation in many parts of Ankole.

The 1971 incoming of Idi Amin raised hope for restoration of kingdoms, especially when he returned the body of the late king of Buganda, Sir Edward Mutesa II.

A delegation of Baganda met Idi Amin, asking him to restore the Buganda Kingdom. 
But "Big Daddy" casually told them to forget the idea.  He did not like the idea of an embrace when he thought a handshake was enough.

The Banyankole apparently got the message fine.   When a delegation of elders - led by former Omugabe Sir Charles Gasyonga - met Big Daddy later that year, they presented a signed memorandum asking him not to restore the Ankole monarchy.

Amin pumped their hands happily in a fresh round of greetings.  He soon gave Gasyonga's heir-apparent Prince John Barigye an ambassadorial job.
Kahigiriza denies this story.  But it is supported by articles from the press of the day and the testimony of witnesses.

Ankole today is split in two.

On one hand, is a self-assured Banyankore Cultural Foundation (BCF) saying to hell with Obugabe. The monarchy, argues the anti-Obugabe camp, encouraged class distinction based on occupation and is the embodiment of division in Ankole.  It was a caste system - people were ranked in hierarchy: the King on top, then the Bahinda royal clan, Bahima pastoralists then the Bairu cultivators.

So reviving it means reviving social discrimination and injustice because the institution belongs to the Bahinda as a clan and was supported mainly by the Bahima.

"With the abolition of the monarchy, the basis for social differences was removed because the Obugabe was a basis for social differences," says Makerere law don Dr Jean Barya.

"The unity that has been growing in Ankole would be in danger if the monarchy were restored because these social categories and differences were slowly dying out, especially with education, access to economic resources and political power by the majority of Banyankole since 1967."

BCF draw their strength from the fact that popular opinion in Ankole does not favour the monarchy.  And equally importantly, from the fact that President Museveni is openly against the idea of Obugabe.  Knowing they are politically correct seems to boost their confidence.

On the other hand is a much less assured Nkore Cultural Trust (NCT) parading an inferiority complex in articulating their demands.  They are openly timid because of the lack of enough public and political sympathy.

"We do not want to be seen against government," says James Kahigiriza. "But the kingdom has not been restored because of funny politics.  Those who object do so because of jealousy and sectarian tendencies, that is why they are playing the Bairu-Bahima card."

In 1993 the National Resistance Council (NRC) enacted the Traditional Institutions Statute that stipulated that any community could revive the institution of traditional leadership if the people of the relevant community so wish.
But it did not say how that (whether people want) should be determined.

Article 246 (2) of the Constitution says "In any community, where the issue of traditional or cultural leader has not been resolved, the issue shall be resolved by the community concerned using a method prescribed by Parliament."

This, says Barya, was put there specifically for Ankole and means that since there is a dispute the matter has never been resolved.
"The NRC as a whole was opposed to general restoration of kingdoms - not those from Buganda," says Barya.  "What Museveni did (at that time thinking of Buganda which was demanding) was to hold a closed session of the NRC in April 1993 in which he persuaded - or cajoled - them to allow the Buganda monarchy to be restored. 

"Buganda had threatened to vote against the Movement in the CA. But the CA could not make a law addressing Buganda alone; so they made a general one - Traditional Leaders (Restitution of Properties) Statute 1993.

"The only kingdom automatically returned by law is that of Buganda.  The others would only be returned through consultation and negotiation, because government was not sure whether people in those areas wanted the kingdoms restored."

Barya adds that Museveni's only concern is that since the institution is unpopular it could cost him votes.  But he does not wish to antagonise the monarchists so he gives them hope that the Obugabe will be restored through discussion and compromise. 
"That way he gets votes from both sides - each side in the hope that it will triumph.  Otherwise the matter would have been resolved one way or another, by now," says Barya.

The kingdom regalia is also in dispute.  NCT says it is Barigye's property.  But BCF says it is a symbol of kingship but belongs to the kingdom rather than an individual. And that when the kingdom was abolished in 1967, the regalia reverted to central government - like all the others. Subsequent developments since the enacting of the Traditional Institutions Statute have not favoured the pro-Obugabe camp.

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