BugandaIt's partly a Paradies

Ngeye - Akabbiro Kkunguvu
Totem: Ngeye


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Akabbiro: Kkunguvu

English: Colobus Monkey
Clan Leader:

Hajji Mohamood Minge Kasujja

Estates: Busujja
Ssaza: Busiro
Omubala
Clan motto:

Tatuula asuulumba busuulumbi

When Kintu overthrew Bemba, he could not be inaugurated without a Muganda wife as it was required by the law of the land. He went to Kiwumu, Bumpenje in Busiro at the home of Bakazirwendo Ssemandwa to seek a hand in marriage to his beautiful daughter Nnambi Nantuttululu.

This Bakazirwendo who offered his daughter to Kabaka Kintu is the grandfather of this clan. The head of this clan is Kasujja of Busujja. This ngeye clan is among the ones Kintu found already established in Buganda.

Although this clan descends from Bakazirwendo, its head is not addressed by that title. When Prince Kalemeera was banished in Bunyoro, he went with Lule Kyesimba (his maternal uncle), son of Bakazirwendo who was an expert in treating fever. He had treated kings and chiefs earlier and the reason he went with him perhaps was because of his expertise to cure disease.

After the death of Kalemeera, he became Prince Kimera’s medicineman and was among the many people who came escorting him to be crowned king in Buganda from Bunyoro. Because of his wide knowledge in medicine and ability to cure fever, Kimera gave him the name Kasujja ( fever) and a village Busujja because he treated the disease well. Kyesimba became a favourite of Kabaka Kimera because of their long history and when the father Bakazirwendo noticed this friendship, he honored it by handing over the clan to his son. The official duties of this clan are to supply the Kabaka with a chief butler (Ddumba) and the man in charge of the king’s drinking water (Kalinda). Sadly, Kalinda was among those put to death when the king died. They supplied the king with the royal potter (Sseddagala) who made the king’s cooking-pots. ( Nsimbi pg 192) Roscoe under the Ngeye clan page 143 writes clearly on how Ssedagala picked infant Kimera from a clay pit and handed him to Mugema whose wife nursed and fed him till he grew up but Nsimbi in his book “Amannya Amaganda page 274 writes that Kimera was picked from a clay pit by son of Mulegeya called Katumba who brought him up. Katumba was given the coveted title Mugema after Kimera became kabaka of Buganda.
Tarcis Nsobya refers to this particular personality as Mulegeya Katumba.

Kalule, Kibirige, Nnaluswa, Ssebunya, Ssebugenyi, Mugga, Muyingo, Kakande, Buwembo, Kalungi, Kasimbi, Settaala, Kasule, Ggingo, Ssemakalu, Kawooya, Bagenda, Kirumira, Kisuule, Ssebayigga, Kalimbwe, Kabuye, Ggoli, Lutwama, Kajimu, Luyombo, Mpoza, Kattante. Popular names for women: Nanfuka, Nakayiza, Nabunnya, Nambajwe, Nambirige, Namugga, Nalukenge, Nakitto, Nakakande, Nabuwembo, Naggayi, Nakabuye, Nakawooya, Nampoza, Nannungi

Colobid monkeys are medium sized with an amputated thumb. The word "colobus" comes from the Greek word ekolobóse "he cut short" and is so named because the thumb of all colobus monkeys are a stump and looks amputated. There are about fifteen different kinds of colobus monkeys in Africa but in Uganda only a few races occur. The common ones include Angola pied colobus, Geoffroy’s pied colobus and Guereza colobus. The Guereza colobus is typically black and white with long and thick fur that have made it a target of hunters. The original people who inhabited the land Muwawa now known as Buganda were called “Abalasangeye,” which translates to colobus hunters which means it has been hunted for hundreds of years. The female Guereza colobus head and body measure 48-65cm while the male is 54-75cm. The tail is 65-90cm in both sexes and can weigh up to 23kg. Their diet mainly consists of leaves. These colobus monkeys are very territorial and live in family groups headed by a dominant male fiercely intolerant to intruding males. Although they are not endangered, their habitat is being enchroached upon by man at an alarming rate.

Source: http://www.buganda.or.ug/index.php/cabinet/culture-norms-language

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