The development of transport systems was one of the important colonial economic policies. Roads, railways, ports and harbours were put in place irrespective of the colonial power whether has Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy or otherwise.

Reasons for development of modern transport system in colonial africa.

For strategic reasons, as for example, Uganda railway was built to confirm and improve British commercial and strategic reasons in Uganda (the source of River Nile) which Egypt survived on.

Promotion of missionary activities: Roads and railway network systems in Africa were built to enhance the spreading of gospel. This was because the first group of missionaries (1840s) could not do much because of communication problems.

Effective occupation: The Berlin conference had dictated that for the recognition of colonial power in a given African territory, there had to be effective occupation of the colony i.e. develop the infrastructure facilities like schools, roads, health centers etc

The exploitation of Agriculture and mineral wealth: The fama produce included cash crops such as coffee, cotton, sisal, cocoa and palm oil while the minerals included copper, gold, diamond and iron.

Humanitarian grounds: The transport system was developed in order to assist in elimination of slave trade and support the development of legitimate trade.

Roads and railways were built to open up interior of Africa for overseas countries purposely to serve as market for their manufactured products. This led to the construction of many railway lines connecting West African States, Central Africa, East Africa to the coast.

Development of colonies: The road network was established in order to make colonies self reliant through the cultivation of cash crops which they could sell to foreigners and be transported to the coast. Such crops include rubber in Congo and West African territories. Palm oil, Coconut, Cotton and Coffee.

For effective administration of colonies: The transport system was constructed in order to ease the mobility of colonial administrators and their troops. For example, Pretoria-Durban railway in south Africa,

Uganda railway in East Africa etc

THE UGANDA RAILWAY

The Uganda railway was constructed on the basis of creating a strategic line between Uganda and the East African Coast, protect the British strategic interests in East and North East Africa and for effective control and development of economic resources of Uganda and Kenya that were to be controlled as British spheres, the railway line traces its idea as far back as 1892 when Lord Salisbury the British P.M thought of a means of consolidating the British claims over British East Africa an idea that he pushed to the British public, parliament and the cabinet for support.  In the same way, he appealed to the anti slavery sentiment to acquire funds for the project hence the British parliament approved # 20,000 for the preliminary survey however the real work was never started until 1896 because Salisbury had in 1892 general elections lost his position in favour of a liberal PM Lord Gladstone who was largely opposed to the project and indeed it wasn’t until the return of Lord Salisbury into office in 1895 that the construction of the railway became a reality.

The real work of the railway was undertaken by British engineers and a labour force of 32,000 Indian labourers at a cost of $8m a railway that moved  inland from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901.  Lord Salisbury undertook the project companies of the optimism that the railway would easily pave its way with exports from the lake Victoria basin which had fertile land, large population and potential for cash crop production on a large scale.

It’s worth noting however that despite the optimism with which the project was started, it took a considerably long period to be accomplished and this was caused by the following problems.

There was a lack of labour force for from the beginning the railway didn’t receive the necessary co-operation from the local people who didn’t regard it as a necessary project and this was compounded by the fact that the majority of the communities where the railway passed were pastoralists who couldn’t settle down for paid labour.  Recruitment of African labour also became difficult because of lack of established systems of administration or aristocracies hence making it difficult for mobilisation and the locals largely mistrusted the whites.  As an end result, the British had to import Indian “coolies”.

The original funds of the project were provided by the British treasury however the whole project became very expensive and the treasury reduced it’s support hence it was all left largely on the British abolitionists, humanitarians and businessmen who saw the railway as an opportunity to promote legitimate trade especially in the interior though it was also not easy to mobilise funds from these groups.

Between 1896-98, the railway work was delayed by lions around Tsavo which killed many workers and it wasn’t until they were hunted by Major Patterson.

Apart from the wild animals, railway workers were always attacked by hostile tribes notably the Nandi and Masai who disrupted the work by cutting down telephone wires, telegraph systems, railway slippers and even harassed the workers.

It was also delayed by diseases especially malaria which was the most serious and led to the deaths of many workers not forgetting sleeping sickness and jiggers.

There were various physical problems like drought in the Nyika, floods, inadequate loading facilities and the geographical settings like mountains and marshes.

Technical problems like mechanical breakdowns, lack of spare parts disrupted the engineers and delayed their work.

Despite all odds, the railway reached Lake Victoria at Kisumu in 1901.

The completion of the Uganda railway was a great achievement to the British parliament and indeed its completion had far reaching consequences on the social political and economic lifestyles of the people of East Africa.

The construction was the beginning of an influx of Indians into East Africa many of whom remained behind and involved themselves in economic activities especially businesses in the urban areas.

African farmers got the opportunity to sale their produce outside their homes because of transport and as a result there was a boom in African farming and increase in wealth.

Uganda was made accessible, there was encouragement of cash crop growing for example in 1905 Bishop Borup introduced the first cotton seed and indeed this marked the start of era of cash crop production.

There was the development of export trade in natural products and importation of manufactured goods and therefore new products were seen on the market.

It provided employment for large numbers of Asians and Africans some as permanent staff on the railway while others were casual labourers.

It led to land alienation especially in Kenya among the Nandi people, the Kikuyu and Masai people.

It led to urbanisation because of various centres which were used for European settlements turned into towns and cities and business boomed all as a result of urbanisation.

It led to settlement of the British in East Africa started by Sir Charles Elliot the commissioner of Kenya who decided to introduce European settlers into Kenya and indeed a large part of the Kenya highlands were earmarked as “a whiteman’s country”.

The completion of the railway led to the enlargement of Kenya in order to put the whole of the railway line under the same colonial administration, this was done in 1902 when Ugandan Eastern province was transferred to Kenya.  Similarly, the capital of Kenya was transferred with the railway Headquarters to Nairobi which was also near the geographical centre of the country in otherwords the railway made it easier for the British to establish their authority in Kenya and govern the country.

Politically, the railway brought the whole area under which it passed to be put in control of the British protectorate.

To the British, the problem of land locked Uganda had been solved because transportation of troops, equipment and administrative personnel  had been made easy and indeed the British administration was consolidated in the region as Lord Salisbury put it “The railway is a means of consolidating claims to territories that had been recognised on paper in the Anglo-German treaty of 1890.

Slave trade came to an end given that slave transport was no longer required and hence with easy transport legitimate trade was encouraged.

It’s also said that the conclusion of the railway led to migrant labour from rural to urban areas and the end result was population increase in urban areas leading to other social evils such as crime, prostitution.

In conclusion therefore, the construction of the Uganda railway had both positive and negative impact on the peoples of East Africa but the most outstanding of the historical effects was that the construction of the railway opened East Africa to the imperialistic world for a greater exploitation no wonder that many Afro-Centric scholars still doubt the benefit the people of East Africa got from the Uganda railway except being a legacy of modern transport networks to smoothen exploitation.

Problems encountered in the construction of Uganda railway,

Hostile tribes: Apart from wild animals, those who worked on the railway line were attacked by the Nandi and the Masai who destroyed their settlements. They cut down telephone wires, destroyed the railway line and harassed the workers. For much of their work, they had to organise defensive wars against these tribes and seek protection of government forces if they were to continue.

Man eaters: Between 1896 and 1898 work on the railway was delayed by lions which killed man British workers in Tsavo National park. It was not until they were hunted down by Major Patterson that work had to resume.

Diseases: The railway workers suffered from disease attacks that ranged from the malaria, sleeping sickness to small pox. Jiggers caused a lot of suffering and misery particularly to the India, coolies. Consequently, the numbers of workers reduced due deaths and at times some of the survivors of the diseases were crippled because of jiggers.

Physical problems: Various physical problems like drought in Nyika, floods, inadequate port facilities for unloading materials, challenges of high altitude towards mountain Kenya, beyond Nairobi there was rift valley escarpments and many river beds had to be bridged. There were man diseases. Rainy seasons were particularly the worst because workers found it impossible to put up settlements. Leaking roofs, wet floors and muddy walls of their houses all made it difficult and discouraged more workers to come for the project.

Engineering technical problems: In most cases the work was held by machine breakdown. The distance from home made difficult to procure spare parts. The physical set up such as the rift valley and the highland all disturbed the engineers and delayed their work.

Lack of labour Force: From the start, the railway did not receive the necessary cooperation from the indigenous people because of:

(i)   The railway largely passed through the pastoral areas and the pastoralists did not set down for paid labour.

(ii)  Africans suspected and mistrusted the white population because they had suffered greatly under slave trade.

(iii) There was limited missionary influence in Kenya and therefore British railway building operated in a population that was not yet pacified.

Lack of finance: The original funds for the projects were provided by the British treasury. However as the project became very expensive, the British treasury reduced its support. This left the project to depend largely on the British slave trade abolitionists and businessmen who saw the railway as an opportunity to promote legitimate trade in the interior.

Language: Amidst the above problems, the railway constructors had a problem of communication with the East African people.Some were Indians, others Englishmen and therefore communication with Africans was not easy.

EFFECTS OF UGANDA RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION:

The social, political and economic aspects worked jointly to provide the effects for construction of the Uganda railway;

It eased the movement of people from the countryside to urban centres with their attendant consequences such as congestion. The cheap transport culminated into the emergence of cheap migrant labour ready to be exploited in European farms. This contributed to rural underdevelopment and stagnation as productive labour force got drained in Rural-Urban drift.

The completion of the Uganda railway led to enlargement of Kenya in order to put the whole of the railway line under one colonial administration. This was done in 1902 when Ugandans in Eastern province were transferred to Kenyan administration

In the field of administration, the railway made it faster and easier to move the European administrators and troops to the interior. This enabled effective administration of Kenya and Uganda.

The railway construction confirmed Kenya as a settler colony. Charles Eliot the commissioner of the East African protectorate once remarked that "the country had grown from a district to a settler colony". Several white settlers were attracted to Kenya highlands after the railway construction. African land was alienated which later resulted in Mau-Mau uprising.

It also facilitated abolition of slave trade and slavery in the British protectorate as slave transport had become useless. The railway line greatly promoted legitimate trade.Before the railway construction, transport in East Africa was carried out by slaves.

The railway helped in enhancing the exploitation of the agriculture potential of Kenya and Uganda. This is because it provided cheap transport to the coast. This created a boom in African farming. In 1903 K. Burop brought cotton to Uganda, Uganda had become accessible.

There was promotion of missionary activity. This consequently led to increased evangelisation and civilisation of the British colonies in East Africa. Before the construction of the Uganda railway, there were few or no European Christian missionaries in Kenya. Missionary enterprises opened up in Kenya after 1896.

In 1901 British parliament was happy with work done. Due to the problem of financial burden, it decided that the Africans should pay for its completion. In 1902, a hut tax was introduced to help in offsetting the cost burden. This tax led to serious African resistances that made the British to send a number of its military expedition.

The construction of railway provided employment to large numbers of Asians and Africans. Some were employed as permanent staff on the railway line while others were messengers, store keepers and casual labourers. This led to improved standards of living of these workers.

Reduction of transport costs: Compared to human transport, movement became more reliable and faster. Uganda was availed with a quick link to outside world, i.e. the railway cheapened and quickened the exploitation of African resources.

By attracting various European groups, i.e. the missionaries, adventurers and the Indian traders, the building of Uganda railway increased the European settlement in East Africa. Consequently this led to urbanisation. Nairobi that started as a labour camp for railway workers, Kisumu, Naivasha and Jinja all grew up along with the problems of urbanisation.

In 1905 the capital of Kenya was transferred to the railway headquarters - Nairobi which was ."near the geographical center of Kenya.Today this serves as a political ,social and economic centre of Kenya.

In conclusion therefore, the colonial economies in Kenya and indeed in Uganda were greatly determined by the Ugandan railway. Although the line was originally meant for political reasons, it had very many economic effects especially for Kenya. It opened up the interior for European settlement and consequently exploitation of British East Africa (Uganda and Kenya). Although it was called the Uganda railway, it had more effects on Kenya than Uganda.