59 years of thatching royal tombs

From Buganda to Bunyoro, all the way up to Tooro, he went there, studied and roofed them. The inside of different royal palaces and royal tombs in Buganda, Mparo in Hoima and Karambi in Kabarole, he has thatched them all. For more than half a century, Christopher Kawooya, popularly known as Wabulakayole, has thatched and maintained the resting places and palaces in Buganda, Bunyoro and Tooro.

He is the chief thatcher in the ongoing reconstruction of Kasubi Tombs. The tombs’ compound is his office. Here, he sorts through a heap of spear grass. This is a trade he learnt from his father Daudi Luyombo who was a Buganda royal palace chief thatcher.

Kawooya’s 59 years’ work in the Buganda palace is not accidental. He says in the Ganda culture, his clan is responsible for thatching the palace’s royal houses and resting places of the deceased kings. “We members of engeye (Colobus Monkey) clan are responsible for this kind of work, and I have passed on the skills to my children before retiring just like my father did.”

Kayole (short for Awabulakayole) as he is known at Kasubi Tombs, was born in 1932 in Namirembe hospital (Mengo) to Daudi Luyombo and Norah Namugambe and raised in Masanafu, a Kampala suburb.

“I learnt from my father, who was the chief thatcher in Buganda Kingdom. Besides, our houses those days were grass thatched. In 1955, he introduced me to the palace work when they were preparing for the return of Sir Edward Mutesa from exile.”

The 1955 preparation was Kawooya’s break through. Since then, he has never looked back. He says after thatching Mwanga house in 1955, two years later his father took him to Bamunanika to thatch Kasanga House, one of the official houses in the Bamunanika palace in Luweero District and a year later he was taken to Ewamala in Wakiso to thatch Batandabeezala house.
Thatching, he says, is more than putting grass on a roof as seen from outside.

“The most serious work is the weaving of the reeds to form a base on which the grass settles. If the reeds are not properly woven it will affect how the outermost appearance will look like.” Kayole says it was him who prepared all the 1993 coronation shrines in Nagalabi coronation site and all other ritual houses that were used during the coronation.

Materials and thatching rituals
Thatching royal houses takes more than the spear grass and the reeds. There is a host of other local materials used which are all locally acquired from the forests, and jungles. However, some materials hardly have an English equivalent, and these include, Ebinsambwe, Obukindukindu, Amavuvuma and enjulu used to make ebizizi.

The grass used in the thatching is called esubi esenke (spear grass) and it is cut by men only. “Formerly local chiefs used to sound the local drum (Gwanga mujje) to mobilise men to cut the grass and the reeds needed for the thatching.” Kayole however explains that there is no particular pattern followed while cutting the grass provided it is mature enough and men do the job.

Kayole says in the different palaces, the Saza chiefs across the kingdom mobilise and raise the required materials in terms of reeds and grass. In the case of reconstruction, contractors go out and get the grass from where they are able to find it in good amounts.

“The grass I use was brought from Buyaga in Bunyoro and the reeds from Kyegegwa District. That is where the contractors could find huge chunks of grass and reeds unlike Buganda, the land has been cultivated and such materials are scarce. We need tonnes of grass and reeds,” Kayole explains.

Once the grass is delivered to the site, it is sorted, tied into two different bundles and sizes; a big and small one. The tied up grass is then left out to dry before it is put to use. “We use dry grass because if used when fresh, it shrinks as it dries and this creates gaps and gulleys.”

The small bundles tied in a conical shape at the bottom end are used to do finishing in the thatching process, while the big bundles are the ones that are used to do the bulk of the roofing. They form the base on the woven reeds and the small conical bundles are fixed in to fill the gaps.

During the roofing process, the bigger bundles are laid out first on the woven reeds to form the base. “Once the base is firm, we start inserting the small bundles which act as finishing on the roof. These small ones are the ones that fill in the uneven parts in the big bundles.” Kayole explains besides being used as a base for the roof they are also used as ceiling boards.

Interaction with spouses and price
When the roofing starts, men are forbidden from sleeping with their wives. To enforce the rule, Kayole says all those working stay under one roof and are prohibited from going to their homes until the work is complete.

Kayole, however, adds:“Everything has changed with the times. Every Saturday evening, workers are allowed to go home after work and they must return the next day in the afternoon. This enables them to take provisions to their families, but it was not the case in the past. Then, people survived on farming unlike today, where majority get their food from the market.”

During his father’s time, thatching royal houses was an honour thus had no price tag. In return, the king would reward his men with pieces of land. “My father was given two square miles of land in Namutamba as a token of appreciation by the king. Besides, such gestures of gratitude from the king, workers received food and once the work was done, they retired to their homes.”

However, in the absence of gifts such as land from the palace, there was change in the tradition that these people are now given a token of appreciation in form of cash but not as a wage or pay for the work done.
“My boys and I, while doing our job in the different kingdom palaces, we don’t put a price tag to the work. We are given just an allowance,” says Kayole.

However, he explains, in the on-going reconstruction of Kasubi tombs, it’s a different arrangement as the external contractor pays him like any other employee on the site.

“Since the rebuilding is in the hands of a commercial contractor, it’s him who pays my boys and I.” On the construction billboard outside the palace, Wakulakayole is listed as one of the people involved in the reconstruction of the tombs.

Change of guard
During the country’s turbulent years when traditional leaders and their places were not recognised, Kayole’s expertise was hired by the central government to look after the Kasubi tombs from 1968 when it was handed over to the ministry of tourism and antiquities.

“I was appointed the government’s chief grass thatcher in 1968 with a Shs 150 salary per month. During Amin’s time, I was taken to work on [Omukama] Kabalega’s tombs in Mparo. When the Batooro were restoring their cultural sites they took me to work on their sites at Karambi in Kabarole and Kyenjojo Districts.”

The stint
During the 1970s, Kayole says the then minister of tourism and antiquities, Maj General Francis Nyamgweso, took him to Lagos Nigeria during the Heart Beat of Africa expo to thatch the Uganda House. However in 1992, he clocked retirement age and had to leave civil service.

“When I retired from government, they did not have anyone to replace me. I was retained on contract basis but in 1993, I decided to leave and concentrate on serving the kingdom. I was put in charge of rehabilitating the Muzibu Azalampanga until it caught fire. The last time I had retouched the roof was in 2000.”

Currently, Kayole employs 40 grass thatchers who help him to not only do work for Buganda Kingdom but also stints elsewhere.

“Besides my five sons, I have trained many others who are working with me. My movement is limited due to advanced age. My colleagues move most especially to do the commercial work. But during times of palace work we suspend all commercial work.”

Other palaces Kayole has worked on
Magonga on Mityana road for Kabaka Kintu
Sentema for Kabaka Kiyemba VI in Wakiso.
Dambwe for kabaka Kigala in Luweero.
Kyebando for kabaka Kyabagu in Wakiso.
Bamunanika for kabaka Mutesa II in Luweero
Banda (Kireka) for Kabaka Mutebi
Nagalabi (Masaka Road) ahead of the coronation in 1993.