The Ankolé, a prestigious animal and diplomatic tool in East Africa
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, along with his Rwandan and South African counterparts, Paul Kagame and Cyril Ramaphosa, own herds of these cattle, which are typical of the region. They are now traded at a high price.
With their majestic horns, it was hard to miss them in the photo that announced the surprise rapprochement between the current president of Kenya, William Ruto, and his unfortunate rival in the 2022 presidential election, Raila Odinga: in the background, a herd of ankole offered its calming presence, as part of the negotiation of “government support for Mr. Odinga's candidacy for the presidency of the African Union Commission”, during this meeting organized in February 2024 in Uganda, recalls the daily Nation.
These cattle feature in many photos of the Rwandan head of state receiving his counterparts from the continent. The pro-government newspaper New Times even refers to “inyambo diplomacy ,” their local name, and Paul Kagame has been offering them to his visitors for years, in an effort to strengthen bilateral relations and bonds of friendship.
The Ugandan president has also established himself as a master of using these cattle as a political communication tool. Wearing his traditional hat, Yoweri Museveni never fails to show visitors around his Kisozi farm, where his thousands of ankole live, as Kenyans William Ruto and Raila Odinga did in February 2024.
Since then, the passion for these animals, also known as watusi, has spread across southern Africa: it is “gaining ground in Zimbabwe, including at the highest political levels,” and in South Africa, reports the online media News24.
A symbol of local identity and connection to the ancestral land, the ankolé has been, “since ancient times, a measure of wealth and social status,” recalls New Times . According to Herman Manyora, a Kenyan political analyst quoted by Nation , it’s no wonder leaders use the species to promote themselves: “These long-horned creatures amplify their strongman appearance. It seems they’re trying to strengthen their hold by summoning that African sense of power and glory.”
However, the symbol can be turned against leaders, as Cyril Ramaphosa experienced. The South African president developed a passion for ankole in Uganda in the 2000s and managed to introduce them to his country. He regularly sells them, notably to his brother-in-law, the president of the Confederation of African Football, Patrice Motsepe, who paid more than €100,000 in 2022 for a single head, as Business Day pointed out at the time.
That same year, one of the president's farms was embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed that some $500,000 in cash from cattle sales had been stolen and hidden under sofa cushions . Authorities have since closed their investigation without prosecution, but the president's image has been permanently damaged, and his cattle are now linked to the suspicions of corruption and tax evasion surrounding the affair.
