The Politics of Martyrdom

"When I die it will be the end of the kingdom of Buganda. Europeans will take over (eat) this country of mine."

Mwanga II, 1898, prior to joining forces with Kabalega II

[LONG POST ALERT]

Greetings. A Song of Ice and Fire provided a revival in interest in medieval history, as George R.R. Martin borrowed heavily from real life events in medieval Europe, particularly the War of the Roses. In the book series, readers eventually learn that Robert's Rebellion the fulcrum of the narration was "based on a lie". 

The same can be said about the period 1884-1899 in the history of Buganda. The history passed down in the canons from this period has been powered by propaganda, imperial interests and self-aggrandizement on ghe part of the collaborators and their colonial masters. Prof. Semakula Kiwanuka and Dr. Samwiri Lwanga Lunyiigo have made great strides in trying to address the factors that led to the civil wars at the end of the nineteenth century. I have shared an excerpt, abridged, from Lunyiigo's Mwanga II: Resistance to Imposition of British Colonial Rule in Buganda. He asserts the correlation between imperial ambitions of European countries and the martyrdom in Buganda.

Mwanga was suspicious of the intentions and activities of missionaries. First and foremost, Mwanga and the missionaries were competitors for the attention and service of the same people, the pages, who absented themselves from services at the Kabaka's palace to 'read' and serve at the Catholic mission at Lubaga and the Protestant mission at Nateete. Indeed Mwanga asked the few pages that were taking liberties to serve the missionaries and absent themselves from the palace:

"Who is your King or are the Europeans the masters of Buganda."

Secondly, the most trusted  and closest servants of  Mwanga were now acting  as stool pigeons for the missionaries including his own Chief of Intelligence, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe. State secrets were immediately passed over to the  missionaries.

Thirdly, Mwanga did not know exactly what the 'Readers' were being taught. Was it the usual alphabet and the gospels or was there more to this ‘reading’ than met the eye? It is possible that Mwanga had his own spies spying on the missionaries and relaying information to him. Missionaries had arms and ammunition. Was it not possible for them to train and arm the 'Readers' to forment trouble in the country and take it over? After all Mwanga was very well aware that Europeans were closing in on the country. The arabs faithfully informed him of what was happening outside Buganda. Therefore, at some point Mwanga had to throw down the gauntlet, those for him and the country on one side, and those for the Europeans on the other side.

Mukasa [Nsimbe], the Katikkiro, played a major role in the Readers' fate. All the missionaries were agreed that Mukasa hated them and he was a very powerful man in Buganda up to the end of 1888 when Kalema took power.

Kabaka Mwanga

 

Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, whom Katikkiro Mukasa regarded as Mwanga's favourite and a possible replacement for him as Katikkiro, was executed at Nakivubo on the 15th November 1885 at the behest of Katikkiro Mukasa and by the time Mwanga learnt of what the Katikkiro had done to his rising star, Joseph, the sentence had already been carried out.

Mwanga had had Nyonyintono castrated for absenteing himself from the palace and for not properly performing his duties; he had himself beaten up and stabbed Apollo Kaggwa for entrusting hisgun to an inexperienced gun bearer Ntanda who lost it in the water when they went hippo hunting in Lake Nalubale. If both Nyonyintono and Kaggwa had died, since they were 'Readers', they would have qualified for martyrdom!

When Mwanga on that fateful day at Munyonyo asked his people to form two lines, that of 'Readers' and others, thirty 'Readers' stepped forward. ... So before the 25th of May 1866, the red flag was up and anybody who cared to hide or run away had ample time in which to do it and many run or hid and survived.

Indeed there is biblical justification for this course of action. In Matthew 10:23 Jesus told his disciples:

"When they persecute you in this city flee to another ..."

Many who knew the scriptures hid or fled; they included Zakariya Kizito Kisingiri (who became a regent of Buganda during the minority of Kabaka Daudi Chwa), Paul Bakunga, Battulumayo Musoke Zimbe (later a priest), James Miti and Joseph Kaddu. All these became important chiefs and pillars of the Anglican church.

Inadvertently, the missionaries courted martyrdom for their charges. Rev. Ashe and Alexander Mackay wrote a letter to Christians in May1886 which encouraged them to become martyrs.

"Our beloved brethren do not deny our Lord Jesus and He will not deny you on that great day when He shall come with glory. Remember the words of our Saviour, how He told His disciples not to fear men who are only able to kill the body, but He bid them to fear God who is able to destroy the body together with the soul in the fire of Gehenna."

After the Namugongo inferno (3rd June 1886), the surviving converts asked their priests whether they should go into hiding or not but the priests did not answer. All these men of God knew the scriptures very well. Disciples of Jesus Christ denied him, the main example being Simon Peter ... Peter denied Jesus and was elevated to sainthood!

Between 25th May and 2nd June 1886 Namugongo execution centre was being prepared to receive the 'Readers', and it was a slow movement of the condemned from Munyonyo to Namugongo. There was, therefore, ample time for men with the Christian zeal of Lourdel and Mackay to join those they had taught to Namugongo and to the pyres. Why did these zealous missionaries not offer themselves for martyrdom along with the 'Readers' whom they urded to be steadfast? Why did they not make the ultimate sacrifice? First, they understood the teachings of Christ very well, but even more important, there was a definite link between the martyrdom of the 'Readers' and imperialism.

One way to establish a sphere of influence was to have one's nationals, missionaries, traders, etc., in an area and by dint of the presence of missionaries, Buganda was clearly a sphere of British influence. France to which the WHite Fathers belonged was never a major player in the region. So if the missionaries could show that their converts were in danger of persecution and annihilation then in the goodness of time the government where the missionaries came from would rush in and establish control and end the 'persecution' or annihilation. The White Fathers whose country, France, did not have a great stake in East Africa should have saved their followers from the Namugongo inferno.

On the depth of the faith of the 'Readers' Mackay makes an interesting comment:

"Reading a book is by no means adopting the religion of the book. Everyone who reads the New Testament is not necessarily a Christian nor is everyone who reads the Koran a Mohammedan.  Many a life has been lost in this country [Buganda]for learning no more than the alphabet."

We are also told that many of the best converts lay hidden and were not caught, like Dutta, Sembera and others. Why? Because they understood the gospel better than those who gave themselves up. And there were those who were consumed by the fires of Namugongo who were caught in the dragnet including non Christians.

One hundred and thirty one years (at the time of writing this book) after the introduction of Christianity in Buganda there are many Christians with one leg in Christianity and the other in Traditional Religion.How much did Christians understand Christianity in Buganda only seven and nine years after it was introduced? Martyrdom at Namugongo thus represented the lowest point in Christian leadership of the time. The Christian leaders should have prevented the glorious thirty from forming that tragic line at Munyonyo.

If Mwanga persecuted Christians per se it is difficult to explain why Christians became pillars of his administration after the Namugongo inferno. Mwanga had the capacity to kill and disperse all of them; why did he not? He was either naive or too trusting. He could not believe that these Abaana of whatever faith they were (whom he had granted freedom of religion) could betray him and give the country to Europeans. He was to pay heavily for this trust.

Writing over sixty years after these events, Mwanga's grandson, Mutesa II, commented;

"Mwanga fought to free himself and his country of the intruders for all his reign. He did not like or want them; he was impressed by their power, but not interested in their ideas. He could not recover the old way of life nor adapt himself to the new, and in his perplexed and unhappy groping in the gap between he seems to me to deserve some sympathy."

Perhaps we should rename it Mwanga II Day!

Ceteris. Paribus.

Further Reading

Cardinal Nsubuga, Obulamu bwa Mapera Omutume wa Uganda, 1853-1890

Gray, J. M. (1950). "The Year of the Three Kings of Buganda". Uganda Journal, 14, 15-52. 

Joire. (1952). Abajulizi Abakatoliki Abe Buganda.

Katende, J.L. (2004). Bakabaka Ba Buganda Okuva Ku Kyabaggu Okutuka Ku Mutesa II. Kampala

Lwanga-Lunyiigo, S. (2011). Mwanga II: Resistance to Imposition of British Colonial Rule in Buganda, 1884-1899. Kampala: Wavah Books. Chapter 2: Mwanga - Prelude to Betrayal, p.54 

Mackay, A. M. (1890). Pioneer Missionary of the Church Missionary Society to Uganda. By his Sister.

Mutesa II. (1967). Desecration of my Kingdom. Constable.

Kiwanuka, M. S. (1969). Background to the Martyrs: A Reprint of Kabaka Mwanga and His Political Parties. Uganda Society. 

Thoonen, J. P. (1941). Black Martyrs. Sheed & Ward. 

Waliggo, J. M. (1976). The Catholic Church in the Buddu Province of Uganda 1879-1925, unpublished Ph. D (Doctoral dissertation, thesis, Cambridge).

Zimbe, B. M. (1939). Buganda ne Kabaka. Typescript translation, Buganda and the King.