To commemorate 30 years since the coronation of King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, thousands of Ugandans defied the rain on Monday and flocked to the palace grounds of the country’s largest kingdom, Buganda.
The celebrators prayed for the 68-year-old king, whose forefathers governed an area that includes Uganda’s present-day capital Kampala. Men wore a white tunic called a “kanzu,” while ladies wore “bitenge” dresses.
The king waved to the crowd while being carried onto the shoulders of a supporter as the sound of royal drums resounded in the background. The king was wearing the traditional ceremonial clothing of a leopard hide and cloth fashioned from tree bark.
“This is a joyous moment”, said Charles Peter Mayiga, prime minister of Buganda, which is a constitutional monarchy within Uganda.
“We are here to celebrate the coronation but also to pray for the good health of our king and (that) he continues to lead his kingdom,” said shop attendant Annet Nakafeero, 34, who brought her four-year-old daughter to the festivities.
During the ceremony at the hilltop palace in Kampala, schoolchildren sang while representatives from the monarchy and the federal government looked on.
The Kabaka, or king, is mostly a ceremonial figure but has occasionally clashed with President Yoweri Museveni‘s administration, who has reigned over Uganda with an iron fist.
After supporters of the monarch started rioting in Kampala in 2009 over the government’s decision to limit his movements within the country, the authorities shut down the Buganda-run radio station CBS for a year, accusing its announcers of “inciting hatred”.
During the security services’ anti-riot actions, at least 27 individuals perished. Because of the assistance from Buganda, the bush war that put Museveni in power in 1986 was mainly successful.
Because he outlawed tribal kingdoms and drove the Kabaka into exile, Museveni’s opponent and former president Milton Obote was hated by many in Buganda.
