Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi plants a tree during the kingdom’s annual Local Government Day celebrations at Butoolo Village , Mawokota County headquarters in Mpigi District at the weekend PHOTO BY SADAT MBOGO
As Buganda Kingdom commemorates 70 years of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, his journey resonates with a deeper unwavering commitment towards the protection of the environment through his eco-social projects, which include Bulungi Bwansi (community self-help), tree planting and hygiene and sanitation drives.
On several occasions, Kabaka Mutebi has been at the forefront advocating for the environmental conservation actions and emphasising to his subjects the need for observing Bulungi Bwansi as the only way to transform the kingdom's eco-sphere. Buganda Kingdom celebrates Bulungi Bwansi Day every October 8 in 18 counties, remembering its independence from Britain that was attained on October 8, 1962, a day before Uganda’s Independence on October 9, 1962, where they focus on community socio-transformation projects. This journey towards a greener, cleaner, healthier kingdom has been marked by key innovative initiatives, like the introduction of tree planting across all the 18 counties, termed ekibira kya kabaka, meaning kings forest, and embedding a tree as one of the gifts required for customary marriage, among many other initiatives.
While celebrating last year’s October 8 Bulungi Bwansi Day in Kyagwe County, Buyikwe District, Buganda Kingdom Prime Minister, Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, urged people to advance their perception of community self-help (bulungi bwansi) to the level of environmental protection and also to become responsible citizens suitable for nation building. “The government should reduce the price of electricity to enable our people to save the environment by using electricity for cooking as a substitute for firewood. In this 21st century, people should advance in saving the environment as well,” he added. Ms Maria Nkalubo, the minister of community self-help (bulungi bwansi), environment, water and gender in Buganda Kingdom, said the kingdom has planted thousands of trees across all the 18 counties in Buganda with the aid of sub-county chiefs and partners such as National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), National Forestry Authority (NFA), schools, among other institutions. “We have managed to achieve most of our goals in safeguarding the smart environment around the kingdom, promoting good health, and maintaining the spirit of unity among our modern people,” she said.
The origin of Bulungi Bwansi
Mr Godfrey Musisi Bbosa, a historian on Buganda Kingdom affairs, said: Bulungi Bwansi started way back during the reign of Kabaka Ttembo (around 1330-1360), the fourth king of Buganda, who introduced the culture of planting trees, cleaning roads, wells, pit-latrines, and the general sanitation that was a must for all community people in the kingdom. “Other kingdoms like Bunyoro, Toro, Busoga, started emulating the strategy since it enabled the cleaning of communities for better water wells, for clean and safe water and also promoted the sense of unity among the people since the exercise bound them all together,” he said.
Buganda's Green Revolution: Ekibira Kya Kabaka (King’s forest)
Ms Teddy Galiwango Nabakooza, the principal environment and water officer for Buganda Kingdom, said the 70th anniversary of Kabaka and Buganda Kingdom has been largely focused on safeguarding the environment, stating that the kingdom has managed to achieve tree cover restoration, creating awareness against environmental degradation. Ms Galiwango said: “We have so far restored 48 percent of green forest cover. This programme was launched in 2023. We have already planted forests in Busiro, Mawokota, Singo, Bulemezi, Buddu, Kyadondo, and Kyaggwe. This season, we aim at planting more forests in Gomba’s over 130 hectares and in Buddu’s over 30 hectares of land.” She added that in partnership with the Uganda Biodiversity Trust Fund (UBF), Absa Bank Uganda, Ministry of Water and Environment, National Forestry Authority (NFA), and Naturing Uganda, they have established nursery beds across many parts of Buganda where they distribute tree seedlings to people to plant. “On March 15, 2023, we also launched another environmental conservation programme called Nalubaale ne kiyira bebeewo (save Lake Victoria and River Nile) aimed at restoring and protecting the shores of Lake Victoria and River Nile. The initiative allows us to collect all the plastic bottles, not allowing it to enter the lake. We collect bottles and recycle them,’’ she said. She added: “On February 26, 2025, we launched Kyuusa enfuumba yo (clean cooking).
The programme is aimed at teaching people to do away with cooking using firewood and charcoal. We are promoting the use of gas to reduce deforestation, we are raising awareness among the people, and the programme is being implemented in the entire kingdom. We teach people how to make simple briquettes for cooking.” Mr Daniel Kitazze, the principal officer of Bulungi Bwansi in Buganda Kingdom, said with different stakeholders, the kingdom is implementing a policy that aims at making it a requirement that tree seedlings should be presented as gifts at all marriage ceremonies in Buganda and encourage the planting of trees at funeral rites and other functions. “We are promoting agroforestry; we are also sensitising people to plant trees while growing their crops. We are still encouraging people whenever they have space to plant trees too.
We are also promoting carbon trade so that every tree grown will be a source of income for carbon trading,” Mr Kyazze added. Ms Florence Isabella Nakku, the guild president of Muteesa 1 Royal University, highlights the significance of the Buganda tree planting campaign, stating it is a good initiative towards fostering good climatic conditions. “I also think our government has not done enough to keep this initiative. We have seen it with climate changes; currently, we are in the rainy season, but we have seen how bad it is for our brothers and sisters affected by the water in Kampala. It's with great sorrow that we are experiencing things that I would not expect in a growing country like Uganda. Moreover, in the capital city, we have seen people being taken by floods,” Ms Nakku added.
