Kitara
In 1862 John Speke was informed that the general name ” Kittara ,. . is gradually becoming extinct, and is seldom applied to any but the western portions” of Uganda indicating it was an ancient name. The most provocative explanation concerning the historic meaning of the name Kitara was suggested by J , H, Driberg (1931), who linked Kitara to awatwara a title used for provincial governors in Burundi, Having observed that the word was at that time “hardly recognized by the Banyoro” of the Kitara complex, he wrote, ” It is not until we reach Burundi that we find the origin of the word ‘Kitwara,’ Here we find that awatwara is used to designate provincial governors to this day ,,.,”
In view of the historic links between these interlacustrine kingdoms, the Burundi title for provincial governor and the twale or twari chiefly title in the oldest collected Kitara court traditions insignificant, the more so since the image of political organization that emerges from the traditions of the Batembuzi period focuses on provinces (sazas) as the key political unit.
“Kitara” may have originally meant the “place of the Twara” or twala (chief), that is to say, the Kitara name is an instance where the territory took the name of the title of the ruler.