Kyenjojo District - Overview

Overview

Kyenjojo District was created in 2000. It is divided into two counties, . Kyenjojo means: "the place where Elephants live"; it is derived from the Rutooro word "Enjojo", Elephant(s). Like in most Ugandan Bantu languages, "Mwenge" means "banana beer". Mwenge county is famous for its banana beer production.

Kwemara Ngabu William, a lecturer at Makerere University, Uganda's largest, says that Kyaka was originally called Nyakibimba. The capital of then Bunyoro was in Kyaka, at a place called Kitara: hence the name Bunyoro Kitara. However the capital was shifted to Masindi. At one time a crown prince died in Nyakibimba on his way to a cattle raiding mission in Kaarokarungi (present day Ankole). The Queen Mother wailed saying "Zankorente", meaning cattle have brought me the problem. Kaarokarungi has since then been called Nkore. The rest of the Banyoro said Nyakibimba was 'Kyaka' to them. Kwaka means to snatch something from someone. The crown prince had died in Nyakibimba then Nyakibimba had snatched a crown prince from Bunyoro. Since then Nyakibimba came to be known as Kyaka.

Kyenjojo District is part of Toro sub-region, which is coterminus with the Kingdom of Toro, one of the ancient traditional monarchies in Uganda. The districts that make up Toro are:

• Kabarole District
• Kamwenge District
• Kyegegwa District
• Kyenjojo District