Politics of non-restoration of Ankole Kingdom in Uganda, 1971- 2018

Abstract

This study examines the question of non-restoration of Ankole Kingdom in Uganda from 1971 to 2018. The question is: Why did the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government restore other kingdoms in 1993 in Uganda, and still creates others, but has failed to restore Ankole Kingdom to the present day? The study argues that the history of Ankole is the story of contestations between “monarchists” and “culturalists”. This study pursues four objectives: to examine the factors that forced the British colonialists to incorporate kingdoms during their rule; to explain the forces behind the abolition of kingdoms in Uganda; to examine the factors that led to restoration of kingdoms in Uganda except Ankole since 1993; and, to analyse the relationship between Ankole kingship, politics and democracy. This study used the qualitative approach; and utilized archival data from the national archives and oral history to achieve the set objectives. Anchoring on the Great man‟s theory, the study explains non-restoration of Ankole kingdom as a consequence of the weaknesses of kingship. This is demonstrated by fragile leadership where some kings ruled jointly; climaxing with the high court case following the death of Omugabe Kahaya in 1944. The study, further, draws on “two publics” to illustrate the non-restoration of Ankole kingdom as a historical mix of colonialism and traditionalism leading to redefinition of politics and economy in Ankole that enlarged the division between the Bairu and Bahima. This study reveals that the British maintained kingdoms in Uganda, and Ankole in particular, to aid in administration and imposition of colonial rule through the framework of divide and rule. It further found that the role of traditional religion–Kahaibaare‟s prophecy to Omugabe Machwa -- and the general politics of unitarism by Obote through the 1967 Constitution were major factors that explain the nonrestoration of Ankole Kingdom. The study concludes that non-restoration of Ankole Kingdom is largely embedded in the historical relation between Bairu and Bahima, complicated by the colonial state intervention in politics as well as the socio-economic state of Ankole in particular and Uganda as a whole. Given the rigidity of the monarchists in Ankole to accept liberal inclusive policies, like the monarchists in Great Britain, cost the royals known as the Abahinda and Abahima kingship (Obugabe) like the Bourbons Monarchy in France in 1789. The study hence recommends that while kingship in Ankole has been divisive and a threat to national cohesion, non-restoration has been found to be a legitimate force to achieve national unity in Ankole.