Ugee

MWANGA AND KABALEGA'S RESISTANCE

Mwanga's reinstatement was not the end of the story. In July 1897 he escaped from his palace where he was being kept as a puppet king. With some of his followers, he boarded a canoe and crossed Lake Victoria to go to Buddu. From there he started a rebellion against the combined forces of the British and their Protestant collaborators to reassert his authority. He later linked up with some elements in Ankole, Busoga, Lango and finally with Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro. They fought with gallantry and refused to surrender to the British led forces that were fighting to control their land. However, this countrywide resistance to colonialism had come too late. Omukama Kabalega had been fighting a lone guerilla war for nearly eight years. With the depletion of their forces, Mwanga and Kabalega were captured on April 4 1899 in Dokolo, present-day Lira, in a house of a Langi chief. They were both exiled to Seychelles Islands where Mwanga died. Kabalega lived there for a long time and was permitted to return but was kept in Jinja where he died in 1926. His body was taken to Mparo in Hoima for burial.

 

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