ABSTRACT

For a better appreciation of the origins of Rwenzururu as a movement of protest and the context in which it emerged, some background regarding the political dynamics at the national and sub-national levels in the years preceding and following Ugandan independence is essential. The pre-1967 Toro kingdom-district had comprised different ethnic communities, and social status and privilege had for a long time been distributed unevenly among the various groups. Over the years symbolic expressions of independence took on ever more exalted forms in the Rwenzururu kingdom. Ministries and chieftainships were created and adorned with neo-traditional titles; a God of Rwenzururu, to whom great protective powers were attributed, made his entry and Mukirane himself became surrounded with various emblems of royalty. The monarchy became a hereditary one after Mukirane, a victim of dysentery, died in 1966.