It is believed that the Banyarwanda were smuggled into the list of the indigenous groups of Uganda by the framers of the Uganda Constitution 1995 to cater for the interest of and justify Rwandese Tutsi penetration of Ugandan politics and society, and their total capture of the State of Uganda and everything thereof. Therefore, it was an attempt to conceal the truism that Uganda was now an occupied country.by the Rwandese of Tutsi ethnicity. One school of thought argues that the Uganda Constitution 1995 is a strategy in the reconstruction of the Chwezi Dynasty in the Great Lakes Region.

With all power in the hands of President Tibuhaburwa Museveni, the school likens the president to the highly militant Chwezi King Ndahura (see below).The school of thought tries to convince thinkers that by concentrating on building a military machine the president is trying to build militarism that can extend all over the Great Lakes region.

It argues that in case he does not succeed in doing so, his son, General Kainerugaba Muhoozi, who is the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), considered to be more militant than his father, will do it. The school of thought argues that in case Paul Kagame of Rwanda does not succeed in establishing Tutsi hegemony completely over Rwanda, his son, Edward Kagame, will. Those interested in history in the making must keep themselves busy studying history as it unfolds. Later will be too late!

Collapse and disappearance of the ancient Chwezi Kitara Empire and the New Chwezi

Some authors on Chwezi dynasty claim the Chwezi Kitara Empire mysteriously disappeared – some versions claim it just vanished into thin air while others suggest he it was swallowed by the soil.

It is not clear what happened to the Bachwezi and there are many legends told about their disappearance.

There is, however, a popular belief among scholars that the Bachwezi simply got assimilated into the indigenous cultures. They resurfaced as the Bahima of Ankole and the Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi.

A prevalent hypothesis among scholars is that the Bachwezi simply integrated into the indigenous populations and became assimilated genetically and linguistically. Many scholars are convinced the descendants today comprise of Bahima of Ankole and the Batutsi of Rwanda and Burundi.

The Bahima (Hima) and Batutsi (Tutsi) share a so similar physical appearance to the Bachwezi, with an elegant, tall build and light complexion. There is little known in Uganda about the Chwezi of Malawi, northern Tanzania and Zambia although during the Chwezi dynasty, the Chwezi roamed the landscapes of those countries and extensively as their dynasty did, 

It is also said that there is a group of people in Namibia whose culture is like that of the Tutsi and Hima; meaning that some immigrants from Ethiopia ended up in Namibia. The Chwezi traditions, culture and spirituality are still revered in Ankole, Toro, Buganda, eastern Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda (Inumidun, 2024) because the Chwezi descendants live on (see Table 4). Table 4 depicts that the Tutsi and Hima are the grandchildren and children’s children of the ancient Chwezi. I should add that even in Busoga there is a Chwezi cult (Cohen, 2009) of the Igaga clan.

One characteristic of the Tutsi and Hima of today, as in the past is their love for power and wealth, including natural resources such as those of Busoga. This explains why the Chwezi grandchildren have grabbed land in many parts of Busoga where it is known gold and other rare earth minerals exist. They want all the minerals and power to themselves and the Basoga to be their workers (serfs) as the Bairu were during the ancient Chwezi dynasty and the Obugabe in Ankole and Omwami in Rwanda. It is not rare for today’s Chwezi to take up political power at all levels of society to lead the Basoga.

In Inula village of Ikumbya Subcounty of Luuka District, for example, the Local Council I (LC I) chairman is Chwezi. Many have strategised to grab people’s land legally, encouraged by power at the centre. They are exploiting the fact that Basoga are not united and have been even more disunited by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) governance method of divide and rule using bantustanisation and money as joint tools.

Wherever they existed in the past, the Chwezi established kingdoms and tended to be oppressive. This was most pronounced during the reign of the Belgian colonialists when the Tutsi established a Tutsi state that exploited the Hutus and turned them into their slave. In Uganda it was the same story in Ankole under the reign of Obugabe, where the Bantu population of the Bairu tribe was turned into a slave community and exploited for the benefit of the Hima nobility.

The Bantu community in Ankole was very happy when President Tibuhaburwa Museveni did not revive the Obugabe of Ankole. However, it is still said that it is the immigrant Tutsi in Ankole that are getting everything at the expense of the Hima and Bairu Bantu.

Nevertheless, there is talk of President Tibuhaburwa Museveni slowly building a new Chwezi Empire, perhaps more oppressive and more exploitative, using the gun as the tool of oppression. The thinking and reasoning guided by the gun culture is that the Chwezi in power in Uganda have built an army of warriors far more deadly than those of the past who used the spear and witchcraft to govern.

I should not forget to mention that in Ankole there was historically a name Kahima, from which the group called Hima was derived, meaning “cattle keepers or cattle herders. In Busoga there is the name Kaima and a clan called Baise Kaima, whose members have a build similar to that of Bahima. It is most likely that Kaima and Baise Kaima have links to the Bahima of Ankole.

Further research is needed to establish the credibility of this statement. If true then the Baise Kaima are a vestige of the Chwezi of Ankole.

Busongora Kingdom and Bunyoro Kitara

The Songora or Shongora (pl. Basongora, sing. Musongora) are also known as Kama [BaKama], Huma [Bahuma] and as Chwezi [BaChwezi or BaChwa]. Some other names given to Basongora in commentaries of explorers, missionaries and researchers include: Bagalla, Bazongora, Barondagani, and others, some of which are derogatory or of uncertain origin. The Basongora are not nomadic, despite claims to the contrary. Nomadism implies that a group entirely abandons one location and moves to another. Basongora have never abandoned Busongora. In pre-colonial times the young men and women would travel with the cows, but they always leave the elderly and the children at home in Busongora. Travelling herders always return after a while to rejoin their families. The confederacy emerged from a single Songora state that dates back to the 12th century consisted of several provinces including Kisaka-Makara, Kitagwenda, Bugaya, Bunyaruguru and Kiyanja. According to their own oral history, the Basongora emerged from the ancient empires of Shenzi/Chwezi.

Apparently, when I was growing up in the 1950s, my mother, the late Sephanie Wabiseatyo Kyabwe, introduced me to a very tall, very brown old man at a place called Namulanda in Ikumbya subcounty in present day Luuka District of Busoga. She said he was a member of her clan, the Nawamwena clan.

Now as I write this treatise and reflect on the Basongora and the truism that the Basongora and Chezi can give themselves names of the clans they penetrate and even speak their languages fluently, I am tempted to think that Mzee Nsongola – a rare name in Busoga – was a Musongora who migrated to Busoga and penetrated the Nawamwena clan. There are some writers who claim Nawamwena clan is not a truly Busoga Clan, but there are many clans of Busoga that to which immigrants belong. Apparently, my own father, the late Charles Afunaduula Ovuma who was the last Speaker of the Busoga Territory Speaker of the Lukiiko (1962-1966), got two wives from the Nsongola family, one in 1964 and another in the late 1970s.

Banyarwanda Chwezi in the Uganda Constitution 1995

The group Banyarwanda is a constitutional imposition and pollutant of the indigenous groups of Uganda.  It is believed that the Banyarwanda were smuggled into the list of the indigenous groups of Uganda by the framers of the Uganda Constitution 1995 to cater for the interest of and justify Rwandese Tutsi penetration of Ugandan politics and society, and their total capture of the State of Uganda and everything thereof. Therefore, it was an attempt to conceal the truism that Uganda was now an occupied country.by the Rwandese of Tutsi ethnicity. One school of thought argues that the Uganda Constitution 1995 is a strategy in the reconstruction of the Chwezi Dynasty in the Great Lakes Region.

With all power in the hands of President Tibuhaburwa Museveni, the school likens the president to the highly militant Chwezi King Ndahura (see below).The school of thought tries to convince thinkers that by concentrating on building a military machine the president is trying to build militarism that can extend all over the Great Lakes region.

It argues that in case he does not succeed in doing so, his son, General Kainerugaba Muhoozi, who is the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), considered to be more militant than his father, will do it. The school of thought argues that in case Paul Kagame of Rwanda does not succeed in establishing Tutsi hegemony completely over Rwanda, his son, Edward Kagame, will. Those interested in history in the making must keep themselves busy studying history as it unfolds. Later will be too late!

As stated elsewhere in this treatise the Uganda Constitution 1995, whose making was presided over by President Tibuhaburwa Museveni and involved many Rwandese Tutsis, recognises Basongora as an indigenous group.

It conceals the Hima under the indigenous “Banyankore” and the Rwandese and Burundian Tutsis under Banyarwanda. It casts all of them as indigenous groups of Uganda. It is likely the Hutu are also concealed under the Banyarwanda group, although the two groups have never seen eye to eye since the Tutsi establish their oppressive state in Rwanda during Belgian colonial rule centuries ago. Many Basoga men have married Bahima and Batutsi, thereby genetically diluting their gene pool with Chwezi blood and genes. This means that the children they sire cannot meaningfully identify themselves with the various clans of Busoga, let alone the traditions, culture and spirituality or identity of Basoga. Since children are greatly influenced by their mothers, more so today than ever before, they are likely to identify themselves more with the traditions, cultures and spirituality of their mothers. Some have ended up in Rwanda and easily become citizens there. In any case, the Tutsi have no boundaries in their minds and do not recognise and respect physical boundaries.

The “Banyarwanda” (Tutsi and Hutus) have never been and will never be indigenes of Uganda even if they are constituionalised as such. They are exogenies. The exact origin of the Tutsi people is a matter of debate, but they are generally thought to come originally from the Great Lakes Region of Ethiopia. The Tutsi arrived in what is now Rwanda and Burundi in around the 14th or 15th century. The Hutu are believed to have first emigrated to the Great Lake Region from Central Africa in the great Bantu expansion.

Various theories have emerged to explain the purported physical differences between them and their fellow Bantu-speaking neighbours, the Tutsi. In Rwanda the Tutsi is the minority (15 per cent) and the Hutu is the majority (84 per cent). The forest people – the Twa –  constitute 1 per cent of the Rwandese population. In Uganda the Tutsi constitute a population 501,000 (Joshua Project, 2024) but are the wealthiest group in Uganda and hold the instruments of power in the country. It is important that Ugandans correct this anomaly in future constitutional reconstruction to remove the distortion of Uganda’s spectrum of indigenous groups by the Rwandese Tutsis.  This is important because the Tutsi who used to roam Busoga and Buganda with their long-horned cattle, settled in many parts of the two areas. In Busoga there were sizeable population of Tutsi in Luuka, Buyende and Mayuge.

A son of a Tutsi who came to my Nawaka village in the 1960s and settled in a grass-woodland with his heads of long-horned cattle has been busy claiming that the land on which his father and family settled is his and that he inherited it from his father. He has been using all sorts of strategies, including the courts and Chwezi politicians to legally own the land. His name is Bahati. He even unsuccessfully sought to represent North Luuka constituency, which is my constituency, in parliament this term, which ends in early 2026. It is not surprising because in a well-coordinated strategy many Chwezi Tutsis are already representing constituencies in Uganda on councils and in parliament.

For example, in Buyende in the early 1990s, a Tutsi called Katongole represented the Basoga of that district in parliament (I don’t remember if Buyende was already a district or still part of Kamuli District, when it included Kaliro District as well. Recently when the Kyabazinga of Busoga married a lady from Mayuge some people claimed that she was not a Musoga but a Tutsi. They also claimed that the Katikiro of Busoga has Tutsi blood in him. Of course, they did not know that the wife of the grandfather of William Wilberforce Kadhumbula Gabula Nadiope IV, Sir William Wilberforce Kadhumbula Gabula Nadiope, was a Tutsi woman called Kantusa. I saw Kantusa many times during my youth and had no doubt whatsoever that she was Tutsi. So the dilution of Busoga traditions, culture and spirituality and disorientation of Busoga’ political development via Chwezi influence is a continuing one.

Currently, encouraged by the fact that power in Uganda is dominated by people of Tutsi/Hima extraction, the Tutsi constitute the real power in the country. Many are local council leaders at all levels of administration, resident district commissioners, institutional leaders and even represent Ugandans at local and parliamentary levels. Others sit on the bench of judges while many hold ministerial positions. Many are definitely holding big positions in the Uganda armed forces, including prisons. This means that the best paid people in Uganda tend to belong to the same ethnicity. It is more or less the same people fuelling corruption in the country.

Many are busy grabbing land in all parts of Uganda, destroying biocultural landscapes, agroecological systems and environments, reducing them to the simple grazing systems, which are alien in most parts of Uganda except Ankole. There are large numbers of people belonging to the nomadic-pastoral human energy system sought refuge and reportedly enjoy above average livelihoods compared to the Banyankole (Bairu). It should be remembered that a back migration from Rwanda brought many Tutsis back to Uganda into the area of Uganda called Kigezi.

The rise of Bunyoro-Kitara Empire: The Biito Dynasty

The beginning of the collapse of the Chwezi Kitara Empire was marked with the death of their beloved cow, Bihogo, and this came in fulfillment of a prophecy that if it died, the empire would crumble. Wamara, the last king of the Chwezi dynasty, was also said to be a weak ruler. The Chwezi believed that as a weak ruler he could not effectively defend his people from external attack, thus making the Kitara Kingdom and Chwezi dynasty vulnerable to its enemies.

Indeed, the Nilotic Luo invasion of the Kitara Empire marked the final blow to the Chwezi dynasty, leading to its eventual collapse. This was in fulfillment of an earlier prophesy that dark-skinned people from the north would invade the empire and overrun it.

The collapse of the Chwezi dynasty occurred in the 16th century. Table 4 shows some of the Babiito rulers succeeding Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom. Indeed, the Luo, under the leadership of the legendary Isingoma Rukiidi Mpuga, overran the Chwezi Kitara Empire, which had been weakened by several factors, including disease and famine around 1500 AD, causing them to flee to distant parts of the collapsed empire.

As indicated elsewhere in this treatise, some Chwezi were believed to have vanished to the underworld since they possessed a divine status. However, it is more logical to state as I have above, that they were assimilated by indigenous cultures particularly, genetically, linguistically and by dance and song, and that it was them that emerged as Bahima in Ankole and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi

It is only after the Luo conquest that Kitara Empire was replaced by the more powerful Bunyoro-Kitara Empire with the Biito dynasty with Isingoma Rukiidi Mpuga becoming the first king (Omukama) of the new Kingdom in the 16th century. Clearly the Luo invaders, like the Chwezi-Cushite before them adopted the names, traditions and culture of the Banyoro and elsewhere where they established their hegemony.

Bunyoro Kitara Empire later got disintegrated as various states broke away, thus becoming independent kingdoms and sub-dynasties. They include Ankole, Toro, Buganda and Busoga (Nabumati, 2023).  Otherwise, some Babiito Kings of Bunyoro-Kitara beyond Isingoma Rukiidi Mpuga included: Kyebambe IV of Bunyoro, 1852-1869; Kabalega of Bunyoro, 1869-1898; Kitahimbwa of Bunyoro, 1898-1902; Duhaga II of Bunyoro, 1902-1924; Winyi IV of Bunyoro, 1925-1967; and Solomon Iguru I, 1993-present. To date, there have been a total of 27 Babiito kings of Bunyoro-Kitara (see Table 4 below).

Some scholars think and reason that the current onslaughts of the existing Chwezi controlling power and the state in Kampala and their ilk in terms of land grabbing in Bunyoro and northern Uganda reflects anger that their Kitara Kingdom was felled by the Luo and replaced by Bunyoro-Kitara. This, however, requires further scholarly investigation. If true, it could explain why many areas of Uganda have been denied genuine development in favour of Chwezi developments anywhere in the country, particularly in cities and towns, where most businesses now belong to the Chwezi or Indians, Chinese and Somalis invited by the Chwezi in power in Kampala.

When I visited Iganga Municipality some time back many indigenous businessmen decried the fact that their businesses were collapsing while those of Somalis, Chinese and Indians are booming, sometimes as ventures with Chwezi. They decried the oppressive multiple taxes imposed on indigenous businesses as the businesses of Somalis, Chinese and Indians enjoy tax holidays and are given startup capital by the government using public money, ostensibly to boost foreign investment, yet government allows those baptised foreign investment to take all the money they make out of the country, thereby fuelling capital flight. The indigenous investors wonder how Busoga will develop under this kind of discriminatory stance towards indigenous investors.

This complex problem requires scholarly investigation to establish its credibility.

Many parts of Uganda are having their lands grabbed by the Chwezi and environments, settlements, sacred places and, indeed, whole biocultural landscapes are being reduced to simple grazing systems as the people are converted into internal refugees. Some land is grabbed by government for so-called foreign investors but little is contributed by the se investors to the development of Busoga in particular because they are outward looking.

Table 4: Past Babiito Kings of Bunyoro

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1. Omukama Rukiidi of Bunyoro – late fifteenth century
2. Omukama Ocaki of Bunyoro – late fifteenth/early sixteenth century
3. Omukama Oyo Nyimba of Bunyoro – early sixteenth century
4. Omukama Winyi I of Bunyoro – early sixteenth century
5. Omukama Olimi I of Bunyoro– mid sixteenth century
6. Omukama Nyabongo of Bunyoro – mid sixteenth century
7. Omukama Winyi II of Bunyoro – late sixteenth century/early seventeenth century
8. Omukama Olimi II of Bunyoro – mid seventeenth century
9. Omukama Nyarwa of Bunyoro – mid seventeenth century
10. Omukama Chwamali of Bunyoro – mid seventeenth century
11. Omukama Masamba of Bunyoro – late seventeenth century
12. Omukama Anabwani I of Bunyoro, – late seventeenth century
13. Omukama Kyebambe I of Bunyoro – late seventeenth century
14. Omukama Winyi III of Bunyoro – early eighteenth century
15. Omukama Nyaika of Bunyoro – early eighteenth century
16. Omukama Kyebambe II of Bunyoro – early eighteenth century
17. Omukama Olimi III of Bunyoro – c. 1710-1731
18. Omukama Olimi IV of Bunyoro – c. 1782-1786
19. Omukama Nyamutukura Kyebambe III of Bunyoro – 1786-1835
20. Omukama Nyabongo II of Bunyoro – 1835-1848
21. Omukama Olimi V of Bunyoro – 1848-1852
22. Omukama Kyebambe IV of Bunyoro – 1852-1869
23. Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro – 1869-1898
24. Omukama Kitahimbwa of Bunyoro – 1898-1902
25. Omukama Duhaga II of Bunyoro – 1902-1924
26. Omukama Winyi IV of Bunyoro – 1925-1967

            27. Omukama Solomon Iguru I, 1993–present

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Chwezi spirituality and its influence on cultural practices

We can say that the Chwezi Dynasty and Babiito Dynasty penetrated and distorted the local traditions, cultures and spirituality. However, for the most part, they were assimilated by the locals. There were also intermarriages, which reduced the cultural and spiritual potencies of the locals in the Chwezi and Luo areas of invasion. However, as I have shown elsewhere in this treatise, the Chwezi are represented in western Kenya by a small group of people called Bachezi or Bachetsi while in Busoga there are represented by the Igaga clan, which established its own Chwezi dynasty at Nnenda Hill in Busambira, Kigulu county of Busoga..

According to oral tradition, the Bachwezi were believed to possess a dual nature, being half divine and half human. Some accounts by scholars depict them as entities straddling the realms of the earthly and the astral, thereby blending an otherworldly essence with a terrestrial one (Inumidun, 2024). The actions of the Chwezi group have given rise to a well-established religious sect referred to as Abalanga, Abarungi or Abalangi deities (Inumidun,2024).

Chwezi healing powers

The Chwezi cult, despite its controversial reputation linked with witchcraft, is highly esteemed for its healing abilities. Unlike other traditional African cults, they focus on communicating with the dead other than offering sacrifice. By singing an anthem at night during their sessions, they reassure the public of the purity of their actions, and convey their benevolent intentions as healers and explain how recognising angry spirits can lead to healing. The effectiveness of their ceremonies lies in their unique approach of directly communicating with spirits, leading to possession for effective healing (Inumidun, 2024). The Chwezi cult’s healing ceremonies last five days, during which the cult members perform songs and dance. However, it is not only the afflicted person who is possessed by a spirit during this time. Members can also become possessed. This state is known as “being reached by the ancestors” and is at the heart of the Chwezi cult. The Chwezi cult venerates the ancestors who established the Great Chwezi Empire. They belief that their ancestors are either physically present but invisible or are observing them as gods from another realm (Inumidun, 2024). I have failed to establish to what extent the healing powers of the Chwezi penetrated the healing powers of the Basoga traditional healers.

At the start of 2003 there was a Chwezi woman called Nabasa who used the Bible to do spiritual divination. She claimed to have had a spiritual encounter with an angel in the late 1990s. She said she had the powers from the Bachwezi. She held the Bible in one hand and ministered the ancient Chwezi powers with another. Her father, Charles Gwajwa, claimed she got her spiritual powers after she died and resurrected four days later, just like biblical Lazarius who was resurrected by Jesus Christ after he had been in the grave for four days.

Resident District Commissioner Hassan Galiwango said Nabasa had taken advantage of the community’s belief in the Chwezi dynasty and its spirituality to lure them into her cult. The origins of the Bachwezi spirits are rooted in the distant past, intertwining with the history of the ancient civilisation that bore their name.

According to oral traditions, the Bachwezi were believed to be divine beings with supernatural powers and knowledge. They were credited with bringing advancement in agriculture, architecture and governance, elevating them to the status of semi-divine rulers (Jamba, 2023). The influence of the Bachwezi spirits extends beyond their mythical status. Their legacy has permeated Ugandan cultural practices, impacting rituals, ceremonies and belief systems. Even in contemporary times, their presence is felt through storytelling, music and traditional ceremonies that honour their memory and wisdom.

For God and My Country

• A Tell report / By Oweyegha-Afunaduula / Environmental Historian and Conservationist Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA), Seeta, Mukono, Uganda.

About the Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA)

The CCTAA was innovated by Hyuha Mukwanason, Oweyegha-Afunaduula and Mahir Balunywa in 2019 to the rising decline in the capacity of graduates in Uganda and beyond to engage in critical thinking and reason coherently besides excellence in academics and academic production. The three scholars were convinced that after academic achievement the world outside the ivory tower needed graduates that can think critically and reason coherently towards making society and the environment better for human gratification. They reasoned between themselves and reached the conclusion that disciplinary education did not only narrow the thinking and reasoning of those exposed to it but restricted the opportunity to excel in critical thinking and reasoning, which are the ultimate aim of education. They were dismayed by the truism that the products of disciplinary education find it difficult to tick outside the boundaries of their disciplines; that when they provide solutions to problems that do not recognise the artificial boundaries between knowledges, their solutions become the new problems. They decided that the answer was a new and different medium of learning and innovating, which they characterised as “The Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis” (CCTAA). They saw their innovation as a new opportunity to demystify disciplinary education and open up academia and society to new, interlinked knowledge and solutions to complex or wicked problems that disciplinary education cannot solve. To this end, the CCTAA promotes linking of knowledge through the knowledge production systems of Interdisciplinarity, Crossdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity and Extradisciplinarity (or non-disciplinarity), which allow for multistakeholder team knowledge production instead of individualised knowledge production, which glorifies individual knowledge production, achievement and glorification.

The issue of alternative analysis towards deconstruction and reconstruction of knowledge is taken seriously at the CCTAA. Most recorded knowledge needs deconstruction and reconstruction within the context of new and different knowledge production systems listed here in. Therefore, instead of disciplinary academics, scholars or professionals, we can begin to produce new ones. We can, for example have professors of interdisciplinarity, crossdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and extradisciplinarity or non-disciplinarity. Besides, academics, scholars and/or professionals, civil servants, researchers, etc can choose to reorient themselves via the CCTAA and become enhanced learners via the new and different knowledge systems.

It is attitudinal change to thinking, reasoning and practice in knowledge production and use towards solving simple and complex problems! We are all learning beings, and by virtue of the construction of our brains we are supposed to continuously learn and to be good at thinking correctly and reasoning effectively.  As learners who can engage in critical thinking and alternative analysis, we become more open to change and alternatives to development, transformation and progress of society, embrace change, imagine possibilities, learn through the activity of experience, and rejuvenate ourselves and ourselves continuously. The CCTAA is committed to enabling this to happen. It does not abhor resistance but creates opportunities for meaningful resistance that opens opportunities for all.