CHAPTER 48
HOW BUSOGA WAS GOVERNED
Every son of Mukama, or Kintu, set up a government of either of these two types within his kingdom. The first type of government consisted of ministers elected by the people. The responsibility of these ministers was to preserve peace and order among the men and women of the kingdom. The second type of government consisted of senior wives elected or nominated to rule over the rest of the wives; this would be so in case of a polygamist.
To begin with, let us consider a king within a given area. This king had unlimited power over everything in his kingdom. He often nominated ministers to help him with the duties of his government and nobody could question the king’s nominations, especially as he often nominated some popular people. The Katikiro would be nominated from any of the clans within the kingdom but the ‘Katikiroship’ would be inherited at times. In power the Katikiro was second only to the king. Under the Katikiro there was a number of assistant ministers, nominated by the king. Below these were the king’s favourites and princes and princesses who also had a considerable amount of power. Cases of any sort were heard and tried by the Katikiro together with ministers, princes and princesses and some elders. The same people were responsible for legislating within the kingdom and thus they formed a council. Whatever laws were enacted or ideas passed in this council, they would be submitted to the king for approval. In most cases the king would give his approval without making any alterations in the legislations. It must be understood, however, that no law whatsoever, passed by the council, could be operational before the king had endorsed it. Normally the king would not refuse to endorse his council’s ruling or decision; on the other hand if a decision was considered unpopular or inconvenient, he would amend it slightly.
Besides a number of small councils of the chiefs, the above-mentionied council operated in every kingdom.
The said council also had the power to decide on the successor to the throne. The council ruled over the various parts of the kingdom and acted as a cheek against the king’s power, thus avoiding excessive dictatorship on his part. It exercised authority over the princes and princesses, and administered the customary rites. The army was under its management, for which reason it was able to keep the boundaries free from encroachment, and maintained peace within the kingdom. It collected taxes and authorised foreign visitors to stay in, or leave the country. It authorised trade as well as marriages.
There was no building for this council. It would meet in any convenient place, such as under some big trees near the king’s mbuga. Any person having complaints was allowed to present his complaints to the council through one of the members to whom he would have to pay a fee which would amount to a cow, a goat, bark-cloth, a girl or a gun. On receipt of any of these things for a fee, the member would then submit the plaintiff’s name either to the Katikiro or the king. The plaintiff would then be required to pay another fee before the case could be heard. The hearing consisted of an enquiry for evidence before passing the decision, after which the person found guilty would be punished.
In case of trees in dispute, no final decision would be made concerning the claims of the plaintiff and the defendant until the case was heard. In the course of the hearing, those two people would each present his case while the councillors would be passively listening and drinking beer; the latter’s wives often attended the court, holding their husband’s spears and shields, together with big calabashes full of beer. Once the plaintiff and defendant had finished presenting their cases, their witnesses would be called in to deliver evidence. The evidence was never extracted by force, as is the case today.
After all evidence had been heard, the senior councillors would separate themselves from the main council for a private discussion. During this private session, the councillors would argue out the good points given by either the plaintiff or the defendant and come to a decision. They would then come back and ask the two people to pay the court fee, each according to his ability. Then the judge, who would be either the king himself or his Katikiro would announce the court’s decision. The one found guilty would be sentenced to death, if it was a criminal case such as murder. If it was a civil case, he would be required to refund the costs or property lost of the winner of the case. If the charge was for selling another man’s person or relative, the criminal would be deprived of his wives, who would be paid to the plaintiffs that he (the plaintiff) would have children by them to replace the person sold. The same solution used to be applied in cases of murder.
In a case of indebtedness, the defendant would be deprived of all his property, part of which would go to pay the court fee, and he would also be sent into exile. Murder, kidnapping and theft were treated as criminal cases of the first order.
The court had power to condemn anybody to death or deprive him of his property, or send him into exile, but in each of these cases, the king gave the final ruling. The king had his own private cabinet which consisted of the Katikiro and one other person, or some wives, nominated by the king. The king attended his own cabinet more often than he attended the council. The presentation of a case in a round-about way, through one of the councils, is equivalent to the present practice of first reporting to the police, or to a lawyer, to whom a fee is paid before he takes on the case. Just as a magistrate would not have a case taken to him directly so did the Katikiro in those days.
If anybody was murdered for no reason at all, the relatives of the deceased would retaliate by putting to death the murderer, if they found him. But if he escaped completely, they would then take a charge against the murderer’s parents or relatives. If the case was proved, the relatives would be sentenced to the following two punishments:-
a) To pay one or two girls from the murderer’s clan. The children born by these two girls would replace the deceased.
b) He would pay one or two cows and many other things to the court as a fine.
The court did not often sentence the murderer to death since he could escape or get killed by the deceased’s relatives long before his arrest. A case of murder was usually heard between the relatives of the murderer and the deceased’s.
Any person found guilty of the following crimes would be sentenced to death:
a) Practising witchcraft
b) Adultery
c) Treachery or crime which could lead to murder.
The councillors were nominated, not for a limited term, but for life. They did not work for a salary but received their share of the court fees and fines, and also collected taxes from their own lands given to them as councillors. On top of this, they received many presents from their people and their king, who used to give generously.
No form of writing was invented but records were memorised and preserved that way. Most events and incidents would be remembered for a long time because people kept talking about them and thus passed them on to the new generation.
In every big home the master had the right to choose any of his wives to rule the rest of the wives in that home. The master often chose the most senior or the favourite wife. The latter wife would be chosen if the senior wife was guilty of any crime.
The chief wife had authority to report to the master in private the shortcomings of any of the wives but she had no power to settle the wives’ disputes although she could punish any daughter in the home. The choice of a senior wife was a common practice in every big home. Even if a man had more than one home, he still had a chief wife in every one of his homes. The main duty of these chief wives was to guard the husband at night and to look after his property and to conduct the traditional rituals. The chief wife was very much respected by everybody under her husband’s authority. She occupied her office for life.