When I give lectures at universities and other places I gauge the extent of interest or understanding of the subject by the number of questions or requests for clarification from the audience. When the subject is complex or uninteresting, the audience’s response is very limited. But when the topic is exciting some members in the audience interrupt before the presentation is over. My articles on the history of Bahororo in Uganda have been so exciting that I have received more questions and requests for clarification than on any other topic I have posted on my blog. The dialogue will therefore continue.
For easy reference I will synthesize what I have written about Bahororo in Uganda, their origin, ancestry, geographical distribution and role in Uganda’s society. I will also touch briefly on other ethnic groups of Rujumbura to set the record straight because the 1993 Report of the Uganda Constitutional Commission: Analysis and Recommendation chaired by then Justice Benjamin J. Odoki recorded (page 72) Hororo (Bahororo) as the only ethnic group in Rujumbura county of Rukungiri District. But before doing that let us refresh our memories about the definition or understanding of ethnicity or ethnic groups. This is in addition to what I have already provided on my blog.
From time immemorial individuals use tribe as their point of reference. Consequently the predominant form of social organization is kinship. On this basis the world is organized into two groups – kin (members of the same tribe) and the rest. “Many states have tried to redirect kinship ties to other purposes, but none has entirely succeeded. People have always maintained affiliation to groups that more closely resemble bands or tribes than they do states. These groups typically are united by particular symbols or cultural attributes such as a common homeland. These are ethnic groups of people with a common culture or ancestry regardless of their relatedness to one another (Steve Olson 2002) through, for example, a common language.
There are three ethnic groups which occupy Rujumbura County of Rukungiri District in south west Uganda.
- Indigenous or natives Bantu whose ancestors arrived in the area around 3000 years ago from the Nigeria/Cameroon border through the Congo basin.
- Bahororo (Batutsi from Rwanda) who arrived in Rujumbura around 1800 seeking refuge long after (two or three generations) their short-lived Mpororo kingdom had collapsed.
- Bakiga who have resettled in Rujumbura since the 1950s from the southern part of then Kigezi district.
Indigenous or native Bantu people
Bantu people in Rujumbura county of Rukungiri district entered Rujumbura (southwest Uganda) through the Congo basin. They originated from the Cameroon/Nigeria border due to population pressure. They brought with them cattle (short horn), goats, sheep and superior technology (Fran Alexander et al., 1998 & Robert O. Collins 2006). They were identified by their clans. They produced crops, herded livestock and manufactured a wide range of products and traded surplus in regional markets. Traders from Rukiga, Rwanda, Mpororo, Nkore and Rujumbura converged at Ruhinda in Butumbi (B. A. Ogot 1976). Rujumbura and Mpororo were independent entities.
Bahororo of southwest Uganda
Batutsi pastoralists from Rwanda under the leadership of Kahaya Rutindangyenzi of Bashambo clan founded Mpororo kingdom in southwest Ankole (roughly present-day Ntungamo District) in mid 1600s. The Batutsi from Rwanda and Bantu people they found in the area took on a new name of Bahororo (the people of Mpororo). The kingdom disintegrated within 100 years from internal feuds. Bahororo were replaced by Bahima under the leadership of Bahinda clan as rulers. Many Bahororo returned to Rwanda. Others stayed in Ankole or moved to other parts of Uganda.
Sixty or ninety years (two or three generations: a generation is 30 years) after the disintegration of Mpororo kingdom, a segment of Bahororo under Rwebiraro of Bashambo clan sought refuge at Nyakinengo in Nyakagyeme sub-county of Rujumbura county. Rwebiraro and his people brought with them the identity of Bahororo “despite the fact that Mpororo as a state no longer existed except in memory” (G. N. Uzoigwe 1982). The point to be stressed is that Bahororo are a different ethnic group from Bantu because their ancestors are Nilotic Luo-speaking people who originated in Bahr el Ghazal of southern Sudan. They have retained their Nilotic identity because Bahororo men do not marry outside of their Nilotic ethnic group.
Rujumbura was incorporated into Kigezi district in 1912 with Makobore a Muhororo of Bashambo clan as the chief of Rujumbura under the indirect system of colonial rule.
How Bahororo name got into Rujumbura
While re-organizing Kigezi district for administrative convenience, the colonial authorities grouped different ethnic or tribal groups into three categories: Bakiga, Banyarwanda and Bahororo (the colonial chief of Rujumbura being a Muhororo made it easy to adopt that name). The people in Kigezi who had been referred to as Banyarwanda changed that name to Bafumbira after independence.
In Rujumbura the descendants of Bahororo have continued to dominate Rujumbura politically and it has been difficult to confine Bahororo name to Batutsi who came from Rwanda and brought the name to Rujumbura after Mpororo kingdom had collapsed. That is why people from native groups of Bantu ancestry reluctantly continue to call themselves Bahororo, causing confusion in many places. For various reasons, some people in Rujumbura call themselves Bahororo when they know full well that their ancestors did not come from Rwanda to Rujumbura via the short-lived Mpororo kingdom.
Attempting to change the name of Bahororo is now even more difficult because the Uganda government is being led by Bahororo. However, for posterity we wish to record that Rujumbura was never part of Mpororo kingdom.
Arrival of Bakiga in Rujumbura
Population pressure in then southern Kigezi resulted in resettling Bakiga and Bafumbira in other parts of western Uganda starting in the 1950s. In Rujumbura they were resettled in areas considered empty. Some of them had been temporarily vacated by indigenous people because of diseases and dangerous wild animals. The animals were killed and health services provided to facilitate the resettlement of Bakiga.
To sum up, based on the above synthesis Rujumbura is occupied by three distinct ethnic groups:
- Native or indigenous people (designated Bahororo under colonial rule) whose ancestors came from Cameroon/Nigeria border through the Congo basin.
- Bahororo proper (Batutsi from Rwanda) who entered Rujumbura around 1800 following the disintegration of Mpororo kingdom. Their ancestors were Nilotic Luo-speaking people from southern Sudan. Although they speak Bantu language, they have retained their Nilotic identity because Bahororo men do not marry outside of their Nilotic ethnic group.
- Bakiga have entered Rujumbura since mid 1950s. Their ancestors lived in the southern part of former Kigezi district.
Let us conclude with a quotation from the Odoki report referred to above. “The basic assumption is that any Constitution, if it is to be viable, is as much a reflection of the past as it is of the present. Many of the people submitting views to the Commission examined Uganda’s history in the belief that if the new Constitution is to provide a firm foundation for future development, it must be based on a clear understanding of our past development and problems. The Commission agrees with this view”.
It is therefore important that the ethnic history of Rujumbura must be corrected. It is incorrect to record under “Uganda’s Ethnic Composition in 1959” on page 72 of the Odoki report of 1993 that Hororo (Bahororo) constitute the only ethnic group in Rujumbura county in Rukungiri district.