Was Semei Kakungulu A Traitor Or Nationalist? Who Is A Traitor Anyway?

Dear people,

'Traitor' or 'heroes' are like identical twin brothers or sisters. However,' Traitor' is not a word to be bandied about lightly. Traitor is an ugly w...ord and should be used sparingly. If we describe someone as a traitor, we should first be confident that he or she has violated specific laws dealing with treason. How would we have defined treason during the Semei Kakungulu times when there was no country called Uganda?

Someone who sells classified information about the country's weapons development program to a foreign nation may well be convicted of treason and appropriately described as a traitor. But we cannot and should not use the same word to describe a person used by the British to lead a successful Baganda army against the neighbouring kingdom of Bunyoro in 1894-5.

Kakungulu was a military man used to extend both Buganda and British interests outside Buganda kingdom in the north and northeast. This suited both the British and Buganda very well at the time. There was no country called Uganda at the time. So what does one base on to call Kakungulu a traitor?

Up to now, I'm finding it difficult to identify a Uganda hero apart from the Ignatius Musazi and group. Yes,Kakungulu killed a lot of people while pursuing his ambitions or kingdom or British objectives, but does this make him a traitor by any standards? It is remarkable that one who obviously considers himself to be an offended patriot can call Obote a hero when he killed several Ugandans he was supposed to protect but when we cannot accord the same hero status to Kakungulu who was making use of his common sense.

If all leaders who kill are bad to some people, then we should just put them in the same category. Bush is considered by one section of Americans to be a traitor and a terrorist war criminal because of the lives lost around the world under his watch. What about murderous Mugabe in Zimbabwe who has killed his own people within his territory instead of protecting them? Is he worse or better than Kakungulu? Another example is when a nationwide cross section of adults in USA was asked to name people they thought of as heroes, without reviewing a list or having any names suggested to them, the person mentioned most often was Jesus Christ. He's followed by Martin Luther King, Colin Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresa in that order. If we are to do this in Uganda today, which names can we come up with? What do we really base on to determine African or Ugandan heroes?

So let us agree that traitors or heroes come from all walks of life and therefore Kakungulu was just a Kakungulu. Traitors can also be heroes depending on the circumstances. People who are so partisan and against good military deals or wars cannot even recognize a true hero in our midst. The Baganda and Kakungulu realised that there's no point of fighting Mike Tyson in a ring when one was weighing just 50 kg. So they opted to work with Mike Tyson(British) to destroy their enemies at the time. This is the diplomacy some UAH authors were talking about in their messages.

Assuming we all agree with the definition of a 'nationalist' as one who places the nation above the individual, can we call Bunyoro's Kabalega a 'nationalist' and leave Kakungulu out? I don't think so. Kabalega was defending the existence of Bunyoro Kingdom and Kakungulu was participating in the creation of a nation called Uganda by fighting with the British and Baganda. So which one of the two is a nationalist by that definition? I think Kakungulu qualifies to be used as a as fodder for national purposes compared to Kabalega.

What about the nationalists or internationalists in the present day situation in Uganda. How would you categorise the following groups of people:

-Those presidents of Uganda or leaders who give more leverage to foreign investors compared to local investors. They treat foreign investors like 'brides' compared to local ones.

-Those who think that a government should be selected by its own citizens in fair and free elections but they turn around and rig the elections. When you think of rigging elections in Uganda, the following years come into our minds: 1980, 2001, 2006 and 2008 'Kyadondo' elections.

-Those who think that a government should be granted unlimited powers by its own citizens. For instance, I have heard some people on radios in Uganda questioning the powers of judges who did not fight in Luwero bushes.

-Those who don't believe that rights are inherent to being alive and not privileges to be dispensed by government.

-Those who think that it is right for one country to overthrow the lawfully-elected governments of other countries and replace them with dictatorships or Generals from their own army.

-Those who believe that it is okay for Uganda to break apart into separate countries, each with its own ethnic background, as did the former Soviet Union.

Kabalega and America's George Washington may both be called nationalists because they both risked execution as traitors against Britain. But then again, they both just didn't like British tyranny. Many people both in USA and Uganda didn't like it, that didn't mean they were nationalists. Indeed many of them would have fought against the “nation” having the amount of power over the individual states or regions or kingdoms that it now has.

The Serbian called Nikola Kavaja, who hijacked a U.S. passenger jet in 1979 with the intention of crashing it into Yugoslav Communist Party headquarters, was called a nationalist by some sections of people in Serbia. Many nationalist Serbs considered Kavaja a hero and a patriot, while others thought of him as a ruthless terrorist. Can we also say that people call Kakungulu or Kabalega a nationalist or traitor or hero depending on what they belief in.

In 1905, President Grover Cleveland pardoned Gavrilo Princip, the Polish nationalist who assassinated Austrian Empress Maria-Theresa in Stockholm in 1889, which set off World War I. Gavrilo Princip is considered a nationalist in Poland yet his actions led to the start of World War 1. What justifications do we have as Ugandans to start calling Kakungulu bad names or tittles when his actions just led to the creation of the nation called Uganda?

Therefore, the definition of “nationalism” in a political context is much more complex. But I guess anything beyond “We good, Them bad” is a little too deep for anyone to categorically state that Kakungulu or Kabalega was a nationalist. Can we really call Obote or Museveni 'nationalists' if we are to put the whole definition of nationalism in context? My answer is a big 'No' but of course my friend, Aisha Kabanda, will disagree with me!

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
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