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The AbaiseMenhya are descendants of a common ancestor Kakaire Menhya. Kakaire Menhya was a son of the Bunyoro Kitara
monarch
King Kyabagu Nyamutukura. Bunyoro Kitara was one of the largest interlacustrine kingdoms of Sub Saharan Africa
whose founders had emigrated from Kushitic regions like the Iron Smelting Meroe, near Lower Egypt, Abysinia and
Sudan.
In the 16th Century or the 17th Century, he visited an ancient independent nation state in Busoga that
was governed by King Musuubo.
On that visit he was accompanied by a brother two sisters and many soldiers.
After
a while, he wished to go back to Bunyoro but the natives of the preCursor of the Bufulutu Kingdom begged him to stay.
They
had admired his very humble and generous manners whenever his servants hunted game, he distributed to the natives.
His
characteristics had endeared him to the locals more so the fact he used to generously mediate their wrangles whenever they
disputed over the meat he had given them. He would often calm them and tell them they need not fight as he would give them
more.
As a Munyoro with royal guards this was easy for him. Because the Banyoro had mastered more Iron Smelting
and hunting techiniques using spear heads cast out of iron, than the surrounding fruit gatherers.
What made him more likeable to him is that their King Musuubo was so lazy and would often prefer to spend all day on
swing and being swung. Hence his name Musuubo which means "the one who loves to be swung" in Lusoga.
So they
begged him to stay so that he could lead and reconcile them as he often did as a visitor whenever they had disputes. They
consquently disposed they Monarch Musuubo and installed him as their Menhya - meaning King.
The title Menhya had been coined
because the local said he had broken away from his father's kingdom and formed his own. The word Menhya comes from the Lusoga
word "Oku Menhyeka" which means "To Break Away". They married to one of the local young ladies Nakaziba of the BaiseKaziba
clan. As he aged they would muse themselves that "Kano akasadha kakairike". Which can be translated as "This man has gotten
old". Hence they eventually called him Kakaire. His brother with whom he had come is said to have moved further east wards
and formed atleast two new Kingdoms in the east one the possibly Bugwere whose name is similar to Bugwere and another one
near Lango where the name Omenya was adopted by the locals there to this day.
Nakaziba had begotten him a son
who was to be nicknamed Kibeedi. They nicknamed him so because he was well fed as a baby, big and fond
of being lifted.
Kibeedi comes from the Lusoga word "Oku Beedha" meaning to be lifted "Ki" is a Lusoga term denoting a big thing. All the
names
of the BaiseMenhya royals are often deduced from stories and especially nick names as you will see.
Upon the
death of his father Kibedi was crowned the new Menhya and was hence called Kibedi Menhya and hence the royal line that had
come
from Bunyoro started its new small but heriditary independent nation state. As we know today its not size that governs
statehood, it is
sovereignity and independence. That's why in the UN the President of a large and populous nation like
the US sits at an equal level with the King of Tonga or President of Rwanda which are very small in size and population.
So the notion that Busoga was subdivided into Principalities before Colonialism as is often denoted is intellectual dishonesty
and down right scathing broad day light bigotry that is not universal to all the nation states that compose the current Busoga.
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