{UAH} WHY THE BANYARWANDA TUTSI ARE OUTSMARTING THE BAHIMA IN MUSEVENI’S ‘MUHOOZI PROJECT’ ~ Ugandans At Heart (UAH)

Written by CHANGE OF GUARDS | 1 November 2022

**Note by Editor…. there might be a few grammar errors. We did not have a chance to proofread the post. MLN**

Muhoozi Project is a two decades old scheme by Uganda's military dictator to have his son inherit the presidency. The Bahima are a cattle keeping subethnic grouping of the Banyankole people of western Uganda. They were the rulers of the ancient Kingdom of Ankole. The Tutsi on the other hand are the cattle keeping subethnic grouping of the Banyarwanda the horse cradle is in the country of Rwanda. Since the period predating the advent of colonialism, the Banyarwanda have been settling in various places within the Great Lakes Region. In what came to be Uganda, the presence of the Banyarwanda is attributed to economic immigration, colonial boundaries and refugee situations. Although the Banyarwanda of Kisoro came to identify themselves as Bafumbira, the majority Hutu remained close to the post-independence Hutu rule in Rwanda. It's no surprise therefore that in the recent dilatation standoff between Kampala and Kigali, the Ugandan Hutu Bafumbira like Philemon Mateke, Edgar Tabaro and a couple of others were linked to Rwandan Hutu dissident groups. On the other hand the minority Bafumbira Tutsi led by Bishop Halelimana supported the Tutsi dominated RPF invasion of Rwanda in the early 1990s. It's no surprise therefore that Museveni's Mufumbira Tutsi, Gen. Kalekyezi was recently accused of working for Kigali.

The fewer Banyarwanda Hutu migrants that settled into Uganda kept a low profile and eventually assimilated with their cousins, the Bakiga while others blended with the Hutu version of Banyankole cultivators, the Bairu and some ended up settling in Buganda and becoming Baganda. The Banyarwanda Tutsi on the other hand, despite social linkages, found difficulties in assimilating with the Bahima. They instead blended well with the Bahororo and the so-called Banyarujumbura. Those who settled down in Ankole and Buddu still remotely preserved their Tutsi identity. Quite a good number of them adopted a nomadic way of life popularly known as the Balalo together with some of the Bahima nomads. In a bid to get an opportunity to forcefully return to power in Rwanda, the Banyarwanda Tutsi refugees in Uganda had always tended to get closer to all post-independence governments. The tangible opportunity presented itself in the advent of Museveni on Uganda's political scene. In his scheme to build a personal army, he gave priority to the Banyarwanda Tutsi in his post Idi Amin military outfit, FRONASA. In his five years of sectarian guerrilla war (1981 – 1986) the Banyarwanda Tutsi were at the forefront.

As the Banyarwanda Tutsi were returning to Rwanda following the successful overthrow of the Hutu dominated government in 1994, Museveni decreed a new tribe in Uganda called Banyarwanda the following year.

Since all of Uganda's indigenous ethnic communities are tagged to a specific geographic area, Museveni's new tribe of Banyarwanda embarked on the scramble to secure a geographic area for themselves. This set in motion the ongoing scramble for land that is popularly known as 'Land Grabbing.' Using their privileged political and economic status, the regions of Tooro, Bunyoro and Buganda have fallen victim to land grabbing. However, the development has pitted them against the affected ethnic communities more especially in Buganda. Consequently, they have developed a feeling of greater attachment to the Museveni presidency that they perceive to be the guarantor of their existence in Uganda. On the other hand, Museveni who claims to be a Muhima has always had trouble in securing acceptance as one of their own. In order to draw the loyalty of the Banyankole, he deliberately blocked the restoration of the Kingdom of Ankole. Historically, the elite Bahima community viewed him as a commoner and a stranger in their social setting. They accused him of being a vagabond who caused the death of their sons during his opposition to the Idi Amin regime. During the 1980 general elections, the Bahima stronghold of Nyabushozi humiliatingly rejected him in preference of their own, Sam Kutesa of the DP. They accused him of being a stranger and troublesome. To further disown him, they went ahead to slash down his maize plantation in Kanoni, Kazo.

When he took to the bush for his sectarian Bush War (1981 – 1996), the majority well established Bahima families shunned him and that is why there was no single Muhima on the original top organs of his NRM. In the same regard, the Bahima who joined him in his sectarian Bush War suffered some level of contempt at the hands of his much preferred Banyarwanda and their Bahoro and the so-called Banyarujumbura cousins. The Commander Sam Magara led faction of Bahima commanders was systematically neutralised. By the time he captured power in 1986, it was only the Bahima faction under Gen. Ssejusa that was still presenting some challenge to Museveni's leadership. After he captured power, some opportunistic Bahima more especially the nomads rallied behind him while the traditionally elite and wealthy Bahima families maintained their reservations. Museveni has repeatedly expressed the level of the said contempt by the Bahima;

"…….they wanted us to stay around in the regime of Idi Amin working for the killer regimes so as to create wealth and assist our relatives. Some feared that our resistance would provoke Amin into killing them. They therefore called us vagabonds.".

Museveni – June 2, 2007

The latest was contained in his recent eulogy for Gen. Tumwine;

"….. Don't worry about those Ugandans. When we were fighting Amin. Many were calling us vagabonds."

It was the same elite Bahima like Hon. Winnie Byanyima and Gen. Ssejusa who first highlighted concern over Museveni's initial schemes to have his son, Gen. Muhoozi inherit the presidency of Uganda. To this day, the same elite Bahima elites perceive the same ongoing manoeuvre as having the potential of landing their community in trouble post Museveni era. That's why the Bahima don't feature so much in the ongoing promotion of Museveni's Muhoozi Project. Instead, it's the Banyarwanda who are at the forefront of the same scheme. Among the top Banyarwanda promoters of the scheme are;

Paul Kagame – Chief Project Guarantor
Tomas Tayebwa – Defactor Speaker of Parliament
Frank Tumwebaze – Minister of Agriculture
Pastor Bugingo – the scheme's High Priest
Anderson Burora – De Facto RCC Kampala
David Kabanda – M.P Kasambya
Gen. James Birungi. – CMI
Frank Gashumba – King of Abavandimwe
Jotham Taremwa – E.C Spokesperson
Obed Katurebe – Ug Media Centre
Susan Kushaba – Head of Kampala markets
Kin Karisa -. CEO Next Media
Dan Kimosho – M.P Kazo country
Moses Karangwa – lead land grabber

Therefore, the Banyarwanda Tutsi in Uganda have created for themselves a situation of feeling that the Museveni regime is their own and it's only succession by his son, Gen. Muhoozi that preserves the status quo.

Allaah gives the best to those who leave the choice to Him."And if Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it but He, and if He touches you with good, then He is Able to do all things." (6:17)

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