Uhuru is 'Ugandan'

Kabalega                                                                Kenyatta

By David Odongo

Nairobi; Kenya; A Ugandan newspaper, The New Vision,  has raised sensational claims that Kenya’s fourth president Uhuru Kenyatta could be of Ugandan royal blood. After Uhuru’s swearing in, the Bunyoro monarch, Solomon Gafabusa Iguru sent a congratulatory message to his ‘cousin’ on his election victory.

In a story that  tells why success has a thousand fathers...A message from Omukama, or King, cited the old cordial relations between Bunyoro and Kenya and recalled how the late Jomo Kenyatta often visited the Omukama’s father, the late Sir Tito Winyi.

The newspaper even published pictures of relatives whose looks are similar to those of Kenyatta’s.

According to the New Vision, the theory that the first  president of Kenya was a son of the Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro-Kitara has for ages been doing rounds in Uganda and with Uhuru being elected as president, the rumors mills are working overtime to justify the claim.

According to historical facts,  Kabalega and Mwanga were captured in the plains of Lango in 1899 by a combination of British and Buganda troops, and King Kabalega was shot in the right arm. They were then exiled from Uganda and they spent some time in Kenya before being taken to Kismayu in Somalia and then onto the Seychelles.

While in jail, the two kings were under constant guard by the British, and apparently several attempts to rescue the two were made. Their minders kept up a constant update of their progress to the Colonial Administration in the form of dispatches.

The dispatches to the foreign office covering the journey from Uganda ones are from Kismayu as the two embark onto the journey to the Seychelles. Although the dispatches were listed on the catalogue of the Kenya Government Archives, the actual documents were not there when we last checked.

This is a verbatim transcript of what  The New Vision reported: Colonial records  indicate that the wounded Kabalega was given a ‘Kikuyu nurse’ to take care of him when the two kings stopped at a place named as ‘Kikuyu’.

Uncorroborated reports have it that the Kikuyu nurse got pregnant, but the fact was kept secret from the British.

There are different reports of the date of Kenyatta’s birth and time and place of his birth. But historians agree that he was born Kamau Ngengi in a place called Ngenda between 1897 and 1901, about the same time Kabalega is said to have lived in Kenya on a two-year sojourn.

It is also agreed by historians that Kenyatta’s father died when he was young and his mother subsequently remarried. But she is said to have gone back to her parent’s home further north, where she died.

He was baptized in Johnstone Kamau in August 1914, but later adopted the name Jomo (Kikuyu for burning spear) Kenyatta (from the waist bead belt worn by natives then).

Bunyoro Kingdom sources refused to answer any questions pertaining to Kabalega and Kenyatta, or why the Omukama had congratulatedUhuru Kenyatta. About the Jomo Kenyatta visits to Bunyoro, they said it was ‘normal’. When asked if Uhuru has visited the kingdom, they said ‘not yet’.

So, will this mystery ever be solved? A detailed study of the colonial dispatches covering the journey of the two kings from Uganda to Kenya would definitely give an account of what really happened, and there is some indication that Bunyoro Kingdom officials have actually done this, and know the story.

The debate going on social media right now is whether the Kenyatta family would consent to a DNA test and what would be the implications if they did? What would the Kenyans do if their President turned out to be actually of Ugandan descent?

For more details visit: New Vision.