The Buganda Kabaka

The Baganda make up largest tribe in Uganda (map on right). The Bonyoro tribe is their biggest rival (map on left).

"At its founding, the Kingdom of Buganda had only a small territory consisting of the counties of Busiro, Busujju, Kyaddondo and Mawokota; as well as small portions of Ssingo and Bulemeezi counties. Most of the surrounding territory was the dominion of the kings of Bunyoro. There was considerable rivalry between Bunyoro and Buganda, and constant fighting over territory. Gradually, Buganda was able to expand its territory at the expense of Bunyoro until it grew to the twenty counties that constituted Buganda at its pinnacle. The islands of Ssese [in Lake Victoria] were autonomous within Buganda right from its founding, being reserved as the islands of the gods. They were not directly governed by the kings of Buganda until after the 1900 agreement." Quoted from this site that has the list of Buganda counties, the chiefs and how acquired the counties.

The Baganda honored a king, the Kabaka. The last Kabaka was Mutesa II. His full name was Major General Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II aka "King Freddie." He died in 1969 in exile in London from alchohol poisoning, unable to return to his homeland where Obote was ruler.

Mutesa II became the King of Buganda in 1939 upon the death of his father. He attended Magdalene College in Cambridge England where he joined an officer training corps and was commissioned as a captain in the Grenadier Guards. At that time, Buganda was part of the British protectorate of Uganda.

In the early 50s the Brits wanted to unite their colonies (Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika) into a federation but people feared they would come under the control of Kenya's white settler community, as had happened in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The Baganda had some limited autonomy under British rule so were particularly opposed. Mutesa confronted the British Governor, saying "no way!" The latter exiled the former in 1953, creating massive protest among the Baganda which pressured Brits to let him return in 1955. After a settlement was reached, he became constitutional monarch and gave the Baganda the right to elect representatives to the kingdom's parliament, the Lukiiko. Mutesa's standing up to the Brits sure made him popular!

Mutesa II's monarchist party was called the Kabaka Yekka party and was now quite powerful. Milton Obote was leader of the Uganda People's Congress and created a coalition with the Kabaka Yekka. In 1962 Uganda became independent from Britain under the leadership of Milton Obote. Through parliamentary elections, Obote became Prime minister and Mutesa II became the first president.

The coalition between Mutesa and Obote's parties collapsed in 1964 when two counties from Buganda were transferred to Bunyoro. Things got even worse, so in 1966 Obote sent the Kabaka into exile (a dingy little London flat) and declared himself president.

Mutesa II wrote an autobiography in London called "The Desecration of my Kingdom." I bet it is a very sad book. The Buganda people loved their king very much.

Idi Amin was ruler after Obote and he arranged for Mutesa II's body to be returned to Uganda two years after his death to have a state funeral in order to win favor with the Baganda people in preparation for the next election. I think it worked.

Kabaka kings are still crowned in Buganda, in a place just 20 minutes from Kampala called Naggalabi Buddo. Oh boy, it's now a tourist spot - costs $2 to get a look. But apparently there was an interegnum, where they had no king between Mutessa II and his eldest son Muwendi Mutebi II being crowned in 1993.