COURS WORK

GROUP WORK
GROUP MEMBERS
Joel Gadafi
Atikuru Dora
Itkwarp Martin

1. (a) What is the impact of the 1953 – 1955 Buganda agreement on the national politics of the
protectorate?
Background
For more than half a century, the Uganda Agreement, of 1900; formed the basis of the relationship between Buganda on
the one hand, and the British colonial administrators of the Uganda Protectorate on the other hand. The agreement was
ostensibly made between willing equal partners - the British having first given 'protection' to Buganda at Buganda's own
invitation. A key element of the agreement was the allocation of land to Baganda in a type of freehold tenure that came
to be known as 'mailo land'. This effectively excluded European settlers from acquiring land in Buganda. Consequently,
there were no white settlers to speak of in Uganda, unlike in neighboring Kenya. The agreement also called for Buganda
to be on an equal footing with any future provinces that might be incorporated into the Uganda Protectorate. Because
of these provisions, Buganda was able to maintain an unprecedented degree of internal autonomy within the Uganda
Protectorate.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the British floated the idea of a closer union between their colonies in East Africa, namely:
Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. This idea was resisted strongly in Uganda and especially in Buganda. There were two
closely related reasons for the strong opposition. First, it was feared that an East African Federation would open the
doors for European settlers in Uganda. The example of how settlers treated the indigenous Africans next door Kenya, or
further afield in Rhodesia and South Africa, left the Baganda under no illusions about what would happen to their
society if this came to pass. Second, the Baganda feared that their ancient kingdom, with its cherished customs and
culture, would be swallowed up in the much larger polity of an East African federation and this they were determined to
resist. However reluctantly, the British were forced to abandon the idea of an East African federation.

In January 1952, Andrew Cohen took the reigns as the new Governor of Uganda. He had major reforms in mind including
measures such as expanding African representation in Uganda's Legislative Council and the Governor's Executive
Council. After negotiations with Muteesa II, the Kabaka; several constitutional reforms were proposed for Buganda itself
in March 1953 including having a majority of elected members in the Lukiiko, as well as transferring a number of services
such as education, health, and agriculture from the Protectorate Government to the Buganda Government.

It was at this same time however that the British colonies of Northern and Southern Rhodesia as well as Nyasaland were
being formed into a federation. This federation was opposed by the Africans concerned but this did not stop the British,
under pressure from the settlers in those territories, from forcing through the federation. When the Secretary of State
for the Colonies floated anew the idea of a federation for East Africa in a speech he gave in London in June 1953; alarm
bells went off in Buganda. There were strong protests from both the Lukiiko and the Kabaka. Indeed, the Baganda began
to mistrust the direction that British rule was now taking their kingdom and strong calls started emerging for Buganda to
be separated from the rest of Uganda. Since Buganda had willingly entered into what she considered an agreement of
protection in 1900, she now wanted to have her independence and separate identity restored and honored by the
British who however resisted. This led to a political impasse.

A series of negotiations between the Kabaka and the Governor failed to break the stalemate. Although the Governor
gave assurances that an East African federation would not be pursued without consulting Buganda, Buganda was now
more anxious to protect her position by separating from the rest of Uganda. The Governor then proceeded to invoke the
1900 Agreement and demanded that the Kabaka accept specifically the British policy of developing Uganda as a unitary
state. This would of course be a betrayal of the aspirations of the vast majority of the Baganda who wanted to maintain
a Buganda identity and the Kabaka would not do it. On November 30, 1953; the Governor signed a declaration
withdrawing British recognition from Muteesa as the Native Ruler of Buganda under clause 6 of the 1900 Agreement.
The Kabaka was immediately deported and by the time the news broke in Buganda, Muteesa was already under custody
in Britain. This was an unimaginable shock to all the Baganda and it led to a full-blown constitutional crisis. The Baganda
refused to elect a replacement king and started a vigorous and effective campaign to restore Muteesa to his throne.

Eventually, a Constitutional Committee was selected by the Lukiiko which with the help of Sir Keith Hancock (Director of
the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at London University) as a mediator, undertook negotiations with the Governor.
Negotiations were carried out in 1954 at the premises of the Anglican cathedral at Namirembe. The final results of the
negotiations are contained in the Agreed Recommendations of the Namirembe Conference. These formed the basis of a
new agreement between Buganda and the British which was signed in 1955, on the Kabaka's triumphal return from
exile.

(b) Political parties were formed almost every day and often collapsed as soon as they appeared. Discuss
the above in line with the movement towards independence, representation, and commission.
Political parties in Uganda like any other African country developed after World war II WHEN PEOPLE OF Asia
and Africa became more determined to become independent and organize themselves to achieve
independence. In Uganda the parties were as the following:
In the period between 1945-1949 there were political associations of the Bataka Party 1946; Abaganda
Abakopi & Uganda African Farmers Union 1947 and Buganda African Motors Drivers Union. These parties
were predominantly formed by Buganda and their message was of resistance and desire for independence
from colonial rule.
The Uganda National Congress was formed in 1952 by Ignatius Musazi. The majority of support was from
Buganda and only militants from other regions joined it and it advocated for self-governance. However, the
party had no manifesto instead its opportunist contribution towards independence was it initiated party
politics and campaigned for the return of kabaka.
The Democratic Party of 1954 was led by Matayo Mugwanya and its inception was exclusively Roman Catholic
in its inspiration and membership. They had a grievance against discrimination against Catholics by protestants
in appointments in public office like 8 catholic saza chiefs and 10 protestants saza. The party was fighting
communism and had a manifesto by 1961 in preparation for elections. Its collapse was based on overreliance
on religion and lack of commitment to controversial forms of government and lost counties. However, they
made contributions to concrete proposals for constitutionalism and independence.
Progressive Party was formed in 1955 by E.M.K Mulila and drew membership from schoolmasters, well-to-do
farmers, and Baganda businessmen and its membership was exclusively Buganda. It was a rival to UNC& DP.
Its weakness was that although it had a manifesto its leadership was not imaginative. Its contribution towards
independence was that it had constitutional proposals to the commission although was unable to send
representatives to the legislative council or London Constitutional conference.
The Uganda Peoples Union was formed between late 1958 &1959 and its first president was W.W Rwetisba &
G.Magyezi from Ankole. Its leadership and membership came from different social groups and regions like
Western Uganda and Busoga unlike other parties and its said religion played a role and was formed to contain
Buganda hegemony and bridge the gap where the Baganda were failing to facilitate the struggle for
independence. After two months of its formation and the first direct elections, the party won majority seats in
the legislative broken as UPU 7 members, UNC 3 members, DP 1, and independent 1 and this contributed
towards the independence struggle in Uganda.
Uganda People’s Congress was formed on 9th March 1960 and was a merger between Mr. Rwetsiba of
Uganda Progressive Union and Dr. Obote’s wing of Uganda National Congress these agreed to merge and
consolidate party politics in Uganda and present a common program to people for complete independence. Its
aims and objectives were the struggles relentlessly by all constitutional means for the attainment of complete
independence; To Uphold the dignity and prestige of hereditary rulers and other heads of African
governments and to promote, secure, and unity of peoples of Uganda under strong government conducive to
stability and rapid progress. UPC further pledged to centralized government holding the different groups in
Uganda together in Unity
The period 1961-1962 was when all political parties struggled to capture political power through constitutional
means through the election route. At this time Buganda and particularly Mengo’s establishment miscalculated
by boycotting the 1961 elections. The Democratic Party led by Benedicto Kiwanuka won the majority vote and
these elections were conducted under laws in which Ugandans never participated. This then resulted in the
formation of the Kabaka Yekka Party.
Kabaka Yekka was a movement by Baganda leadership formed as a vehicle to contest Lukiiko elections as they
deemed any person against Kabaka was living treasonable existence. They considered Kiwanuka anti-
monarchy which threatened to establish a republic nation. In the 1962 Lukiiko elections, Kabaka Yekka sent 21
elected members, and Uganda People’s Congress 37 directly elected members. This result brought Uganda
Peoples Congress Dr. Milton Obote as a leader to form a government that led Uganda to Independence.
CONCLUSION
The above illustrates how the different politics were formed, their representation, weaknesses, and their
contribution towards the independence of Uganda but important to note is their collapses were attributed to
poor institutionalization, poor internal involvement of members, inadequate internal democracy, and dynastic
succession among others
In relation to democracy, there was a lot to learn from a decade of political parties since 1946-1062 such as
democracy isn’t imposed from above, democracy is beyond several political parties and leadership is central to
democratization and constitutionalism.
REFERENCES:
Kavuma Paulo (1979) Buganda Crisis, 1953-1955-The story of the Exile and Return of the Kabaka Mutesa II
London

Byamukama Nathan (2003) Formation and Impact of Political Parties in the 1950s up to Independence 1962:
Lessons for Democracy.
Ly Helton Olivier (30TH November 1953) Kabaka of Buganda (Withdrawal of Recognition) Parliamentary
debates (Hansard). House of Commons 780-782