With his wife princess Nakalema in the early 1900s. Courtesy Photo

When Semei Kakungulu arrived in Naboa, eastern Uganda, he immediately started carving out territory for himself, designed to create a kingdom to rival Buganda, which his rival, Sir Apolo Kaggwa, had edged him out of.
When ill-health prevented him from joining a British expedition to put down a revolt by the Nandi tribe in Kenya, Kakungulu sent Isaka Nzige whom he bestowed upon two titles – Mujasi (army commander) and Pokino (chief) – which, in Buganda, were honours given by the Kabaka.
This posturing caused the Collector, Mr C.W. Fowler to inform the chiefs “that Kakungulu is ruling their country with the permission of H.M. Special Commissioner, and that the country is not, as he seems to have informed them, his personal property.”
“Further that important questions, such as the deposition of native chiefs and the adjustment of important claims and settlement of feuds, are to be brought before me or the Collector succeeding myself in Iganga”.
Fowler also instructed Kakungulu “to cease from levying local supplies from the natives, and to commence immediately, the cultivation of Shambas for the support of his levy, to take no hostile action without my sanction and to endeavour to live in friendly relations with the inhabitants of the area.”
There were other indications that Kakungulu was carrying himself as Kabaka of the area; he had divided up the area into counties resembling Amasaza (counties) of Buganda and bestowed on the individuals he placed in charge tittles enjoyed by county chiefs of Buganda.
Pseudo king
He also prepared for himself a grave resembling the last resting places of the kings of Bunyoro and Buganda, an “enormous pit, some 30 to 40 feet deep and some 15 to 20 feet in length and breadth”.
In April 1901, on his way out of Uganda and at the end of his tour of duty as Special Commissioner, Sir Harry Johnston arrived at Kakungulu’s at Busano not far from the present Catholic Mission at Nyondo. Sir Johnston had deliberately made a detour from the usual route in order to have a final meeting with Kakungulu whose assistance he wanted to round up Sudanese mutineers in Lango. In exchange for his support, Kakungulu asked to be allowed to establish a fort in Budama. He also asked to be officially recognised as Kabaka of Budama.
Before the matter could be resolved, Kakungulu’s forces raided a large number of cattle from Budama. In the ensuing dispute, his men captured Majanga, the chief of the Badama, who was forced to agree to keep his chieftainship as long as he recognised the lordship of Kakungulu.
As this was happening, reports were reaching the Uganda Administration about Kakungulu’s mistreatment of the people east of the Mpologoma River, especially the raiding of Budama. William Grant was later to observe that relation between Badama and Basoga had been good before the arrival of Kakungulu.
In an explanation to the authorities, Kakungulu wrote to the Acting Commissioner on July 30, 1901 claiming that Sir Harry Johnston had instructed him to make war on the Badama but Sir John Milner Gray doubted this claim.
Sent to Budaka in August 1901, Grant expressed concerns about Kakungulu’s ability to hold so much territory (16 garrisons in all) without a clear source of revenue. “…Men without remuneration from government must have some inducement to remain in the country,” Grant noted. “Kakungulu cannot pay them and I cannot but surmise that they have other means of paying themselves from various sources.”
However, Grant failed to find witnesses willing to come forward and speak out against Kakungulu and his methods. The latter was thus able to refute the charges against him.
Pressing on with his ambitions, he claimed that Sir Johnston had made him Kabaka of Bukedi with the boundary of his kingdom running from River Toshi on the eastern border of Lango to the slopes of Mt. Elgon.
Kakungulu’s assumption of regality caused discomfort back home in Buganda as promises of loot and the acquisition of large estates in Bukedi led to considerable emigration of Baganda to Bukedi