|
| Baganda Envoys |
| Muteesa I, when told of a great queen who ruled a vast and rich empire, was curious to know who this woman was. So, soon after the first missionaries arrived in Buganda in 1878, he decided to send some of his chiefs to Britain. A problem arose as which chiefs to send. Muteesa I was told that whoever came before the Queen had to kneel. In Kiganda culture, a Muganda chief never kneels before anybody else except the Kabaka, otherwise he could no longer serve him as a chief. The Kabaka did not want to lose his best chiefs. The solution was to send some low level chiefs who could be dispensed off. |
| The three Envoys left for England with the two missionaries on May 17, 1879. However, when the chiefs arrived in London and were introduced as some low level chiefs, the Royal Geographic Society and Church Missionary Society, which had sent the missionaries in the first place and were anxious to see the chiefs of a great African King as described by most white people who had met the king by then, were disappointed. They were expecting chiefs of the caliber of Katikkiro, Mukwenda, etc. For a description of the Envoy’s meeting with the Queen, see the report from the Church Missionary Gleaner, 1880. |
People in the photo (l-r): Sabaddu, Kataruba, Rev. C. T. Wilson (Interpreter), Namukadde, Earl Granville (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and Princess Beatrice. |
| They came back on February 1881 and immediately went to see the Kabaka. Sewadda’s account of the journey is transcribed in the book “A. M. Mackay, Pioneer Missionary of the Church Missionary Society of Uganda”, by his sister, J. W. Harrison, 1892 as follows: |
| “The Arabs tell you lies, my master, when they say that they have a great country at ‘Pwani”, (the Coast). The coast all belongs to the English, and the Arabs are their slaves; Oh, my master, we have not got a country at all, the estate of one chief in England is as large as all Buganda, Bunyoro and Busoga together. |
| At this point in the recital, Mutesa restricted the audience and finally sent Serwadda away with presents and wives. This was of course, part of Mutesa’s acute policy, as much as saying to the man, ‘yes”, you have seen wonderful things in England……., but you did not get a lot of wives in England as you get here. You will enjoy yourself better here than in England. |
|
|
|
|
|
The Mengo 1966
Massacre |
 |
|
Buy a Buganda Flag
At Only US$30 |
 |
|
 |
| |
 |
|
;)
29 KB)