WHO ARE THE BAKIIGA The Kiga people are believed to have originated in Rwanda. Mentioned in one of their folk songs - Abakiga twena tukaruga Rwanda, omu Byumba na Ruhenjere, - meaning that all of us Bakiga, we came from Rwanda in Byumba and Ruhenjere (called Ruhengeri in Rwanda). Both Byumba and Ruhengeri are Rwandan cities. The Bakiga are believed to be the descendants of Kashyiga, who came to be called Kakiga son of Mbogo from the small Kingdom of Bumbogo in Rwanda later. He came to form the present community of the Bakiga of Kigyezi or Kigezi as a result of Immigration. Before the year 1700 A.D., Rwanda is believed to have been occupied by the Twa people, and then was later on occupied by the second immigration of the Hutu people, and the third was the Tutsi. Rwanda was organised in small states and chiefdoms but under one ruler called the Mwami. Originally, he was also known as Omukama. Among the Bakiga, the ruling person was therefore named Mukama, equivalent to Mwami in other parts of Rwanda. Originally, the name Mukama was not a name, but rather the title of a Ruler. But later on it came to be recognised as a name, implying to one ruling man. In the Bakiga culture, the name was later attributed to God as Lord. Among the Bakiga, the name Mukama is not a female name. There are not many Bakiga called by the name Mukama. It is a name that was reserved to be used in the family of the ruling clan, the Bamuhutu, who possess the inheritance powers. If there is any person bearing the name Mukama, he must be a Bamuhutu, specifically a Mungura/Mwitira, or belong to the royal clan of the Bamuhutu. Not even in Rwanda among the Tutsi who took over the Kingdom after Mbogo had been defeated, did they dare to use the name Mukama because it signified a more fundamental power than they had assumed. Similar names could be like Byamukama, Kyomukama, Womukama, Kamukama, Bainomukama and so on. Therefore, the title for the King in Rwanda remained Mwami (Omwami), whereas in the Rukiga (the Kiga Kingdom) they continued to use the title Mukama (Omukama). In the first stages of the formation of the Kingdom of Rwanda, the major states were Bumbogo, Buriza, and Rukoma (These areas kept their names, and are located in central Rwanda near the capital city of Kigali). Each of these states was represented by a clan chief. The first Mwami was Mbogo of the small state of Bumbogo. At that time, the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa ethnic groups were all present in Rwanda, living side by side. Though these three major groups stood out, their indigenous clans remained as the point of reference due to their totems. Mbogo, who belonged to the Abungura clan, today known as Abahitira clan, is believed to have been conquered by his friend Kirima (Cyirima) of the Abanyiginya clan. Kirima accused Mbogo of mistreating the people, and Kirima promised he would be a better chief, though he could not claim to be a King or Umwami. He asserted that Mbogo was using testicles of men to decorate his royal drum, Kamuhagama,[citation needed] the symbol of his kingdom. Kirima is believed to have made progress, but his time was short lived by the first invasion of Bunyoro, led by Cwa I son of Nyabwongo. (It remains to verify, whether Nyabwongo is same as Labongo, the first Babiito king of the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom in Uganda.) Until now, Mbogo, the King, is not identified with any tribe, but rather with the clan of the Abahitira (Abungura). He was very old and did not want to fight Kirima. His son Kashyiga (Kakiga) fled to the north, trying to regroup so he could come back and fight. The departure of Kakiga left a big wound to the state of Bumbogo. Because Kakiga fled with the royal drum Kamuhagama, Kirima could never claim to be King. The newly established Kingdom was taken over by sympathizers of the Tutsi king Kirima. But then came the first of two invasions of Banyoro (People of Bunyoro) under Kirimas successor Mukobanya. In the Rwandan history, Kirima is known as Cyirima I Rugwe. In contrast to the classic chronology, modern historians dispute that his successor, Kigeri I Mukobanya, was his son. They rather insist that he was son of the king of Bugesera, a kingdom located south of Kigali ruled by the clan of Abahondogo. Cyirima stole his wife, and it is assumed that she was already pregnant with Mukobanya. Already at the reign of Cyirima, Mukobanya became a great worrier because he could annex Bumbogo, Buriza, and Rukoma among others, expanding the Rwandan territory from a few hills to a large territory. During his own reign, he inflicted a strong defeat to the mighty Banyoro army, and it had to withdraw from Rwanda. They attacked again during the reign of his successor and defeated him. Mukobanya was the first true expansionist king of Rwanda, but his acceptance as king seems to have been a result of his bravely. In the mid-eighteenth century, the Rwandan kingdom became far more centralized. It expanded continuously, reaching the shores of Lake Kivu. This expansion was a combination of military conquest with a migration of Rwandan populations spreading their agricultural techniques and social organization. All these factors extended the political control of the Rwandan king, the Mwami. Once this was established, camps of warriors were established along vulnerable borders to prevent incursions. Only against other well developed kingdoms such as Gisaka, Bugesera, and Burundi expansion was carried out primarily by force of arms. Under the Tutsi monarchy, the economic imbalance between the Hutus and the Tutsis crystallized, a complex political imbalance emerged as the Tutsis formed into a hierarchy dominated by a Mwami or king. 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 the show, monopolized all privileges of the kings, and came to be the ones called the Mwamis. Before the nineteenth century, the Tutsis held real military power, while the Hutus possessed supernatural power. The newly self-proclaimed Kings changed the nobility of the Hutus to Abiru. In this capacity, the Mwamis council of advisors (abiru) was exclusively Hutu and held significant sway. By the mid-18th century, however, the Abiru became increasingly marginalized. However, as the Tutsi ruled, they were constantly remembered that Kakiga was to return, which made them nervous, but also motivated them to increase their defence system. As the kings centralized their power and authority, they distributed land among individuals rather than allowing it to be passed down through lineage groups, of which many hereditary chiefs had been Hutu. Most of the chiefs appointed by the Mwamis were Tutsi. The redistribution of land, enacted between 1860 and 1895 by Mwami Rwabugiri, resulted in an imposed patronage system (ubuhake), under which appointed Tutsi chiefs demanded manual labor in return for the right of Hutus to occupy their land. This system left Hutus in a serf-like status with Tutsi chiefs as their feudal masters.[citation needed] Under the Mwami Rwabugiri, Rwanda became an expansionist state. Rwabugiri did not bother to assess the ethnic identities of conquered people and simply labeled all of them “Hutu”. The title “Hutu”, therefore, came to be a trans-ethnic identity associated with subjugation. While further disenfranchising Hutus socially and politically, this helped to solidify the idea that “Hutu” and “Tutsi” were socioeconomic, not ethnic distinctions. In fact, one could shed his Hutuness (kwihutura), by accumulating wealth and rising through the social hierarchy. The Tutsi monarchy was paralysed by the colonisation through Germany followed by Belgium. It was ended by Grégoire Kayibanda shortly before Rwandas independence. He founded a political party known as MDR- Parmehutu (Mouvement démocratique republicain Parmehutu; French: Parmehutu Democratic Republican Movement). Kayibanda overthrew democratically the Tutsi monarchy of Mwami Kigeri V in 1961, and appointed a government of Hutus. After the independence, in July 1962, Kayibanda became the first president of Rwanda. In the general elections of October 1963, MDR Parmehutu won all seats in the 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 (Abahitira). It is said that his father migrated to Rwanda from the Bakiga of southern Uganda. He installed himself in the northwest part of Rwanda, where Habyarimana was born and raised. Habyarimana was killed by his presidential guards, who fired missiles at his plane in order to start the genocide, planned in advance by the Akazu. President Paul Kagame was accused by France of this crime. Interestingly, Kagame is a Tutsi who grew up in Uganda as a refugee. He is from the Abega clan, which accounted for many queen mothers in the Abanyiginya dynasty of Rwanda. Getting back to the Bakiga, it is now clear that Kakiga was responsible for the formation of the Kiga Kingdom, its clans and sub-clans, and all the direct descents of his children. Each clan was identified by a totem and also by what they were forbidden from eating. For example, the Ba-Mungwe’s totem was the bushbuck and they were prohibited from hunting it for food. All these measures were intended for the protection, sustenance, and well-being of the clans as they were not competing for the same food. There are many clans and sub-clans in the Kiga tribe, but the major ones are: Ba-Mungura (the Royal Clan)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 14:37:18 +0000
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