MBALE — In a dramatic escalation of long-simmering cultural leadership disputes, the Bumutoto Imbalu organizing committee on Saturday refused Umukuka Jude Mike Mudoma the opportunity to address the massive congregation gathered for the official launch of the 2026 Imbalu circumcision season at the historic Mutoto Cultural Grounds.
Thousands of Bamasaba from across the seven districts of the Bugisu sub-region and beyond thronged the sacred site near Mbale City for the high-stakes ceremony that traditionally marks the start of the even-year initiation rite. Five boys from the BaMutoto clan underwent the public circumcision that formally opens the season, which will now spread across the 26 clans until December. Organizers had anticipated crowds exceeding 50,000, drawn by the vibrant kadodi dances, traditional music, feasting, and the profound cultural significance of the event that transforms boys into men.
Yet the absence of a formal address by Umukuka III HRH Sir Jude Mike Mudoma, the government-gazetted cultural leader of Bugisu, cast a long shadow over the celebrations.
Sources close to the event confirmed that the organizing committee, spearheaded by Bugisu’s Local Council Five chairpersons under the leadership of Manafwa District LCV Chairperson Hosea Kigai Kimono, firmly denied Mudoma the platform to speak to the gathering.
The decision stems from deep divisions within the Bamasaba cultural leadership. Rival factions, including one associated with Umukuka IV Joram Khambo Mayatsa of the Inzu Ya Masaba Cultural Institution, have contested Mudoma’s authority for years.
In a bid to avert potential clashes and ensure a peaceful launch, a meeting chaired by Gender, Labour and Social Development Minister Gen. Henry Tumukunde earlier assigned organizational control to the district chairpersons rather than any single cultural institution.
“We are fully in charge of organising this year’s Imbalu ceremony, and we call upon all Bamasaba to cooperate with us and make this cultural event colourful, peaceful and successful,” Kimono stated when the committee was unveiled. The committee’s general secretary, Namisindwa LCV Chairperson Emma Bwayo, emphasized that the arrangement promoted accountability and transparency amid the leadership wrangles.
Mudoma, who has previously launched Imbalu organizing boards and inspected preparations at Mutoto, had been vocal about his role in the cultural institution. Reports in the lead-up to the event indicated he was unhappy at being sidelined from presiding over the launch. Some community voices and youths had even publicly opposed his involvement, citing ongoing disputes. Funding controversies also fueled tensions, with LC5 chairpersons expressing dissatisfaction over how resources allocated for the launch had been handled.
Despite the snub, Mudoma was sighted at the grounds on the day of the launch, according to multiple local reports and social media updates, though he did not deliver an official address. The ceremony itself proceeded with traditional rituals, including the confirmation of the date through ancestral bird omens earlier in July, and proceeded under heightened security concerns that had been raised for weeks.
The Imbalu tradition, dating back centuries among the Bagisu people of the Mount Elgon slopes, remains one of Uganda’s most enduring cultural practices. Candidates, typically aged 16 and above, undergo elaborate preparations involving family consultations, millet storage, and strict observance of peace norms during the season. This year, organizers projected more than 10,000 boys could face the knife across the region, building on the roughly 6,000 circumcised in 2024.
Drama of another kind briefly interrupted proceedings when traditional circumcisers protested the organizers’ failure to provide a bull for slaughter a longstanding customary gift before they begin their work—highlighting additional logistical and cultural frictions on the ground.
As the 2026 Imbalu season now rolls out to the wider Bugisu community, the exclusion of the gazetted Umukuka from addressing the Mutoto congregation underscores the unresolved fractures within Bamasaba cultural governance. Community leaders and elders have repeatedly called for unity, warning that prolonged rivalry risks undermining the very heritage the ceremony seeks to preserve.
For many who journeyed to Mutoto, the focus remained on the initiates’ courage and the continuity of a rite that defines manhood, identity, and belonging for the Bamasaba people—even as questions linger over who holds the rightful voice at the sacred grounds.
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