Elizabeth Namazzi
15 November 2008
Kampala — IN remembrance of his long friendship with Kabaka Mutesa and later on his son Mutebi, Buganda recently mourned Major Carr-Gomm's demise.
THE Kabaka had no roof over his head. His kingdom was no more and he was miles away from family, friends and subjects. Just when he thought the whole world had turned against him, an old friend turned up and offered him a home. The benefactor was Major Richard Carr-Gomm.
The beneficiary was Sir Fredrick, or Freddie, as he was known to close friends, Edward Mutesa II, the Kabaka of Buganda, and first President of the Republic of Uganda.
The home was an old ramshackle flat in London, nothing compared to the splendour he had fled from, when government troops attacked his palace at Mengo, following a fallout with his Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote. That was 1966.
At 86, and long after the Kabaka's death in 1969, Carr-Gomm maintained the ties of friendship built between him and Mutesa in the 1940s when both men served in the Grenadier Guards.
Carr-Gomm was godfather to Prince Richard Walugembe, one of Mutesa's sons, and became the then young Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi's guardian, following his father's death.
As he writes in his autobiography All Things Considered, Mutebi "occasionally came to stay with Susan (his wife) and me at home, and for a while Ronnie lived in the Morpeth Society flat at 1 1 Morpeth Mansions."
When President Amin decided to return Mutesa's body home for burial in 1971, Carr-Gomm was on hand to accompany his friend on his last journey. "As the royal cortege approached Clock Tower, Carr-Gomm broke down and wept on seeing the multitudes of people who had gathered to wait for Mutesa's body. He couldn't understand why Obote had decided to attack a king who was so popular among his people."
In 1993, Carr-Gomm returned to Uganda to participate in the installation of Mutebi as Kabaka, and as a guardian, he furnished two of the several royal ceremonial Kanzus (tunics) that Mutebi had to wear that day. Several years later, in 1999, Carr-Gomm travelled back to Uganda to stand witness, as Kabaka Mutebi took Lady Sylvia Nagginda, as his wife.
In recognition of his role in serving the Kabaka and his subjects, Carr-Gomm was in 1998 made an honourary Muganda in the presence of Kabaka Mutebi.
He recalls the colourful ceremony in his autobiography: "I became a honourary Muganda by being made a member of the Butiko (Mushroom) Clan. I am the only white member (of the clan) and now have an African name Wagaba (a giver)."
When Carr-Gomm struck up friendship with Mutesa in 1948, he had no idea it was going to be a lifetime commitment. The two met when Mutesa was serving in the Grenadier Guards, the most senior military unit in the Guards division of the British army. Carr-Gomm records that the two mixed with the same group of friends attended the same social and formal functions and eventually became good friends.
This marked the beginning of a long friendship that saw Carr-Gomm travel to Buganda several times. During those visits, he came to love and understand the ways and culture of the Baganda.
Of this special friendship with Mutesa, Carr-Gomm writes that "Freddie was outgoing and interested in everyone and, with our inquisitive natures in common, our friendship was undemanding." The things that bound the two were their shared sense of humour, service in the army and social life in London.
When Mutesa became the president of Uganda in 1963, Carr-Gomm watched the frustrations that came with his presidency as Obote refused to accord him the full powers and respect that came with it. When in 1966 Mutesa was forced to flee to Britain after Obote attacked the Kabaka's palace and abolished all the kingdoms of Uganda, it was to Carr-Gomm that he ran.
He lived in his flat till his untimely death in 1969. As he wrote in his autobiography, Carr-Gomm and his wife Susan invited Mutesa to their house for dinner the night before he died. The Kabaka was found unconscious in his flat the next day and was declared dead the following morning.
Although Mutesa was gone, his friendship with Carr-Gomm remained. As the controversy over his fallen friend's real cause of death unfolded. Carr-Gomm, along with some of his friends, insisted on a thorough investigation by the New Scotland Yard.
He notes: "At the coroner's inquest, the verdict had been death caused by alcoholic poisoning, but some of us had doubts about this (we) continued pressing to re-open investigations into the cause of Freddie's death we compiled a detailed timetable of Freddie's last days which we felt, included evidence inconsistent with the Coroner's findings."
Along with his friends, Carr-Gomm organised for the Kabaka's burial in England and was present as Kabaka Mutebi performed the cultural rites, which involved covering the late Kabaka's face with a strip of barkcloth.
Born on January 2, 1922, Carr-Gomm was the third of four boys. He came from a rich family whose fortune he used to start his many charities that looked after the aged, disabled and lonely people.
His work for vulnerable and lonely people won him recognition in Britain, especially after authorities in different places asked him to take it to their areas. He gave up his career in the army for this call despite his family and friends' disapproval. It was in the charity homes he founded that the two Kabakas of Buganda, Mutesa and Mutebi and abaana bengoma (descendants to the throne of Buganda) found a home away from home. Carr-Gomm's passion for helping the vulnerable was borne out of his own childhood experience.
Considered as a 'slow and delicate child' by his family, he always felt left out and in need of companionship. He was married to Susan Gibbs who died in 2007 and had five children.
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