Politics

Paradoxically in the initial period of colonisation, the Catholic church played midwife to Tutsi privileges. However, during the 1950s the church became solid supporter of the Hutus. The volte face of the church began in the late 1930s with the change in the character of the Belgian priests then coming into Rwanda. They were mainly from the region of Belgium called Wallonia.

The second aspect of Rwanda, which attracted Museveni’s yellow bus, was the Tutsi question. Ever since the 1959 revolution that ousted the Tutsis from power and sent a sizeable portion of them into exile, the Tutsis have aspired to get back to power and those in exile to go back to Rwanda. There is a strong belief in certain circles that Museveni is himself a Tutsi.

In 2012, Museveni and Kagame met members of the Banyarwanda community in Uganda (UMUBANO) at State House in Kampala. They were feuding over leadership with one faction that recognised Donant Kananura while another one recognised Dr Eric Kyamuhangire who also doubles as a senior presidential advisor on culture. The Kananura group was accused of extorting money from Kagame under the guise of assisting Banyarwanda in Uganda. Museveni promised to mediate in resolving the leadership wrangles. On his part, Kagame advised the Banyarwanda not to focus on those small issues of leadership but work for the development of the two countries.

By 1991 it is estimated that Banyarwanda in Uganda were 1.3 million out of a total population of 18 million in the country. Of these, 450,000 were Ugandan indigenous Banyarwanda who became Ugandans after Kisoro became part of Uganda in 1918 and 650,000 were the Banyarwanda economic immigrants who came to look for work and a few who came to look for pasture for their cattle between 1926 and 1959 of whom 84,000 were the Banyarwanda Tutsi refugees registered under UNHCR.