It was the 1800s. The Arabs, in their search for trading
venues stumbled upon Ocecu Hill in present-day Gulu District.
Patiko is a beauty –
mountains and hills grace her extensive
vegetation. And she advantageously sits near Nimule, South Sudan and onwards to
eastern Egypt, where the Arabs sold their merchandise.
The Arabs could not have found a better slave harbor and
trade link. They descended upon Ocecu Hill and built three square-shaped huts
to serve as stores for ammunition, ivory and foodstuff as well as hides and
skins.
Slaves were a key trading item for the Arabs too and were
captured from northern Uganda, Gondokoro in Sudan and other areas. Ocecu Hill
became a sorting ground for slaves. Healthy-looking ones were forced to trek
from Patiko, through Sudan across the Red Sea and sold in Egypt.
The journey to the slave markets was not easy. “The slaves
were forced to carry looted millet, simsim, ammunition and ivory,” explains
Constance Oneka who was in 2011 the caretaker of the site. Slaves who were too
weak as a result of beatings and long treks were killed by firing squad or
beheaded in the designated ‘execution slab/prosecution chamber’ on the hill. Barter
trade was the major form of exchange. Traditional chiefs in Patiko supplied
ivory to the Arabs in exchange for sukas, beads, guns and gun powder.
The Arabs turned Ocecu Hill into a trading centre and
business boomed. However, when village raids intensified, fear, hunger and
disease befell Patiko. Something had to be done. The then chief of Patiko –
Rwot Kikwiyakare – organised the relocation of children, elders and the sick to
a nearby mountain so that his people are not wiped away by slave trade.
Baker and the birth of Fort Patiko
That mountain, located about 2kms from Ocecu Hill, became
known as Got Ajulu (Julu is Acholi for ‘nurture’, Got means mountain/hill).
According to the Chief of Patiko, Rwot Jeremiah Muttu Bonojane, Rwot
Kikwiyakare said to his people: “Let’s nurture (julu) our people so that our
clan is not wiped away.” As a result, the mountain has since then been called
Got Ajulu.
As Britain spread its colonial wings across Africa, quashing
slave trade was one of their missions. Explorer Sir Samuel Baker was
commissioned by the Queen of England to oversee that mission. Although Britain
would colonise Uganda in 1894, by 1863, Sir Samuel Baker and the chief of
Patiko - Rwot Kikwiyakare met and discussed the slave trade menace in the area.
In 1872, Baker returned from Egypt with Nubian soldiers,
passed through Bunyoro to quash the Kabalega resistance against the British and
headed to Patiko. He over-run the slave harbor, expelled about 250 Arabs and
fortified the place. Fort Patiko, also known as Baker’s Fort Patiko, was born.
Located about 32 kilometers north of Gulu Town, the fort is
enclosed by a 16 feet wide and 15 feet deep trench dug by slaves on the orders
of the Arabs to avoid the escape of captives. The
Uganda tourism site, located in Patiko
Sub-county in Gulu District covers about 9.4 hectares.
It is neighbored by six hills - Ajulu, Ladwong, Akara, Abaka
and Labworomor to the north and Kiju hill to the south.
In 2011 when I first visited the Fort, an oval-shaped,
roofless hut with half of its wall crumbled down, stood at the entrance with
two doors on either side. Small rocks pieced together with mud and cement,
formed the wall of the hut which served as a gate.
Two years later, the hut is no more. Inside Fort Patiko lies
well-trimmed grass, with a rectangular-shaped structure sitting on the left of
the vast compound.
This small house used to be a reception and a registration
room. But the roofless structure is now a haven to grass, insects and animal
waste, despite its well-trimmed surroundings. On the right side of the compound
sits an oval-shaped structure, built only almost two feet up. “It used to be
the visitors’ waiting room,” says John Too, who says he was the Fort caretaker
from 1976 to early 2000.
Beyond the lush compound dotted with small, scattered,
protruding rocks, sit three square-shaped and roofless huts that were used by
Arabs to store their loot. Two years ago, one of the store walls had an
inscription “Patiko, 1872-88, founded by Sir Samuel Baker, occupied by Gordon
and Emin”.
Mr. Too says the name Patiko was misspelled by Baker, while
writing the inscription. The metallic plate that bore the inscription is no
more and according to Rwot Muttu, it was recently stolen. Next to the three
huts stand a giant rock, about 150 high and is known as Baker’s leap/seat. It
was on top of this rock, that the Arabs would sit to monitor any infiltration
by their enemies to the area. Behind the three square-shaped huts is the
execution slab and further left of the slab is a cave where slaves –destined
for execution were ‘imprisoned’.
The ‘execution slab’ is dotted with dents which Mr. Too says
were caused by axes used to behead slaves. Dark spots, believed to be blood
stains of slaves, can also be seen on the rock. Fort Patiko might have
witnessed terror from Arab slave trade dealers, but the natural beauty of the
place, rose above its dark history.
Management, maintenance woes cloud Fort Patiko
Fort Patiko could have risen above its dark history, but what
remains to be seen, is what the government, which gazettes the Fort as a
government object in 1972, will do to milk its potential for area residents and
the country.
Area residents think fencing off the area and placing its
management with them, will ensure the protection and preservation of the Fort.
The chief of Patiko, Rwot Jeremiah Muttu Bonojane, who
accuses the government of taking away management of the place from his people,
says the area where Fort Patiko sits, was given to the Arabs by Rwot
Kikwiyakare, his great grandfather. “I don’t know why I should be wrangling
with government over this place. Government said they can’t give it to me
because they have a plan for it,” he explains.
He adds: “But I told them the people of Patiko want to
manage the place in partnership with development partners.”
Fort Patiko, according to Rwot Muttu is currently managed by
the Sub-county but he thinks a lot needs to be made better.
“There are no urinals, no toilets in the place. If I have
life, I’ll change that place for the better in just five years,” he says,
adding that Fort Patiko has been moving from the ministry of Tourism, Trade and
now they understand it’s under Heritage and iniquities.
In a letter dated October 13, 2009, the Department of
Museums and Monuments in the Ministry of Tourism and Industry, expressed
concern over the decline in maintenance of Fort Patiko. “There are signs of
degradation of the walls of key historic monumental structures (the granary,
ivory and ammunition stores). The compound is bushy and the trench system is
rundown and invisible,” the letter, addressed to the Gulu Chief Administrative
Officer, reads in part.
The business community in Gulu has in the past requested the
Ministry to be allowed to manage the fort. However, the ministry said after
basic conservation work is complete, there could be a private-public
partnership. “The immediate need of the site is opening the borders to
establish the boundaries of the site, clearance of vegetation and grass cutting
in the defensive ditch surrounding the camp…” the 2009 letter reads further.
“Removal of all anthills within the periphery,
reconstruction of an attendant’s office, construction of a pit latrine and
erection of enamel signposts in Gulu and on the main route to Patiko,” the
letter, signed by Mwanje Nkaale Rose Ag Commissioner,
Museums and Monuments,
adds.
Even as the management hiccups for Fort Patiko get sorted
out, local and foreign visitors have continued to troop the area to revel in
its beauty and history.
