RELIGION AND POLITICS IN UGANDA: THE CASE OF BUSOGA, 1900-1962 DAN MUDOOLA Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/77/306/22/25755 by guest on 29 September 2021 IN THIS PAPER, we shall consider the extent to which the religious factor has influenced the recruitment of chiefs and political figures in Busoga. The principal suggestion is that with the early entrenchment of a Protestant chiefly establishment at Bugembe and the consequently dominant role of Protestant chiefs in the allocation of resources in Busoga, religious conflicts did not assume serious political proportions. Catholic and Muslim interests, after early demands for a share in resources, were faced with a fait accompli and found it politically expedient to seek patron-client relationships with the politically dominant chiefly Protestant establishment at Bugembe rather than attempt to overturn it. Whereas in other parts of Uganda religion has been considered to be a critical variable in political conflicts,1 this was certainly not the case in Busoga. Under colonial rule, once it was dear to the Catholic and Muslim interests that they had lost out to the Protestants, local politics thenceforward mainly centred on the constitutional nature of Busoga's relations with the Protectorate Government, the chiefly groups' concern with a loss of privileges they thought they were traditionally entitled to, and their desire for Busoga to have special constitutional status in an independent Uganda.2 On the eve of independence one of the major issues was the status of Kyabazingaship (tradi- tional headship of Busoga district) and who its incument should be—Sir William Wilberforce Nadiope or Henry Muloki, and local politics at this time too transcended purely religious cleavages. In this paper we shall consider the role of religion in chief-making in the early days of colonial rule and how the patterns of recruitment ultimately led to the assumption of power by the Protestant groups. Then we shall see how, through time, the religious factor receded into the background and other issues became dominant. Dr Mudoola has taught at Makerere University, Uganda for nearly ten years and his article here continues discussion of a complex subject most recently considered in this journal by Ali A. Mazrui ('Religious strangers in Uganda: from Emin Pasha to Amin Dada', African Affairs, 76, pp. 21-38) and Akiiki B. Mujaju ('The political crisis of church institutions in Uganda , ibid. 75, pp. 67-85). 1. For example, see Welbounij F. Religion and Politics in Uganda 1952-62 (East African Publishing House, 1965); Gingyera-Pinycwa, 'The Catholic Church, Religion and Politics in Northern Uganda 1958-62' in Ocaya-Lakidi, Perspectives in Politics and Government in Uganda (forthcoming); and Martin Doornbos, 'Kumanyana and Rwen- zururu: Two responses to ethnic inequality' in R. I. Rotberg and Ali Mazrui, Protest and Power in Black Africa. Oxford University Press, 1970. 2. D. Mudoola, Chiefs and Political Action—The Case of Busoga—1900-62, Ph.D. Thesis, Makerere University (1974). Chapters 4 and 6. 22 RELIGION AND POLITICS IN UGANDA 23 The role of religion in chief-making Here we examine the extent to which religion played a part in the recruitment of two categories of chiefs—the Saza (county) and Gombolola (sub-county) chiefs for a period of about forty years. The early recruitment patterns clearly favoured adherents of the Protestant religion. At the establishment of British colonial rule a number of chiefs of the old school did not easily reconcile them- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/77/306/22/25755 by guest on 29 September 2021 selves to the newly established colonial order. Some chiefs like Naika of Bugabula, Kisira Wambuzi of Bulamogi, Munulo of Bugweri, Mutanda of Bukooli and Weira of Buwaira chose to resist physically or passively and were consequently deposed and in their places minors assisted by Baganda and Basoga agents were installed. Such notables as Luba of Bunya and Tabingwa of Luuka cooperated. They were not, however, amused by the new religions, though they gave material assistance to missionaries. On the whole, we can conclude that the British were not terribly successful in transforming the old school chiefs into malleable instruments of colonialism. It was on their sons that colonial authorities placed their hopes. There is a close relationship between religion and the education of these young chiefs, a relationship which was to have important political consequences for the future recruitment patterns of chiefs in Busoga. The colonial authorities quite early saw the functionality of sending young chiefs to school. It appears the reasons for doing so were twofold. Firstly, the schools would serve as institutions for political socialization to mould them into malleable instru- ments of colonialism. Already the British Collector T. Grant had detected signs of independent-mindedness which he sought to destroy in some of these young men.3 Secondly, the British colonial authorities wanted the young chiefs to be equipped with the elementary skills of reading and writing as well as knowledge of accounts.4 These skills were necessary for the fulfilment of the basic administrative functions of collection of taxes and maintenance of colonial law and order. The first schools for sons of chiefs in Uganda were built in Buganda. The most notable of these were King's College Budo and Mengo High School which in 1903 were respectively under headmasters Frazer and Hattersley. The question of sending the young chiefs to Buganda was first taken up by the CMS missionary Buckley of Jinja in 1903.5 Collector T. Grant agreed with him. In administrative and political terms Grant saw this as a way of getting them away from 'evil influences'.6 The first batch of young chiefs7 to be sent to Buganda were Yosia Nadiope (Bugabula), Gideoni Obodha (Kigulu), 3. Uganda Government Archives, Entebbe (UGAE) Busoga, Inward, 1900-2, T. Grant to Entebbe, Despatch No. 36. Grant found the young chief Yosia Nadiope acting as if there was no colonial authority above him. 4. UGAE, Minute Paper No. 171/1908. Alexander G. Boyle's Minute to H. W. Weatherhead, Headmaster, King's College, Budo. 5. UGAE Busoga, Inward, 1903-4, T. Grant's Despatch No. 83. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 24 AFRICAN AFFAIRS Gideoni Wambuzi (Luuka), Kiogoto (Bukooli), Samwiri Mugoya (Bukooli) and Ezekieri Wako (Bulamogi). In addition to these schools in Buganda, a school for sons of chiefs had already been built in Jinja: in 1908 it was transferred to Kamuli to be known as Abalangira ('Princes') High School.8 By the early 1920s, Protestant schools had been built in each Saza, mainly under the benevol- ent sponsorship of Protestant chiefs. These were the schools which provided recruiting grounds for an indigenous sub-elite of chiefs, clerks, and headmen. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/77/306/22/25755 by guest on 29 September 2021 What kind of young chiefs did the British expect to come from the special chiefs' schools? We have already said that they expected them to have a knowledge of reading, writing and accounts. It is also clear that colonial authorities expected the mission schools to infuse into the young chiefs a religio-moral code that was not politically antagonistic to the established colonial order. We have an idea of the moral character they were expected to have through a report upon the young Yosia Nadiope after his graduation from Budo: 'With sympathy and encouragement Nadiope may make quite a capable and useful chief in a land that very specially needs such men. With a little more practice he will make quite a good English scholar. He is by no means stupid, but has within him the inherent tendency to slackness of Basoga.'9 Later, during the 1920s, chiefs, especially those in Buganda, Busoga and Toro realized that education was more than a knowledge of knowing how to read, write, divide and multiply which were all that Ugandan missionary schools could provide at the time. Some chiefs in Buganda as well as the Omukama Kyebambe of Toro petitioned the Governor to allow them to send their sons to England for higher education.10 At the same time, Daudi Mutekanga, the regent of Rajumbula Nadiope, supported by Sir Apolo Kagwa, petitioned to have William Kajumbula Nadiope sent to England for Higher Education.11 Mutekanga also took the opportunity to petition for his two sons, Azalia Mutekanga Nviri and Yona Mwiru.12 These petitions sparked off a debate among colonial officials and missionaries as to the political consequences arising from sending chiefs' sons for education abroad.13 Religion was one of the critical factors in determining where chiefs' sons should be sent. One of the institutions under consideration for sending the boys to was Gordon College, Khartoum. But for political as well as religious considerations the missionaries and colonial officials could not entertain Gordon College. Wrote the Reverend John Roscoe: 'I have had the opportunity of seeing Gordon College and also of hearing 8. This same school was transferred to Mwiri Hill to be known as Busoga College, Mwiri. 9. UGAE, SMP 1561/1908. Subject: Yosia Nadiope. Rev. H. W. Weatherhead to Deputy Commissioner, 17-10-1908. 10. UGAE, 6215 Vol. I Chief's Son's Education Abroad. 11. Ibid. See Daudi Mutekanga and others' letter, dated 16.1.24, to the District Commissioner, Busoga. 12. Ibid. Mutekanga's letter to the Provincial Commissioner, Eastern Province, dated 18.3.1924. 13. On this debate, see UGEA 6215 Vol. I. RELIGION AND