Semakookiro, also spelled as Ssemakookiro, whose full name is Semakookiro Wasajja Nabbunga, was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda, from 1797 until 1814. He was the twenty-seventh (27th) Kabaka of Buganda.

Claim to the throne

He was the son of Kabaka Kyabaggu Kabinuli, Kabaka of Buganda, who reigned between 1750 and 1780. His mother was Nanteza, the seventeenth (17th) of his father's twenty (20) wives. He ascended the throne after the death of his brother, Kabaka Jjunju Sendegeya, whom Semakookiro defeated and killed in the Battle of Kiwawu in 1797. He established his capital at Kasangati.

Married life

He is recorded to have married fifteen (15) wives:

Issue

The children of Kabaka Semakookiro included the following: He increased the growth of Mituba (Ficus natalensis) trees and production of Barkcloth in Buganda.

The final years

Kabaka Semakookiro died from an affliction, in old age at the Jjunju Palace at Kasangati, in Kyaddondo County. He was initially buried at Kasangati. In 1869, his remains were exhumed and re-buried at Kisimbiri in Busiro County.

Quotes

"But he understood his own gross and cruel age. He also understood men. They were treacherous. The precautionary measures he had taken to preserve his throne enabled him to be the first king in more than a century to die a natural death. If nineteenth-century kings of Buganda wielded enormous despotic powers as indeed they did, part of the credit must be given to Semakokiro."

Succession table