By Mulengera Reporters
Led by their Lwomwa (title for clan leader), Ndiga/sheep clan leaders on Friday convened a news conference at Hotel Africana in Kampala to announce the upcoming Ndiga Kibuuka Community Museum Cultural Dinner.
Slated for Friday 18th July, the fundraising dinner is aimed at creating awareness about the heroic warrior Kibuuka Omumbaale was during Buganda Kingdom expansionist wars of conquest.
Originally, he hailed from Ssese Islands where then Kabaka Nakibinge specifically sent for him to come and boost Buganda Kingdom’s wars of conquest against Bunyoro. Besides military prowess on the battle , which saw him lead the manufacturing of spears and protective shields, Kibuuka Omumbaale (aka Kyobe Ky’omubaazi) also possessed spiritual powers which he used to boost the morale of fighters in Kabaka’s army.
Oweek Joyce Nabossa Ssebugwawo, who was flanked by Kaweesa Bulacio Tonny and Lwomwa (aka Eria Lwasi Buzaabo) narrated how Kibuuka Omumbaale commanded successful wars of conquest which enabled and resulted into Buganda Kingdom conquering and annexing additional territory including what became Buddu County besides the lost Counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi which Obote I’s 1964 referendum returned to Bunyoro.
The assembled media reporters were told how Kibuuka Omumbaale’s supernatural powers and exploits on the frontline for long remain a big cause of concern and worry among the leadership of ancient Bunyoro Kingdom and the British colonialists who years later became rulers of Uganda.
Ssebugwawo explained that, having failed to overcome him on the battle field, the British worked with Banyoro leaders and planted a very beautiful young woman through whom they spied and got to know the source of Kibuuka’s supernatural powers. It’s was through that successful spying through that beautiful young woman, who had become his mistress, that Kibuuka’s invincibility on the battle field was unmasked and destroyed.
He was captured and killed during one of Buganda’s wars of expansion and Ssebugwawo explained that, to demystify his invincibility as a battle-hardened Muganda General, the British preserved and flew his remains to London where it was kept in a museum up to 1987 when the remains were returned to Uganda and is currently being kept at Uganda museum in Kamwokya.
The return of the remains resulted from sustained pressure that was mounted by then powerful Museveni Minister (and renowned Ganda nationalist) Abu Mayanja Kakyama.
Now Ndiga clan leaders and members want the remains to be given to them for depository at their clan headquarters in Mbale, one of the many hills in Mpigi district, which is the headquarters of their clan.
Ssebugwawo, who is a much revered Ndiga clan elder and advisor to Lwomwa, said there is a lot of rich history about the heroic warrior Kibuuka Omumbaale was. They want all this history plus the remains kept at the clan headquarters to amplify the Ndiga clan top leadership’s efforts to cash in on cultural tourism.
Minister Ssebugwawo made it clear that the contemporary Ndiga clan leadership wants to leverage that rich history, have it documented and publicized. The Kibuuka remains are to be kept and conspicuously displayed at the clan headquarters on Mbale hill where the Ndiga Kibuuka Community Museum is already being constructed.
It will be a modern facility with a museum, recreation facilities and accommodation where tourists and other travelers can camp and pay money. It’s anticipated that such money will be used to enlarge, modernize and sustain the modern tourism facilities or mini tourism city the Ndiga clan leadership is determined to erect on their headquarters land in Mpigi.
The top clan leadership is also certain that, with improved road infrastructure being erected in Mpigi, resulting from the integration of the rapidly-urbanizing district to become part of Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, there is no way their project to modernize and harness commercial benefits from their land at clan headquarters can fail to succeed. With eased access, because of the massive road infrastructure the Museveni government has undertaken, it will be taking less than 20 minutes from anyone to drive from Kampala City center to Mpigi.
It’s apparent, that the Ndiga clan leadership is determined to be an active participant in all this unstoppable transformation of that hill area of Mpigi. Oweek Joyce Ssebugwawo, who is also a Museveni Minister and an influential figure at Kabaka Mutebi’s Palace, observed that prioritizing the establishment of a modern museum at Mbale on the clan land, which is on a hill, will protect whatever remains of it against being grabbed and encroachment besides preserving the clan’s rich history around Kibuuka Omumbaale’s heroic acts.
The museum project, which will cost Shs650m, will also become an additional income generation project or source for the clan whose top leadership is determined to shrewdly cash in on cultural tourism which is one of the aspects the country’s Ministry of Tourism has lately been prioritizing.
The dinner event of Friday 18th July will be used as a platform to amplify fundraising for the Ndiga Kibuuka Community Museum project. Ssebugwawo said even before that happens, construction work has already started at Mbale. Organizers of the Friday media event displayed the artistic impression of how the Museum will look like.
The fundraising dinner will be held at Hotel Africana in Kampala and there are tables of Shs3m, Shs5m and Shs10m. Even those wanting to come as individuals too have been catered for. More details or clarification about the Friday 18th July fundraising dinner can be obtain via 0772400429/0702400524/0782050655/0701485899.
At the Friday news conference, the benefits of taking up different tables or dinner tickets were explained and will continue to be explained through a publicity and marketing committee for the event which is headed by former Minister/Ambassador Maj James Williams Kinobe.
On the dinner day, a comprehensive documentary will be unveiled, accompanied with plenty of literature articulating the legacy of Kibuuka Omumbaale. The documentary and the other accompanying literature will focus on his heroic acts, the supernatural powers he exhibited during war and a list of the territories he personally conquered and made available to the Buganda Kingdom leadership for annexation.
The Ndiga clan head Lwomwa (Eria Lwasi Buzaabo) made it clear they intend to accomplish all this under the leadership and guidance of Buganda Kingdom at Mengo. It was indeed clarified that it will be through the Buganda Kingdom leadership that the Central government will be formally written to and engaged to ask them to officially surrender and hand over the remains of Kibuuka Omumbaale to the Ndiga clan for the appropriate depository at the clan headquarters in Mbale, Mpigi.
Lots of rituals will have to be performed prior to that relocation to reflect the supernatural powers-possessed leader and fierce and very consequential warrior Kibuuka Omumbaale was for and on behalf of Buganda Kingdom.
Oweek Ssebugwawo stressed that there is plenty of rich history regarding the effective warrior he was and the supernatural powers Kibuuka Omumbaale possessed that will be disseminated in the literature and documentary that will be disseminated during the Friday 18th July fundraising dinner event.
The other leaders present at the Friday media event included Paul Kiyingi, Dr. Asuman Kinobe, Omutaka Robert Kaweesi Nviri and overall event Coordinator Tony Blasio Tony. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
