The Ultimate Starter Guide to Ugandan History | A POLITICAL HISTORY OF UGANDA by Samwiri Karugire

 

Compressing the sweeping timeline of a nation's history into a single volume is no easy feat, even for a relatively young state. Authors are constantly forced to make tough editorial decisions about where to begin, what to emphasise, and what to omit. In A Political History of Uganda, historian Samwiri Rubaraza Karugire presents a concise, systematic overview that successfully distils the country's complex political evolution into under 200 readable pages.

A Pre-Colonial Tapestry of Interconnection

Rather than treating Uganda's pre-colonial societies as isolated entities that were only united by British intervention, Karugire opens the book by establishing their deep-seated interdependence. He traces historical interactions across both centralised kingdoms—such as Buganda, Nkore, Toro, and Bunyoro-Kitara—and non-kingdom societies in areas like Kigezi, Acholi, and Lango.

Through examples like the regional salt trade from Bunyoro-Kitara and the grand migrations of Luo groups, Karugire illustrates a vibrant pre-colonial regional economy and social symbiosis. This foundation is critical: it demonstrates that these societies shared intertwined histories long before colonial borders were drawn, while highlighting how colonial rule ultimately interrupted their organic development.

Buganda as the Pivotal Axis

As the narrative approaches the late 19th century, Karugire shifts significant focus toward the Kingdom of Buganda. Because Buganda served as the geographic and administrative nucleus from which the British built the modern Ugandan state, its internal developments heavily influenced the rest of the territory. The text details how local developments, including the religious civil wars, the introduction of Christianity, and the pivotal 1900 Uganda Agreement, shaped the surrounding regions and laid the framework for the emerging political economy.

The Colonial Era and the Path to Institutional Crisis

Moving into the 20th century, the book examines how early colonial policies created structural fractures that would later haunt the independent nation. Karugire analyses:

• The Political Economy: How colonial administrative structures created regional disparities and influenced socio-economic growth.
• Nationalist Movements & Party Politics: The rise of early political parties (such as the DP, UPC, and Kabaka Yekka), exploring their internal frictions, strategic blunders, and missed opportunities for unity.
• Decolonisation: The institution of the Legislative Council (LegCo) during the 1950s and the complex political manoeuvring leading to independence.
• Post-Independence Instability: The rapid escalation of executive tension that culminated in the 1966 Buganda Crisis, the 1967 constitution abrogation, and Milton Obote's shift toward authoritarianism and a one-party state.

The narrative culminates with the 1971 military coup that brought Idi Amin to power. Published in 1980 just after Amin's fall, the book intentionally stops at this turning point, recognising that the post-1971 era marked the beginning of an entirely different structural epoch in Ugandan history.

Verdict

At roughly 197 pages of core text, A Political History of Uganda avoids dense jargon in favour of an accessible, highly structured narrative. Written in the late 1970s, Karugire’s analysis carries an objective tone uncoloured by more recent political developments. For anyone seeking a foundational narrative of Uganda's journey from pre-colonial interregional trade to modern statehood, Karugire’s work remains an essential starting point.

 

Christian Mafigiri: Telling Ugandan stories through graphic novels

Christian Mafigiri is a Ugandan artist whose love for American comic books led him to pursue a career in art. He later trained as a journalist and he has combined his skills in journalism and art to tell stories through different forms of graphic story-telling.

Mafigiri has recently collaborated on a multimedia project with Scottish photo-journalist Marc Ellison that tells the stories of 6 former child soldiers who were abducted by the LRA and their struggles to integrate into society, while trying to deal with their own trauma.

Mafigiri has also produced graphic novels for sell which use the style of the comic books he loved as a child to tell stories that resonate with Ugandans.He hopes that one day his graphic novels and comics will give Ugandan readers the sort of entertainment he got from reading American comic books like Superman and Batman.

A chat with Bernard Sabiti, author of "Uglish: A Dictionary of Ugandan English.

English has become an international language to the extent that it now has many different varieties of which the most well known are the British and American varieties.

However, because English has been adopted as an official, or second, language in many countries, the language has developed as many flavours as there are communities that speak it.

In this regard Uganda is no exception in that a variety of English that is flavoured by the peculiarities of Uganda's cultures and languages has emerged over the past few decades.

Ugandan English, or Uglish as it has come to be known in some quarters, has hardly been studied and, as such, there is very little written about it.

It is this lack of literature on the subject of Ugandan English that motivated Bernard Sabiti to write a a book on the history and nature of this variety of English. The result of Sabiti's work is the little book "Uglish: A dictionary of Ugandan English".

This book attempts to give a bit of an academic treatment to Ugandan English while not taking itself too seriously. The result is a fun read for people interested in Ugandan English or Uglish.

I had a chat with Bernard Sabiti about his book, and Uglish in general, and this video is a summation of his thoughts on the subject of Ugandan English and the discoveries he made while writing his book.

Video of people walking along a Kampala street on a hot sunny afternoon.

Video of people walking along a Kampala street on a hot sunny afternoon.

Mbarara Town 1961-2015: A short video comparison

Mbarara Municipality is the largest urban centre in Southern and Western Uganda and 3rd largest town (by population) in Uganda.

This short video is a basic comparison of what the town looked like in 1961 and what it looks like in 2015.

The 1961 footage is from a documentary called Gentle Winds of Change, made by an American academic visiting Ankole (the region where Mbarara is located) between 1959 and 1961.

This is a preview of a longer feature I intend to make on the changes that have taken place in the social economic lives of the people of Ankole over the last 50 years.

Uganda Commmunications Commission not doing enough to sensitize on Digital Migration

Kampalans lining up to buy GOTV decoders. What most don't know is that
digital migration is not the same as subscribing to a digital PayTV provide
r (photo courtesy of Daily Monitor)

The confusion surrounding the recent switch-off of some TV stations in and around Kampala, as equipment to enable migration to digital television was being installed on the Kololo TV mast, exposed just how little sensitization has been done to prepare the public for digital migration. 

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has done a poor job sensitizing Ugandans on the digital migration to the extent that even the few who  have an idea of what digital migration is about associate the move to digital with subscription services like StarTimes and GoTV.

UCC has not done enough to sensitize the public on the purchase of free-to-air decoders (for which no subscription is required) and how these will work. It has instead kept quiet while the PayTV stations are raking in millions from people who are under the impression that without a subscription from a pay TV provider like GOTV they will not be able to watch any TV when the switch to full digital is complete.

The UCC should be clearly telling people that they are now only testing the digital signal and hence people will still be able to watch their analogue channels for a while until the full switchover is done. They should then further explain how the migration will work and how the people will be able to get their favourite channels for free as they have been doing before migration.

The UCC should also take steps to either import subsidized free-to-air set-top boxes or at least prepare, and publicize widely, a list of trusted distributors from where people can go to buy set-top boxes that fit their price range. A clear distinction should also be made between free-to-air set-top boxes and those for which a regular subscription will be required.

As of now the UCC is silent on all these issues, which fuels suspicion that they might be in cahoots with the Pay TV companies, helping them reap big profits while the population is still ignorant. 

All this comes on the heels of confusion over which standard for terrestrial digital television Uganda would adopt. First UCC said it would be DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial) then it later changed its mind and decided on the more advanced DVB-T2 yet many consumers had already purchased DVB-T decoders mostly from StarTimes, which, on top of not offering them free-to-air channels, will soon be rendered obsolete. This was on top of UCC misleading people in the early days that those with digital satellite receivers/decoders from companies like DSTV would not have anything to worry about from the switch from analogue to digital because these decoders were already digital. What they failed to mention was that DSTV decoders (and those of other satellite TV services like ZUKU) decode DVB-S/DVB-S2 (Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite), which though related in some ways is not the same as DVB-T/DVB-T2

The UCC website is also woefully lacking in any useful information on digital migration. The site only has a press release on the just concluded switch-off of TV channels on the UBC mast and a page on “Minimum specifications for DVB-T2 digital set-top boxes for the Ugandan market”, which even for somebody like me with some knowledge on digital television is too technical. 

UCC should at the very least have a FAQ page that answers most of the questions consumers are likely to have and also allay some fears based on conflicting information. There should be a simplified explanation of the set-top box specifications that does not only make sense to a technical person. There should be a well laid out time-frame over which the migration is going to take place in different parts of Uganda.

The website is just one channel through which information can be relayed but unfortunately it can only be accessed by only few people. Therefore a lot more sensitization has to be done especially on the local radio and TV stations over coming months so that by the time the global switch to digital is complete a lot more people are aware of what is going on. 

A billboard here and there in combination with the odd press conference and accompanying press release in the national English language papers will not do.

Also printed in the Daily Monitor

AFCON 2013 is upon us, but gosh what a terrible theme song

Today I realised that the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2013 AFCON 2013 (or CAN 2013 if you are Francophone) will be kicking off in exactly 2 weeks in South Africa and unlike most guys my first thought was not towards how the teams are getting on with their preparations but about what theme song was chosen (my beloved Uganda Cranes where very narrowly prevented from qualifying by the Zambians, which explains my lack of enthusiasm for the tournament).

I thought of the theme song because I liked the one for AFCON 2012 (and I even had a few nice words to write about it) so naturally I expected another catchy and uplifting tune-the kind that makes you feel good and makes you want to be part of the whole football experience. Sela Sela by Zahra Universe and Wes Madiko is not such a song.

I cannot seem to find anything to like about it. From the "tribal"dances (when will people get over this) to the bland uninspiring lyrics to .....You know what? You guys make up your minds about it. Maybe I am just grumpy this morning, but I doubt its just me.

And the Kony 2012 juggernaut rolls on

I spent yesterday trying to write a post on my views on Invisible Children's KONY 2012 video that has gone viral and garnered millions of views (38,430181 on YouTube as I write this). More specifically, I wanted to write about what I thought was wrong with both the approach of the film-makers and the way people without the slightest clue about the LRA (besides the misinformation gleaned from KONY 2012) were taking up the Stop Kony cause with such fervour.

However, Twitter could not let me do that in peace because almost every 5  minutes I received links to articles and blog posts reacting to the Invisible Children campaign. Posts like this one by Michael Wilkerson guest posting at Foreign Policy, and this post by  Ugandan blogger Angelo Izama are just two of the many that are out there echoing my feelings.  There is also this video from Ugandan blogger Rosebell Kagumire

As a result I feel what I had to say has already been said by many other people-many times over-and I do not see my self adding much to this debate.

But just when I was thinking of moving on I saw #konysurrender, which just confirmed that most people out there psyched about doing their bit to stop a murdering warlord are really clueless. What do they expect? That Kony is going to be so overwhelmed by millions of earnest pleas from American high school and college kids that he will cave in and surrender himself to a police station near him. The naivety of this later campaign is so incredible it hurts.

Kony will not surrender and Jason Russell and Co. know this because I am sure they know about the failed peace initiatives between the Ugandan government and the LRA in Southern Sudan in 2006. They also know about a US funded operation called Operation Lightening Thunder meant to capture Kony, after the failed peace talks, that was botched spectacularly. They know that the US government is more than aware of the Kony problem.

What exactly Invisible Children expects to achieve by Covering the night I cannot farthom. Getting people aware is OK, I guess, but ultimately there is nothing useful that can come of this campaign except cranking up the hysteria and misinformation.

There are efforts afoot to get the child soldiers abducted by Kony to abandon his army and surrender already. There are also numerous organisations that are on the ground attempting to find solutions to the problem that is Kony that are actually doing useful work that has a shot at working. However these efforts run the risk of being sidelined in favour of interventions that are ill-conceived which only play to the emotions and offer a sense of having helped solve a problem by buying an action-kit. These efforts on the ground need support from clear headed and sober people who know exactly what they are talking about. Here is a report  by the International Crisis Group on the LRA conflict as it is at the moment, work on the ground being done to end it and some meaningful recommendations on possible interventions by different parties. If only people bothered first to seek out reports like this before jumping on whatever save-the-hapless-Africans bandwagon that happens to be passing at the time, maybe initiatives like KONY 2012 just might be taken in stride and treated with the cautious scepticism they deserve.

But then again maybe I am being overly cynical and not giving the campaign a chance. Either way the StopKony juggernaut is on the roll and there seems to be no stopping it for now. I will see how this plays out-reservations and all.

Africa Reading Challenge 2012

I recently committed myself to taking part in the Africa Reading Challenge 2012, whose rules are pretty basic. Here they are as originally suggested by Kinna who started the whole challenge.

Challenge Period  January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

Region The entire African continent, including its island-states, which are often overlooked. Please refer to this Wikipedia “list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa”. Pre-colonial empires and regions are also included.

Reading Goal  5 books.  That’s it.  There will be no other levels.  Of course, participants are encouraged to read more than 5 books.  Eligible books include those which are written by African writers, or take place in Africa, or are concerned with Africans and with historical and contemporary African issues. Note that at least 3 books must be written by African writers.

But some guys thought that a year was too long a period and they decided to tweak the rules a bit by  suggesting that each person taking part should read one book a month from March to July. 

I decided to set the following rules for myself;

1. I'd read only books written after 2000
2. I'd choose 1 book from (or written by an author from) North, East, Central, South and West Africa
3. The books would be mostly about contemporary life and if possible in genres not generally associated with African fiction. 

Generally speaking, I knew I didn't want any of the stuffy overly literary stuff that reminded me of secondary school if I could help it or the kind of books that Binyavanga Wainaina seemed to have in mind when he wrote his satirical essay How to write about Africa. No books romanticising a pre-colonial Africa and not too much on the wars, corruption and poverty of the post-colonial period. 

With the above rules in mind to guide me, these are the books I have zeroed in on.

Open City by Teju Cole (2011) Nigeria

This is a novel narrated by an introspective psychiatrist of Nigerian descent living in New York city, who reflects on aspects of his life both in the US where he currently lives and Nigeria where he was raised. I read through. It felt deep. I decided to add.

 The Yacoubian Building by Ali Al Aswany (2002) Egypt 

I first heard about Al Aswany and his book on BBC's world book club a while ago and it was the only  book from North Africa that came to me immediately. It was the best-selling Arabic novel for two years. Considering, as the translator points out in his notes,

...the reader need not pay too much heed to the fact that the events described nominally take place before and during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait: the novel reflects the Egypt of the present.

I figured it would be as good book as any to give me a glimpse into pre-Tahrir Square/Arab spring Egypt and a good read in the process.

Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi (2009) Kenya

This one had me at "crime novel set in Kenya". After a look through the first pages (courtesy of an amazon sample) I learnt that the main character is an African-American cop called Ishmael (hmm..) who while investigating the murder of a young woman on a university campus in Madison ,Winsconsin, in the USA, unearthes leads about the main suspect, Joseph Hakizimana, a genocide hero who is now teaching at the university, that take him to Nairobi where he partners up with a Kenyan detective called David Odhiambo, who might be high off something illicit when we first encounter him. I mean what was there not to like. Nairobi Heat fits every single rule I had set for myself in this challenge-it is written by a Kenyan (American) post 2000 in a genre that is not popular among African authors (crime fiction).
Though most reviews are largely positive they all seem to hint at some giant leaps taken (or expected of the reader) and plot holes therein but I am guessing Ngugi Wa Thiongo's son makes up for that in other brilliant ways. I mean, his daddy is like the most acclaimed author in our corner of the world. The apple can't have fallen that far from the tree (hopefully).

Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou (2005) Republic of Congo (the other one of Brazzaville)

I first learnt of Alain Mabanckou while reading a list of recommended reading for 2012 and everything that was written about him seemed to suggest that he was the kind of writer I needed to be familiar with  (eg. he seems to have an issue with fullstops and hardly ever uses them). So when I came across Broken Glass (Verre Cassé) I thought I'd give at a look through and I was immediately impressed because its a funny book and it is about the kind of people and place I was all too familiar with until recently-regular patrons in a popular, somewhat rundown, neighbourhood bar (called Credit Gone West). Apparently critics and readers in Francophonia were going gaga about it when it came out. Even the French cultural minister referred to the author as Mabancool . Such a rare convergence of liking is a major plus in the book's favour. Critics, culture ministers and the hoi polloi rarely agree on what's cool.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (2011) South Africa

This one I have reservations about. It makes it on the list basing purely on its genre-bending credentials. According to wikipedia;

Zoo City is set in an alternate version of the South African city of Johannesburg, in which people who have committed a crime are magically attached to an animal familiar – those who receive such punishment are said to be "animalled". The novel's chief protagonist, Zinzi December – who was "animalled" to a sloth after getting her brother killed – is a former journalist and recovering drug addict, and is attempting to repay the financial debt she owes her drug dealer by charging people for her special skill of finding lost objects, as well as making use of her writing abilities by drafting 419 fraud emails. The book's plot focuses on Zinzi's attempts to find the missing female member of a brother-and-sister pop duo for a music producer, in return for the money she needs to fully repay her dealer.

It doesn't get more unconventional than that and I can't help thinking of the book as a kind of cross between Tsotsi and The Golden Compass. I downloaded it yesterday but I haven't looked through it to see how the writing hits me. I am guessing the book must be worthwhile because it won something called the Arthur .C. Clarke award in 2011. I happen to know that during his lifetime Arthur .C. Clarke was the dog's bollocks  in science fiction writing. 

So that's my list for the African Reading Challenge for 2012. I haven't decided in what order I will read them  beyond deciding that Open City will be the first. I will post a review after I finish each book. I hope I have as much fun as I think I am going to have.

P.S. the links above lead to Amazon pages that will let you have a peek inside the books.