May 24 - Lubiri Attack Memorial Day in Buganda

Posted on May 24, 2020

I read the name of today's holiday on a list - "Lubiri Attack Memorial Day in Buganda" - and my first thought was "Where's Buganda?"

My initial impulse was that Buganda is only one letter different from the nation of Uganda, and that hunch was correct. Uganda is the name of the nation artificially carved out of Africa by colonizing Europeans (in this case, the British), and Buganda is the name of the ancient African kingdom. 


The portion of Uganda that is Buganda is shaded red on this map.
(The blue is water - with the large bit of blue in the lower right
corner being Lake Victoria!)

(The people of Buganda are the Ganda people, or Baganda, although one person is a Muganda; the Ganda language is Luganda.)




The Lubiri attack memorialized today was ordered by Uganda's first Prime Minister, Milton Obate, in 1966, and it was carried out by forces under the command of Idi Amin. Amin later ousted Obate and became a military dictator. It was all a terrible time for the Ugandan people, including the Baganda.

The kingdom of Buganda was officially restored in 1993, and the kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a king, Prime Minister, and Parliament. It has a lot of autonomy within Uganda.

Interestingly enough, the capital of Uganda, Kampala, is inside the kingdom of Buganda - and the capital of Buganda, Mengo, is apparently inside Kampala. It's a bit like nesting dolls, isn't it? Buganda within Uganda, Kampala within Buganda, Mengo within Kampala.

Buganda has beautiful sights, like Bujagali Falls.








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