Kiga people
Kiga people, or Abakiga, are a Bantu ethnic group native to south western Uganda and northern Rwanda.
History
Origins
The Kiga people are believed to have their origins in Rwanda. This is mentioned in one of their folk songs - Abakiga twena tukaruga Rwanda, omu Byumba na Ruhenjere -. Both Byumba and Ruhengeri are cities in present day Rwanda. The Bakiga are believed to be the descendants of Kashyiga, whom people later called Kakiga. He is said to be the son of Mbogo from the ancient Bumbogo kingdom of Rwanda. He immigrated to present day south-western Uganda and formed the present community of the Bakiga of Kigyezi or Kigezi.Before 1700 A.D., Rwanda is believed to have been occupied by the Twa people, who were later on joined by the Hutu, and the finally the Tutsi. Rwanda at the time was made up of many small states and chiefdoms all united under one ruler called the Mwami. He was also known as Omukama. Among the Bakiga, the ruling person was therefore named Mukama, equivalent to Mwami in other parts of Rwanda.
In the earlier days, Mukama was the title given to the chief. Later on, people adopted Mukama as a name for their children. These were the sons belonging to families of the ruling clan, the Bamuhutu. Any person bearing the name Mukama, must be a Bamuhutu, specifically a Mungura/Mwitira, or belong to the royal clan of the Bamuhutu. In the present day, after the spread of Christianity, the name is used as one of the names of God. Because of this, people instead now use derivatives of the name. e.g. Byamukama, Kyomukama, Womukama, Kamukama and Bainomukama.
History and affiliation to Rwanda
In Rwanda's early days, the major states were Bumbogo, Buriza, and Rukoma.. Each of these states was represented by a clan chief. The first Mwami was Mbogo of the state of Bumbogo.According to legend, Mbogo, who belonged to the royal Abungura clan, was displaced by an ally, Kirima of the Abanyiginya clan. Kirima accused Mbogo of negligence, and made promises to the people that he would be a better leader. However, since he wasn't from the royal clan, he wasn't able to become an Umwami. Kirima's rule is said to have been one of relative prosperity, but his reign was cut short by the first invasion of Banyoro, led by Cwa I son of Nyabwongo.
It is said that Mbogo was quite old and did not want to fight Kirima. His son Kashyiga fled to the north, with the aim of to regrouping so that he could return and fight. The departure of Kakiga was a big blow to the state of Bumbogo as he did not return, thus Kirima and his sympathizers took over the kingdom. However, Kakiga fled with the royal drum Kamuhagama, meaning that Kirima could never claim the title of King.
In the Rwandan history, Kirima is known as Cyirima I Rugwe. In contrast to classic chronology, modern historians dispute that his successor, Kigeri I Mukobanya, was actually his son. They insist that he was son of the king of Bugesera, a kingdom located south of Kigali ruled by the Abahondogo clan. Cyirima stole that king's wife, and it now believed that she was already pregnant with Mukobanya. During Cyirima's reign, Mukobanya grew up to become a great warrior and expanded the kingdom's territory, annexing Buriza and Rukoma along the way. During Mukobanya's own reign, he inflicted a strong defeat on the army of the Banyoro, forcing them out of Rwanda. The Banyoro were only able to successfully attack again during the reign of Mukobanya's successor. Mukobanya was the first true expansionist king of Rwanda, but the people's acceptance of him as king was as a result of his bravery.
In the years that followed after Mukobanya's exploits, the kingdom of Rwanda became more centralized. It expanded continuously, till the shores of Lake Kivu. The expansion was a combination of military conquest and migrations of Rwandan population. As the kingdom grew the Rwandan people spread their agricultural techniques and social organization. All of these factors extended the sphere of political control of the Mwami. Camps of warriors were established along vulnerable borders to prevent incursions.
Against other mature kingdoms expansion was carried out by force.
It was during this period that imbalances between the Hutus and the Tutsis started to crystallize. The Tutsi's started to dominate the hierarchy. The King was treated as a semi-divine being, responsible for making the country prosper. He adopted the sacred drum Kalinga as the symbol of the King. He also hung the genitals of conquered enemies or rebels on Kalinga. This treatment will later on define the relationship between the Tutsi, the Hutu and the Twa peoples. Originally, the Hutus were among the nobility. They made up 82–85% of the population, and were mostly rich and simple. But later on they were made to live a poor peasant life. With the centralization of the political power, the Tutsis took over the show, monopolized all privileges of the kings, and came to be the ones called the Mwamis. Before the 19th century, the Tutsis held real military power, while the Hutus possessed supernatural power.
The reign of the Tutsi monarchy was destabilized by the colonisation of Rwanda by Germany and later on Belgium. The monarchy was ended by Grégoire Kayibanda shortly before Rwanda's independence. His political party was known as MDR-Parmehutu.
Kayibanda overthrew the Tutsi monarchy of Mwami Kigeri V in 1961, and appointed a government of Hutus. After independence, in July 1962, Kayibanda became the first president of Rwanda. In the general elections of October 1963, MDR Parmehutu won all seats in Parliament. In the coup of July 1973, Kayibanda was ousted by Major General Juvénal Habyarimana, and the Parmehutu party was dissolved. Habyarimana was a Hutu from the clan of Abungura. His father is said to have been a Mukiga who moved back to Rwanda. Juvénal's father settled in northwest part of Rwanda, where Habyarimana was born and raised. Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down near the presidential palace, and matters relating as to who was responsible remain unresolved. The aircraft had French crew and President Paul Kagame has been accused by France as the mastermind behind the attack. Kagame is a Tutsi who grew up in Uganda. He is from the Abega clan, which accounted for many queen mothers in the Abanyiginya dynasty.
Bakiga in South Wester Uganda
In South Western Uganda, Kakiga is claimed to have been the founder the Kiga Kingdom, its clans and sub-clans, Each clan has a totem which clan members are forbidden from eating. e.g. Members of the clan with the Ba-Mungwe's totem are prohibited from hunting it. Historically, these measures were put in place such that clans would not have to compete for the same sources of food. There a quite many clans and sub-clans among the Bakiga people, but historically the major ones include: Ba-Mungura, Ba-Musigi, Ba-Mungwe, Ba-Kinyagiro, Ba-Mugiri, Ba-Muhutu, Ba-Mugera, and Ba-Mugyesera, Ba-Mugyeyo. Each of these clans has sub-clans.The Abukuru b-ekika was a committee of elders chosen by the clan to issue rules and administer justice. If a dispute was particularly serious and involved more than one clan, the cases would be heard publicly. An Omukuru, ideally a wise elder who knew the customs and traditions of his people, and who could be trusted to give fair advice and justice, was elected to preside over this expanded court.
After leaving Bugombo, Kakiga settled in the forests of Kagarama, the mountains of the present border of Rwanda and Uganda in Kigezi region. Kakiga found that the land was very fertile, with excellent grass fields for cattle rearing. Though he initially wished to return home to fight the Banyoro invaders, he and his cohort found themselves settling in Uganda establishing a new group, Abakiga or Bakiga.
As time passed and the population grew, Kakiga desired to expand his territory. He started sending out groups to explore and conquer. The first group was sent towards the east, was a group of Abasigi. This group was under the leadership of Rwandeme. This was the strongest group that was to fight the forces of Ankore. Embarrassingly, legend has it Rwandeme ended up losing the Royal Drum. and because of this never dared to return. He remained in the mountains of Karweru and his group intermarried with the Ankore people. This explains why the Abasigi can be found in these parts of the region. It also explains the presence of different accents, intonations, and spellings in the Rukiga language.
For some reason,, Kakiga ordered obligatory circumcision of all male children in the Mungura clan. Although many did not support this, but he held firm in his insistence that every Mungura should be circumcised. Till recently, Abungura was the only clan in the entire Kiga tribe where circumcision of males was obligatory. Males were to be circumcised in their the eleventh year. In the present day, Bakiga parents increasingly self-opt for circumcision for health reasons. Kakiga also instituted the Kiga legacy of the system of naming. Historically, the Kiga people used take the family name after their grandfather, or of their father if their father died before their birth. It is thus quite difficult to trace Bakiga lineages through family names. Nevertheless, this norm still goes on among some of the clans. For instance, Mbogo could be the son of Rwambogo. But in like a seventh generation, Mubangizi could be the son of Mubanga. In the present day, the naming traditions are not as strong especially among the educated. For instance, the Bakiga who have adopted Christianity now give their children theophoric names e.g. Ainemukama and Ayebare
Kakiga was never able to form a strong kingdom of his own because the people never fully trusted him and he couldn't build a strong enough military. However, even after the loss of the royal drum, he did not relent, he sent another group to attack the north. This was the group of the Abaromba and the Abahimba. These diffused to most parts of Muko, Rubanda, and Kihihi. Other groups went to Kakore and Mparo, and proceeded to Nyakishenyi and Nyarushanje. In the present day, there mixtures of Ankore and Kinyarwanda accents and intonations in these areas. Kakiga forbid his sons and daughters from marrying foreigners, because he believed his lineage should remain composed purely of Bakiga and people from Rwanda.
Kakiga made his shields out of cattle skin. He enjoyed wrestling, dancing, hunting and keeping cattle. The most common figures of the few known Bungura Royals include: Muhanga, Rwabutare, Kamboji, Kabogo, Katumba, Katamujuna, Kahigyi, Bakunzi, Mbogo, Rwakasole, Mungura, Rwambogo. The Abungura, few as they are in the present day, are still the recognized Royal Clan of the Kiga Tribe and many live on outskirts of Kabale Town, were they enjoy their inherited wealthy.
In Uganda, Bakiga are known for their toughness and boisterousness. Culturally, educational attainment is massively encouraged, and Bakiga are one of the peoples with the highest literacy rates in Uganda. Among the youth, it is a common joke that Bakiga are "arrogant" and "aggressive".
There has been a variety of experiences in the life of the Bakiga, such as interactions with other Kingdoms, religions, and many other cultures. The Bakiga are very hospitable and enjoy the privilege of having a mixed language. Rukiga, as a language, is a combination of the influence of the accents and alphabets from Rwanda, Ankore, Toro, Bufumbira, and Swahili.
Before the coming of Islam Islam and Christianity, the Bakiga believed in a single God. The Bakiga understanding of God is as creator who is neither male or female, known as Ruhanga. God can also be referred to through his attributes. As the supreme elder and the ruler of the universe, he is called Mukama. When associated with the power of the sun, he is Kazooba-Nyamuhanga. When he is being referred to as the one who makes things grow, he is called Biheeko.
Bakiga these days are classified as Hutu, though they originally they considered themselves an entirely separate people. In modern Rwanda, the Hutus of southern Rwanda are called Banyanduga, while the Hutus in the northern Rwanda are collectively referred to as Bakiga.