Politics is the art of gaining and retaining power by any means. In the great lakes region (southwest Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC), intermarriage between Batutsi, Bahororo, Bahima and Banyamulenge (pastoralists) on the one hand and Bahutu and Bairu (cultivators) on the other hand was extremely rare in pre and colonial times. On those rare occasions, a king or chief would give a woman to a good warrior or promising leader from cultivators as his wife. The husband would then be ‘tutsified’ and abandon his ancestral roots. The main purpose of this intermarriage was to deprive cultivators of men of leadership quality. Cultivators would thus remain leaderless and politically powerless.
Before proceeding with the story of intermarriage with Bahororo women, let me explain the relationship between Batutsi, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge, and the term ‘tutsified’ which appear to have caused confusion in my previous articles.
1. Batutsi is an umbrella word from which Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge spring. According to Gerard Prunier (1995) and Linda de Hoyos (1997) Bahima are a clan of Batutsi.
2. Bahororo are Batutsi who moved from Rwanda and settled in what later became southwest Ankole (roughly present-day Ntungamo district) and later some fled to Rujumbura long after Mpororo kingdom had disintegrated and taken over by Bahima under Bahinda ruling clan. (Other Bahororo returned to Rwanda. All Bahororo wherever they settled have clung tenaciously together. That is why some Ugandans and Rwandese believe that during the guerrilla war in Uganda Batutsi refugees {Rwigyema and Kagame etc} who are probably Bahororo were closer to Museveni than Bahima).
3. Banyamulenge are Batutsi who moved from Rwanda and settled in eastern DRC.
4. From this description Bahororo, Bahima and Banyamulenge are Batutsi like those in Rwanda and Burundi. Their ancestors were Nilotic Luo-speakers from Bahr el Gazal in southern Sudan.
5. The difference among them is that when they settle in a new place they adopt a new name and local language.
6. When the word ‘cousins’ is used it refers to Batutsi, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge.
7. What is common to them all besides being Nilotic is that men do not marry outside their Nilotic ethnic group and have retained their solid Nilotic identity. That is why in southwest Uganda there is a need to distinguish between Nilotic Bantu speakers, and Bairu Bantu speakers who are separate economically and militarily. Nilotic Bantu speakers led by Museveni are the ones that have benefited from NRM regime since 1986. Overall Bairu Bantu speakers have got worse.
The term ‘tutsified’ (or ‘de-hutuized’) simply means promotion of Bahutu and Bairu men from a lower to a higher social class of Batutsi, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge when they marry women from the latter group.
Let us return to our story of intermarriage with Bahororo women (which can also apply to their cousins). We are using Bahororo women as they have become prominent in Uganda because the first family belongs to this group.
Until very recently marriage was a sacred and private matter between two consenting adults based on love. Therefore it was not a matter for public debate. Since intermarriage with Bahororo women and their cousins has entered into politics it has to be debated in public without intending to offend anybody. Rujumbura will be used as reference because the author is familiar with it.
Before independence intermarriage between pastoralists (Bahororo) and cultivators (Bairu) was non-existent. Bahororo, a minority group was in total political control over majority Bairu. The two groups would not socialize together (except that Bahororo men would have sex with Bairu women quite often and even produce children with them that would belong to the mother and supported by a Muiru husband). In a few rare cases when interaction occurred, certain procedures had to be followed. For example, a Muhororo would touch food first!
The struggle for independence was based on majority rule. Minority Bahororo who had dominated the political theatre until then realized that they would lose the elections and their political domination to Bairu. Bahororo decided that in order to retain their political control, Bahororo women would marry Bairu men (the ones with education and/or wealth) who would then be ‘tutsified’, and support Bahororo candidates over Bairu opponents and eventually divide the majority group (which is what happened among Protestant Bairu into vegetarians and meat eaters and has silently remained in force even after 1986).
All of a sudden, the relations between Bahima women and Bahororo men thawed. Bahororo women took the initiative (no offense). And Bahororo men did not seem to object. Bairu men who had been treated as inferior jumped to the opportunity and married Bahororo women abandoning their Bairu ones (many of them in my view are more beautiful than Bahororo women). But not a single Muhororo man has married a single Muiru woman, arguing that marriage is a matter of love and you marry whom you love. Therefore Bahororo men since intermarriage began in the 1960s have not yet found a single Muiru woman they have fallen in love with!
They do not marry Bairu women and for that matter any other woman from outside their Nilotic ethnic group for fear that their secrets about dominating other Ugandans would be discovered and disclosed.
Restrictions on socialization between Bairu men and Bahororo also relaxed. Bairu men flocked to Bahororo camp because association with Bahororo was a promotion into a higher social class. The meaning of these relaxations and intermarriages became clear when campaigning for parliament leading up to independence began.
All Bairu men married to Bahororo women and those Bairu men that had been allowed into Bahororo social club supported a Muhororo candicate over a Muiru opponent. Since these Bairu were influential they convinced many Bairu voters to support a Muhororo candidate who won the parliamentary seat. Since then Rujumbura politics has been dominated by Bahororo candidates who cannot allow even a tutsified Muiru to contest because tutsified Bairu are junior partners in Bahororo camp. Decisions are taken by Bahororo proper – those whose ancestors came from Rwanda.
Ephraim Kamuhangire drove the political significance of Bairu marrying Bahororo women. He was provoked (whether on his own or on behalf of someone else) by an article in which I said that Bahororo had impoverished Bairu of Rujumbura. I suggested that to get out of the poverty trap, Bairu needed to get organized better. Kamuhangire thought (or decided to distort the message) that I meant a peasant revolt the kind that took place in medieval Europe. Kamuhangire reminded me and other readers that intermarriage between Bairu men and Bahororo women in Rujumbura had removed the possibility of such a revolt taking place because Bairu cannot fight their in laws. This point is similar to Phionah Kesaasi’s comment on my article ‘Why Bahima men don’t marry Bairu women’.
Since Bahororo came to power, the number of Bahororo, Bahima and Batutsi women marrying men outside their Nilotic ethnic group has increased considerably (apparently Bahororo and their cousins produce many more women than men). And the in laws are occupying important positions in Uganda government and business sector but they had to abandon their people or it is alleged.
There are stories that even influential married men are being encouraged to divorce and marry Bahororo women so they have easier access to the seat of power (investigations might be in order). Married men who have been approached in this regard know themselves.
Recently, Bashambo women (ruling clan of Bahororo) formed an association called Bashambokazi Kumanyana (to know one another). There are stories (subject to confirmation) that one of the objectives is to match Bahororo, Bahima and Batutsi women to non-Bahororo, non-Bahima, non-Batutsi and non-Banyamulenge men for marriage. These men are targeted for their influence in their communities. Once these women marry into these groups they are believed to act more as spies than spouses.
According to Banyarwanda tradition, a man owns the wife and the children she may get from other men (James L. Gibbs 1965). Let us hope that this tradition has not crept into intermarriages that have occurred in Uganda because there does not appear to be such a tradition.
Thus, in order for Bahororo under Museveni to cling to power they are using every available means including political intermarriages to achieve that goal. While I encourage intermarriages as a natural process that can promote national unity as well, I would not do the same for purposes of one minority group dominating others by using their women as a political tool.