{UAH} ANKOLE TOURISM: The Galt stones in Ibanda (popularly known as "amabare ga goti")

ANKOLE TOURISM: The Galt stones in Ibanda (popularly known as "amabare ga goti")

These are stones that were piled along the Ibanda- Kagongo road in Ibanda district in memory of the killing of Sir. Harry George Galt.

"Harry George Galt was a British colonial officer, working as the Sub Commissioner of the Western Province of Uganda,who was killed in Ibanda.

He was born on 28 January 1872 in Emsworth in Hampshire in Great Britain.

His first assignment on arrival in the British protectorate of Uganda, was as a tax collector for the Ankole Sub-region.
He was later appointed as the sub-commissioner of the Western Uganda province.

He is said to have been a cruel officer who treated the local people harshly.
On 19 May 1905 as the newly appointed provincial officer, Galt forced the local people to carry him on their head from Fort Portal to Ibanda.
When the people got tired they requested him to let them rest, but he refused and ordered them to march on until they reached Ibanda - "Paka Banda" he said in his broken Runyankore, meaning "Up to Ibanda".

The porters complied up to Katooma, 3 km from Ibanda Town after the Kagongo Catholic Church where he stopped and rested in a Government house.
As the locals rehashed Galt's cruelty, a man named Rutaraka got riled by the officer's acts and he picked up a spear, headed towards Galt who was sitting in the government house compound and threw it at him striking him in the chest.
Galt died after a short time.

The colonial government officials who investigated the cause of Galt's death, thought it was politically moftivated and sentenced two Ankole chiefs to death, a penalty which was later cancelled on appeal by the British East African Court.

Fearful of colonial retribution, Rutaraka later committed suicide by hanging.

Galt's body was taken away for burial and the colonial government punished the natives by making them pile stones to cover his blood which had spilled on the ground.

They piled stones making a pyramid-like feature 5 Metres in length and 3 metres in height which stands there up to now in Galt's memory. The stones are now a tourist attraction though it has not been renovated by leaders in the district.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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