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History
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The word ‘Ggwangamujje’ literally translated means ‘Compatriots come’. From time immemorial Ggwangamujje has been the drum beat sounded in Buganda to mobilize the community during emergencies such as war, disasters, or epidemics. The Ggwangamujje drumbeat took precedence over another drumbeat, Saagalaagalamidde, which mobilized people for community projects such as road, bridge and well construction.
In 1966, the Buganda monarchy that anchored Buganda’s elaborate system of administration and culture was abolished by the central government. The Kabaka’s palace was destroyed, and the kingdom’s institutions and properties were appropriated by the central government. The Buganda kingdom, which, at independence, had been granted semi-federal status was now placed under an indefinite state of emergency. The administrative system that had rendered Buganda one of the most prosperous regions in the whole of Africa was destroyed in favor of central government rule. In ensuing years, educated and elite Baganda were persecuted. In the absence of legitimate governance structures, the standards of living, education and health in Buganda fell to abysmally low levels.
In 1993, the central government agreed to recognize the Buganda monarchy again after strong agitation by Baganda. In March 1994 the newly enthroned King of Buganda, His Majesty Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, visited Boston, Massachusetts. Hundreds of Baganda throughout North America descended on Boston to witness this historic event.
The royal visit, coming only months after the king’s enthronement, was tantamount to sounding the Ggwangamujje drum to mobilize the Baganda to rebuild Buganda and rescue her and her people from the depths they had fallen.
Inspired by His Majesty's visit, and his call for Baganda to develop and promote their culture, the Baganda in the New York and New Jersey region inaugurated Ggwangamujje, New York/New Jersey (Ggwangamujje NY/NJ) on October 15,1994. |
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