Ssuuna II Kalema Kasinjo Mukaabya Sekkyungwa Muteesa Sewankambo Walugembe Mig'ekyaamye Lukeberwa Kyetutumula Magulunyondo Luwambya Omutanda Sseggwanga was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda from 1832 until 1856. He was the twenty-ninth Kabaka of Buganda.
He was born at Bujuuko Hill around 1820. He was the son of Kabaka Kamaanya Kadduwamala, Kabaka of Buganda, who reigned between 1814 and 1832. His mother was Nakkazi Kannyange, the twenty-third of his father's thirty-eight wives. He ascended to the throne upon the death of his father in 1832, having executed all his brothers in order to remain as the sole heir. He established his capital on Mulago Hill.
Married life
Kabaka Suuna II continued in the tradition started by his grandfather and copied by his father; the practice of marrying an extraordinary number of wives. Ssuuna II outdid all of them. He is reported to have married one hundred forty eight wives.
Issue
As expected, the Kabaka having married 148 wives, he fathered a large number of children. Written accounts put the number as high as two hundred and twenty-one.
This reference lists the names of all of them, giving the names of their mothers in most cases.
His reign
Kabaka Ssuuna was only twelve 12 years when he ascended to the throne. He was a handsome boy, taking after the looks of his mother, Nakkazi Kannyange, reportedly one of the most beautiful women in Buganda at the time. He began as a popular monarch, loved by his people. However, as he grew more confident, he became cocky and ruthless. He gave himself a string of names that implied invincibility and super-normal powers. He ordered the execution of fifty eight of his sixty brothers. Only two escaped the carnage:
Prince Wasajja, whose mother was Nakkazi of the Mamba clan
Prince Mugogo, whose mother was Kyotowadde of the Mamba clan
By the time of his death Kabaka Ssuuna II turned out to be one of the most ruthless of the Buganda kings. During his reign, the neglect of sanitary standards within the capital was decreed an offence punishable by death. Suna put a number of persons to death for breach of his rules, which aroused the ire of a certain medium named Kigemuzi. Kigemuzi began to speak disrespectfully of the King, saying that he did so by order of the gods. On Suna's orders, Kigemuzi was arrested and taken to the capital, contrary to the custom. He protested before the Kabaka, reminding him it was contrary to custom to bind a medicine-man or a medium. The King then ordered Kigemuzi to be removed, and that night the royal house was struck by lightning, and the King was scorched on his face and on one side of his body. Suna at once sent for the medium Kigemuzi, released him, and asked him why there had been this storm. The medium answered: "Because the god of thunder is angry at what you have done to me." The King then presented the man with cattle to make atonement for binding him, and the King's mother settled him on a large tract of land, in order to propitiate the gods, and to save her son from further harm.
The final years
Kabaka Ssuuna II died from smallpox, at Wamala, in October 1856. His remains are currently buried at Wamala.
Wamala Tombs
Set on a hilltop with beautiful surroundings, Wamala is the sacred burial place of Kabaka Ssuuna II, who had 148 wives and 218 children. Suuna II was the last Kabaka to be buried in his own palace and the last to have his jaw bone removed after death. He was also the first Kabaka to admit outside traders into Buganda. A magical but almost forgotten place, Wamala Tombs is quite unique. It is a thirty-minute drive from Kampala along Kampala-Hoima Road. It is located on a hilltop about after the right turn, off Hoima Road.
