KINGS IN BUGANDA KINGDOM
The Kingdom of Buganda has been in existence for several centuries. Deaspite the fact that the current line of succession lists 36 Kings, some other books carry a list of as many as 116 Kings who have reigned in Buganda. Read: "Enkuluze y'Ennono y'Omuganda" by Martin Luther Charles Kato Mugambwa (PhD), 1998, (page 26 - 29)]. The nature and state of the technological environment of the time did not provide for the availability of the portraits for most of the earlier Kings. Despite our persistent search, we have only beenm able to find pictures for only the five most recent kings of Buganda

Mutesa I was the 32nd King of Buganda. He reigned during the time of the exploration of Africa. Mutesa's first contact with the western world was through Arab traders. The Arab traders circumnavigated the African Continent during the 16th and 17th centuries, searching for slaves whom they bartered for beads and guns. The evil characteristics around slavery disappointed many African leaders, including Mutesa I. Unable to bear the pain inflicted upon his subjects, Mutesa sought a way out of this mode of trade. His genuine search for a way out, led him in contact with a European Missionary Explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. Among other things, H. M. Stanley was going around Africa searching for the source of the Nile. As the tradition demanded, Stanley had to be introduced to the Kings and their conversation led the King to seek direct contact with the British thereby doing away with the Arab middlemen.
Ssekabaka Mutesa I (1800s - 1884)
It quite certain that Mutesa was simply seeking means to improve his military prowess, but typical of the British system, their mode of territorial expansion was through spreading the Christian faith. Convinced that this was the only way out, Mutesa I wrote a letter which was published in the Daily Telegraph - a London Daily - inviting missionaries to bring "the light of the Gospel" to Buganda. Little did the King know that behind the Bible, was the gun.
In 1877, the first batch of Protestant missionaries from the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived in Buganda and two years later, in 1879, the other batch of the catholic missionaries (White Fathers) arrived. The rivalry that ensued between the two religious factions was a major factor dissuading Mutesa I from fully identifying with the missionaries, as a catechumen and aspiring candidate for baptism - which is the traditional initiation ceremony before one is fully identified and recognised as a member of the Christian faith. Mutesa I was greatly disappointed by the religious strife that characterised the missionary enterprise in Buganda. Although some historians say that he found it difficult to make a commitment because the Christian faith required him to abandon his many wives, on the other hand, it is quite possible that the animosity derailed his search for truth and commitment. Mutesa I went to his death bed having not openly declared himself a Christian and he died unbaptised, but he openly embraced the missionary teachers and allowed his wives, chiefs and pages to go for Catechism classes. Mutesa I died in 1884 and his son Mwanga succeeded him to the throne as the 33rd King of Buganda.