Overview:
Kasubi is where you find a young woman of about 30 claiming to be a widow of a king who died 140 years ago
Nestled on a hilltop in the heart of Kampala are the Kasubi Tombs, where four of Buganda’s late kings are buried. Following a fire in 2010 that razed down much of the property, the UNESCO World Heritage Site sitting on 64 acres is set to finally reopen 14 years after it burnt down.
The tombs were obliterated by fire on March, 16, 2010 at around 8:30 pm, leaving the country in shock. The cause of the fire is still under investigation more than a decade later. Witnesses heard a loud explosion and later reportedly recovered a white box wrapped in bark cloth.
A white pickup truck is also reported to have taken off from the tombs shortly after the explosion, leading some to believe it was arson, but no new evidence has surfaced. The fire devastated the main mausoleum – Muzibu Azaala Mpanga – which houses tombs of Ssekabaka Muteesa I, Ssekabaka Muteesa II, Ssekabaka Daudi Chwa and Ssekabaka Mwanga, as well as some smaller huts.
Baganda vowed to rebuild the tombs to their former glory, and with the help of the Ugandan government, Japanese government and UNESCO, the tombs have been rebuilt and look better than before. The tombs have finally been rebuilt and are to officially be opened to the public before the end of this year.
The Observer team was given an opportunity to tour the tombs and it was a priceless experience. On the back of the electric boda boda from work, we trailed along a reed fence that seemed to go on forever until we arrived at the entrance where we signed in under a huge, old tree that we wished could talk!
We entered through the first hut and the cool breeze was so soothing, one would think we had entered one of those fancy air- conditioned buildings. In the administrator’s office, a woman offered Aine a lesu, saying ladies in trousers were not allowed inside the mausoleums. We then followed a guide to begin our tour.
The first hut is Bujja Bukula, and is the main entrance to the tombs that originally were the palace of Kabaka Muteesa I since 1882. This entrance is also home to two royal guards, 99-year-old Nsigo and a youthful one named Mulamba.
TOUR AROUND THE TOMBS
Fred Ndawula, the tour guide, told us: “In Buganda kingdom, every new king is free to set up his own palace. Normally they would chose hilltops for security purposes and wherever the Kabaka stayed could be turned into the capital of the kingdom. So, Kasubi was once the kingdom’s capital. The palace was established in 1882 by Kabaka Mutesa I who was the 30th king of Buganda.”
Ndawula told us that Bujja Bukula is guarded by two hereditary guards strictly from the butiko (mushroom) clan with an assistant from the mbogo (buffalo) clan. Their positions are hereditary.
We walked in a straight path to the main hut. This path, just like Kabaka Anjagala road that connects Bulange to Twekobe palace in Mengo through the long drums, is straight because the Baganda believe the spirits of their kings move in a straight line, and no obstacle should impede their movement.
Ndawula said in the past, the Baganda believed the kabaka is also the king of spirits and they used to cut off the kabaka’s head and bury it separately because they believed that the spirits resided in the kabaka’s jawbone. When this was told to Muteesa I, h reportedly said, “I know spirits must be stubborn, but there is no need to cut off my head.” He became the first king of Buganda to be buried intact.
His three successors were also buried intact, at Kasubi’s main hut, Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, which means a king begets a king. That mausoleum is a masterpiece of human creativity. No wonder it has taken Buganda 14 years to restore it, because it is a pack of culture, tradition and norms with every reed, bark cloth, thatching grass and pole that went into it.
Entering Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, 14 years after the fire shut out all the boda boda noise and chaos of the city traffic outside, it is so cool and aerated. The smell of sewage outside was replaced by an earthy, tangy scent of a well-kempt village home. Ndawula said once inside Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, a man cannot turn his back on the ‘kings’ forest’ as the kings’ resting place is symbolically known. Men have to walk backwards towards the exit, lest they anger the Buganda ancestors.
The refurbished interior is spacious with warm lamps lining the walls, and wooden poles hold up the immaculate ceiling covered in bark cloth and elaborate rings to represent each of Buganda’s 52 clans as well as three rings for the king and the royal family.
There is a long wooden beam in front of the four tombs, where only a sitting king and the widows of fallen kings can cross. Behind the tombs hangs a bark cloth curtain to the ‘kings’ forest’. Ndawula said when Kabaka Muteesa I refused to be beheaded, a grave was dug in his house, 13ft deep in an L shape, then a tunnel was made that goes beyond the bark cloth curtain.
The depth of the kings’ graves was instrumental in preserving their remains from the 2010 fire. Beyond Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, we were led to the communication house where the royal drums believed to be more than 100 years old, are stored. The chief drummer is called Kawula, who hails from the lugave (pangolin) clan and is supposed to live a celibate life. Because of this, women are forbidden from entering this hut.
Visiting the tombs is a trip down Buganda’s cultural heritage, and stories about the inhabitants of these tomb are part of the fascination. For example, Kabaka Muteesa I had 84 wives and at least 127 children, a fact that is said to have prevented him from joining Christianity but endeared him to Islam, even when he is credited for inviting Christian missionaries to Buganda and Uganda.
The mausoleum also has single rooms for the kings’ widows, and “Kasubi is where you find a young woman of about 30 claiming to be a widow of a king who died 140 years ago. Sometimes it confuses until you realise that she’s a descendant number five or six, of a former queen. Each time a widow dies, we go back to her family and they give us somebody to come and keep the family’s position. These people can have husbands and children”.
Ndawula said: “They only come here for at least a month and stay in the house. During their thirty days here, they perform most of the rituals. They teach young ones our culture. And again when you find them here, it becomes a living culture since they are behaving like the ancestors that came before them. These ladies are royals by succession. And for those who are widowed, they resort to staying here for the rest of their lives, and when they die they are buried here.”
We spoke to the oldest widow still living in the tombs, 104-year-old Kabejja. Her maiden name is Alisha. Etiquette dictates that when you visit Kabejja, you gift her some milk. She then proudly tells the tales of her magnificent late husband Muteesa I, who brought faith to the kingdom. She inherited the widowhood title from her paternal aunt who is buried in the compound.
HISTORY OF THE KINGS BURIED AT KASUBI
Kabaka Muteesa I was the first king of Buganda to be buried at Kasubi. He ruled Buganda from 1856 to 1884. He was succeeded by his son Kabaka Mwanga. Mwanga ruled Buganda from 1884 to 1897 and he is remembered for his resistance against colonialism, especially when the British declared Buganda a protectorate in 1894.
Mwanga declared war on the British, which only lasted two weeks and in 1899, he and his ally, Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro, were captured and exiled to Seychelles, where Mwanga died in 1903. His remains were returned in 1910 and interred inside his father’s house at Kasubi, which broke the tradition of each Kabaka having a separate burial site.
Daudi Chwa, born August 8, 1896, ascended to the throne in 1897 at the age of one year after his father, Mwanga, was deposed by the British. He ruled Buganda with the help of three regents until he came of age. Chwa put in place significant social reforms including the advancement of girls’ education that saw the rise of schools such as Gayaza High School, and he oversaw the establishment of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) in 1924.
Chwa succumbed to diabetes in 1939, and was buried at Kasubi. Kabaka Edward Muteesa II ascended the throne at 15 years in 1939 and was educated in some of the best institutions, including King’s College Budo, Makerere University, and later Cambridge University.
Muteesa became the first President of Uganda in 1963 until the 1966 crisis when then Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote ordered an assault on the Kabaka’s palace in Mengo, prompting the king to flee to exile in England where he died in 1969, In 1971, after Idi Amin ousted Obote from power, he facilitated the return of Muteesa’s remains, and he too was buried at Kasubi.
The hearses bearing the kings’ remains historically access the Kasubi Tombs only through Nabulagala road, which is also symbolic to the cultural heritage site.
INSIGHTS FROM KASUBI TOMBS MANAGER
Interviewed for this story, Godfrey Lule Ssemwanga, the station manager, of told us the tombs earn most revenue from foreign tourists, but the biggest number of local tourists come from schools.
Lule noted that on a good day, the tombs receive 600 children who come to visit and learn. Ssemwanga said they have been able to replicate the model of the tombs that was gutted by fire by combining the designs of the original house built by Muteesa I, the second model built by Kabaka Chwa in 1939 and the final model, built in 1979.
He said with funding from UNESCO, Japan, France and India, as well as partnership with Uganda Police, the tombs now have firefighting equipment. Ssemwanga noted that Kasubi Tombs now face a challenge of encroachers such as KCCA, which has passed part of the road reserve in the Kasubi tombs land, the military which has built an army barracks on the tombs land and Kasubi market, which is situated on the tombs land.
Part of the problem was solved by funders who raised money to ensure that the tombs are fenced off to prevent further encroachment. Ssemwanga believes the tombs will be officially reopened before the New year by Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II.