Why it is hard to forget the ill-treatment of Bairu in Uganda
Some of the readers of my article on “Why Bahima will not marry Bairu women” and Ms. Phionah Kesaasi’s response titled “Bahima-Bairu theory is short on evidence” have advised that we forget Bahima-Bairu antagonism and move on. Others including Kesaasi have wondered “why a highly educated man like Kashambuzi” should spend time on minor issues like intermarriage. Here are some reasons why I have difficulties forgetting the past which has crept into the present.
First, in 1863, John Hanning Speke, a British explorer, wrote that he was told by Bahima (Wahuma) that all the people who occupied their land bordering Victoria Lake were given the name of Wiru (Bairu) or slaves. Bairu had to supply Bahima with food and clothing etc. Speke’s book was reprinted in 2006 and has become a text book in schools and universities around the world.
Because of comprehensive intermarriages (both ways) between Bahima and Bairu in Bunyoro, Toro and Buganda the ethnic differences have disappeared and people in these areas are living in relative peace with one another. Sadly in southwest Uganda (in former Ankole and Rujumbura of Rukungiri district where the limited intermarriage has been one way, the inter-ethnic or inter-tribal antagonism has remained very strong – let us be honest about it.