After we delved into the original meaning of words “Hutu” and “Tutsi”, let’s today discuss how the Rwandan leadership was established and how an Umugabe (King) and Umugabekazi (Queen) were decided to lead a land that was going to be the Kingdom of Rwanda we know today. Rwandan kings and Queen Mothers were untrusted with the power to protect the Kingdom and the unity of Rwandan families. At that time, three families inhabited the land that will bear the name Rwanda. These were the families of Sabizeze's descendents in Mazinga, Abasinga in Rurenge, and Abega. The Abega were three. The Abega descendents of Makara in Mubari, the Abega from Mukono in Cyeza, present day Tanzania, and the Abega from Muha, in Buha, also present day Tanzania. Some may hold that Sabizeze can’t be the ancestor of Rwandans, labeling him IKIMANUKA from heaven as colonial scholars did. But, according to oral history, he is. Of course, with his brother Mututsi and their sister Nyampundu. That is what Rwandans knew before colonial writings told us otherwise. Most Rwandan elders could tell you their genealogy and go from their names up to Mututsi or to Sabizeze, both sons of Sabiyogera. When they arrived in Rwanda, it was a forest as Bishop Julian Gorgu tells us in his book “En zigzags à travers l'Urundi.” He confirms that there was no human at their arrival, contrary to those who forged a native King in the name of Kabeja. In order to be able to procreate, Sabizeze and Mututsi decided to marry Nyampundu. As Nyampundu was Mututsi’s direct sister, she married Sabizeze, whom they shared a father but not a mother. They had a daughter named Sukiranya, who married her uncle Mututsi, and they begotten Ntandayera and Serwega. Oral history reveals that descendents of Sabizeze were called Abega ba Kuno, and descendents of Mututsi Abega ba Kurya. The story of the ritual performed to allow Mututsi to marry his niece is another story. At this time, there are no clans. There are just the “Abega ba Kuno,” and the “Abega ba Kurya”. To his side, Ntandayera begotten Mukono, the forefather of Abakono, and Muha, the forefather of Abaha, while Serwega begotten Makara, the forefather of Abega and Gasinga, the forefather of Abasinga. At this time, we have five families, the Bega ba Kuno, the Basinga, the Bega, the Bakono and the Baha. In order to bring together these families, they established a system of governance headed by an Umugabe (King) and an Umugabekazi (Queen Mother). This pact established this system of governance. It took place at Gasabo in Kigarama of current Ngoma District. Here lived an elder called Rwagasabo, who hosted the meeting. This residence has been preserved by Iriba rya Rwagasabo or the well of Rwagasabo. People in Kigarama know about this well. The meeting brought together members of the families of Sabizeze from Mazinga, Makara from Mubari, Gasinga from Rurenge, Mukono from Cyeza, and Muha from Buha. They met there and decided on the future leadership of Rwanda. I believe that colonial scholars came across this pact and the name of the elder Rwagasabo. But in order to erase this important history in the minds of Rwandans, they never wrote about it. And to erase it indefinitely, they created another Rwagasabo, where they falsely said Rwanda started. Thanks to Elder Gervais Ryumugabe, Former Chief of the Chefferie of Gatsibo since King Yuhi V Musinga and during the reign of King Mutara III Rudahigwa, we had a chance to interview him at his home in Nyagatare. Thanks also to Elder Gabriel Buriheremu, who was a servant of Kayijuka, the informant of historians like Léon Delmas, Thomas Kamanzi and André Coupez. We also had a chance to meet him at his home town of Huye. Without forgetting Elder Mugemanyi Kadahwema we met in Mukamira and who was the first to reveal to us theexistence of this Gasabo and Rwagasabo of Kigarama. These elders helped us discover the existence of this event. Without their memories, this important event in the history of Rwanda would have gone unnoticed. This pact decided that the Umugabe would come from the descendents of Sabizeze, and the Umugabekazi would come from the family of Mututsi. But at this time, the family of Mututsi had multiplied and was made of Abasinga, Abega, Abakono and Abaha. Who among the four would provide the Queen Mother? That was the question. A contest was organized and the Basinga won it, becoming the family that would provide Queen Mothers. Their name came from that contest, because Abasinga means the winners. In order to be neutral, it was decided that the Umugabe would be named by prophets before his birth, and the same prophets would also predict who would be the Queen Mother before her marriage. It is this pact that also decided that Umugabe would be given a “Tutsi” name that aimed at connecting him to all the descendants of Mutusi, besides his name as the King. That is why the first Rwandan Queen Mothers were Abasinga, until King Ruganzu I Bwimba decreed that they would no longer provide queen mothers, giving this privilege to Abega. That explains why all other wives of Rwandan kings originated from Mututsi. Some few queen mothers were from the Bakono and the Baha, except the Queen Mother of Kigeli III Ndabarasa, called Rwesero, who was from the Abagesera clan. This has an explanation. Rwesero became Queen Mother in the place of Kalira, King Cyilima II Rujugira’s wife, who was from Abega clan. She was expected to reign with Kigeli III Ndabarasa, but because it was forbidden for a Queen who lived in exile to be a Queen Mother, she was poisoned, and Rwesero of the Abagesera clan became the Queen Mother. Some confusion may arise from learning that Rwanda did not start from Gasabo, while most of us have been taught it and believed it was true. Our next article will help clear this, with some oral and written evidence of where Rwanda started and when Gasabo became for the first time a royal residence. Until then, stay blessed.
