Today in History – 22 September 2024.
147 years ago, on this day, Omukama Kabalega met Dr. Emin Pasha, a governor of the Equatorial province. They met on 22nd September 1877 at Omukama Kabalega’s Palace in Mparo.
Dr Pasha had come to Bunyoro to convince Omukama Kabalega to allow Bunyoro to be part of the Egyptian Province of Equatoria. Dr. Pasha spent 33 days in Hoima. He talked to Omukama Kabalega through an Arabic interpreter. But Omukama Kabalega was fluent in many languages including Arabic.
Omukama Kabalega rejected Dr. Pasha’s request. A cone shaped monument was built at the exact spot where the two leaders met. The monument is one of the facilities that are part of the Mparo Royal tombs which are located about 4km away from Hoima town on the Hoima-Masindi highway.
The tombs are the resting place where Omukama (King) Kabalega and his son Sir Tito Winyi Gafabusa were laid. The Royal burial grounds are among the historical and heritage sites of Bunyoro. The site has been renovated but the Kingdom plan to further upgrade it. A master plan for the redevelopment is being developed.
Mehmed Emin Pasha (March 28, 1840 – October 23, 1892) was an Ottoman physician of German-Jewish origin and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile. The Ottoman Empire conferred the title “Pasha” on him in 1886, and thereafter he was referred to as “Emin Pasha”.
In September 1875, Pasha started working in Egypt and later in Khartoum, where he he took the name “Mehemet Emin”. He engaged in medical practice before starting collecting plants, animals, and birds, many of which he sent to museums in Europe. Charles George Gordon, then governor of Equatoria recruited Pasha as the chief medical officer of the province and sent him on diplomatic missions to Buganda and Bunyoro where he later learnt local languages.
In 1878, the Khedive of Egypt appointed Emin as Gordon’s successor to govern the province, giving him the title of Bey. Emin Pasha is commemorated in the scientific name of an East African species of leptotyphlopid snake, Emin Pasha’s worm snake Leptotyphlops emini,and an East African species of Passer sparrow, the chestnut sparrow Passer eminibey.
Article by Owek. Mugerwa Francis Amooti.
