Bulange

The Bulange (boo-lah-ngeh) is a building in Uganda. It houses the Lukiiko (Parliament) of the Kingdom of Buganda. The Kabaka of Buganda and the Katikkiro (Prime Minister) of Buganda also maintain offices in the building. The building serves as the administrative headquarters of the Buganda Kingdom.

Location
Bulange building is the official administrative building for Buganda kingdom in central Uganda. Its existence in the area also led to the eventual renaming of the areas around it to be called Bulange. However the Bulange building which is the 'capital building' of Buganda is located on Namirembe Hill close to Namirembe Hospital, about 1 mi northwest of the main gate of Mengo Palace in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. This is approximately 2 mi southwest of the city center of Kampala. The coordinates of Bulange are 0°18'35.0"N, 32°33'30.0"E (Latitude:0.309722; Longitude:32.558333). A straight road, approximately 1 mi long, called Kabaka Anjagala Road (The-King-Loves-Me Road) this road is also at times referred to as the Royal mile leads from the main entrance of the Mengo Palace to the entrance of Bulange.

History
In the beginning, the Buganda Parliament convened inside one of the Kabaka's palaces and conducted business under the shade of one or more trees. Later, grass-thatched buildings served as the parliament buildings. Around the beginning of the 20th century, Prime Minister of Buganda, Apollo Kaggwa, contracted an Indian, Alidina Visram, to build a parliament building using bricks. As the kingdom's government grew in size, the need for a large-enough meeting hall forced the construction of the Bulange outside the King's Palace for the first time.

While in exile in Scotland in 1953, Ssekabaka Muteesa II saw and admired the construction drawings of a building. He brought those drawings with him on his return from exile in 1955. He directed that the new Bulange be constructed according to those drawings. Construction began in 1955 and was completed in 1958 at a cost of £5 million, fully funded by the Government of Buganda.