Two weeks ago, death snatched elder Canon Codvia Mabberi Wakiro, a gallant son of Bugisu. He was described as a moving dictionary, a library and a living encyclopedia. He was one of the brains behind the creation of Inzu Ya Masaaba, an outfit that initially housed what was thought to be a cultural institution for the Bagisu alias Bamasaaba.
The Rt. Rev. John Wilson Nandaah, the Bishop of Mbale Diocese was the chief celebrant at Canon Wakiso’s requiem mass held at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Mbale. In his sermon, he heaped praises on the late but also questioned why Inzu Ya Masaaba was swapped with Umukuuka Wa Bugisu despite the achievements it had scored for its people.
He referred to the costly Lumasaaba Bible and the existing Lumasaaba education curriculum to buttress his point. To him, both the Lumasaaba bible and the curriculum were well crafted to serve the entire community and should be maintained. Well, his statements appear innocent but ill-intentioned and misleading at the same time.
Having trained originally as a teacher with a bias in divinity, I would have expected the bishop to carry out in-depth research before lashing out at Umukuuka Wa Bugisu, for he had no hand in renaming the Inzu Ya Masaaba, a conveyor through which he ascended to the throne. Instead, it is the government of Uganda that took that decision independently.
Mid last year, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development on its own motion initiated the name change Inzu Ya Masaaba alongside other existing cultural institutions through a corrigendum (correction) vide General Notice No. 966 of 2025 published in the Uganda Gazette of April 8, 2025.
The updated gazette- a public document provided for the official titles of the cultural heads and their ethnic groups. The list included the Kabaka of Buganda, the Kyabazinga of Busoga, the Omukama of Toro, the Kamuswaga of Kooki, the Rwot of Acholi, the Emorimor of Teso and the Umukuuka Wa Bugisu among others.
It is on record that Umukuuka Jude Mike Mudoma, was rightly gazetted as a cultural leader in August 2023 but erroneously under Inzu Ya Masaaba through which he served without prior knowledge of the errors in its set up. The aforenamed corrigendum which also affected other cultural institutions changed the name from “Inzu Ya Masaba” to Umukuuka Wa Bugisu, a “corporation sole:” and that is what it is today.
With the corrigendum in place, did we expect the current Umukuuka to continue using the old name, the same anthem, same emblem, same aspirations, same bank accounts, same regalia, same management structure and above all, to maintain the rotational system under the constitution of the defunct Inzu Ya Masaaba? Certainly not. The name change was never intended to make Umukuuka Wa Bugisu an extension of the Inzu Ya Masaaba outfit.
The only constant is that Umukuuka Wa Bugisu maintained the old office and as the overseer of Mutoto cultural site which are within his mandate as a reigning Umukuuka. It is therefore not fair for a whole Bishop to launch such inciteful public attacks at his cultural leader without bothering to know his side of the story by way of meeting.
It is only through such an engagement that the bishop would get to hear from both parties before taking a side and pointing an accusing finger at a man ranked to be the most liberal cultural leader throughout the country. The bishop inadvertently condemned the cultural institution and its leaders unheard instead of offering to reconcile the warring parties.
The squabbles among the Bagisu cum Bamasaaba have a historical bearing. Recall the conflicts that rocked Mbale Diocese when a section of their members wanted to secede to form the Present day North Bugisu Diocese. The bickering took years almost tearing the Diocese apart until North Bugisu Diocese was allowed to became autonomous.
The above example goes a long way to show that many things amidst us are unjustifiably entrenched and cannot be settled on the pulpit, in a fist fight or even in court. I believe unity in our community will only happen through concerted effort as most of our problems are based on what I have called “entrenched marginalization”
Entrenched marginalization is a cyclical process where societal norms and institutions consistently place certain populations at the periphery, making it difficult for them to achieve equality and full potential, affecting everything from social, economic and political status. These arguments are factual; the bishop’s predecessor can attest to them.
It is true that we have always called ourselves Bamasaaba due to a fictitious claim that we are descendants of Masaaba but not as an ethnic group. According to the constitution, we remain Bagisu and the area is Bugisu. That explains why the government renamed our cultural leader Umukuuka Wa Bugisu which literally means the Chief grandfather of the Bagisu.
However, the conduct of some people in the past and presently shows they don’t want to be called Bagisu but Bamasaaba. In their disillusionment, they forgot that Bamasaaba are not listed as an indigenous or new tribe in the Constitution of Uganda. The fact remains that we do not have any language called Lumasaaba or a tribe called Bamasaaba.
So, when a Bishop stands on the pulpit to say what he said, he is only inciting the masses against Umukuuka as a man on a mission to destroy the Lumasaaba education curriculum which is already an examinable subject as well as the Lumasaaba Bible which allegedly cost the Catholics and the Anglicans a lot of energy, time and resources.
Please note that these two- the bible and the curriculum are written in Lubuya, one of the many dialects spoken in the area. To claim that the Bible in written in Lumasaaba-a nonexistent language is absurd. It was confirmed in a recent interview that many of the learners in North Bugisu avoid the so called Lumasaaba curriculum because it is hard to speak.
The bishop needs to be reminded that the region has more than 15 dialects but all are erroneously mixed up as “Lumasaaba”. Some of the dialects have very strong tongue twisters and are not easy to understand. This therefore means we cannot have a mutual purpose Bible or even a common curriculum to serve all these people.
Some of us believe the government erred in coming up with MYX as the language code for a language called “Lumasaaba” yet they are aware such a language does not exist. They even acquired an ISO 639-3 for it, an IETF as the Language Tag and alleged that MYX code applies to dialects and related names such as Lugisu, Gisu, Kisu, Dadiri, and Buya whereas not.
These are some of the entrenched mistakes that Umukuuka Jude Mike Mudoma must correct even if it takes 20 years before vacating office for whatever reason. We must learn to treat each other with dignity and avoid the evils associated with superiority complex and a sense of entitlement to everything at the expense of the others.
As Bagisu, we must push for translation of national laws into Lugisu, an education curriculum that we can relate with, a bible translation into Lugisu and an anthem composed in Lugisu and by a Mugisu. If we accept to follow others blindly, Lugisu will soon become extinct in preference for another dialect disguised as Lumasaaba.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. wadroger @yahoo.ca
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