Kabakas palace that is “kings palace “ in the local name Twekobe which means working together is one of the most famous sites in the history of Buganda. It happens to be the royal home of the Kabaka of Buganda “king of Buganda”. It is positioned in Mengo a suburb of Kampala city. Ugandans largest capital city. The palace is found in Mengo and it has existence since 1885 founded by King Daniel Mwanga 11 who succeeded his father King Muteesa 1 in 1884.
The palace was called Twekobe which means being Working Together and it was also the union of all 52 clans making up the Buganda kingdom by then. The Twekobe was built in 1922 during the reign of King Daudi Chwa who succeeded his father king Daniel Mwanga 11 in 1887 when he was exiled to Seychelles Island. He left behind the throne without a king ruling it and by that time the king was making one-year-old. He was helped by the three legends who were Mugwanya Stanchions, Sir Apollo Kaggwa and Zakaria Kisingiri until he was 18 years of age, making up 18 years he was old enough to rule the kingdom by his own.
The kabaka’s palace has four official main gates and each gate has its own purpose or meaning namely the first gate is called Wankaci which is the main entrance gate for the King , Queen and prime minister “Katikiro of Buganda”. These are the only respective people who are supposed to go through it and the other one is Kalala next to Wankaci, around Kalala it is where the king is expected to marry a very beautiful woman and he could expect to find her at Kalala, The third gate is called “Nalongo gate” and this where the kings gifts are brought in from and it was called the Nalongo gate because the gate was a mother of twins who is Nalongo in local language and the fourth one is called Ssebagabo gate. The Kabaka uses this gate to go through for only personal issues where he uses normal cars in secret way and no one should know that the king is moving out.
The amazing road connecting the two palaces Twekobe and Bulange are found in Mengo and them two roundabouts. On the route that leads through Bulange, there is a middle running pass at the main roundabout where there is lukiko. The pass which is found in the middle of the roundabout it has the local name called Nantawetwa and its only the king “kabaka’s” as a person who is supposed to pass through in the straight line to Twekobe. To note, the king as helped by his men to dig the place from Lukiko Building called Bulange and they grew up 56 trees on the side of the palace since it has large since it has large land and each tree represented a Buganda clan and the 154 trees found inside Twekobe each tree has its meaning .
The kabaka’s palace I located on the top of Mengo hill has very many selling points inside such as the fire place at the entrance which keeps burning day and night, above all the torture chamber where Idi Amin the former president of Uganda tortured thousands of people till death.
Visiting the kabaka’s palace is interestingly, the Twekobe has got the main gate called Wankaci and on the left-hand side has you entering the palace, it is has the fire place in local name called “Kyooto” which keeps burning day and night and the person for the fire burning is responsible of it must be coming in the lineage of “Nyonyi Nakinsige” clan.
The kings palace has acted has a tourist attraction to the people around and those from abroad, many tourists enjoy the Kampala city tour which most likely to engage in visiting the Kabakas palace most especially to visit the Idi Amin’s Torture Chamber which is found in kings palace Mengo hill
