Rogers Magala
Last year, on October 9, Daily Monitor published a story titled: “How Buganda delayed Uganda’s independence” . The statement above can easily be construed as malicious against Buganda especially when it is not empirically and correctly substantiated. It should not be surprising that most of the African states attained self-governance between mid -1950 and 1975 save for isolated exceptions of Egypt which got independence in 1922 and South Africa in 1910. It was the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514, signed on December 14,1960 that accelerated the decolonisation of Africa.
One of its declarations read: “Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or color, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom". This justifies the wave of independence that swept across Africa after 1960 when the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 was adopted.
Ghana for example, unlike Uganda, nationalist movements and political activism were at the peak between 1930 and 1950 with charismatic leaders like Nkwame Nkurumah and Joseph Boakye Danquah who played crucial roles in ending colonial rule in Ghana. Ghana was the first colony in Africa to be granted an 'African elected majority' in the Legislative Council in 1946.
In Uganda, the question of African majority representation in the Legislative Council was merely a contentious subject matter during the Namirembe Conference in 1954. It is unfathomable that Uganda would have attained independence earlier than Ghana before the colonial government had found solutions for her long existing constitutional and tribal conundrums. After the general election of 1961, the Governor then, Sir Frederick Crawford remarked at the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council on 17 April, 1961 that: “...before independence could be achieved, certain problems have to be resolved, chief one being that of tribal and regional differences, and the need to ensure that all parts of the country are happily and satisfactorily inter-related so that present divergences and suspicions cease”.
Prof George Wilson Kanyeihamba notes in his book, Constitutional and Political History of Uganda: From 1894 to present.There were two crucial unsolved problems before several commissions of inquiry and these were; Buganda’s secession demands and the question of the ‘lost counties’. Buganda’s dominance and excellence has for centuries been enwrapped in her negotiation strengths and collective duty to defend the sacrosanct throne.
Inasmuch as the secession demands were denied by the Lord Muster Commission recommendations, Buganda was nonetheless pleased with the resolutions of the London Conferences which discussed recommendations by the Lord Munster Commission. These negotiations did not delay Uganda’s independence because they untied constitutional knots which would have hindered the smooth transition of colonial power to a native-led Independent Uganda.
Buganda was granted a federal relationship with the central government while the Western kingdoms: Ankole, Bunyoro and Tooro were given a semi-federal relationship. This marked the end of the secession demands by Buganda and also paved way for a referendum which decided the fate of the ‘lost counties’.
The neo-traditionalists of Buganda were majorly concerned with Buganda’s status in the independent Uganda, and this was a concern of all kingdoms and some regions in the Protectorate. Buganda’s hope of being a master in its own house had been frustrated and therefore chose to vehemently negotiate for demands that would preserve its semi-autonomous status.
Rodgers Magala is a law student.
