{UAH} New Vision beat the Education Ministry-Lost ancestors of Buganda

I rest my Case ......Haji Ahmed Katerega and Yak .....I Vaz tolding
you.(indian accent) there was alot of movement. I vaz tolding you V
used to live in egypt, ethiopia.

I vaz tolding you oxford hid your history to colonise your minds.

Again the truth shall set you freeeeeeee!



Kenya's Wanga kingdom: Lost ancestors of Buganda Publish Date: Sep 16, 2013
Tweet
The great Nabongo Mumia (left) and his son, in the 1940snewvisionTweet

SUNDAY VISION


"All the nations that have ever lived have left their footprints in
the sand," wrote historian, Prof. Ivor Norman Richard Davies. He could
well have been talking about a tribe called the Wanga, (also known as
AbaWanga), the founders of the only historical kingdom in Kenya — the
Wanga kingdom, writes Joseph Batte.


The Wanga, (also known as AbaWanga), are the founders of the only
historical kingdom in Kenya, whose cultural monarch is known as
Nabongo. The Wanga number 703,000 and mainly occupy Kakamega county,
one of the most densely populated counties in Kenya.



The reigning Wanga King, Peter Shitawa Mumia II. Next to him are
portraits of his royal ancestors

Although they distinguish themselves as a different tribe, ethnically,
they are classified as Luhya, who number about 6.1million and make up
about 16% of Kenya's total population of 38.5 million. Before the
advent of the British colonialists in 1886, the Wanga kingdom was the
most highly developed and only centralised kingdom in Kenya's entire
history.

For generations, the Wanga have told their children that their kingdom
is a derivative of Buganda kingdom and that it was established by a
Muganda prince. The same information about their origins is posted on
their official and non-official websites!

Mzee Francis Batte, 71, a respected Buganda oral historian and
folklorist, confirms this piece of history. "The Wanga story is not
news to me. The Wanga were Baganda princes who left during the reign
of Kabaka Mawanda and established a kingdom in present day Kenya,"
Batte says.

The Nabongo Cultural Centre in Matungu trading centre in Kenya has
information that explains the origins of the Wanga, and has
documentation of their once glorious past. Situated just two
kilometres from Mumias town, the centre was built in 2008. It serves
as the headquarters of the Wanga kingdom, burial grounds, museum and
information centre.

Matungu is a sleepy trading centre whose tranquility is disturbed by
the buzz of trucks and tractors ferrying sugarcane to Mumias Sugar
Factory in Mumias town — both are named after the greatest king of the
Wanga, Nabongo Mumia The Great.

ORIGINS OF THE ABAWANGA

Research shows that the ancestors of the Wanga were part of the Bantu
migration out of western-central Africa around 1000BC.

Records at Nabongo Cultural Centre show that they migrated to what is
now Kenya, from Kush, North Africa from a kingdom called Misiri
(Egypt).

Ali Wamanya, the secretary general of Wanga kingdom and administrator
of Nabongo Cultural Centre, says "Nabongo" was the original name of
their kingdom, established as far back as the 4th Century while they
were still in Egypt.

However, British colonialists named it "Wanga" after the founding
father, Nabongo Wanga. Ali Wamanya says the Wanga left Egypt after a
conflict they had with the Pharaoh at the time.

"He plotted to kill our king called Makata after receiving information
that he (Makata) possessed special powers that made the land where the
Wanga lived more fertile, while the rest of the empire was often dry
and ravaged by famine," he says.

The Wanga then fled to Cameroon. "While in Cameroon, we were led by a
king called Nsimbi. After one generation, we went to Ethiopia, where
we lived for two generations.

Unfortunately, in Ethiopia, our king called Kamanyi was killed by an
antelope. Our elders advised us to leave Ethiopia. To date, it is
taboo for any Wanga person to eat antelope meat," he says.

According to Wamanya, when the Wanga left Ethiopia, they travelled to
Sudan, decided to follow the Nile and entered Uganda through Bunyoro
and settled in Buganda. "We were led by a king called Nangwela.
Records show that we lived in Buganda for five generations (150
years). When Nangwela died, he was succeeded by Kabaka Mwanga, Mbwoli,
Mwanga II and Muteesa I.

Although Wamanya does not seem to get the chronology of Buganda kings
right, his assertions confirm what historians say about the Wanga:
They were part of the migration that settled in the Central region,
around Kampala area and formed Buganda Kingdom in the 14th Century.



Wanga Kingdom's burial grounds. Thirteen of their kings are buried here.



LINKS TO BUGANDA KINGDOM

Wanga elders believe they are directly linked to the royal clan of
Buganda. "We are biologically related to the Abalangira and Abambejja,
the royal clan of Buganda. We are directly linked to Buganda kingdom,
to Muteesa, Mwanga, to the current Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda
Mutebi.

"For that reason, it is taboo for any Wanga man or woman, especially
from the Abashitsetse royal clan, to marry a Muganda from the royal
clan because we are related," Wamanya says.

WHY THE WANGA LEFT BUGANDA

In Buganda's culture, a king's brother or cousin from the paternal
line is eligible for succession to the throne and, thus, poses a
threat to the reigning monarch. This explains why succession to the
throne was always a bloody affair. Brother turned against brother and
cousin against uncle. There are two versions of the story of the
Wangas' move, but all of them point to a Muganda prince.

The first version says a Muganda prince called Kaminyi, a son of
Kabaka Mawanda of Buganda, fled to the Tiriki area in the current
Western Province of Kenya after his father was killed by a group of
Baganda princes led by his cousin Mwanga I of Buganda. There,
Kaminyi became a ruler. When he died, he was succeeded by his son
Wanga, who took the title Nabongo and established Nabongo kingdom in
the 18th Century.

Wamanya says Mwanga had two sons. One of them was called Wamoyi. There
was a quarrel between him and other princes that forced him to leave
Buganda kingdom with his supporters. He travelled eastwards, crossed
River Nile and finally settled at a place called Ibanda in Samia
Bugwe, present day Uganda. That is where he died and was buried.

In the Wanga history, Wamoyi, Mbwoli and Kamanyi, are some of their
kings who died and were buried in Uganda.

ABAWANGA IN KENYA AND KINGDOM EXPANSION



The wanga playing the Omweso game, evidence that their roots are in Uganda

Upon the death of Wamoyi, his son Mwanga III left Ibanda and went to
Maseno, near Kisumu at a place called Lela. He died and was buried
there. His son Wanga left and came to a place called Tiriki and
finally Matungu. On their way to Matungu, they rested at a place
called Ejinja, which they named after Jinja in Uganda.

On arrival at Matungu, Wanga went on to reign over a kingdom that
expanded and stretched from Jinja in Uganda to Naivasha. Later on, he
instructed his subjects to bury him at Matungu and also decreed that
Matungu would become the burial place for all other kings.

"Since then, we have had 13 kings who were buried here. They are:
Wabala, Wanga Muswi, Kibwire, Musindaalo, Kitekyi, Netia (killed by
Masaai warriors), Kitekyi, Osundwa, Wamukoya, Shuindu, Mumia the
Great, Shitawa and Peter Mumia," Wamanya says.

The formation of the Wanga kingdom led to rapid territorial and
political expansion, especially in the latter years of the 18th
Century.

There are two versions regarding the extent of the Wanga kingdom
domain during its heydays. The first version is that the Wanga kingdom
extended as far west as Buganda, as far south as Samia, as far north
as Mount Elgon and as far east as Naivasha.

The second version is that the Wanga kingdom coincided in size with
North Kavirondo, later called North Nyanza, the present day Western
Province in Kenya. Mutesa I, the grandfather of Mutebi, worked with my
grandfather, Nabongo Mumia. And he (Mutesa I) was aware of the linkage
that the Wanga have with Buganda, says the king.

WANGA KING CONFIRMS HIS BUGANDA ROOTS

His Royal Highness Nabongo Peter Shitawa Mumia II, the present king of
the Wanga, was born in a mission hospital on September 14, 1952. He is
the grandson of the great Nabongo Mumia, who ruled the Wanga kingdom
for 67 years from 1882 to 1949. He was installed as king of the Wanga
in 1974 at the age of 22, following the death of his father, Nabongo
Shitawa. His coronation as the 14th Nabongo of the Wanga took place in
2010.

LOSING THEIR GANDA CULTURE



A grass thatched hut similar to those found in Buganda Kingdom at the
cultural centre

Although the Wanga trace their origins in Buganda, they can hardly
speak a sentence in Luganda. They also do not practice commom ganda
customs. For example, their women do not kneel when greeting.

Mzee Ramathan Nyangweso Kanui, who is regarded as the historian of the
kingdom, blames the loss of their ganda culture on absorbing new
cultures while discarding old ones.

"The few Luganda words that are still part of our dialect include
Olukato (smoking pipe) and Omwami (Sir). On our way here, we met other
cultures, which we absorbed and had intermarriages with, such as the
Luo in Kisumu area. We even adopted some of their names, like Otieno.
When we met the Luhya, we adopted their culture too and began
circumcising our male.

"In Buganda, if you commit suicide you will not be buried in the
family cemetery. The body of the suicide victim is even whipped. The
Wanga used to practice the same rituals, but have since forgotten
them. A suicide victim is buried at the family cemetery and you cannot
dare whip it like you do back in Buganda.

"Our grandfathers used to tell us that while we were still in Buganda,
we washed and buried our dead in backcloth made from a tree called
Miruba (Mutuba). When we came to Kenya, we could not continue with the
practice as there were no such trees. So, we had to devise other means
of burying our dead — in animal skin. The first king to be buried in
an animal skin was Nabongo Wanga.

"When somebody died, a cousin would come and perform some rituals,
which included climbing the roof of the house to remove an object we
call Kisuli (Kasolya). Before he went away, he would be given items
like a hen or goat. I remember a cousin performing the same rituals
when my father died. This ritual is still practiced in Uganda, but
unfortunately for us, we have discarded it.

"Marriage was organised by the parents. Until recently, we also used
to celebrate the birth of twins with pomp like it is done in Buganda.

"Our children used to kneel before their elders. And when your father
died, you were not supposed to marry his widow. While it is still a
taboo in Uganda, it is not among the Wanga anymore," he says.

Kanui remembers that the Wanga carried with them the art of brewing a
banana wine commonly known as Mwenge bigere or Tonto by the Baganda.

"When the Arabs came, they told us it was bad, so we stopped brewing
it. We stopped worshiping small gods and objects like stones (lubaale)
and trees, like the Baganda still do. This is a practice that goes
back to our days in Egypt.

Like in Buganda, the Wanga also have a traditional mancala game called
Omweso, which was supposedly introduced by the Bachwezi of the ancient
Bunyoro- Kitara empire.

Although the Wanga Mweso playing board is made up of only 16 pits,
instead of 32, when playing this game, which is sometimes called
"sowing" or "count-and-capture," they use the same rules as among the
Baganda. The artifacts that have been carefully preserved at the
centre.

Continues next week...