Thread by @JonathonLEarle

Was Kabaka Muteesa II the son of Kabaka Chwa II? Prior to 1953, Kabaka Muteesa II was one of the more controversial rulers of a generation. Why? 1/thread

At the time of his death in late 1939, Kabaka Chwa had identified 'the real children of whom I am father'. He recognized 36, as noted here: 2/

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You will notice a question mark by #15, the future King of Buganda. As it happens, the earlier drafts of Kabaka Chwa's Will & Estate have been declassified. An earlier English draft shows us why there is a question mark. As Kabaka Chwa stated: 'I doubt He is not mine.' 4/

We can also see that Kakaba Chwa had appointed Omulangira George William Mawanda as his principal heir, although the question of the Kabakaship had not been answered for reasons that Kabaka Chwa explained here: 5/

But, by the time he had passed, Kabaka Chwa had indeed appointed Omulangira Muteesa II as the future King of Buganda. Here we have a deeply personal note that Kabaka Chwa left for Kabaka Muteesa, where the latter's names were explained to a very young prince: 6/

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The controversies of Kabaka Muteesa II's succession did not go away. As I have argued in Colonial Buganda & the End of Empire, there were considerable efforts throughout the early 1940s to overthrow Muteesa's kingship and appoint Mawanda & other Princes. In 1943, I.K. Musaazi 11/

organised a movement to place Omulangira Ssuuna on the Throne. Ssuuna & Musazi corresponded extensively throughout 1944. In letters written between May and June 1944, Ssuuna referred to Musazi as a ‘parent’. ‘I am your child,’ Ssuuna wrote in one letter to Musazi. In 1945, 12/

the two were principal organisers of the 1940s riots. With the help of the Uganda African Farmers’ Union and the Motor Drivers’ Union, Ssuuna circulated rumours, planned meetings and directed the distribution of food. In a letter to the director of the Motor Drivers’ Union, 13/

Ssuuna asserted: ‘What I ask is this: that you allow foodstuffs to be brought in and bought by local Baganda for their food but don’t let it be taken into the Township.’ He continued: ‘Now, my men, I ask you to listen to what I say and give consideration to my request 14/

that I have put before you.’ Ssuuna’s public performance was reminiscent of the past, a time when pretender kings assumed the etiquette of kingship. As recently as the sovereignty of Ssuuna’s namesake (Kabaka Ssuuna), the organisation of feasts and food blockades had been 15/

used to centralise political power. The consumption and distribution of food were central to how reciprocal obligations were forged in the past, and its preparation and distribution were used to organise and end periods of political violence. In 1945, 16/

Ssuuna hoped that food politicking would translate into popular support for his coronation. During a private meeting following the riots, Muteesa II confronted Ssuuna, who confessed that the ultimate intention of the 1945 disturbance was to ‘dethrone the Kabaka and usurp 17/

the position’. This alarmed colonial officials. ‘It should be remembered in connection with these rumours’, noted one report, ‘that in the old days it was customary for the death of the Kabaka to be accompanied by disputes extending frequently to civil wars between the 18/

surviving princes who contended for the succession'. In response, with the support of Uganda’s colonial government, Ssuuna was deported to the Ssesse Islands on charges of political intrigue (Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire, pp. 69–70). 19/19