Lendu: Uganda's almost invisible tribe to crown king

At the moment, not many recognise their kingdom. But, when they look into their history, they see themselves in that status.

The Lendu of Uganda have their ancestry in and around Lendu Forest in Zombo District, West Nile sub region at Uganda’s border with the DRC. They were the first to occupy this part, arriving here between 1,000 and 1,600, according to a history scholar at Gulu University, Dr Agatha Alidri.

The Alur, however who came after them, have dominated the Lendu since their arrival, a period during which the Lendu have faced stigmatisation, discrimination, as well as a general lack of attention from the state. 

Dr Alidri is the first scholar to study the Lendu in detail. In postdoctoral research she started last year, funded by the Carnegie Corporation, through Makerere University, she refers to the Lendu as a socially excluded group.

Dr Alidri's aim is to document the history of the Lendu, investigate the nature of social exclusion they face, as well as create awareness of the Lendu. 

“The Lendu are a minority ethnic group. They are among a few groups whose population is less than 25,000, like the Ik, Batwa, and Basongora. The difference here is that many studies have been done on the other groups. Ndrulo, the Lendu language is very unique, not close to any language spoken in Uganda, and maybe because of that, it has been hard for people to study them,” says Alidri.  

The king and his palace
The palace Agenunga will inherit, sits on less than an acre of land, which was donated to the kingdom by Rapia II, from his private estate. It includes the late king’s house roofed with iron sheets, a few grass thatched houses, and an administration block, itself a simple structure of a few small rooms.

When Agenunga is discussing with the elders, or addressing his soon-to-be subjects, he carries the aura of a royal. He speaks in a low tone, gestures slowly with his right hand as he speaks, rolls his eyes gently, and fixes them when he has a serious point to drive home.

Outside the palace, however, he gets on like a commoner, riding his motorcycle through dusty and bumpy parts of West Nile where he is employed by Africa Water Solutions, an organisation involved in water, sanitation and hygiene services for rural communities.

The kingdom
The Ndrukpa kingdom, as it stands today, is barely a dozen years old, and it rose out of a crisis. A tribal conflict in 2002 in the DRC, between the Lendu and the Hema, spilled into Uganda. Some Alur were killed in Gulajo Trading Centre, which could be regarded as the capital of the Ndrukpa, and that sparked inter-tribal killings and looting within the area.

“We [the Lendu] had no leader. Because of that we were very vulnerable,” says  Mark Utaga, the general secretary of the Ndrukpa kingdom. The last king of the Ndrukpa, and the first to be recognised as king had been Rapia I, the son of Bbale. Bbale led the migration of the Lendu into that area. Rapia I was subdued by the Alur kingdom, according to Lendu oral history.

“We knew that in the constitution the Lendu are recognised as a tribe. We wrote a brief background of the Lendu. We decided to restore our kingdom. We traced the family from which kingship came. We decided that even if we do not write to the government, that was enough. Coronation was done in 2009. The cabinet was formed,” adds Utaga. He is among the people writing Lendu literature  because  no literature existed in Ndrulo until 2010 when they got support from the Summer Institute of Linguistics. 

Utaga completed his O-Level in 1981 and branched to a teacher training college. With a certificate in teaching, he is considered among the most educated Lendu in Uganda. The first time they produced a graduate was in 2017, from Kyambogo University, and there are a few more certificate and diploma holders. 

Colonialism and neo-colonialism 
The Ndrukpa speak Alur, but the reverse is uncommon. Ndrulo is only spoken in just a few Lendu homes. Most of Lendu’s ancestral land was gazetted in 1952 into a forest reserve. They now struggle to find land to farm. 

There is only one Primary Seven school in Ndrukpa land, Adusi Primary School, near Golaju, Nebbi District and it only became government aided in 1982. The Primary Seven class started in 2000 and in the 23 years the school has produced only one First Grade, Geoffrey Abed Kani, in 2013. He is now a student of medicine at Kyambogo University. Adusi currently has only eight teacher. The nearest secondary school to the Lendu is in Zeu, among the Alur majority. 

“The Lendu exclusion is historical. When the Alur arrived they initially feared the Lendu – that they had supernatural powers. The Alur worked hard to suppress them first by assimilating them. The Alur had arrived in big numbers and had their Rwoth [king] and that gave them advantage over the Lendu. Some Lendu quickly accepted the Alur royal class believing that they would get protection and food.

“When the British came they used the Alur to bring the Lendu under colonialism. The Lendu forest (aka, Zeu forest) was given to the British to grow pine. It was a political move to move the Lendu away from there and weaken them. This left them with no land, and voiceless. All the years from the colonial time up to 1982 there was basically no education for the Lendu,” says Alidri.

Alidri adds that while the Constitution of Uganda recognises the Lendu as a tribe, they are generally excluded from government programmes.

“The national agenda focuses on the Alur. When they talk of Zombo District all they think about are the Alur. Recently some heifers from the government were distributed in Zombo and not a single Lendu received a heifer. When there is an important political meeting the Alur are invited to talk,” claims Alidri. 

The Alur-Lendu relationship
When they look back in history, the Lendu  see injustice at the hands of the Alur. They say they were made to pay tribute to the Alur leader, and were taken as servants of the Alur. And, when an Alur king died, a Lendu servant was made to lie in his grave. The Lendu man would be buried alive with the king’s body. 

“The Alur-Lendu relationship evokes sad memories of Alur colonialism, exploitation and oppression,” says Alidri. 

Prince Laurence Opar Angala, the Alur prime minister, says while the Lendu were under the rule of the Alur for a long time, they now have their administration. But, he thinks it will take them time to have  a recognised kingdom.

“Maybe they don’t have a central authority, like it is with the Alur, the Baganda, the Batooro and others. And even in Uganda they are the minority. The majority of them are in DR Congo. They are still on clan chieftaincy. As of now we [the Alur] don’t recognise them as a kingdom. It will take them some time to get there”, says Prince Angala.  

The Alur are still the dominant tribe in this area. Utaga says there are just about 10 villages where the Lendu are predominant. But  Agenunga, the king in waiting, says he knows the boundaries of his kingdom and that is the part he wants to reign over.

“Our land is from the Congo border, then part of Jango Kore sub county, Part of Akaa, part of Zeu, and part of Kango,” he tells me, pointing his finger in those directions. 

The Lendu are anxiously awaiting for Agenunga's reign. But, without clear boundaries, with limitations in numbers within Uganda, and with a history of subjugation and exclusion, the Lendu have a long walk to their kingdom.

The tribe

The Lendu Central Sudanic speaking people are one of the smallest tribes in Uganda, with just about 20,000 people, although there are more of them in the DR Congo, estimated to be between 750,000 and one million.