Buganda Agreement (1900)

The Buganda Agreement (alternatively the Uganda Agreement or Treaty of Mengo) of March 1900 formalised the relationship between the Kingdom of Buganda and the British Uganda Protectorate.[1]

Agreement

The agreement was negotiated by Alfred Tucker, Bishop of Uganda,[2] and signed by, among others, Buganda's Katikiro Sir Apolo Kagwa, on the behalf of the Kabaka (Daudi Chwa) who was at that time an infant, and Sir Harry Johnston on the behalf of the British colonial government.

Buganda would henceforth be a province of the Protectorate, and would be transformed into a constitutional monarchy with the power of the Lukiiko (advisory council) greatly enhanced and the role of the Kabaka (king) reduced.[1] The British also gained the right to veto future choices of Kabaka, and control of numerous other appointments.[2] These provisions concerning the roles of the Kabaka and Lukiiko were largely reversed by the Buganda Agreement of 1961.[2]

The agreement solidified the power of the largely Protestant 'Bakungu' client-chiefs, led by Kagwa. The British sent only a few officials to administer the country, relying primarily on the Bakungu chiefs. For decades they were preferred because of their political skills, their Christianity, their friendly relations with the British, there are their ability to collect taxes, and the proximity of Entebbe (the Uganda capital) was close to the Buganda capital. By the 1920s the British administrators were more confident, and had less need for military or administrative support.[3]

By fixing the northern boundary of Buganda as the River Kafu, the agreement formalised Henry Colvile's 1894 promise that Buganda would receive certain territories in exchange for their support against the Bunyoro.[1] Two of the 'lost counties' (Buyaga and Bugangaizi) were returned to the Bunyoro following the Ugandan lost counties referendum of 1964.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Reid, Richard J. (2 March 2017). A History of Modern Uganda. Cambridge University Press. pp. 158–160. ISBN 978-1-107-06720-2.
  2. 1 2 3 Adyanga, Onek C. (25 May 2011). Modes of British Imperial Control of Africa: A Case Study of Uganda, c.1890-1990. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 58–59, 138. ISBN 978-1-4438-3035-5.
  3. ↑ Twaddle, Michael (1969). "The Bakungu chiefs of Buganda under British colonial rule, 1900–1930". Journal of African History. 10 (2).
  4. ↑ Jørgensen, Jan Jelmert (1981). Uganda: a modern history. Taylor & Francis. pp. 200, 219–221. ISBN 978-0-85664-643-0.


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