The most famous of Buganda’s warrior kings, Ssuuna (Suna / Suuna), whom Henry Morton Stanley compared to Shaka of the Zulu (sky) Clan would succumb to smallpox in 1856. Just before his death, he summoned the Kingdom States . three hereditary superior chiefs and the prime minister and ordered that his eldest son Kajumba be installed as his successor when the time came. The “Emperor” Ssuuna strongly favored Kajumba, whom he compared to himself, and assumed that he would be the appropriate strongman to maintain Buganda’s prestige and supremacy. Kajumba was apparently far above his siblings, he was young and violent. However, it is these stubborn tendencies that made Kajumba unpopular with Buganda’s leaders, royalty, and the local population.
“Kajumba … Suna’s favorite … the war-loving father on his deathbed pointed out … proudly to his bosses the heroic qualities of the prince, he remembered … how when a … child had killed a buffalo with a club and an elephant with a … spear, and assured them with his last breath that Kajumba would become more famous than either of the two lions [Kabaka] Kimera or renamed [Kabaka] Nakivingi “(Stanley 1878: 295).
After his father’s death, Kajumba grabbed his heavy spear and huge shield, declared himself the successor and choice of Kabaka Ssuuna, and announced that he would stand up for his father’s dignity to the death. The chiefs gave the order and Kajumba was attacked and heavily tied up. Prince Mtesa (Muteesa / Mutesa), “soft-spoken and big-eyed”, an alternative monarchical perspective considered much less violent and much easier to deal with than Kajumba, was instead installed as the new king.
However, shortly after the burial rituals honoring the late Ssuuna, the soft-spoken Mutesa would reveal himself to be the ruthless butcher and disciplinarian obsessed with power, though his harshness would subsidize during the years of his reign. He sowed terror in the population and earned the nickname “Mukaabya” (Mukabya), which translates to “the one who makes people cry”, and by which he was predominantly called.
“He did not want to have a subject … remember him … he owed him his sovereignty. According to his father’s custom, he slaughtered all who gave … offense, and … lions in war, Namujulirwa, as well. .. Katikiro (or prime minister), he … beheaded … passionate, he took his spear … he ran towards his harem … he threw his women, until his thirst for blood was quenched … Mtesa had this temperament when Speke saw him … continued … until … turned by … the Arab Muley bin Salim into a fervent Muslim.After this … he became … human, refrained from. .. strong native beer that used to shoot his blood … he gave up … the custom of shedding his parents’ blood ”(Stanley 1878: 296).
Although he was a slave trader, Muley was considered a devout Muslim and teacher of the faith. Mutesa played with both Islam and Christianity, saw the ironies and conflicts in foreign religions and never took them seriously. But he did learn Arabic and pondered and debated at length on many philosophical questions.
Buganda’s system of government was a unique and sophisticated system of checks and balances that involved both civilian and hereditary leaders striving to ensure that no group went to extremes or became too powerful. The king married all the clans of Buganda as a gesture of maintaining family ties with all the Baganda. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the king did not have absolute powers, but he was closely supervised and advised by higher chiefs and the prime minister. The king did not have the last word on who would be his successor. Usually a prince who was young enough was chosen to be the successor, one who would probably be easier to mold and more accommodating as he grew up and developed in the system of traditionalism. But although the king could be treated as a more ceremonial figure, he was still able to recruit forces to get rid of the ruling elders and vice versa. The tradition of killing princes during the installation of a new monarch appears to have existed in Buganda for centuries, and was designed to minimize royal rebellions and power struggles.
Despite Mutesa’s initial cruelty reflecting actual historical practices designed to demand the utmost obedience and reverence towards him, Mutesa would become famous for his enlightenment, his diplomacy, and for embracing monotheistic religions and innovative development in his kingdom. Foreign forces were rapidly penetrating the kingdom-state, and Mutesa was challenged to grapple with traditionalism, the forces of colonialism, new weapons and ammunition, the changing boundaries of his kingdom, slavery, and the slave trade, among a myriad other problems. during his three decades in power. The old order was changing rapidly, the forces of the industrial revolution and the struggle for Africa had reached the most powerful kingdom in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Kabaka Mutesa Mukaabya died on October 9, 1884 (tenth, according to some sources) and the Buganda Council elected his son, Prince Mwanga Mukasa Basammula, as the new king. Coincidentally, Uganda officially gained its political independence from England on October 9, 1962.
Cited works
Stanley, Henry M. Across the Dark Continent. Volume 1. Harper and Sons: New York, 1878.