{UAH} Deciphering the Kinyoro names Winyi and Kac*

*Deciphering the Kinyoro names Winyi and Kac*

*By Isaac Kalembe Akiiki*

Apart from our *Empaako* (praise names or names of endearment), there is a heavy dose of Luo words in our language. 

Take, for instance, the name Winy, which has Luo roots. In Luo, Owiny is a male royal name, which means, *hear you*. That's to say *someone who hears or listens*.

However, it was corrupted (misspelled) in Runyoro-Rutooro (Runyakitara) to *Winyi*, which has an inadvertent twitched meaning.

In Luo, *winyo* is a bird; *winyi* is its plural form (more than one bird or many birds).

Therefore, our various kings who went by that name, including *Sir Tito Winyi IV Gafabusa*, should be viewed in the original Luo meaning. 

 They are (were) kings of leadership abilities, including the ability to listen.

 *Kac*. The *Nyakahuma* tree at Mubende Hill (corrupted into Luganda as *Nakayima*) is called *Kac* in Luo, meaning "a tree with medical value, usually for protection against evil and enemies".

No wonder, the history of Nyakahuma tree, which is traced to Ndahura Kaarubumbi, the first Mucwezi king, is mythical.

Many a time, the British administration at Mubende, anxious to contain the massive following that Nyanjura (the last Nyakahuma), the priestess of the Mubende shrine attracted, tried in vain to destroy it.

Many a time, they would cut its branches only to find the following day the tree intact.

After many attempts, the frustrated British gave up, nicknaming it *the witch tree of Mubende*.

Suffice to say, it was at Mubende Hill, under the shade of this tree, that Kabaleega, as head of the Kings and Chiefs of the Interlacustrine (Great Lakes) region, would hold a meeting of Kings to discuss matters of importance three times a year.

He held  the last meeting, which was attended by Kabaka Mwanga (who had just been deposed a year before), among others, in 1898.

Kabaleega, who had also been deposed by the British, travelled light and incognito, in the company of his son Tito Gafabusa (later Omukama Winyi IV Gafabusa).

After chairing the meeting, Kabaleega handed over a pouch the Babiito had inherited from the Bacwezi to Nyanjara, the Nyakahuma at the time.

It is said Kabaleega had had a premonition that his days were numbered.

After the meeting, Kabaleega and Mwanga returned to their new headquarters in Bukidi (Lango). Kabaleega's was at *Rukungu*; Mwanga's was at *Ago* (tradition forbade two or more monarchs from staying together).

Reportedly, nobody knows what the duo discussed and that nobody knows the content of that pouch (which is said to be at the Kitante-based Uganda Museum, after the British confiscated it from Nyanjara).

Ndahura had established this "shrine" as a medical laboratory to produce antgens against anthrax which had ravaged cattle in Bunyoro-Kitara.

When Ndahura abdicated the throne and headed westwards, settling in Nyakasura, he entrusted the shrine to one of his wives called *Nyakahuma* - a name that was inherited by her successors (Nyanjara being the last).

 In Luo traditions, however, *Kac* was the fence (enclosure) that used surround or enclose the family settlement.

 *Wang Kac* is the main entrance to the family settlement. 

Although Luo homesteads do not have enclosure anymore, the main entrance to any Luo homestead compound is still called *Wang kac*.

Is it any wonder that the main entrance to the royal palace in Buganda (Lubiri) and Bunyoro (Kaaruziika) is called *Wankaaki*?

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