In the beginning
Bantu people are believed to have left Nigeria/Cameroon border on massive and gradual migration about the time of Christ (R. W. July 1998). They entered the great lakes region about 2-3000 years ago. They entered Uganda through south west and/ or western corner. So they are the indigenous occupants of Rujumbura County (remnants of Bambuti are believed by some researchers to be Bantu people who adapted to a forest environment).
Bantu people brought with them short horn cattle, goats, sheep, poultry, crops and knowledge of iron technology (R. O. Collins 2006 & R. Oliver and G. Mathew vol. I 1963). They settled in good areas endowed with fertile and grazing land and iron ore. With iron technology (axes, machetes and hoes), they cleared land and grew a wide range of crops including bananas, grazed animals and manufactured a wide range of products based on resource endowment. They supplemented cultivated foodstuffs with plentiful wild game and fish, fruits and vegetables.
With adequate and nutritious diet they developed immunity against disease and grew fast. They gathered in settlements that required a system of governance to keep law and order, settle disputes when they arose and protect the area against invaders. Some communities developed into states with elaborate administrative systems governed by kings who built palaces (B. A. Ogot 1976). Thus, Bantu people were not stateless. Further south, Hutu people had kings called Mwami, a title that was later adopted by Tutsi when they defeated the former. Bachwezi people were a Bantu aristocracy that sprang up in western Uganda in 14th and 15th centuries. They had kings who administered a loosely structured empire (B. A. Ogot 1999). Communities or states such as Bakimbiri and Bazigaba etc were identified by their totems. These states or communities settled disputes mostly by peaceful and diplomatic means (R. W. July 1998). Consequently they did not develop standing armies for constant warfare.
Surplus food facilitated specialization into other professions such as manufacturing, herding or administration. They traded surplus in local and regional markets. In the Lake George regional market people including those from Bunyaruguru, Igara, Rujumbura, Butumbi, Rukiga, Mpororo and Rwanda traded together (B. A. Ogot 1976). Note that Rujumbura and Mpororo were independent states.
How Rujumbura and Mpororo got connected
While travelling in areas south and west of Mpororo kingdom, king Kahaya arrived in Rujumbura with Kirenzi, his son. Kahaya found Rujumbura attractive. He advised Kirenzi “When the Bahinda drive you from Mpororo, come and settle in Rujumbura. … When Kahaya died, his son continued to visit Rujumbura, but always returned to Mpororo, and died while he was preparing to settle in Rujumbura” (Paul Ngorogoza 1967, 1998).
“After the fall of Mpororo, the takeover of the Nkore dynasty on the western highlands was accompanied both by installing armies and by reinforcing the power of Hima lineages over the rest of the population, labeled Bairu” (Jean-Piere Chretien 2006). The point being made here is that when Mpororo kingdom disintegrated, Hima dynasty under Bahinda ruling clan occupied the area and many Bahororo were driven out, some returned to Rwanda where they tenaciously clung together and remained Bahororo. Those who stayed in Ankole became Bairu or commoners. To avoid being called commoners or Bairu they became Bahima until they captured power in 1986 and restored their Bahororo name. That is why many Ugandans still refer to them as Bahima.
Bahororo are Batutsi from Rwanda and are Nilotic. Their ancestors were Nilotic Luo-speakers from Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan. They resemble Dinka people. Because Bahororo men do not marry outside their Nilotic ethnic group, they have remained Nilotic in identity although they speak Bantu language and use Bantu names.
Two or three generations (a generation is thirty years) after the disintegration of Mpororo kingdom a segment of Bahororo led by Rwebiraro of Bashambo clan fled to Rujumbura and settled in Nyakinengo. They arrived around 1800 (G. N. Uzoigwe 1982 and Paul Ngorogoza 1967, 1998). Nyakinengo is part of Rubabo county of Rukungiri district. They arrived with a standing army (G. N. Uzoigwe 1982) and were able to finally defeat Bantu states after a tough resistance. Later, Makobore collaborated with Arab slave traders who brought European weapons and managed to consolidate his hold on Rujumbura and to defeat his neighbors. Makobore who was described as a restless man captured defeated tribes and sold them into slavery. “The coastal traders [including Arabs] were also employed in interstate raids for slaves. For example, Makobore, the king of Rujumbura, employed them [Arabs] in his raids against Batumbi and Kayonza”. Weaker societies were raided for slaves and interstate warfare became rampant (B. A. Ogot 1976 & Paul Ngorogoza 1967, 1998).
The point being stressed here is that Rujumbura County or even Nyakinengo in Rubabo County of Rukungiri district where Bahororo settled was never a part of Mpororo kingdom before it disintegrated. Mpororo kingdom was established over most of southwest Ankole (G. N. Uzoigwe 1982 page 21), present-day Ntungamo district. The other part was in northern Rwanda.
Rujumbura was administered by Makobore when Britain colonized Uganda. Through a system of indirect rule, Makobore was selected over other kings in the area as a British salaried civil servant. In 1921, Rujumbura became part of Kigezi district. For colonial administrative convenience, all the many tribes in Kigezi were compressed into three ethnic groups: Bakiga, Banyarwanda and Bahororo. After independence, the people of Bufumbira changed the ethnic group from Banyarwanda to Bafumbira.
In Rujumbura changing the name has not been possible because Bahororo have dominated the political theatre since independence in 1962. That is why Rujumbura people continue to describe themselves as Bahororo. Therefore there is much confusion between Bahororo proper who are Batutsi from Rwanda, a remnant of short-lived Mpororo, who are now rulers of Uganda (Yoweri Museveni and Jim Muhwezi); and Bairu who took on the name of Bahororo for colonial administrative convenience. Bairu/Bahororo people have remained poor and many have got even poorer under Museveni regime. Some Rujumbura people are beginning to describe themselves as Banyarujumbura or Banyarukungiri as distinct from Bahororo from Rwanda who settled in Nyakinengo in Rubabo via short-lived Mpororo kingdom. As noted above, Bahororo later extended their rule over Rujumbura.
On page 72 of the Report of the Uganda Constitutional Commission: Analysis and Recommendations published in 1993, something very strange is recorded there. On this page 72 there is Appendix I: Uganda’s Ethnic Composition in 1959. All the people of Rujumbura County are described as Bahororo. Rujumbura is described as a county in Rukungiri district. But Rukungiri district did not exist in 1959! Second since the 1950s, many Bakiga people have settled in Rujumbura. Have they become Bahororo as well?
The second puzzle is that the name of Mpororo is reappearing on Uganda maps without showing boundaries or the purpose. It is fine to discuss the history of short-lived Mpororo kingdom. If however, it is being discussed in terms of possible restoration, then it must be made very clear that Rujumbura County was never a part of Mpororo kingdom. Even Rubabo where they settled and are still heavily concentrated was never a part of short lived Mpororo.
While recording language groups in Uganda, Ian Leggett, correctly distinguished between Iru and Hima Banyankole. Similarly he should have distinguished between Iru and Hororo Banyarujumbura rather than write a long word of Bahororo across a large swath of space without indicating boundaries (Ian Leggett. Uganda: the background, the issues, the people 2001 page 10).
Rujumbura is increasingly becoming a troubled county because Bahororo there still think they were born to rule others in perpetuity. For this reason, Bairu have been strangled for a very long time. Now that they are beginning to find their place under the sun, they will not tolerate further subjugation.
Article I of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is clear on this point. It states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. Bahororo – the rulers of Uganda today – have to begin to learn to treat Bairu in a spirit of brotherhood, not to use their position to squeeze Bairu out of Rujumbura County or elsewhere (witness forcing Kagunga land into Rukungiri municipality without consulting people in the area who are overwhelmingly Bairu). The world has been put on notice!