{UAH} EAST AFRICAN FEDERATION PROPOSALS, 1927

Ebbaluwa eno wamanga y'ebbaluwa Ssekabaka Daudi Chwa II gyeyawandiika nga 29 Okitobba 1927 nga awa ensonga lwaki Buganda egaana okugiteka mu East African Federation. So bbaluwa nkulu nnyo mubyaafayo bya Buganda. Era nga eno y'ensonga lwaki sigikyusizza mu Luganda, wabula ngitadewo nga bweyawadiikibwa mu Lungereza okusobola okulaga obubaka mubutuufu bwabwo kubanga ekiwandiiko nga kino okukikyusa obulungi kyetagamu obukugu bwesirina. Ebbaluwa mpanvuko naye olw'obukulu bwayo, nsaba tugiwe obudde.

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26. EAST AFRICAN FEDERATION PROPOSALS, 1927

Memorandum on the proposed federation of the British East African dependencies. Its effect on the Constitution of Buganda Kingdom. By His Highness the Kabaka of Buganda [29 October 1927].

The purpose of this Memorandum is to deal fully with the questions of the proposed Federation as it affects the constitution of the Buganda Kingdom which forms one of the most important Provinces of the Uganda Protectorate.

In order to understand the importance of the position accorded to the Kingdom of Buganda in the composition of the Uganda Protectorate, one must necessarily look back and study the history of Buganda just prior to the advent of the first European to this Country about I 862, when Captain Speke arrived in Buganda at the Court of my august grandfather Kabaka Mutesa. It is stated that prior to this date my great-grandfather, Kabaka Suna, first heard of the existence of the white men somewhere in 1850 from a runaway Baluch soldier of Zanzibar. During the reign of Kabaka Mutesa, prior to the arrival of Captain Speke the Kingdom of Buganda prospered and was recognized as one of the most powerful of the native tribes in East Africa, west of the great Lake Victoria. That Buganda kept up its supremacy up to the time of the annexation to the British Crown is a well known and indisputable fact. Buganda differed from its neighbouring native tribes in every way, especially socially and politically. Although possessing no civilization on the modern lines, yet Buganda had a peculiar civilization of its own, and, strangely enough, its system of government differed very little from a constitutional government of modern days. It is quite clear from the study of the history of Buganda that it was the unique position it occupied among its fellow-native tribes that compelled the British Government, when its annexation to the British Crown was effected to recognize all its ancient customs and to respect its system of government In fact it was on these customs and system of government that the present constitution of Buganda Kingdom was built up by the late Sir Harry Johnston in his memorable and most generous Agreements made between himself and the Regents and Chiefs of Buganda in 1900 on my behalf during my minority.

Before turning to the effect of the proposed Federation on the constitution of Buganda Kingdom, it would not be out of place to deal briefly here with the present constitution of Buganda as laid down in the Agreement of I900 already alluded to above. In that Agreement, after describing fully the boundary of Buganda Kingdom, the Kabaka of Buganda formally renounced, in favour of His Majesty's Government, all claims to tribute which the Kabaka of Buganda had on the adjoining provinces of the Uganda Protectorate. It is clear that such formal renunciation presupposed the recognition by the British Government of the Kabaka's prior rights over those claims. Following upon this renunciation, the status of the Kingdom of Buganda in the administration of the Uganda Protectorate is guaranteed, by the British Government. Further on in this Agreement the British Government formally recognized the Kabaka of Buganda as the supreme Native Ruler of Buganda under the British protection. In this Clause (6) of the Agreement it is definitely provided that 'The Kabaka of Buganda shall exercise direct rule over the natives of Buganda to whom he shall administer justice through the Lukiko or Native Council and through others of his officers in the manner approved by Her Majesty's Government.  It is needless to point out that by this provision the British Government intended to guarantee the preservation of the Kabaka's suzerainty among his own subjects, and to ensure the internal administration of his Kingdom by his Chiefs, subject to formal supervision of the British Government. Still further down in the Agreement (Clauses 9, 10, 11) the system of Government of the Baganda which Sir Harry Johnston found in existence on his arrival in 1899 was recognized and amplified in detail in this Agreement. These clauses now form the foundation of the present constitution of the Buganda Kingdom, which is further safeguarded by a special provision inserted in the earlier part of this Agreement (Clause 5) to the effect that all laws made by the British Government for the general governance of the Uganda Protectorate shall be equally applicable to the Kingdom of Buganda 'except in so far as they may in any particular conflict with the terms of this Agreement in which case the terms of this Agreement will constitute a special exception in regard to the Kingdom of Uganda'. The meaning and intention of this provision is too clear to require any further explanation. While the laws made by the Protectorate Government are applicable to Buganda, yet its constitution is safeguarded from the operation of any of those laws which are in direct conflict with the principles of this constitution as laid down in the Agreement under review. It is clear, therefore, that although Buganda is part of the Uganda Protectorate and administered by His Majesty's Government, yet in its internal administration the Protectorate Government has to respect its constitution solemnly guaranteed in the Agreement. It is, therefore, necessary that when any measure for the better government of the Protectorate is considered desirable to be applied to Buganda, but which on the face of it appears to be repugnant or in conflict with any provision of this Agreement, the Protectorate Government has to obtain prior consent of the Kabaka and Chiefs and people of Buganda to this measure before it can be made applicable to Buganda Kingdom, and this consent is always recorded in a formal Agreement which becomes a supplementary Agreement to the original Agreement of 1900. There are several such Agreements entered into by the British Government with the Kabaka and Chiefs of Buganda since the original Agreement in 1900. In theory, at any rate, Buganda Kingdom still retains its internal self-Government under the protection and advice of His Majesty's Government of the Uganda Protectorate; and in the administration of the native tribes of the Protectorate, the British Government has to give special consideration to the interests of the Baganda in the light of the terms of the Uganda Agreement of 1900 — in fact the British Government in administering Buganda Kingdom has always to be guided by the principles and provisions laid down in that Agreement. I trust I have made it clear from the foregoing that it has never been, and I hope will never be, the intention of the British Government to annex Buganda Kingdom as an ordinary Crown Colony or to deprive its Kabaka of his suzerainty among his subjects. Subject to the protection and advice guaranteed by His Majesty's Government of the Uganda Protectorate, the internal self-Government has been left intact and has been reserved to the Kabaka and his Chiefs under the Agreement of 1900. This Agreement is binding upon the British Government except in the event of the Buganda Kingdom at any time failing to raise 'without just cause or excuse an amount of native taxation equal to half that which is due in proportion to the number of inhabitants'; or in the event of the Kabaka, Chiefs or people of Buganda pursuing at any time a policy which is distinctly disloyal to the British Government. (Clause 20.) None of these events have taken place, so that no breach of this Agreement has been made so as to release the British Government from the trust which it solemnly undertook to preserve under the terms of this Agreement which is binding on both parties that made it.

I now pass on to the burning question of the Federation. It is true no definite proposals have as yet been formulated upon which such Federation would be based. It is feared, however, and quite naturally, that whatever form the proposed Federation will ultimately take, there is no possible hope of any benefit accruing therefrom to the Baganda and the constitution of this Kingdom. In the first place, Buganda Kingdom is a very small country relatively speaking, and its importance is only felt in the light of its composition in the Uganda Protectorate and its status among its fellow-native tribes forming that Protectorate. It must be remembered in this connexion that the Uganda Protectorate was originally declared over Buganda and derived its name from the Swahili interchanging the word 'Buganda' into 'Uganda', and it only extended to the other native tribes now composed in the Uganda Protectorate gradually. Buganda must, therefore, of necessity, occupy the most important place among the native tribes in the Protectorate. It is clear, on the other hand, that if this proposed Federation of the British East African Dependencies is effected, the importance of Buganda will necessarily and proportionately be diminished, without, of course, any intention on the part of the British Government to subordinate it to any other native tribe. Again the present status of Buganda, although not intentionally destroyed, will necessarily be lost sight of in view of the vast numbers of the various native tribes with their relative importance that will be included in the proposed Federation. With all the best intentions on the part of the Central Government of the Federation, it is feared that it will no longer be possible to accord special consideration to the interests of the Baganda and the constitution of their Kingdom as has hitherto been done by His Majesty's Government of the Uganda Protectorate, and which was also the express intention of the [B]Uganda Agreement of 1900. Both the interests of the Baganda and the administration of their Kingdom will necessarily form part of the uniform policy calculated to be the best for the general welfare of the native tribes comprised in the Federation. It is presumed that it will be necessary to create a special Department under the control of the Central Government of the Federation to deal with Native Affairs of the  various Colonies and Protectorates composed in the Federation, and naturally such a Department will be confronted with numerous difficulties of native administration of the Federation, that it will be impossible for it to give special consideration to questions of minor importance affecting the individual Protectorates or Colonies; so that in its administration, it will be necessary for this Department to be guided by a uniform policy of Native Administration. Again even assuming that such a Department will not be necessary and that domestic affairs of native administration of each Protectorate or Colony will be left in the control of the Government of each Colony or Protectorate, yet there will arise, in the future progress of the Federation, questions of general interest which affect the welfare of the majority of the native tribes of the Federation upon which the Central Government will be called upon to legislate or offer its advice, and such legislation or advice may be in direct conflict with the terms of our Agreement of 1900 or repugnant to the principles of the internal native administration of Buganda Kingdom, in which case the general welfare of the majority of the native tribes of the Federation is bound to prevail over the interests of the single tribe of the Baganda; and the Agreement of 1900 will necessarily have to be interpreted and employed in accordance with the condition of the general native affairs of the whole Federation, and it will become almost impossible to accord the special consideration to Buganda Kingdom guaranteed under the [B]Uganda Agreement of 1900. As pointed out above, the present position occupied by Buganda Kingdom in the Uganda Protectorate is quite unique, since any legislation introduced by the Protectorate Government which is inconsistent with the terms of the [B]Uganda Agreement of 1900 is not applicable to Buganda Kingdom except with the prior consent of the Kabaka and his Lukiko. It is only natural that some apprehensions should be felt by all the Baganda that by the inclusion of Buganda in the proposed Federation it will not always be possible for the Central Government of the Federation to observe or give effect to this most important provision of the Agreement, which specially safeguards the interest of the Baganda and preserves the internal native administration of the Buganda Kingdom. For instance, it is naturally feared that Ordinances enacted by the Central Government of the Federation for the better government of the Federation as a whole or for the proper administration of native affairs in particular, will necessarily be applicable to the Kingdom of Buganda irrespective of the above mentioned provision in the Uganda Agreement; and, as already stated in the earlier part of this Memorandum, Buganda being a small and unimportant country compared to the other native tribes in the Federation, it will not always be possible for the Kabaka and chiefs of Buganda to remonstrate against any such legislation and assert their rights conferred upon them by the terms of the Agreement of 1900.

It may be argued, on the other hand, that the proposed Federation only contemplates amalgamation of certain public services such as Postal, Transport, Medical, and Customs and such like, which do not in any way affect the native administration of the various Protectorates and Colonies and that the Government policy of each Protectorate and Colony in connexion with their respective native affairs will not be interfered with. I am well aware that the amalgamation of such public services is essential, and has already been effected in certain special cases between the Uganda Protectorate and Kenya Colony. If only the Federation of such services is contemplated, then I, as the Kabaka of Buganda, have no voice in the matter and have no suggestions or objections to offer thereon. It would be presumptuous on my part if I were to do so, since such matters are outside my province.

My desire in preparing this Memorandum is to give the Commission a clear idea of the present position of Buganda Kingdom in the formation of the Uganda Protectorate. I trust I have endeavoured to do this, and to impress upon them the importance of the present constitution of Buganda Kingdom as provided in the Uganda Agreement of 1900 and the internal native administration, which has been solemnly reserved to the Kabaka and his chiefs by the terms of the same Agreement. l have also tried to show how the position of Buganda will fundamentally be changed in the composition of the proposed Federation and how it will be no longer possible for the present constitution of the Native Administration of Buganda Kingdom to be safeguarded and reserved to the Kabaka and his Chiefs. This Memorandum is, moreover, written in the hope that the members of the Commission will gain therefrom some useful information and will learn the views expressed by the head of the Native Government of Buganda Kingdom on behalf of his Chiefs and people, which may prove of some assistance to the Commission in their work of investigation into this important question of Federation.

In addition to the foregoing, I consider it only right to place on record my appreciation of the attitude taken by the local Government in this matter. When the question of the amalgamation of the Uganda Protectorate, Kenya, Tanganyika and Zanzibar was first brought up in 1921, I and my Chiefs put up a petition to His Excellency the Governor in which we set out our anxiety and fears as well as our strong protest against such amalgamation, and in March of 1921, we received a reply from the Honourable the Chief Secretary to the Government (18th March, 1922), which contained the following assurance:

'. . . . the Secretary of State for the Colonies has requested that you may be informed that, if it should be decided to make any arrangements for effecting closer co-ordination between the Administrations in East Africa, whether by federation or other means, you may rest assured that no action will be taken involving infringement of the Uganda Agreement of 1900, and that in any event it is not contemplated that the Kingdom of Buganda or the Uganda Protectorate generally should be  placed under the jurisdiction of any external legislative body in Eastern Africa, or that the Secretary of State's responsibility for the administration of the Protectorate should be reduced in any way.'

It is clear, therefore, that from the very beginning the local Government recognized the Secretary of State's responsibility for the due observance of the provisions of our Agreement of 1900. Again when this burning question was revived in 1924, I and my Ministers on behalf of the Native Government of Buganda addressed a letter (5th May, 1924) to the Honourable the Chief Secretary in which we informed him that we had heard through the local Press that the amalgamation of the British Protectorates and Colonies in Eastern Africa was again under contemplation, and we expressed our fear for such amalgamation in the 2nd paragraph of our letter referred to above in the following terms:

'2. We have therefore ventured to approach you, Sir, to ascertain whether there is any truth in this rumour that we have heard, and if so, to find out whether this amalgamation, after it has been approved by His Majesty the King of England, will introduce any change in the British Administration of our country; and whether it will in any way affect the [B]Uganda Agreement of 1900 and all the other subsequent Agreements that we have hitherto entered into with the British Government; and whether it will interfere with the native customs of the Baganda since this amalgamation will necessarily embrace many African tribes.'

To this expression of our anxiety, the Honourable the Chief Secretary was kind enough to give us a detailed reply containing some definite assurance and explanation calculated to allay our fears on this subject in his letter of 24th July, 1924, addressed to the Kabaka of Buganda, the most important extracts therefrom are these:

'2. Your anxiety in this matter was then (i.e. in 1921 and 1922) reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whose reply was communicated to you in this Office Memorandum, dated 18th March, 1922 (already quoted above). This reply was to the effect that, should it be decided to make any arrangements for effecting closer co-ordination between the Administrations in East Africa, whether by federation or by other means, you may rest assured that no action will be taken involving infringement of the Agreement of 1900, and that in any event it is not contemplated that the Kingdom of Buganda or the Uganda Protectorate generally should be placed under the jurisdiction of any external legislative body in Eastern Africa, or that the Secretary of State's responsibility for the Administration of the Protectorate should be reduced in any way.'

'4. His Excellency the Governor is sending copies of this correspondence to the Secretary of State for his information but he is confident that neither you nor your Ministers need have any anxiety in this matter.'

As a result of the Honourable the Chief Secretary's promise contained in the last paragraph of his letter just quoted above, he communicated to His Highness the Kabaka later in 1924 in his letter of the 18th October, I924, the Secretary of State's approval of the assurance already given to us by the local Government on the question of the amalgamation of the British East African Dependencies. This letter reads as under:

'With reference to your letter, dated 5th May, 1924, on the subject of the federation of the British Colonies and Protectorates in Eastern Africa, I have the honour to inform you that a despatch has now been received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the effect that he approves the terms of the reply sent to you from this Office, Memorandum dated 24th July, 1924.'

In view of the correspondence just quoted above which passed between the Protectorate Government and the Native Government of Buganda Kingdom since 1921 on the subject of the amalgamation of this Protectorate — Buganda Kingdom in particular — with any other Protectorate or Colony of British Eastern Africa, there is not the slightest doubt that this matter has always caused us a great deal of anxiety and fear since 1921, and we have always steadily and strenuously opposed such amalgamation; while it is equally apparent that the Protectorate Government has always realized and appreciated our anxiety and has taken every opportunity to allay our fears on this subject by obtaining from the Secretary of State his formal approval to the assurance already given to us by the local Government. I have, therefore, considered it right to express my gratitude to the Protectorate Government for the attitude and view that it has always taken in reference to this important question. I feel quite sure that nothing will be done by the Imperial Government to shake the confidence of my chiefs and myself in the guarantee that has already been so freely and repeatedly given to us by the Protectorate Government, and which, moreover, has been formally approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

In conclusion, I cannot refrain from making a few humble suggestions in the event it is ultimately decided that the proposed federation is imperative and should be put into operation at some future date. These suggestions are quite simple and are made without prejudice to the rights acquired by the Kabaka, Chiefs, and people of Buganda under the Agreement of 1900:

(a) That if the Federation is effected, Buganda should be excluded  therefrom as regards the constitution of the Kingdom of Buganda, provided under the Uganda Agreement of 1900, and that no legislation made by the Central Government of the Federation shall interfere with the internal native administration of Buganda Kingdom; and that any measures introduced by the Central Government of the Federation in connexion with the general government of the native tribes composed in the Federation shall not be applicable to the Baganda.

(b) If, on the other hand, it is considered undesirable to exclude Buganda alone from the Federation as indicated in (a) above. I would humbly beg to suggest, with all due respect, that my country, being the most important native state in the Uganda Protectorate, may receive the same consideration and treatment as was accorded to the Protectorate of Basutoland. It is understood that when the subjection of Basutoland to the control of the Cape Government proved unsatisfactory, the Basuto appealed to the Imperial Government to take them over, and in 1884 Basutoland ceased to be a portion of the Cape Colony. In our case we are quite convinced as pointed out above in detail, that the inclusion of Buganda Kingdom into the proposed Federation will not prove beneficial to the interests of the Baganda, since it will necessarily involve the breach either directly or indirectly of the fundamental principles of the constitution of the Kingdom of Buganda laid down in our principal Agreement of 1900. I would, therefore, humbly submit that when the Federation comes into force, Buganda Kingdom should be taken over by the Imperial Government, and a special Resident Commissioner, with the necessary staff, appointed by that Government to look after the interests of Buganda Kingdom and the welfare of its people, stationed in Buganda, as is done in the case of Basutoland. This would prove most beneficial to the Baganda as they will have special British Administrative Officers allotted to Buganda to look after their interests and to advise them in matters of native administration of their kingdom; and no other native interests or outside influence will interfere with the policy of the internal native administration of Buganda Kingdom. This is all the more necessary and desirable since it is a well-known fact and admitted by the Administrative Officers of the British Government that the Baganda are quite different from the surrounding native tribes of Eastern Africa, east or west of Lake Victoria.

— from Papers relating to the Question of the Closer Union of Kenya, Uganda, and the Tanganyika Territory, Colonial, No. 57, London, His Majesty's Stationery Office,

1931, pp. 80-5.

Source: D.A.Low

Daudi Chwa, Kabaka of Buganda, 1897- 1939

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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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