The making of the only man-made lake in East Africa (akayanja ka Kabaka – the king's lake) is surrounded by mystery. 

It is said that Kabaka Mwanga II, the 1880s king of Buganda remembered for the execution of the first Christians in Buganda, commonly referred to as the Uganda martyrs, was fond of water sports, especially swimming, canoeing and fishing. But because there were no horses or other means of transport in Buganda then, the Kabaka used to be transported on the back by royal carriers to his lakeside palace at Munyonnyo on Lake Victoria, about 11 km from Mengo. This was tedious and time wasting.

On his return from Munyonnyo in 1887 after a one-and-a-half year vacation, Kabaka Mwanga II issued a decree that a lake be dug from Mengo palace to Munyonnyo to provide a direct and convenient means of access from the official palace to Lake Victoria.

Munyonnyo also provided a direct route to Ssese islands, the home to Buganda occults, where their spirit mediums resided and the kabaka sent emissaries on a regular basis for spiritual advice and consultations. This is why Lake Victoria is known as Nalubaale (lake of the spirits) in Buganda.

Everybody, including members of the royal family and chiefs, had to participate in the lake's construction. Every county chief had to conscript labourers from his area of jurisdiction and he would be the head of his brigade of workers.

Work would start before dawn, at about 3.00 am, and continue until about 4.00 pm. The only notable exception to this forced labour was Princess Nassiwa, the favourite sister of the king and the only member of the ruling class spared from conscription.

Kabaka Mwanga first appointed Musoke, one of the royal gatekeepers at the palace, to spearhead the lake's construction. The appointment of such a junior royal officer to take charge of such a complex project was both a sign of lack of serious thought on the part of the Kabaka as well as a lack of interest and support from the royal family and chiefs for the project.

Due to his inexperience, Musoke soon lost his assignment to Kaggwa Ndikumulaga, a no-nonsense courtier famous for his loyalty to the king.

He set out to execute the Kabaka's wishes ruthlessly. First, he surveyed the path the lake would follow: the lake was to be constructed along the natural river channel that followed the swamp that ran between Ndeeba, Kibuye, Najjanankumbi and Masajja on the one side, with Salaama and Luwafu on the other.

On the political front, Mwanga was then resisting the growing British colonial influence. He thought the new lake could provide a quick and secure escape to Lake Victoria in the event of armed conflict with the British. His strategy was to escape to Ssese islands in Lake Victoria, from where he could plan a counterattack.

On the religious front, there was a two-pronged threat. First, there was the rivalry between Protestant, Catholic and Muslim followers, each trying to win over the king. Secondly, there was the conflict between the Buganda native religion and the new religions. These divisions posed a threat to the authority and influence of the king. Here again, the new lake could provide an escape route in case the life of the kabaka was threatened. At the tender age of 18, Mwanga had reason to take all precautions against political threats.

Construction had reached Najjanankumbi, about two kilometres from Mengo, when Kaggwa Ndikumulaga started to encounter problems.

Many of the people involved in the work considered it a kind of punishment against people Kabaka Mwanga considered disloyal. The tools used were mainly locally-made hoes and were crude by modern standards. Working conditions were unreasonably harsh and risky. Many people died of fatigue, lack of food and medical care. Accidents from mudslides, drowning and torture increased the fatalities.

The lake project was also opposed by the youths newly converted to the Christian faith. They objected to working on Sundays and to the central role given to native doctors and mediums in the project. These were later executed and became the famous Uganda martyrs. Their execution is marked every June 3.

Eleven months after the start of construction work, a popular rebellion in 1888 led to the abrupt stoppage of work on the Kabaka's lake. Though the tunnel had reached Najjanankumbi, several kilometres from the Kabaka's palace, it contracted and became a lake in its present form at Ndeba on the outskirts of Kampala. It has continued to exist in more or less the same state that Mwanga left it, occupying about two square kilometres. The lake is about 200 feet deep.

One of the wonders of Kabaka's lake is that it maintains the normal level of water despite having no tributary flowing into it. 

It has, however, suffered serious environmental degradation over the years despite a clean-up exercise in 1993 in which all the clans of the Buganda kingdom participated. The lake remains a dumping ground for unwanted babies. It is also used by car washers.

But plans by King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi's government to turn the lake into a tourist site are at advanced stage. 

The clean-up of the lake was part of preparations for the restoration of the Buganda monarchy, which had been abolished together with Uganda's other kingdoms in 1966 by the then Ugandan leader Milton Obote. All Buganda's 52 clans took part. 

It involved removing the skeletons of people murdered near the lake during the regimes of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, cutting grass on its shores and trimming the bushes on the three islands in the lake. 

Many disused weapons were retrieved from the lake, including grenades and rifles. Each clan, in a ritual intended to appease the gods of Buganda, was given a part of the lake to clean up and shown where to construct a shrine for the clan.

A freshwater lake, it contains several species of fish, including tilapia. Its marine ecosystem is as complete as that of a natural freshwater lake. It also has lungfish and reptiles. Freshwater sports such as swimming, canoeing and fishing were once undertaken, with the permission of the Kabaka's government, but due to neglect it became impossible to go for recreational activities.

One of the plans being considered by the Kabaka's government is to put up a tourist hotel where visitors can stay and enjoy canoe ride, swimming expedition and other fresh water sports on the lake.