Nuwa Mbaguta

Nuwa Mbaguta was born around 1867 in Ankole. Known in his youth by the warrior praise-name Kitwekyambogo ('Buffalo-head') for his indomitable physical courage and wrestling prowess, he entered the royal court of the Omugabe (King) Ntare V.

Appointed Enganzi (Prime Minister) of Ankole in 1900, Mbaguta became one of Uganda's greatest modernizers. Resisting colonial divide-and-rule tactics, he established Mbarara High School in 1911, built an extensive network of modern roads connecting western Uganda, introduced vaccination against smallpox and rinderpest, and ordered the planting of extensive eucalyptus tree forests across Ankole to halt deforestation, earning universal reverence.