In the last chapter, we showed how sectarian politics in late colonial eastern Uganda did not conform with conventional, southern historiographies. The Catholic activist Cuthbert Obwangor advocated for decentralised forms of political participation that championed local networks, inspired by the egalitarian ethos of the Mill Hill Mission and the histories of regional mobility. This cluster of priorities contrasted with DP's centralising project in the area, which Teso activists associated with the long history of Ganda chauvinism in the region. In western Uganda, by contrast, DP was associated with the unravelling of one form of central political authority and replacing it with another. Kiwanuka and his party were closely aligned with the Rwenzururu secessionist movement, whose Catholic dissidents challenged the Protestant legitimacy of the Toro monarchy. In contrast, UPC championed the royalist cause of the Toro kingdom.

This chapter explores the intersection of Catholic and Protestant politics in colonial Bunyoro and Kigezi. It argues that politics in colonial southern Bunyoro complicate conventional interpretations of Protestant power in Uganda. As far as many Nyoro patriots were concerned, it was Baganda Catholics who had ‘eaten’ the counties (the ‘Lost Counties’) of Mubende, not the likes of Semei Kakungulu or the powerful Protestants Apolo Kaggwa and Hamu Mukasa. The controversial legacies of Catholic chiefs in southern Bunyoro obstructed Catholic cosmopolitanism in central Uganda. Kiwanuka backed the return of Bunyoro's ‘Lost Counties’ to assuage political tensions among the region's Catholic communities and to create national alliances. Kiwanuka's sympathies toward the region were consistent with the views of his wife's family, whose history was interconnected with Nyoro claims in the region. Kiwanuka's position was also inspired by the historical research of the Mubende Banyoro Committee, a Nyoro historical society that argued for the return of the ‘Lost Counties’ to Bunyoro. Kiwanuka's efforts were largely unsuccessful; intra-Catholic violence persisted throughout the late colonial period, and DP would be unable to claim the success of negotiating the reallocation. The ‘Lost Counties’ did not return to Bunyoro until January 1965, under the leadership of Milton Obote.