Why Bahororo were unknown until recently

Since I began writing about Bahororo in Uganda’s history, politics and economics, some people who have visited my blog have asked me to shed some light about why Bahororo were not known until very recently.

Bahororo are Batutsi people from Rwanda who founded Mpororo kingdom in northern Rwanda and parts of southwest Uganda. The kingdom was established around mid-1600 and disintegrated in less than one hundred years from internal causes. The people in Mpororo kingdom were called Bahororo (Bantu people who were already there and Batutsi new comers who founded the kingdom).

After Mpororo disintegrated the parts in what later became Uganda were taken over by Bahima under Bahinda ruling clan. As Chretien observes “After the fall of Mpororo, the take over of the Nkore dynasty on the western highlands was accompanied both by installing armies and by reinforcing the power of Hima [Bahima] lineages over the rest of the population, labeled Bairu” (Jean-Pierre Chretien 2006). According to Speke (1863) Bairu means slaves. Therefore by labeling all the people in former Mpororo kingdom Bairu, former rulers of Mpororo (Batutsi from Rwanda) became Bairu and therefore slaves. To avoid being labeled Bairu, inter alia, Batutsi who remained behind adopted the name of Bahima but deep in their hearts remained Bahororo. According to Samwiri Karugire although Mpororo kingdom disintegrated and went out of use and did not figure on any map of Uganda … “her people, dispersed as they were, have tenaciously remained Bahororo in everything but geographical terminology whose absence does not seem to have made any impression upon them” (Karugire 1980). Bahororo maintained their Nilotic identity because their men do not marry outside of their ethnic group.

During negotiations for Uganda’s independence Bahororo name resurfaced when “Bahororo living in Ankole … demanded [a] separate district” (Victor A. Olunsola 1972). When the demand did not go through, they continued to register themselves as Bahima.

When NRM captured power in 1986, credit went to Bahima because many people thought the military leaders of the National Resistance Army (NRA) were all Bahima. For example, Chretien (2006) described Yoweri Museveni who led the guerrilla war (1981-1986) as belonging to the Mpororo’s Hima lineage.

As Bahororo consolidated their position militarily and economically they began to reclaim their identity. First the name of Mpororo reappeared on Uganda maps but without showing its exact boundaries. Second, women from the former Mpororo ruling clan of Bashambo formed an association called Bashambo Kumanyana (to know one another). These developments raised the curiosity of reporters. One of them wrote an article about resurgent Bahororo.

The next question was their ancestral origin. Some Europeans led by John Hanning Speke (1863) had reported that Bahororo together with Bahima and Batutsi relatives had come from Ethiopia, were Caucasian (white) and the founders of civilizations in East and Central Africa. Subsequent research has demonstrated that they are black people whose ancestors were Nilotic Luo-speaking people who entered Uganda from Bahr el Ghazal of southern Sudan 600 years ago. They were a nomadic people grazing long horn cattle. As nomadic people they did not have much civilization of their own.

In the Great Lakes region, they adopted local languages, local names and local kings’ names like the Bahutu king’s title of Mwami in Rwanda. In terms of civilizations, Davidson (1991) noted that “Being cattle-raising wanderers, these newcomers did not necessarily bring with them a higher level of culture than already existed in the East African lands where they settled”. Davidson added that often they destroyed a great deal which they were unable to replace.

By way of summary and conclusion, the current leaders of the NRM government in Uganda are Bahororo with support of their Bahima cousins. As the late Karugire wrote they tenaciously remained Bahororo although they adopted Bahima name to avoid being labeled Bairu. Now that they believe they are firmly in power time has come to reclaim their name of Bahororo.

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