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THE STORY OF  KING  OMUKAMA WINYI II RUBAGIRAMASEGA WHO PROVIDES NOURISHMENT TO THE VULTURES (MASEGA)                                                                                                         

The full title of this king was “Winyi Rubagiramasega Katamikundi of Lapenje, Emparangani, son of Chwa.” He succeeded his father, Nyabongo Rulemu. He fought for the throne with his elder brother Kalirahaiguru, Bunyoro-Kitara records the King as the 7^th Omukama of the Babiito Dynasty and 27^th of the Empire of Kitara.

This succession war lasted for a long time and caused many deaths and miseries. In the end Winyi II emerged victorious and because the war was long and bloody he was nicknamed Rucwerabazaire [one who brings grief on parents]. It is said that during his reign ghosts frequently appeared, anxious to know “who succeeded to the throne in the end“; and that people used to say to them: “It was Winyi”; and the ghosts used to retort “That’s what we thought too.”

Okukama Winyi II was a very cruel man [witima muno] and used to murder people for no reason. And for this reason he was called Rubagira Masega [one who provides nourishment for the vultures]. Indeed he could not bear to see his vultures going hungry. And whenever he heard the sound of these vultures he would exclaim: “Poor ones! They are asking me to give them food.” Then he would straight away order the execution of some innocent people to provide food for them.

It was during the reign of this king that Buganda extended its borders to the river Wabiruko in Mityana. This area was captured from the Kukwenda [Mukwenda]. Winyi does not appear to have bothered to defend Mityana. Indeed throughout his reign he made neither raids nor wars against other counties. The people of the Mityana district simply went to Buganda quietly and offered no battle even after Buganda had killed some of them. They seem to have seen Buganda as the lesser of two evils.

Winyi did not undertake foreign expeditions because there was no need for them and the country was quiet and peaceful. [The obvious reason would seem to be that only a few people were prepared to fight for a cruel king a fact implicitly admitted by the author of the next sentence.] Winyi II was very much hated by the subjects.

He was buried at Lapenje in Ssingo/Rugonjo. His mother belonged to the Balisa clan. Many of the royal tombs in Ssingo have now disappeared either due to devastation by wars or due to neglect because of their being in an area of an oppressor.

Kagoro stages a Coup against the bacwezi

History has it that it was Kagoro who staged a coup that lead to the fall of the bacwezi, Kagoro was among the several sons of Kyomya who was bore by a maid called kacubya, and was a military commander appointed by Omukama Wamara.

*Isimbwa,* the grandfather of Kagoro, when he heard that his Son Ndahura had taken over Kitara, he returned and was appointed chief, he had bore a Son called *Kyomya,* who he had left in Bukidi were they had sought refugee during the reign of Bukuku.

In Bukidi, Kyomya had fathered *Nyarwa, Rukidi Mpuuga, Kato Kimera and Kiiza,* and once he returned to Kitara, he fathered more kids, *Kagoro,* born of a maid Kacubya; *Mugarura* from *Kogere* of the Bacwezi clan, *Ibona* from a Cwezi called Waraga, *Mugenyi* by Nyangoma of Basingo clan and *Byangarubwa* begot by Rugomya of the Basambu clan

Kitara faced lot of famine, followed by cattle diseases that lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction among the people of Kitara of the bacwezi.

Kagoro, Wamara’s military commander, seized the opportunity to *stage a coup* against the Bacwezi, who were mercilessly massacred and their bodies thrown into water. The Bachwezi aristocracy, which in any case could not have been a large one, was thus *annihilated or, as tradition put it, ‘disappeared’.*

*The coup marked the end of the Bacwezi empire.* It was replaced by two conglomerations of states: the *Luo-Babito* states of *Bunyoro-Kitara, Kitagwenda and Kiziba;* and the Bahinda (Bahima) states further south in *Karagwe, Nkore, Kyamutwara, Ihangiro* and possibly Gisaka.

The collapse of the Bachwezi empire led to a fierce *struggle between the Luo and the Bahima* (the Babito and the Bahinda) for the political control of the interlacustrine region.

Bacwezi and the Divine Interpreters

A divination that predicted the end of the bacwezi rule

During the reign of Omukama Wamara, he had cultivated a friendship with an old man called Kantu, who was probably born in the reign of Mukonko. They became blood brothers and from him Wamara learnt the history of Kitara.

One day Kantu paid a visit of his friend Wamara, but found him all prepared to go out hunting. Wamara ordered one of the servants to show Kantu to the house and to request his wives to look after him properly untill his return. But the Kings wives despised the old little Man. They merely laughed at him and ignored Wamara’s orders. They even refused to allow him to stay inside the house.

Instead, they ordered the servant to deposit him in one of the outer huts, where food and drinks could be brought to him. Having carried out his instructions,the servant rejoined the king’s hunting expedition. Meanwhile, the king’s wives went about their business and forgot all about Kantu. Neither the food nor the drink was therefore offered him. When he became very hungry, he staggered out of the hut to see by which way the hunters might be returning.

As he came out he saw a bull and a cow making love. When the bull noticed Kantu it charged at him and kicked him to death.

On his return Wamara inquired about his friend. Nobody seemed to know what had happened to him. The king was very angry and put the blame on his wives. At last Kantu’s dead body was discovered lying outside the outer huts. The king was furious when this news was broken to him. But nobody foresaw what would happen next.

The following morning the herdsmen went to milk the cows and then discovered to their horror that the milk had changed color, turning into mutara [red milk]. Whereupon they consulted the witch doctors, who solved the mystery by declaring: “Wamara’s blood brother relationship with Kantu had caused the milk to change into omutara.” It was therefore decided that this blood brotherhood [bond of friendship] must be loosened in the traditional fashion. This was done and after four days the cows began producing normal milk once more. From now onwards, the Bacwezi decided to avoid the obusito [milk that is from a cow that is with a calf] totem.

Meanwhile, Wamara arranged to summon diviners to interpret for him what these happenings meant. A young fattened bull (enimi yente encwerano) was slaughtered. When the diviners cut open the calf they could not trace its intestines. The diviners tried several times to divine in this manner but the same thing happened. However, a diviner called Nyakoka from Bukidi (present northern Uganda) offered to solve the mystery. He began by insisting that, he should have a blood pact with one Cwezi to guard against death should the interpretation displease them.

The pact was made with Mulindwa; Nyakoka cut open the legs and head of the animal and there the missing intestines were found. Then a large black smut from the fire settled on them, it could not be removed. Nyakoka divined that the absence of the intestines from their natural place signified that the country would be left without rulers, because the rule of the Bacwezi had ended. The intestines’ presence in the animal’s legs and head meant that the Bacwezi would load up their belongings and would travel far away; while the presence of the intestines in the head meant that the Bacwezi would continue to rule over men through spirit mediums (Mbandwa cults).

And the black smut meant that the kingdom would be taken over by dark-skinned strangers from the north. So the Chwezi departed from Bunyoro, no one knows where.

Bukuku and the Battle of the Classes

600 years ago in the Kingdom of Kitara, Oral Tradition tells of the time a palace gateman called Bukuku led a troop of Bairu (farmers/ commoners) in rebellion against the ruling pastoralists. They fought fiercely; the pastoralists for supremacy and, the commoners for freedom!

Omukama Isaza Rugambanabato having been subdued by Nyamiyonga(the King of the underworld) left the Kingdom to his caretaker Bukuku, Since Isaza never returned, Bukuku took over the throne.

The different chiefs of the amasaza refused to subdue to Bukuku that they will not be ruled by a commoner.

Kogere the Saza Chief of Busongora, an Aunt of Omukama Isaza, led an army to ouster Bukuku, to her astonishment and the many Saza chiefs, Bukuku  and the commoners fought a fierce battle that saw them gain victory,

*#AfricanRoyalTales #BukukuKingOfKitara*

The Story of Nyangoro and the curse of the Basingo clan

The two brothers Mulindwa and Mugenyi(the visitor), were emotionally attached to each other, had everything in common and always attempted everything together. The women of the Bachwezi watched them leave for hunting and commented on their beauty and strength. Mulindwa excelled Mugenyi and Mugenyi’s mother Nyangoro, (from engoro, a reed), was jealous and decided she had to kill Mulindwa.

Mulindwa loved her but could not marry her because she was his father’s wife. When they returned from hunting Mulindwa brought Nyangoro some flowers but had to wait for an opportunity to make love to her. The brothers had decided to go and watch their cattle at the salt lick but Mulindwa pretended to be sick and remained behind.

Mugenyi went alone. Nyangoro learnt this, dug a pit in her hut, filled it with boiling water and covered it. When Mulindwa called upon her, he fell into the hot water and Nyangoro covered the pit with mats to suffocate him. His cries were reported to Mugenyi who hurried to help him, lifted his body out of the water and poured milk upon him. Mugenyi wanted to kill Nyangoro but Mulindwa said that a son should not kill his mother.

Mugenyi forgave his mother but he seized and killed many of her daughters and other members of her clan, the Basingo. Mulindwa cursed the Basingo, and from that day princes have never married into the clan.

The Legend of Mugenyi and the Red Cow Bihogo

Long ago, it is said, during the reign of Omukama Isaza Nyakikooto – The last King of the Batembuzi dynasty, there appeared a race of people known as the Bacwezi, a remarkable group of kinsmen,They had a light skin, believed to have super- natural dignity and power, and often described as nyamutukura-‘white’, The bachwezi subdued king Isaza with their beautiful girl nyamata and bore a son, Isimbwa who then bore Ndahura. Ndahura went on to have a son Wamara

In his time as ruler, Wamara had signs of disquiet multiplied. There were feuds between the Cwezi princes. Strangers raided their herds and ‘foul things’ drove them from the watering- places. Worst of all, the marvelously productive red cow called Bihogo, precious possession of prince Mugenyi, choked on her salt drink and died, and Prince Mugenyi, with difficulty restrained from killing himself, as he had vowed to do. Disturbed by these events, the king ordered the cow to be slaughtered for divination, only to find that it had no entrails-intestines.

The official soothsayers, the Twairwe-interpreters of the King, were unable to interpret this appalling omen (or offered an unconvincingly hopeful reading), but a stranger from the north, a man of the Abasuuli clan called Nyakoka (or Karongo), undertook to divulge the mystery if the Mukama made blood-brotherhood with him so that no prophecy of his should jeopardize his life. Prince Mugenyi was ordered to make blood-brotherhood with Nyakoko as the Omukama was not allowed to do so.

Nyakoko split open the head and the hooves of the carcass and revealed the intestines. A smut blew out of the carcass and settled on them. It could not be removed.

He located the missing entrails in the head and hooves of the cattle, and intercepted to them the meaning of each, The empty body of the cow signified that the rule of the Bachwezi over the land had ended, The entrails in the head meant that the Bachwezi would still hold power over mankind, The entrails in the hooves meant that the Bachwezi would wander continuously. Their servants, their women, even their dogs would withdraw obedience, and the smut meant that their royal drum would pass to ‘a black man of another nation’. The Bachwezi heard these prophecies and decided to kill Nyakoko. Mugenyi managed to warn Nyakoko who escaped to Bukidi.

Sure enough, they found themselves treated with general contempt, and the final humiliation came when Prince Mugenyi was mocked by a woman, his mother’s sister, for not carrying out his suicidal vow. So king Wamara the last chwezi king went out from his capital with all his people and vanished from the land.

Nyakahuma, and the Mystical Medieval Tree

In about the 13th century, Mubende hill was an important ritual centre for Nyakahuma, the Bachwezi cult medium of Ndahura, the first Mucwezi king of the Kitara Empire. Ndahura was believed to have the powers to give blessings to his people.

When he died, Nyakahuma, his eldest wife, became a central figure in the Bachwezi cult worship because many believed she was still able to communicate with the dead king. Consequently, many people travelled long distances to ask Ndahura, through Nyakahuma, for fame and fortune.

Unfortunately, Nyakahuma also passed away. But before her death, she had vowed to return to the people for as long as the tree, which made her Palace’s cornerstone, still existed.