The Life of Prince Badru Kakungulu Wasajja

Prince Badru Kakungulu Wasajja was perhaps the best-known political figure and community leader of the Muslim community in Uganda in the twentieth century. This biographical and historical study places Kakungulu’s life and work within the social context of Islam and religious politics in Uganda. The work demonstrates how Kakungulu handled discord within the community between 1920 and the 1960s. It outlines how he successfully established an alternative education system for Muslims that led to an educated Muslim elite, which was able to bring together western education and ideas with the teachings and ideals of Islam, fusing understanding about the two cultures to inform the political process. The study further considers Kakungulu’s role in mainstream Ugandan politics, and the diplomacy and negotiating power he demonstrated on behalf of Muslims during the Idi Amin regime, which was notoriously divisive in matters of religion. Finally, the author presents the case that after the fall of Idi Amin, Kakungulu negotiated an honourable deal for Muslims, and averted a Muslim holocaust.