Abstract:

The Republic of Uganda (RoU) is defined by land (Google Maps, 2016), for
without the land that forms the RoU, there would be no RoU. Prior to the
RoU coming into being, in fact, there were other nations – the first nations
– which occupied and claimed as their own, the land now claimed for, and
which forms, the RoU. The people of the first nations that occupied what is now
the RoU include the Iteso, my people, who according to Uganda’s most recent
population census of 2014 (Mugerwa, 2016) are the fifth largest sub-nation
within the RoU. In the past, they were, however, the second largest sub-nation.
The first nations also include the Baganda, the largest sub-nation within the
RoU and over 50 other sub-nations, as recognised by the Constitution of the
RoU. At its formation, therefore, the RoU had no land; the land belonged to the first nations, who occupied the geography that now forms the RoU.