{UAH} How Prince Nyabongo of Tooro, locusts influenced Bakonzo diet

By Asuman Bisiika

In the 1980s and the 90s, there was a mad woman in Kyalhumba (Bukonzo East) called Nyanjike. As her name suggested, Nyanjike was born during the invasion of desert locusts in Kasese. Nyanjike and my mother were contemporaries; she and my mother were village mates born in Kangote during the locust invasion.

I was unable to attend my mother's burial (you know Muslims and their quickie quickie things) and all the family relied on for mother's birth year (forget birth day) was our late father's guess that the locusts invasion was in 1937. His guess was wrong because records show that the locust invasion was in the first quarter of 1933.

And so, as someone whose mother was born during the invasion of locusts of 1933, why haven't I been consulted on the fight against the latest invasion?
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One of the earliest affirmative actions in the social development of Kasese (or at least present day Bukonzo County), are said to have been the handwork of Prince Hosea Nyabongo of Tooro. He opened Nyabongo Primary School at Kanyatsi (my father's childhood village across River Muruseghe just opposite Kangote). The name of the school was changed to Kattwamake Primary School in 2000 to reflect Bakonzo nationalism. Kattwamake, of the Bakiira Clan (Totem: Buffalo), was the traditional landlord of Kanyatsi. He died in an attack by Tooro Kingdom on the palace (shrine?) of Nyamutswa. Other casualties of this attack were Tibamwenda, Nyamutswa and Kapoli (buried in a mass grave at Kagando).

The establishment of Mukunyu Primary School in 1936 (the first primary school in Kasese District) was Prince Nyabongo's idea. He was so liberal that the Catholics (the foundation body of Munkunyu Primary School) are said to have found it easy to work with him on the school founding project. Nyabongo advised the relocation of the CoU-founded Kisiinga Primary School from (the hard-to-reach) Buzira village to its present-day location in Kisiing Town Council.

But Prince Nyabongo's most significant influence was elsewhere: He is credited for the establishment of fishing villages in Queen Elizabeth National Park thereby introducing the Bakonzo to the rich fish proteins. These fishing villages are Kayanzi, Katwe, Katunguru, Kasenyi, Hamukungu and Kahendero.
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What makes the Basamia of Eastern Uganda the cleverest community in Uganda? Their staple source of protein is fish (and kawunga ya muogo). What makes the Bakonzo of western Uganda the cleverest community in Uganda? Their primary source of animal protein is fish (credit to Prince Nyabongo of Tooro).

Now dear reader, the main staple dish of the Bakonzo is fish and cassava flour. After the pain of circumcision, a bona fide Mukonzo may swear on the dietary sanctity of kayunga ya muogo and tilapia fish. A real Mukonzo will do kahunga and fish three times a day without any complaint to the gods.

But my mother told me these two food items (cassava and fish) are recent. Before the 'advent' of fish and cassava, the Bakonzo's staple food was yams and millet. 'And then the locust brought cassava and Nyabongo brought fish…' My mother said this transition (from millet and yams to cassava) took place during her youth time.

I have explained how Prince Nyabongo introduced fish to the Bakonzo. Let me explain how the locust invasion of 1933 brought cassava to the Bakonzo. My mother told me the locust invasion of 1933 left the Bakonzo so devastated that a famine ensued. And under the able leadership of the colonial administration (through the Kingdom of Tooro), a new food crop was introduced in the Rwenzoris: It was cassava. That's how Prince Nyabongo and the locusts shaped the Bakonzo's dietary profile.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East African Flagpost.

abisiika@gmail.com

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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