THE UGANDA RAILWAY

The railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu was initially called the Uganda railway because it was in Uganda that Britain interests lay much interest at the time. Kenya through which the construction took place did not by then appear to offer much scope for tradeand economic prospects to the British colonial administration.

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 Prime minister 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.

BACKGROUND TO THE CONSTRUCTION

The idea of constructing the Uganda railway was born by the IBEACO.  A survey for the route had been done by Captain J.R.L McDonald. However this was delayed by the fact that the company lacked the necessary finances and skilled labour for the project.

McDonald originally estimated that the project would cost two million pounds but it cost the British colonial government eight million pounds.

Construction work started on May 30^th 1896, with George white house as the chief Engineer.  Indian coolies provided the necessary labour while many of the skilled craftsmen and clerical staff were also Indians.  Africans were openly hostile to the work.

Nairobi was chosen as a site for railway workshops and stores.  The line reached there in 1899 Nakuru in 1900 and Kisumu, the then port Florence in 1901.  The line had covered 870 km (453 miles).  It was here that a steamer service was linked from Kisumu to Buganda.

Major expansions of the railway line took place after 1921.  A Northward extension from Nakuru reached important farming centres of Eldoret and Kitale by 1926.  From Eldoret, it was connected to Tororo and reached  Jinja in 1928. 

It finally reached Kampala in 1933.  It was later extended to reach Kasese in 1954.  Other high land areas were served by extensions to Nyeri, Nanyuki, Thompson falls and Solai. The line from Voi to Taveta was improved.  Mombasa harbour was improved by building of deep-water berths.

It should be noted that before the completion of the Mombasa - Kisumu railway in 1901, head portarage was the principle means of transport.  Movement of goods and services was generally too slow and difficult.  Its completion brought transport and communication revolution in East Africa.

Aims for the Construction of the Uganda Railway

It was intended to ease the transportation of colonial administrators through thecolonies.

To open up Kenyaand Uganda for trade and commerce to the outside world. In particular Uganda was considered to be economically viable with good climate, minerals and agriculture potential. Likewise Kenya highlands were also discovered to be a potential area for agriculture.  Thus the construction would facilitate the exploitation exercise.

The line would protect British strategic interests in East and North East Africa.  Uganda was the source of the Nile hence the desire to protect.  If the line of their citizens in Egypt were to be safeguarded the British even had a belief that the Nile was Egypt and Egypt was the Nile.

To provide easy means of transport and communication for the supply of goods and services to the interior and from the interior to the coast.

Britain considered the construction as an effective way of abolishing slave trade in the interior of East Africans colonies. It would be easy to transport military troops to the most effective centres in the interior and therefore to free slaves.

 PROBLEMS FACED IN THE CONSTRUCTION

Hostilities from Germans in Tanganyika Von Lettow Vorbecks men moved into the Kilimanjaro inorder to attack the Uganda railway just across the border in British East Africa (Kenya). They seized Taveta and carried out raids on the railway. This became a great nuisance to the British until they were beaten off in 1915.  The German attacks were intended to divert British resources from the way in Europe.

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 Indian coolies. Consequently, the numbers of workers reduced due deaths and at times some of the survivors of the diseases were crippled because of jiggers.

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.

Harsh climate also delayed the construction.  Heavy rains followed by severe drought caused further delays and made food difficult to obtain respectively.  Water supply was very scarce in the Nyika.

Labour shortage likewise delayed the construction.  The Africans tribes were unwilling to spend long periods away from their homes to  help build the railway for example the Akamba, hence the British had to depend on imported labour from Indians called coolies.  These however lacked basic skills for construction thereby slowing down the construction.

From the start, the railway did not receive the necessary cooperation from the indigenous people because of three reasons.

One, the railway largely passed through the pastoral areas and the pastoralists did not set down for paid labour.

Two, Africans suspected and mistrusted the white population because they had suffered greatly under slave trade.

Three, there was limited missionary influence in Kenya and therefore British railway building operated in a population that was not yet pacified.

Hospitality from Africans tribes particularly the Nandi and Masai who resisted strangers from entering their territories.  In particular, the Nandi warriors made frequent raids on working parties, killing them and stealing the supplies metal equipment and telegraph wires. It was until an agreement was reached with chiefs Orkoiyot that progress of the railway was resumed.

The wild animals also posed as a menace when the railway crossed the plains beyond Voi in 1898.  In the Tsavo region, the workers camps were attacked by man eating lions and work came to a stand still until the animals were killed.

The topography especially in Kenya caused engineering problems.  Climbing up the edge of the rift valley and the steep drop down of the escarpment was not an easy work. In such areas, construction was really very slow.

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.

Financial hardships which resulted in higher expenses than the original estimates also slowed down the work.  The line took six years to be built and cost the British tax payers eight million pounds far higher than the original two million pounds estimated by McDonald 

Importance of the railway to Uganda and British East Africa

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.

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 white man'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 other words 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 opened up economic development in the British East Africa protectorate. Before this event, the area was considered as just large and inhospitable tract of country that had been used by caravans to Buganda. Uganda was quickly linked to the outside world.

Transport cost was great by reduced while transport itself became faster and more reliable. This was a remarkable social and economic effect of the railway.

The railway helped to create new commercial opportunities for Europeans and Indians.  Traders who penetrated and settled in the interior along the railway line established shops and other businesses. 

There was growth of Urbanisation.  The construction attracted European traders, adventures, missionaries, settlers and Indian traders inland thus leading to the growth of commercial centres into towns.

The completion of the Uganda railway helped to promote and quicken exploitation of agricultural potential of Kenya and Uganda.  The production of exports like cotton and coffee was increased.  However, much of the socio-economic development was witnessed after 1914.

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.

In administrative terms, the completion of Uganda railway made it possible and faster to move administrators and troops from one area to another for effective supervision of both Kenya and Uganda.

The increased number of Indian traders and European settlers later caused a lot of political problems to the British colonial government.  They demanded for direct representation in government and protecting them brought additional administrative costs.

The construction of the railway line confirmed Kenya as a settler colony.  The number of European settlers increased in the interior and led to increased loss of land for the Africans.

The completion of the railway line led to the transfer of Uganda's eastern province to Kenya.  This was an area stretching from present boundary of Kenya and Uganda to the rift valley.

It facilitated the effective abolition of slave trade in Kenya and Uganda.

For the first time, the possibility of developing cash crops such as coffee and cotton was taken up seriously.

New monetary systems were introduced to ease commerce and trade.  There was introduction of rupees and later coins and paper money.

Western civilisation was easily spread into the interior.  That is there was increased number of Christian missionaries.  They brought in building materials for putting up schools and cathedrals.

Small scale industries were encouraged in Uganda and Kenya for example cotton ginneries, copper smelting industries and coffee processing plants.  These were meant to make exports more durable before actual transportation to Europe.

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.