Sembabule Residents Eulogize Woman Who Hid Kabaka Muteesa

When Angelina Nabakooza was declared dead on Thursday, hundreds of mourners started gathering at her home in Kidandali village, Rugushulu sub county in Sembabule district, to pay her tribute for the courage exhibited when she hid Kabaka Edward Muteesa II.

From a modest lifestyle of surviving on subsistence farming, Nabakooza was in 2009 recognized with Buganda Kingdom’s highest order of the Shield and Spears. Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, Muteesa's heir and successor, bestowed upon Nabakooza the honours at a colourful ceremony.

She is the only woman among many men that conspired to hide Sir Edward Muteesa II, during one of his critical moments when the government of Apollo Milton Obote pursued him between May 24 and June 20, 1966.

On May 24, 1966, then Prime Minister Obote ordered the army under the command of Colonel Idi Amin to attack Mengo Palace, the official residence of the Kabaka who was also President of Uganda. During the battle Muteesa escaped from the palace and began what became a month-long journey to safety.

While on the run, and with a government bounty of 250,000 Uganda Shillings for whoever provided information about his whereabouts, it was to Sembabule that Muteesa sought temporary refuge. In her three-room house built of wattles and daub, Nabakooza accommodated the Kabaka for 21 days before he finally slipped out of Uganda, through Congo and Burundi, to begin his exile in the United Kingdom where he died three years later.

Hajjat Fatuma Namugula, the Mawogola County representative to the Buganda Lukiiko, who was a close associate of Nabakooza, describes her as a courageous woman who dared a highly risky duty not many people would attempt at the time. She observes that Nabakooza who was already a widow at 47 years, exhibited a high level of bravery when she accepted the responsibility of hosting “a strange visitor” despite the dire repercussions that were apparently from the government.

“This was an ordinary woman who largely survived on subsistence farming, to the extent that some of her children had been taken away by relatives who would afford to take care of them after the death of her husband. It is so surprising that she accepted to take on the responsibility,” she says.

Namugula says that until her death Nabakooza, declared a heroine in 2009 by Buganda Kingdom, had become a beckon of hope and a cradle of wisdom in the community and many people continued to consult her on many things even after she had become visibly frail.

//Cue in: “Omugenzi kati….   

  Cue out: ….nga tamuwaddeyo.”//

She narrates that Nabakooza, who by coincidence was the only surviving among the people that looked after Muteesa during his stay in Sembabule, didn’t have a direct benefit from the Kingdom until 2009 when Kabaka Mutebi II decorated her and subsequently started taking care of her needs.

Unlike her other ten accomplices who had a sounding social status or some connections to circles of authority by then, Nabakooza was a simple common woman not many people would pay attention to.

//Cue in: “Nze namutegeera….  

Cue out: ….. nga amanyikiddwa.”//

Samuel Wamala Kuwatanya, another resident in Sembabule describes the deceased as a strong woman who exhibited a great sense of humility and selfless commitment, which was manifested in her contribution to Buganda Kingdom.

When Muteesa and his guards reached Sembabule, he was received by the Mawogola County Chief Sebastian Kabumbuli Kitayimbwa who alongside his men plotted on how to keep the Kabaka safe. According to Wamala, Nabakooza was assigned the role of preparing meals for the Kabaka and providing him with shelter as a group of about 11 men catered for his security.

Wamala eulogizes Nabakooza as a resilient woman who defied the threats of the time and failed to compromise her conviction of hiding the embattled monarch whom she had never met before.

Prime Minister Obote, who later declared himself executive President, had offered a huge reward for anyone who volunteered information leading to Muteesa’s arrest. But Nabakooza stood her ground and hid the Kabaka until he managed to escape unhurt.

//Cue in: “Nabakooza yasinze….  

Cue out: ….naye nakisirikira.”//

Besides providing shelter, Nabakooza also conspired with Kitayimbwa to smuggle Muteesa into present day Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi until he flew into exile in the United Kingdom. The other persons that participated in the scheme were Rajab Kakooza, Samuel Mwagalwa, Vincentia Kivumbi, Vincent Byabazungu, Lawrence Kasule, Robert Kalibbala, Lwanga Muramuzi, Medard Kiwanuka Kasiita and Francis Kabajjo among others who have since passed on.

Noah Kiyimba, the Buganda Kingdom Information Minister, indicates that Nabakooza and other individuals that participated in the scheme left an outstanding legacy that the kingdom is preserving for future reference. He says the kingdom set up a committee to organize the funeral and accord a befitting burial of its heroine on Monday next week.    

Nabakooza, a mother of six, was 103 years old at the time of her death on Thursday, September 29.