Mwanga: Sweet sinner or savage saint?

His shrewd father left him shoes he could not fit in, he was only 16 and imperial powers were at the time sharpening their teeth to finally devour his kingdom. But having picked a few lessons in politicking from his father, Mwanga sought to entrench his Kabakaship by furthering Mutesa I’s political games - playing the Protestants, Muslims and Catholics against each other.

Following the executions of several Christian converts on the orders of a bedridden Mutesa I, the Catholics had, in 1882, fled Buganda for the south of Lake Nalubaale in Tanganyika. Despite full knowledge of the corrosive effect that foreign religions had had on Buganda, Mwanga called back the Catholics, in an attempt to win favour.

Prof. Samwiri Lwanga Lunyiigo in Mwanga II, quotes Father Simeon Lourdel’s July 1885 letter to Cardinal Lavegerie, saying: “Mwanga received us very warmly: he seems to be genuinely interested in us.”

Unknown to Father Lourdel and his group, Mwanga’s ‘warmth’ would soon wane as foreign religion started to eat up the loyalty of his pages. Mwanga ordered them to revert to the traditional beliefs or face death. When the pages turned a deaf ear to Mwanga’s calls, his desperate acts would soon befall the converts.

Two months into his reign, and oblivious of the negative reactions from imperial powers on his action, Mwanga censured all foreign religions, labelling them dangerous and destructive to Buganda. He saw the burning to death of three Christian converts; and also ordered the capture of Alexander Mackay and two of his fellow Protestant missionaries.

Three years after ascending the throne in 1884, Mwanga had ordered the burning of 45 of his pages; 32 of the murdered converts would later gain worldwide recognition as the Uganda Martyrs.

The executions, including of Bishop James Hannington in 1885, alarmed the Protestants and Catholics, who despite their potent religious disputes, allied to dethrone Mwanga; and they did on August 2, 1888 with the help of the Muslims.

By the time of his first ouster from the throne, Mwanga had no major group to support him. The Muslims were not on his side, after he refused to convert to Islam; the Christians didn’t shield his back either—for ordering several executions; and the Traditionalists, convinced that the small pox ravaging the kingdom then was a result of neglect of traditional cultures and beliefs, had little faith in the king.

The most crucial threat to Mwanga’s reign would, however, be the Europeans, who had the same year he ascended the throne in 1884, met in Berlin, Germany, to allot Africa among themselves. Although he knew that the ‘white man’ was intent on ‘eating’ his kingdom, Mwanga was clueless about the extent of their imperial appetite and greed.

That’s why, by falling out of favour with the foreign religions, Mwanga had shot himself in the foot and opened the door for the forces behind each of those sects, to meddle in his kingdom’s affairs and use his own subjects to unseat him.
After his deposition, Mwanga was replaced by his brother Kiweewa—but just like his brother, Kiweewa refused to face the circumcision knife and the Muslims - the strongest group then, united to depose him, 40 days into his reign.

The Muslims could have scored a major political goal when they converted Mwanga’s brother Kalema to Islam and installed him on the throne. Their mistake, however, was to underestimate the ability of a ‘cowardly’ Mwanga to liaise with the Christians to reclaim the throne.

Following the brief ‘marriage of convenience’ among the Christians, Protestants and Muslims that saw Mwanga’s first ouster, each of the sects were now on their own---baying for Buganda.

Strategic blunder
Reaching out to the Catholic mission in Tanganyika, Mwanga pledged to restore religious freedom if the missionaries helped him regain his throne. Taking the new alliance with the Catholics, Mwanga, albeit facing resistance and defeat by the more organised Muslims earlier, managed to regain his throne in October 1889.

Despite his re-ascension to the throne, Mwanga owed his victory to the Catholics. But despite his diminished control over the kingdom, the Kabaka made another mistake by inviting representatives of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC), which held a royal charter over (B)uganda and were ready to ‘help’ Mwanga govern.

The worse was still to come for Mwanga. Kalema, who had in October 1889 been toppled by his brother, had been restless, seeking the help of Mwanga’s foe - Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro to unseat his brother. Seizing the opportunity to impose a client regime in Buganda, Kabalega supplied men, equipped with 300 guns and by November, Mwanga was sent fleeing from his throne again.

For the second time, the king sought foreign support to regain the throne. Writing to Fredrick Jackson of IBEAC, Mwanga had promised general concessions in exchange for assistance. But when the help didn’t come through immediately, Mwanga and his men, whom he had kept alive and strong at his hideout in Bulingugwe Island, speared their way to victory to Buganda again –in December 1889.

That victory could have ensured the reorganisation and entrenchment of Mwanga’s power in Buganda, but imperial powers who had long decided Buganda’s fate, had a surprise for Mwanga. When the British soldier Frederick Lugard arrived in Buganda, the Maxim gun he carried along and his company of Egyptian and Sudanese troops, would forever tilt Buganda’s political power control in favour of the ‘white man’.

When Mwanga gave up resistance to sign an agreement with Lugard—a deal that gave IBEAC control over (B)uganda - the country’s fate had, in 1890, been sealed and so was Mwanga’s authority.

It was those mistakes that would on April 1, 1893, see Sir Gerald Portal raise the Union Jack over Mengo, marking the colonisation of Uganda.

As Prof. Lunyiigo notes in Mwanga II: Resistance to Imposition of British Colonial Rule in Buganda 1884-1899, Mwanga was uncompromising on Buganda’s independence but was no longer in a position to guarantee it.

However, even as various literature highlights many flaws in Mwanga’s rule, it would be unfair to disregard the fact that he too was ‘a man who was sinned against’, as T.B. Fletcher notes in Mwanga: The Man and His Times.

Prof. Lunyiigo also notes that Mwanga was neither against Western civilisation of Buganda, nor was he against his subjects subscribing to foreign religions. What he was against was “to be under the thumb of any one party and believed he could be above the party political fray”.

“The impression has been created by some writers that Mwanga did not like Europeans. This is false. For example, Mwanga was a great friend of Charles Stokes, a relapsed missionary; what he hated was the imposition of foreign rule over his country. On this there would be no compromise irrespective of who and wherever it was to be imposed from,” notes Prof. Lunyiigo.

“He was not against the modernization of Buganda; he was not an atavistic knave. And all his adversaries understood this but used whatever propaganda they could to destroy him.”

Belated revolt
Contrary to beliefs that Mwanga was a coward compared to his astute father Mutesa I, the king’s daring escape from a German jail in Mwanza and his resistance against signing an agreement with Lugard, were indications of his determination to fight for Buganda.

Nonetheless, the forces of imperialism, the contributions of divide and rule in weakening loyalty to his kingdom, and the influence of foreign religions notwithstanding, Mwanga’s attempt at a conformist warfare against a well-trained and armed enemy, contributed to his defeat.

His belated revolt against colonial rule together with Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro, could have loosened the grip of colonialism. However, when the British regained their military strength and quelled the Sudanese army mutiny, the two kings became more exposed and vulnerable.

A betrayal by their Langi and Bakedi allies, saw Mwanga and Kabalega captured by the British troops and exiled to the Seychelles Island where their lives and political influence would inevitably end.

Kabaka Mwanga’s biography

Born in Nakawa in 1868, Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa’s mother was the 10th wife of Kabaka Mutesa I’s reported 85 wives.
He was 16 when he ascended the throne and struggled to contain the foreign influences that bore on his kingdom.
He is best known for his order to have the martyrs executed – as well as his alleged bisexuality – which sparked off a series of events that led to his dethronement by the missionary groups.
He was captured and exiled to the Seychelles Island in 1899. While there, Mwanga was baptized with the name Danieri (Daniel) in the Anglican Church.
He died in exile in 1903, aged 35 and his remains buried at Kasubi tombs in 1910.
[Source: Monitor]

Continues tomorrow

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