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Edward Mutesa.

Major General Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II KBE (November 19, 1924 - November 21, 1969), was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda from November 22, 1939 until his death. He was the thirty-fifth Kabaka of Buganda and the first President of Uganda. He was known as King (or Kabaka) Freddie.^[1]

Claim to the throne

He was born at the home of Sir Albert Cook in Makindye, Kampala on November 19, 1924. He was the fifth son of Kabaka Captain Sir Daudi Chwa II, KCMG, KBE, Kabaka of Buganda, who reigned between 1897 and 1939. His mother was Lady Irene Drusilla Namaganda, of the Nte (Cow) clan. He was proclaimed Kabaka upon the death of his father on November 22, 1939 at the age of fifteen years. He was installed outside the Lubiri, at Mengo on 26th November 1939. He reigned under a Council of Regents until he came of age and assumed full ruling powers. He was crowned at Buddo, on November 19, 1942, on his eighteenth birthday.

His reign

Mutesa was educated at King's College Budo, a prestigious school in Uganda. He became the King of Buganda in 1939 upon the death of his father, King Daudi Chwa II. He attended Magdalene College, Cambridge in England where he joined an officer training corps and was commissioned as a captain in the Grenadier Guards. At that time, Buganda was part of the British protectorate of Uganda.

The years between 1945 and 1950 saw widespread protests against both the British Governor's and King Mutesa's governments. In the early 1950s the British Government floated the idea of uniting British East Africa (Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika) into a federation. Africans feared that this would lead to their coming under the control of Kenya's white settler community, as had happened in Rhodesia. The Baganda, fearing they would lose the limited autonomy they had under British rule, were particularly opposed. Mutesa opposed the proposal, and thus came into conflict with the British Governor, Sir Andrew Cohen. Cohen deposed and exiled the Kabaka in 1953, creating massive protests among the Baganda. After two years in exile Mutesa was allowed to return to the throne under a negotiated settlement which made him a constitutional monarch and gave the Baganda the right to elect representatives to the kingdom's parliament, the Lukiiko. Mutesa's standing up to the Governor greatly boosted his popularity in the kingdom.

Mutesa returned to Uganda and his throne in 1955. In 1962 Uganda became independent from Britain under the leadership of Milton Obote. Under the country's new constitution, the Kingdom of Buganda was a semi-autonomous part of a federation. The federal Prime Minister was Obote, leader of the Uganda People's Congress, which was in a governing coalition with the dominant Buganda regional party, Kabaka Yekka. The post of Governor General was abolished in 1963 and replaced by a non-executive president, a post that Mutesa held.

The coalition between Mutesa and Obote's parties collapsed in 1964 over the matter of a referendum which transferred two counties from Buganda to Bunyoro.

In 1966 Mutesa's estrangement from Obote merged with another crisis. Obote faced a possible removal from office by factional infighting within his own party. He had the other four leading members of his party arrested and detained, and then suspended the constitution and declared himself President in February 1966, deposing Mutesa. The Buganda regional Parliament passed a resolution in May 1966 declaring that Buganda's incorporation into Uganda had de jure ended with the suspension of the constitution and asking the federal government to vacate the capital, which is in Buganda. Obote responded with an armed attack upon the King's palace, sending Mutesa into exile in United Kingdom via Burundi, and a new constitution in 1967 which abolished all of Uganda's kingdoms, including Buganda.

The final years

While in exile Mutesa wrote a published autobiography, The Desecration of My Kingdom.

Mutesa died of alcohol poisoning in his London flat in 1969. Identified by the British police as suicide, the death has been viewed as assassination by those who claim Mutesa may have been force-fed vodka by agents of the Obote regime. Mutesa was interviewed in his flat only a few hours before his death by the British journalist John Simpson, who found that he was sober and in good spirits. Simpson reported this to the police the following day on hearing of Mutesa's death, although this line of inquiry was not pursued. Mutesa's body was returned to Uganda in 1971 after the overthrow of Obote and given a state funeral at Kasubi Nabulagala.^[2] Ironically, the new President who ordered the state funeral was Idi Amin, who as Army Commander had led the assault on Mutesa's palace in 1966.

Married life

Sir Edward Muteesa II is said to have married eleven (11) wives:

1. Naabakyaala Damali Catherine Nnakawombe, the Naabagereka, daughter of Christopher Kisosonkole of the Nkima clan. Wedding on November 19, 1948 at St. Paul's Cathedral Namirembe.
2. Edith Kasozi
3. Omubiitokati Beatrice Kabasweka, a Mutoro from Toro.
4. Kate Ndagire. Married in 1950
5. Naabakyaala Sarah Nalule, Omuzaana Kabejja, sister of the Naabagereka, and daughter of Christopher Kisosonkole of the Nkima clan. Married in 1954.
6. Muzaana Nalwooga. She died before 1966.
7. Nesta M. Rugumayo, a Toro Kingdom|Mutoro]], from Toro
8. Kaakako Rwanchwende, a Munyankole princess from Ankole.
9. Winifred Keihangwe, a Munyankole princess from Ankole. She was imprisoned by Milton Obote and released only shortly before going into labor, in 1966.
10. Lady Ngatho, a Kikuyu, from Nairobi, Kenya.
11. Catherine Karungu, a Munyankole princess from Ankole

Offspring

Sir Edward Muteesa II is recorded to have fathered eleven (11) sons and seven (7) daughters:

1. Prince (Kiweewa) Robert Masamba Kimera, whose mother was Nesta M. Rugumayo. He was born in Kampala in 1950. He was educated at St. Mary's College, Kisubi, King's College Budo and in Canada. He worked as a geologist with the Swaziland Department of Geology, between 1980 and 1983. He was a Lecturer at the Nakawa Vocational School from 1991 until 1992. In 1993, he settled in Canada.
2. Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, whose mother was Sarah Nalule
3. Prince (Omulangira) Suuna Frederick Wampamba, whose mother was Edith Kasozi. He was a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Uganda Army. He was killed on the orders of Idi Amin, at Bombo in 1972. He is buried at Kasubi Nabulagala.
4. Prince (Omulangira) Henry Kalemeera, whose mother was Damali Nnakawombe. He was educated at King's College, Budo and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is an aeronautical engineer. He settled in the United States. Worked or still works as a Flight Engineer with American Airlines.
5. Prince (Omulangira) George Michael Ndawula, whose mother was Muzaana Nalwooga.
6. Prince (Omulangira) Richard Walugembe Bamweyana, whose mother was Sarah Nalule. He was born in 1956, educated in Ghana and worked in the fashion and advertising industries. He died in the 2000s. He was buried at Kasubi Nabulagala.
7. Prince (Omulangira) Katabaazi Mukarukidi, whose mother was Damali Nnakawombe. He is an airline pilot in Nigeria.
8. Prince (Omulangira) Patrick Nakibinge, whose mother was Sarah Nalule. He died in the 2000s and is buried at Kasubi Nabulagala.
9. Prince (Omulangira) Daudi Golooba. He was educated at King's College Budo and Makerere University. He is an accountant. He is a founder member and Chairman of the Buganda Heritage Association of UK and Ireland (Founded in 1998). He settled in the United Kingdom.
10. Prince (Omulangira) Herbert Kateregga, whose mother was Kaakako Rwanchwende. He settled in the United Kingdom.
11. Prince (Omulangira) Daudi Kintu Wasajja, whose mother was Winifred Keihangwe. He was born in Kampala in May 1966, after his father had left Uganda. He was educated at Nottingham University in the UK, graduating with a B.A.. He worked as an Executive Underwriter for Pan World Insurance Company and as Regional Retail Manager for Celtel (Uganda) Limited (now Zain Uganda Limited). He is a member of Buganda Land Board, Kabira Country Club, Hash Harriers Athletic Club and others. Lives in Kampala, Uganda.^[3]
12. Princess (Omumbejja) Dorothy Kabonesa Namukaabya, Nassolo, whose mother was Damali Nakawombe. She was born at the Mengo Palace in 1951. She is a graduate of the University of Nairobi. Lives in Kampala, Uganda.
13. Princess (Omumbejja) Dina Kigga Mukarukidi, whose mother was Beatrice Kabasweka. She works at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
14. Princess (Omumbejja) Anne Sarah Kagere Nandawula, whose mother is Kate Ndagire. Born at Mengo in 1951.
15. Princess (Omumbejja) Catherine Agnes Nabaloga, whose mother was Kate Ndagire. She was installed as the Lubuga at the coronation of her brother Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, the thirty-sixth Kabaka of Buganda, who has reigned since 1993 until today. Princess Nabaloga is the Patron of Buganda Heritage Association in Denmark. The association was founded in 1998. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Linguistics.^[4]
16. Princess (Omumbejja) Alice Mpologoma Zaalwango, whose mother was Edith Kasozi. She was born in 1961. She was educated at Gayaza Junior School, Kibuli High School and Makerere University. She died in Pretoria, South Africa from breast cancer on March 23, 2005. She is buried at Kasubi.^[5]
17. Princess (Omumbejja) Stella Ndagire. Born in Nairobi Kenya, whose mother was Lady Ngatho, a Kikuyu. She was raised in Kampala and Nairobi. Settled in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.^[6]
18. Princess (Omumbejja) Diana Balizza Muggale Teyeggala. She is the youngest offspring of the late Kabaka Edward Frederick Muteesa II. She was born in Kampala in October 1966, after her father had gone into exile. He mother is Catherine Karungu, an Ankole princess. Teyeggala never saw her father alive.^[7] She resides in Kampala.

Succession table as Kabaka

Succession table as Head of State

See also

• Uganda
• President of Uganda
• Politics of Uganda
• History of Uganda
• Political parties of Uganda

References

External links

• Genealogy of the Kabakas of Buganda
• List of Kings of Buganda