CHAPTER 2 | KABAKA MWANGA II — THE KING AT THE CENTRE OF THE STORM
Who Was Mwanga II?
Danieri Basamula-Ekkere Mwanga II was born in approximately 1868 at Nakawa and was the thirty-first Kabaka of the Buganda Kingdom. He came to the throne at a deeply challenging time. Uganda was caught between two great external forces — the advance of British colonial interests from the east and the spread of Arab-Islamic influence from the north and west. Internally, the growth of Christianity was producing a new class of young, educated, religiously motivated officials who challenged the traditional order of the kingdom in ways that the old chiefs and the king himself found deeply threatening.
Mwanga was not simply a villain. Historical accounts reveal a complex young man caught between the demands of absolute kingship, traditional Buganda customs, and the rising tide of change. At times he was curious about Christianity and even friendly toward missionaries. At other times he was volatile, fearful, and capable of extraordinary cruelty. He watched as the young pages — men who should have been completely devoted to his service — began to look to a higher authority than his own.
“ Mwanga precipitated a showdown in May 1886 by ordering converts in his court to choose between their new faith and complete obedience to his orders and kingdom.
— Watchdog Uganda — Uganda Martyrs Historical Account”
The Reasons Behind the Persecution
Historians have identified several interlocking reasons for Mwanga’s decision to execute Christians, and it is important to understand all of them together, rather than simplify the story to a single cause.
First, there was a political prophecy. A traditional Buganda belief held that enemies who would one day destroy the kingdom would come from the east. When the Anglican Bishop James Hannington arrived in late 1885 travelling eastward through Busoga to enter Buganda, Mwanga saw him as the embodiment of this prophecy. On 29th October 1885, Mwanga ordered his execution through Chief Luba of Busoga. Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, one of the king’s most trusted Catholic pages and advisors, publicly and courageously reproached Mwanga for this killing a dangerous act of defiance.
Second, the Christian pages were refusing to participate in traditional religious ceremonies and practices, which included offerings at shrines, certain rituals tied to royal customs, and practices that they regarded as contrary to Christian teaching. This was seen as cultural and religious subversion.
Third, and perhaps most personally for Mwanga, the Christian pages rejected his sexual advances. Mwanga’s behaviour in this regard was known at the court, and Charles Lwanga, who led the Christian pages, actively protected the younger boys from the king. This rejection was a profound humiliation for a king accustomed to absolute obedience.
Fourth, the traditional prime minister, Katikkiro Mukasa (not to be confused with the martyr Joseph Mukasa), actively encouraged Mwanga against the Christians, partly to eliminate rivals who threatened his own position. Fifth, there was a genuine fear among the traditional establishment that Christianity’s teaching on the equality of all people before God was eroding the very foundation of Buganda’s hierarchical social structure, in which the Kabaka occupied a near-divine position.
- Kabaka Mwanga II 31st Kabaka of Buganda Kingdom Born c. 1868 | Died 1903. Ascended the throne in 1884 at approximately 18 years of age after the death of his father Kabaka Muteesa I. His decision to execute Christians set in motion one of the most significant martyrdom events in African history. He was later deposed, converted to Christianity, and died in exile in the Seychelles. Legacy: His reign and choices, however tragic, ultimately planted the seeds of Christian expansion across Uganda and beyond.
CHAPTER 2B | THE EARLY MARTYRDOMS — JANUARY 1885
◊ The 1882 Departure of Missionaries and the Rise of Mwanga
In 1882, the Catholic missionaries were compelled to leave Buganda temporarily due to sustained opposition from Kabaka Mutesa. However, the situation changed dramatically in 1884, when Mwanga became Kabaka following his father’s death. He was only eighteen years old at the time young, inexperienced, and a considerably less capable statesman than his father. Under his reign, opposition to Christianity intensified sharply. A number of royal pages (bagalagala) had converted to Christianity or were undergoing instruction as catechumens, and the growing influence of Protestant missionaries — including Alexander Mackay and R.P. Ashe — over their converts was deeply resented at court. This rising tension set the stage for Buganda’s first Christian martyrdoms.
◊ The First Martyrdoms — Mpimerebera Swamp, January 1885
The first martyrdoms in Buganda occurred in January 1885 not in 1886, as is sometimes mistakenly assumed. The immediate trigger was a diplomatic incident involving missionary Alexander Mackay. Mackay had been granted permission to take correspondence south of Lake Victoria, but he declined the royal legate escort that Mwanga offered. The Katikkiro (chief minister), Mukasa, seized on this refusal as a grave insult to the Kabaka and persuaded Mwanga that it was an act of deliberate defiance. An edict was promptly issued ordering the arrest of all Baganda who were in the service of foreigners. Mackay’s party was intercepted, and several people were arrested. The missionaries’ intercessions on behalf of the accused were completely ignored.
Three young Protestant converts were condemned to death: Mako Kakumba, aged approximately sixteen; Yusufu Lugalama, aged approximately twelve; and Nua Seruwanga, slightly older than the other two. They were taken to the Mpimerebera Swamp, an official royal place of execution, where they were mutilated and burned to death. Historical accounts record that on the journey to the execution site, the three young men sang the Swahili hymn “Killa siku tuusifu,” meaning “Daily, daily sing the praises,” a remarkable act of faith and composure in the face of death.
Three other individuals Freddy (Ferederiko) Kizza, Sara Nakima, and her baby, were also arrested but ultimately reprieved. The last two owed their lives to the intervention of Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, who was at that time the head of the Catholic royal pages and one of the most trusted figures at court. His intercession on their behalf was accepted, and they were spared.
◊ Formation of the Protestant Church Council and the Catholic Return (1885)
As a direct result of these January 1885 martyrdoms, the Protestant community established a formal Church Council. Its founding members included Henry Wright, Duta, Zakariya Kizito Kisingiri, Tomasi Semfuma, Freddy Kizza, and Nua Walukaga notably, both Freddy Kizza and Nua Walukaga would themselves later be martyred in the great persecution of 1886. Shortly after this, the Christians at court exposed a plot to overthrow Mwanga, and Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe personally warned the Kabaka. In gratitude, Mwanga granted several Christians positions of importance at court.
Because of Mwanga’s apparently more favorable attitude toward Christians during this period, the Catholic missionaries Father Lourdel, Father Girault, and Brother Amman were permitted to return to Buganda in July 1885. The numbers seeking instruction and baptism grew significantly at both the Catholic and Protestant missions. This brief period of relative tolerance, however, was to be shattered just months later with the murder of Anglican Bishop Hannington in October 1885 the event that would directly precipitate the execution of Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, the first Catholic martyr, on 15th November 1885.