RESISTANCE TO COLONIAL RULE IN UGANDA
The changes that were created by the imposition of colonial rule in Uganda benefited materially to some individuals. For example Chiefs got land, salaries and prestige while other Ugandans lost their land, were oppressed and humiliated. In Buganda for example the clan leaders lost land and prestige and so did peasants. Those who were oppressed resisted not because they wanted political power but gaining back what they felt was not enough for them. The following are the best examples of resistance in Uganda.
Kabaka Mwanga was born in 1866. He was a son of Kabaka Mutesa 1 of Buganda. He became Kabaka in 1884 after the death of his father. At the beginning of his rule, Buganda was faced with four religious groups namely Moslems, Protestants, Catholic, and traditionalists Mwanga at first showed sympathy and friendship to both Protestant missionaries and white father (Roman Catholic missionaries)
Upon the advice of Arabs, Mwanga was warned against the influence of the missionaries. He then turned against the young Christian converts because they defied orders. Mwanga feared the possibility of his traditional power being under looked. Therefore in January 1885, he ordered the execution of three Protestant converts. In October, bishop Hannington was attempting to enter Busoga from the East.
Again on 3rd June 1886, Mwanga ordered for the death of about 30 young Christian converts. These had refused to renounce their Christian faith. Today they are remembered as Uganda Martyrs.
This turned the Christian missionaries, Moslems and local chiefs against Mwanga. He was even expelled to a small island on Lake Victoria.
Mwanga was replaced by his brother Kiwewa who was a Muslim candidate. However, he was later on killed because he refused to be circumcised. Kalema a young brother was installed as another Moslem candidate.
In October 1889, Mwanga returned from the southern part of Lake Victoria. This time he was supported by both Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries. He deposed Kalema and his Moslem followers.
However, the Christians started to disagree on the choice of the Katikiro. While the Protestants wanted Apollo Kaggwa, the Roman Catholics wanted Stanslus Mugwanya. This ended into war between Protestants supported by captain Lugard and Catholics were supported by Kabaka Mwanga.
In 1894, the British set up a protectorate over Uganda. Mwanga co-operated with them and thought they would not interfere over Buganda.
In 1896, Mwanga sold plenty of ivory to Arab traders yet it had been forbidden by the British. The British commissioner heard and summoned Mwanga to go to him and explain.
Due to pressure, he fled his palace at Mengo and fled to Buddu. On his return in 1897, Mwanga staged a revolt against the British. But he was again defeated and fled to Mwanza in Tanzania
Meanwhile, the British installed Mwanga's son Chwa Daudi II as Kabaka. He ruled with the help of three re-agents namely Apollo Kaggwa, Stanslus Mugwanya and Zakaria Kasingiri.
Later Mwanga escaped from Mwanza to Lango. He was later joined by Kabalega. The two continued to harass colonial administrators and other British agents.
In 1899, Mwanga and Kabalega met their fate. They were betrayed by Semei Kakungulu and some Langi chiefs to the British. They were arrested and exiled to Seychelles island in the Indian Ocean.
Mwanga died in exile in 1921. His body was brought back by the British colonial government and was buried at Kasubi Tombs.
In conclusion, Mwanga is remembered as one of the African chief who first collaborated with the colonial powers but when he realised that his interests were being threatened, he resisted till he was exiled and later died. It is because of his brave and aggressive resistance that he was in the 2003 41st independence celebrations at Kololo, named as Uganda's hero.
Before Mwanga's rebellion was crushed, a contingent of Sudanese soldiers who were working to defend British interests in Uganda mutinied i.e rebelled against the whites who brought them to Uganda. The following were the main causes of the mutiny[1]. They were over worked for long time in as far as fighting the war against Kabalega was concerned. Secondly, they marched several hundreds of kilometres to Kenya to fight the Nandi. After that they were marched to Buddu, the present day Masaka district to fight Mwanga.
They were again told to march to Eldana Ravine. In all these journeys the means of transport was very poor. In addition to the above the supplies were very few. Sometimes no food, clean water and drugs.
Their salaries were very small compared to their counterparts in Machakos, Kenya and those in Tanganyika.
On top of their very low salaries, they had not been paid for six months.
The British officials rejected the soldiers' proposal to taker their families with them. This greatly affected them.
Some of the leaders of these soldiers did not see any reason why they should die for the British expansion. It is thought that men like Effendi Mabruk and his associates wanted to create trouble in order to gain control of Uganda for the Sudanese.
Results of this resistance
Firstly, the Baganda who had been more loyal to the British claimed more power and privileges. Secondly, The Sudanese soldiers were replaced by the Indian ones and the British army in Uganda were re-organised. Thirdly, Britain increased the grant in aid to Uganda administrators to help in tightening British grasp in Uganda. Lastly, Britain sent a special Commissioner, Sir Harry Johnston, to settle the problems in Uganda.
He was born in about 1850 to Omukama Kamurasi and his wife Kanyange Myamutaligwa in the present Toro. Between 1852-1869, Kabalega spent his early life as a refugee at Bulege where his mother came from. Kabalega was a true nationalist, a moderniser, empire builder and a good solider, which tried to defend the independence of Bunyoro until he was exiled by the British to Seychelles island.
He was the favourite of the common people and the army with the exception of the royal family. He rose to power in 1869 after winning a war of succession against his brother Kabigumire. While his brother was supported by the royal family and the provincial chiefs, Kabalega used support of the Bairu, the royal army also hired Arab and Langi mercenaries.
He rose to power at a time when the kingdom was faced with several internal and external problems. These included internal civil wars, disunity, weak army, political insecurity and rivalry from neighbouring Buganda Kingdom. However, by the time of his downfall, he had registered a lot of achievement as explained below.
He won a war of succession against his brother Kabigumire. He also fought and defeated all other forms of internal opposition.
He centralised the administration of the kingdom for more effective control. The kingdom was divided into several provinces. In this way, the kingdom grew strong and managed to resist the British for long. The provinces were even governed by his generals.
He created a regular standing army called the Abarasura. It was divided in ten regiments, each with about 1800 men. The army was equipped with fire arms from the Khartoumers coastal Arabs and Swahili traders. Kabalega was the commander in chief.
Kabalega encouraged and promoted unity of the people in the kingdom. He destroyed social class barriers between the Bairu, Abahima and the royal family. He encouraged intermarriage and he himself married a Mwairu girl. Also in his army, the soldiers were promoted on merit rather than insentience on social classes.
As a nationalist, Omukama Kabalega struggled to defend the independence of Bunyoro Kingdom he mobilised his army and defeated Egyptian invasion, repulsed the Baganda and resisted the British for about four years before he was defeated with the support of Ganda and Sudanese mercenaries.
He further promoted external trade with neighbouring societies, Khartoumers, coastal Arabs and Swahili traders. He exported mainly ivory and salt. Meanwhile, he imported firearms and ammunition from the Arabs and Swahili traders.
He initiated economic reforms in the kingdom. He encouraged agriculture by setting up a national programme of double production especially of millet. He encouraged chiefs and his subjects to increase food production and so as to fight famine. He further introduced state ground granaries away from the eyes of enemies.
Kabalega also attempted to expand Bunyoro territories for example in 1876, he invaded Toro, Nkole, Rwanda and Karagwe in the south, Chope the North Buganda and parts of Busoga. The vassal states paid annual tribute to Bunyoro.
He is however criticised for being a dictator. He was cruel, he oppressed and killed many people during his reign. The constant wars of expansion were largely destructive as many people died and lost a lot of property.
The Causes of the Kabalega Resistance (1872-1899)
He wanted to protect the independence of his kingdom.
Kabalega had just reorganised his army, reconquered rebellious people (Buddu). There was therefore a need to protect these reforms.
He believed in his strong army the Abarusura.
His enemies, the Buganda and Toro had collaborated with the British against him; there was thus a need to defeat the Buganda and their British allies.
There was a need to maintain their pride, Bunyoro had attained a prestigious position in the Great Lakes region -she was feared and respected as a military super power.
Bunyoro had a long experience of war with Buganda, Toro, Ankole and Rwanda that were all her vassal states in those days. This successful experience enabled her to fight the British.
The defeat of sir Samuel Baker in 1872 at mubenda. He therefore continued his resistance thinking that history would repeat itself.
Unity. The Banyoro were very united people that were easy to organise for a war against the foreigners.
The need to protect their economy. Kabalega wanted to protect their fertile soils, minerals, cattle and trade from being stolen by the British.
Kabalega had realised the danger of the white man in Buganda, the whites had monopolised Buganda's trade, they had taken Buganda's independence, they had grabbed Buganda's land and they had abolished Buganda's religion and culture. This encouraged Kabalega to hate the white man and decided to fight him.
Naturally Kabalega lived in exile at Bulega and saw his father overthrown for a short while. This experience made him a resistor.
Kabalega adopted the character of his father Omukama Kamurasi who was naturally a fighter.
Kabalega and his people had plenty of food, they also had underground food stores. This encouraged them to fight without fear of being wiped out by hunger.
Kabalega's war of resistance
Omukama Kabalega was one of the outstanding African nationalists or resistors to the establishment of British imperialism in East Africa. Between 1870-1898, he resisted both Egyptians and British imperialism.
In 1890's Khedive Ismail started expanding Egyptian territories southwards. He intended to expand the equatorial province thereby threatening the political independence of Bunyoro and Buganda (Kabaka Mutesa 1). The Egyptian forces were led by Sir Samuel Baker but they were defeated at Masindi.
In the 1890's Kabalega started his wars of expansion. He attacked Buganda in the East. However, this led to direct confrontation with the British. The British supported Buganda against Bunyoro. Captain Lugard gave modern weapons to Baganda and Sudanese mercenaries to fight Bunyoro.
Lugard signed an agreement with Ankole and Toro. Ntare of Ankole agreed to stop passage of arms and ammunition to Bunyoro through Ankole.
In 1893, Kabalega invaded and drove Omukama Kasagama out of his capital. He controlled Toro for about a year until the British intervened.
In January 1894, colonel Colville, the new British commissioner, led the Buganda army into Bunyoro. Kabalega's army was defeated he fled across the Nile. A chain of forts was built to cut the west of Bunyoro from the east.
As a result, Buganda and Toro gained new territories from Bunyoro. Buganda even established links with Lake Albert.
This slavery weakened Kabalega. He was forced to divide his army into four scattered groups. This enabled Colville to advance against Bunyoro without meeting resistance.
Kabalega recovered to Budongo forest to gain time to prepare his forces. He later retreated across the Nile into Lango. Colville now occupied Bunyoro.
However, while Bunyoro fell to British, Colville had failed to defeat Kabalega. In 1895 Kabalega re-organised his army. Using Langi and Khartoumer mercenaries, he defeated a British- Baganda force near Masindi and forced to retreat to Hoima.
In spite of this defeat, the British quickly re-organised their force of about 20000 men. Kabalega was once again defeated and forced back to Lango with a lot of losses.
In 1896, Bunyoro was declared a British protectorate. Baganda agents were posted to Bunyoro as administrators. However, a local revolt in Bunyoro chased them out.
In 1897, Kabalega was still continuing with his guerrilla warfare but he had been weakened a great deal.
In 1898, the British officially deposed him and he went to Lango to organise a guerrilla war against the British but was captured together with Kabaka Mwanga who was his former enemy in Buganda but this a brother in suffering, after which they were exiled to Seychelles islands. What a big punishment for these kings of Africa!
A council of regency was set up to rule after Kabalega. His son Yosia Kitahimbwa was enthroned the new Omukama of Bunyoro. He joined a category of puppet kings whom the British preferred in most of the conquered black Africa.
In 1899, Kabalega was allowed to return but died on his way home at Mpumudde near Jinja. The capture and defeat of Kabalega marked the end of Bunyoro armed resistance to the establishment of British rule.
In conclusion therefore, there ended the reign of a great son of Africa, a Munyoro, who had an outstanding determination to defend the political independence of Bunyoro, and had organised a powerful standing army, the Abarusuura.
After the defeat of Kabalega, the Bunyoro became violent against the British and the Baganda to the extent of staging the Nyangire-Abaganda rebellion of 1907. In February the Banyoro rebelled: the Baganda chiefs were driven out of the countryside and sought refuge in Hoima, the capital. During the crisis, the Banyoro sent envoys to the neighbouring kingdoms of Toro, Ankole and Busoga and "the lost counties" in the hope of finding allies who might extend the anti-Ganda rebellion through the Ganda dominated provinces. The immediate effect of this rebellion was the removal of Baganda chiefs from Bunyoro.
The Nyabingi rebellion also broke out in Kigezi against the British who had taken people's land. Nyabingi was a religious cult, which originated in Karagwe and found its way in Kigezi. People were against the presence of the Europeans and their corrupt Baganda chiefs.
In Ankole, colonial rule was resisted to the extent of killing the provincial commissioner Harry George Galt in 1905. Those who killed him were Prince Gabriel Mpindi and Ishaka Nyakayaga, a chief of Ibanda. The King of Igara committed suicide rather than submitting to the British. While the king of Kajara fled to Tanganyika. King Ndagara for Buhweju was killed by the British while resisting the absorption of his Kingdom into Ankole.
The Lamogi rebellion broke out in Acholi and spread very fast to Lango and Teso. Chief Awich of Payera in Acholi who together with his people rejected the British policy of disarmament and forced labour headed it.
The role of Rwot Awich in the Lamogi Rebellion
Chief Awich was a resistor to the British colonial rule in Uganda. He was a chief of Payera chiefdom in Acholi. Chief Awich became a Rwot in the 1880s after the death his father, Rwot Camo. It was his frequent raids on his neighbours which brought him into sharp conflicts with the British.
The British representative at Nimule major Radcliffe, tried to arrest Chief Awich but all his efforts were frustrated by the chiefs. Radcliffe's attempt caused a rift between Awich and the British.
Chief Awich later granted political consession to Kabalega and his soldiers. The British immediately assumed that Chief Awich was assisting Kabalega by sending his own army to fight the British administration on Kabalega's behalf.
When the British demanded that Kabalega and his men be expelled from Payira, Chief Awich refused to do so on the grounds that the Chief of Payera was an independent sovereign who did not take orders from other people including the British.
This annoyed the British authorities who sent an expedition under Captain Harman against Awich.
Rwot Awich was defeated in 1901 by a British led force owing to their superior weapons. After Awich's defeat, he was arrested and imprisoned in Kampala.
After deporting Chief Awich the British failed to establish a strong government which could effectively replace his. The people demanded their Rwot to be brought back. They deliberately disturbed British administration in the Area.
In 1902 was brought back to Payira from Kampala and reinstated. The following year Chief Awich refused to sign an agreement with the British representative major Macdonald.
Despite the fact that all other ruler around Payera had already surrendered to the British, Chief Awich did not. He continued to resist British rule.
Chief Awich once helped in the inter clan wars. On the side of the Ogoo clan.
Because of this action Chief Awich was fined ivory, cattle and goats by the District Commissioner.
Later there was an allegation that Chief Awich was stock pilling guns from the Arab traders and he was tried at Nimule. Chief Awich who had very hot native temper boxed one of the court prosecutors during the proceedings.
He was fined and imprisoned in Kampala. During his absence, his chiefdom was divided into two. By the time Chief Awich came back in 1919, his chiefdom was no more. The rebellion spread like bush fire to parts of Teso and Lango.
[1] A mutiny is a rebellion by the army against their bosses.
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