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Sir Philip Mitchell and ‘Protected Rule’ in Buganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

H. F. Morris
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Extract

Mitchell maintained that the relationship between the Protectorate Government of Uganda and the Native Government of Buganda was that of protected rule rather than of indirect rule. In order to implement his policy of protected rule, he planned a reorganization in Buganda, involving the substitution of a Resident for a Provincial Commissioner and the withdrawal of district officers to the centre, where the Resident and his staff would offer advice to the Kabaka. Mitchell did not envisage that the Protectorate Government's influence would thereby be weakened, since he assumed that the Kabaka would be obliged to follow advice which was given to him. Under the Agreement of 1900, however, the Kabaka was specifically required to act upon such advice only in the case of the implementation of Lukiiko resolutions. Relations between the Kabaka and both the Protectorate Government and his own Ministers steadily deteriorated during Mitchell's governorship, and the deposition of the Kabaka was even considered. For these reasons, Mitchell proceeded cautiously with his reorganization and it was left to his successor, Dundas, to complete it. Owing largely to the restricted power of the Governor under the Agreement to impose his wishes upon the Kabaka, the changes introduced resulted in a steady decline in the influence which the Protectorate Government could exert in Buganda.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 1972 , pp. 305 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

1 Dawe in a minute of 18 Jan. 1938, C.O. 536/188/40080/I Dawe, I. Arthur James (K.C.M.G. 1942) Assistant Secretary 1936, Assistant Under-Secretary of State 1938–1947.Google Scholar

2 Mitchell was insistent on the distinction between indirect rule and protected rule, and rather pedantically corrected the Secretary of State for his use of the former phrase in relation to Buganda (dispatch of 22 June 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I).

3 For a discussion of some of the aspects of indirect rule as practised in East Africa, see Morris, H. F. and James, S. Read, Indirect Rule and the Search for Justice, Clarendon Press, forthcoming publication.Google Scholar

4 Indeed Mitchell doubted, largely on this account, whether the term indirect rule could properly be used in respect of native administration in a large part of Uganda, since he felt that here the system of administration was virtually ‘direct’. Mitchell, P. E., Native Administration, Government Printer, Entebbe,1939.Google Scholar

5 See Low, D. A. and Pratt, R. C., Buganda and British Overrule 1900–1955 (London, 1960), ch. 9.Google Scholar

6 Delmege, a retired administrative officer, had written in 1930 of the friction which could arise from the activities of an over-zealous district officer posted to Buganda from ‘a non-treaty province where his word is law’ and endeavouring to put into effect his ‘benevolently autocratic intentions’. Delmege, J. deG., ‘Indirect rule in East Africa’, The Empire Review, LI (1930), 216–20.Google Scholar

7 See in particular, Governor's dispatch of 28 08. 1936, C.O. 536/188/40080/I and Relations of the Protectorate Government in Uganda with the Native Government of Buganda. Note by the Governor (enclosure to letter of 15 05 1939Google Scholar, C.O. 536/202/40080/I), hereinafter cited as Governor's Note, 1939 (text given in Low, D. A., The Mind of Buganda: Documents of the Modern History of our African Kingdom (London, 1975), 111-19).Google Scholar

8 The alternative of ‘assistant residents’ was later suggested by the Colonial Office.

9 See ‘Note of interview between E., H. the Governor and H.H. the Kabaka 23rd 08 1938’, enclosure to d/o letter (Mitchell/Dawe) of 24 08. 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I.Google Scholar

10 Governor's Note, 1939.Google Scholar

11 Dispatch of 22 June 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I.

12 Governor's Note, 1939.Google Scholar

13 In explaining to the Kabaka the role of the Resident, Mitchell cited as examples the Indian States and the Federated Malay States. ‘Note of interview between H.E. the Governor and H.H. the Kabaka 23rd August 1938’, cited above.

14 Governor's Note, 1939.Google Scholar

15 The matter is fully discussed in Morris and Read, op. cit. ch. 2.

16 See his dispatch of 28 08. 1936, CO. 536/188/40080/I.Google Scholar

17 See Governor's Note, 1939. The opinion of the Secretary of State's Legal Adviser in respect of the case R. v. Besweri Kiwanuka (Uganda High Court Criminal Appeal, no. 38 of 1937, unreported) had in the meantime been given, see Morris and Read, op. cit. ch. 2.Google Scholar

18 Governor's Note, 1939.Google Scholar

19 ot.Mitchell's dispatch of 28 Aug. 1936, cited above.

20 And also in connexion with the provision that religion should not be taken into consideration in appointing members of the Lukiiko.

21 The resolution concerned the leasing of land in Buganda, and the Kabaka was later induced to give his consent to it. The background to this dispute is given in Low, and Pratt, , op. cit. 239–41Google Scholar and in Harlow, V. and Chilvers, E. M. (eds.), History of East Africa, II (London, 1965), 530–1.Google Scholar

22 Harold, Handasyde Duncan (K.C.M.G. 1943) Assistant Legal Adviser 1931, Legal Adviser 1943–1945.Google Scholar

23 Minute of 27 June 1935, C.O. 536/186/40080.

24 Memorandum by the Governor, November 1935, copy enclosed with Mitchell's d/o letter to Bottomley of 3 Apr. 1936, C.O. 536/288/40080/I.SirWilliam, Cecil Bottomicy K.C.M.G., Assistant Under-Secretary of State 1927–1938.Google Scholar

25 Ibid.

26 Mitchell's letter of 3 Apr. 1936, cited above.

27 On 7 May 1936, C.O. 536/188/40080/I.

28 Henry, Grattan Bushe (K.C.M.G. 1936) Legal Adviser 1931–1941, Governor of Barbados 1941–1946.Google Scholar

29 C.O.536/188/40080/I (minute of 4 05 1936).Google Scholar

30 Ibid. (d/o letter (Bottomley/Mitchell) of 14 May. 1936).

31 Memorandum by the Governor, 11. 1935, cited above (p. 312, n. 24).Google Scholar

32 Minute by Bushe of 4 05 1936, cited above.Google Scholar

33 Letter of 14 05 1936, cited above.Google Scholar

34 1805. 1938, C.O. 536/188/40080/I.Google Scholar

35 Minute of 28 Jan. 1938.

36 Martin Luther Nsibirwa, Katikkiro 1926–1941 and 1945, assassinated 1945.

37 D/o letter (Mitchell/Bottomley) of 9 June 1937, C.O. 536/388/40080/I.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid.

40 D/o letter (Dawe, /Mitchell, ) of 10 10. 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I.Google Scholar

41 D/o letter (Mitchell, /Ormsby-Gore, ) of 16 02. 1937, C.O. 536/193/40080/4B.Google Scholar

42 Dispatch of 12 Mar. 1937.

43 Letter of 16 Feb. 1937, cited above.

44 D/o letter (Mitchell, /Bottomley, ) of 9 June 1937. C.O. 536/188/40080/1.Google Scholar

45 C.O. 536/197/40080/5.

46 A course of action suggested, some could not help feeling, by recent events in the United Kingdom: ‘The latest news is that broadening down from precedent to precedent in the best British manner Uganda is going through an ‘abdication’ crisis’ (minute by Dawe of 18 Jan. 1938, C.O. 536/188/40080/I).

47 From a minute by Creasy, G. H. (Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State) of 10 08. 1939, C.O. 536/202/40081/I.Google Scholar

48 Of 25 Feb. 1937, copy enclosed with Governor's dispatch of 12 Mar. 1937, CO. 536/193/40080/4B.

49, C.O. 536/197/40080/5.

50 Ibid. (d/o letter of 19 May. 1938). Sir Arthur Charles Cosmo Parkinson, Permanent Under-Secretary of State 1937–1940.

51 Cox estimated the Kabaka's income at about £13,000 a year.

52 Minute of Jan. 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I. Dawe, before taking over the East Africa Department in the Colonial Office at the beginning of 1938, had been in charge of the Pacific and Mediterranean Department.

53 Of 22 June 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I.

54 D/o letter (Mitchell, /Dawe, ) of 24 08. 1938.Google Scholar

55 The Katikkiro.

56 The Governor's lodge at Makindye was close to Salama.

57 A reference to the Ministers.

58 D/o letter of 10 Dec. 1938, C.O. 536/197/40080/I.

59 D/o letter of 1 07 1939, C.O. 536/202/40080/I.

60 D/o letter of 1 Aug. 1939.

61 Letter from His Majesty's Assistant Private Secretary of 6 Aug. 1939, C.O. 536/202/40080/1.

62 Speech to the Lukiiko, see Low, and Pratt, , op. cit. 279, and Low, op. Cit, 124–7.Google Scholar

63 The Protectorate Government also possessed the important power of veto over the appointment of senior chiefs and Ministers.