UGANDA

THEMATIC ISSUES
CHAPTER
CROSS-CUTTING
TWO
THEMATIC ISSUES
Participants of the NRTJ Audit identified a number of cross-cutting thematic issues
that could not always be easily described as conflicts in and of themselves, but which
provided the backdrop against which tensions could develop into open violence. The
participants argued that addressing these would be critical in breaking ongoing cycles of
conflict. These thematic issues thus provide lenses through which the different conflicts
in this Compendium can be examined and understood.
COLONIALISM AND ITS LEGACIES
The era of British colonialism was identified both as a conflict in its own right, as well as a
root cause of post-Independence conflicts. Participants from across the country blamed
European newcomers for causing an abrupt break with the past. As described by A. Adu
Boahen, colonialism was viewed as a loss of sovereignty and independence as well as an
assault on established cultures. 3
As part of the European “scramble for Africa”, Uganda was subjugated by the British in
the 1890s, following the arrival of British explorers and European missionaries of various
nationalities. The area that is now known as ‘Uganda’ became a British protectorate in
1894. In 1900, representatives of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kabaka
of Buganda jointly signed the Buganda Agreement. This treaty defined in a detailed
fashion the privileges of and the British mode of cooperation with the Buganda Kingdom.
It also made the Buganda Kingdom a province of the larger Protectorate of Uganda 4 and
set the stage for more than half a century of British indirect rule over Uganda through
the Buganda Kingdom.
3 Boahen, A. (1985). Africa and the colonial challenge. In: Mazrui, A. ed. General History of Africa, vol. VII.
Berkeley, University of California Press-UNESCO. pp. 624-628
4 Mazrui, A. (1970) Privilege and protest as integrative factors: the case of Buganda’s status in Uganda. In:
Rothberg, R. and Mazrui A. ed. Protest and Power in Black Africa New York, Oxford University Press. pp.
1072 – 87
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