Bamasaba

The Bamasaaba are a Bantu people inhabiting the Eastern Ugandan districts of Sironko, Manafwa, Manjiya and Mbale. Closely related to the Bukusu of Western Kenya, they are a mainly agricultural people, farming millet, bananas and sorghum on small-holder plots. Maize became popular with the coming of Europeans in late 1890s.

The Bamasaaba are famous for their traditional male circumcision ceremonies, held every even year. In a three-day ceremony of dancing and feasting, preceding a couple of months preparations, the initiates are admitted into adulthood and expected to begin their formal contribution to the growth of their respective communities.

The term Bamasaaba is sometimes used interchangeably with the term BaGisu, even though the latter is actually a sub-group of the main Bamasaaba group.

The origin of the Bamasaaba is not known but traditions carried over generationa by oral history points at Egypt [Misri] as the traditional homeland but this ould be the similar epicenter where other migrations from the lower Nile and north-western Ethiopia took place at the close of the millennium, approximately 900 AD. These groups, including the Nilotics and Hermitic communities that contstitute the Hima-Tutsi pepoples of western Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Indeed it is difficult to place the Bamaasaba among the Uganda communities because they relate to both Ugandan and Kenyan communities. The language architecture is close to the Baganda and Bakonjo of western Uganda while their cultural traits are close to the Hermitic groups of north western Ethiopia.

The current Babukusu of western Kenya are believed to have migrated from the Bamasaaba, particularly from areas around Bubulo, in current Manafwa District. Many clans among the Babukusu have their origins among the Bamasaaba, a testimony to this linkage. Masinde Muliro, once a veteran politician and elder of the Babukusu from Kitale, was form the Bakokho clan, with its base at Sirilwa, near Bumbo in Uganda. Other clans common to both sides include Batiiru Babambo, Baata, Bakitang'a and Batiiru. There are other clans whose names, however, that are only on one side, such as Babichache and Balonja who are mainly among the Babukusu. The common cultural ties are a further indication of close relations among the two sister ethnic groups. During the Constituent Assembly that led to the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, Mulongo Simon, a Delegate from Bubulo East, introduced Babukusu as one of the ethnic groupings of Uganda, acknowledging the fact that both groups, Bamasaaba and Babukusu are intertwined.

The Bamasaaba and Politics.Before the arrival of Europeans, Bamasaaba were organised in a decentralized way but maintained strong clan system that brought them together as a community. They had a strong fighting force of youths, whose pre-occupation was to herd livestock and trained in warfare. They warded off attackers from neighboring communities such as the Luo, Iteso, Elgon Masaai (Sabot and Sebei). Earlier, when the Masaai were still dominant in the eastern part of Mt Elgon, they were the traditional hostile neighbours. The dual economic activity of both crop and animal husbandry generated a resilient economy that supported their livelihoods and developed into an independent cultural community that endured centuries of hostility.

The advance of the European missionaries in late 1890s, facilitated by Kakungulu, a British Muganda agent, established a base for the British colonial rule in the area. This changed drastically the geo-political settings of the Bamsaaba form there onwards. The Bamasaaba put up a futile fight against organised elite Ganda fighters but lost their sovereignty and succumbed to foreign rule. The Church Missionary Society (CMS)led by Bishop Tucker, assisted by Kakungulu, established British and particularly Anglican system in the area. They built, through forced labour, road infrastructure and established administrative units based on the Buganda Kingdom centralised system.

By indepndence in 1962, Bamasaaba had had several western educated personalities with some schools, such as Nabumali High School, excelling in national examinations. Mbale town was the cleanest in the country. Professors Timothy Wangusa, Bigala and later Dani Wadada Nabudere were among the leading academics from the Bamasaaba. George Masika, the Chief Justice and Masette Kuuya, a youthful minister during Obote II in 1980s, James Wambogo Wapakhabulo, the foreign Minister in the Museveni regime are examples of leading personalities from the Bamasaaba.