Because I have written disturbing facts about how Nilotic Batutsi/Bahororo enslaved and impoverished Bantu Bairu/Bahororo of Rujumbura county in Rukungiri district, Batutsi/Bahororo represented by Museveni and Muhwezi have or their surrogates fought back by dubbing me a Muhororo so that people who don’t know the difference will think I am one of them and should carry the cross with them for the sins they have committed.
“Bahororo” in Rujumbura is a colonial administrative term that was created by British authorities. When the British arrived on the scene, they found many Bantu people identifying themselves by their clan names although collectively were dubbed Bairu (slaves or servants) by Batutsi/Bahororo who came to Rujumbura around 1800 as refugees from their former Mpororo kingdom which Ankole had absorbed. Presumably because colonial officers didn’t like the term Bairu which means slaves or servants, it was suggested presumably by Makobore who was chief of Rujumbura that all people in the county be called Bahororo. That was acceptable to British authorities. As a result there are Bahororo of two types. Nilotic Batutsi/Bahororo people now the rulers of Uganda and Bantu Bairu/Bahororo people like me who became Bahororo for colonial administrative convenience.
If I were a Nilotic Mututsi/Muhororo like Museveni and Muhwezi I would have landed a big job in Museveni government a long time ago given my education and work experience (see my bio at www.kashambuzi.com). But because of my inferior status vis a vis Nilotic Batutsi/Bahororo there is no place for me. Until 2011 elections, Jim Muhwezi was my MP but he never contacted me for a possible offer of a job in their government because I am inferior. I communicated with him on other matters but never received a response.
The situation in Rujumbura is similar to that in Rwanda where all the people are called Banyarwanda. But you have “superior” Banyarwanda who are Batutsi and “Inferior” Banyarwanda who are Bahutu and Batwa.
The situation in Rujumbura is also similar to what obtained in Europe during the Middle Ages. You had Europeans of two types: the lords and the serfs. To repeat in Rujumbura we have the “superior” Nilotic Batutsi/Bahororo and the “inferior” Bairu/Bahororo and I belong to the latter. Many people are trying to move away from Bahororo name to either Banyarujumbura or Banyarukungiri because Bairu and Bahororo names are unacceptable but unlike Bafumbira who changed the name from Banyarwanda to Bafumbira, we haven’t been able to change the name in Rukjumbura because Batutsi/Bahororo are still in control. We shall overcome someday.
I hope the difference between Nilotic Batutsi/Bahororo and Bantu Bairu/Bahororo is now clear. To avoid further confusion, we shall from now on use Batutsi rather than Bahororo.
Let me add that whatever name they call me, it won’t affect the substance of what I write: it may in fact embolden me to elaborate to their discomfort. So they should keep that in mind. When you criticize an establishment especially of the authoritarian type, you expect all sorts of odd things to happen. What I am doing is part of civic education and I will feel happy if my contribution has clarified Rujumbura or Great Lakes political economy and history.
Eric