There are hot, dry deserts in the north-east, luxurious rain forests in the west and south-east, the remainder being mostly tree-savannah with extensive sluggish swamps. Wildlife is varied and abundant. Over most of the country the weather is that of a perpetual summer, with hot sunshine, cool breezes and showers of rain. Temperature ranges at Entebbe are about 17.5°C (62°–64°F) minimum and 26°-27°C (77°-81°F) maximum. The mean annual rainfall at Entebbe is 63.44 inches. The principal towns are Kampala, the capital (population including suburbs 400,000), Jinja (population 47,298) and Mbale (population 25,000). At the 1959 census the population was 6,536,616, of whom 6,449,558 were Africans (approximately 680,000 of whom were not of Uganda origin), 10,866 Europeans and 76,192 persons of other race (mostly originating from the Indian sub-continent). This represented an average rate of increase of approximately 2.5 per cent per annum since the previous census. In 1961 the population was estimated to number some 6,845,000 of whom 6,751,000 were Africans, 11,600 Europeans, and the remainder mostly Asians. In mid-1965 it was estimated that the population was 7,551,000. The 1969 census results showed a population of 9,548,847, an increase of 47 per cent since the 1959 census. A 1972 Uganda Government estimate puts the Ugandan populace at "well over 10.5 million". The analysis of the African population by tribes showed the Baganda to be the largest (just over one million), followed by the Iteso, Banyankore and Basoga with about half a million members each. Twenty-four other tribes showed totals in excess of 10,000 each. The expulsion of British Asians in 1972 and the dispersal of other Asians to the countryside makes any assessment of the current Asian population very difficult. The European Community has declined sharply since 1972. 24 languages in various groups (Bantu, Nilotic and Hamitic) are spoken but English is the official language. No statistics are available giving information about the main religions but it is believed than one-third of the people are Roman Catholic, one-third Protestant, one-six Muslim and a sixth not conforming to any organised religion. In 1971 Uganda had 2,888 grant-aided primary schools with an enrolment of 773,621 children while 43,722 students were enrolled in secondary schools, 1,617 students at technical schools and 4,657 at Teacher Training Colleges. Makerere University College, opened as a technical school in 1921, achieved its status as a constituent college of the University of East Africa in 1963. On 1st July 1970, Makerere became a separate national University as Makerere University, Kampala. First degree courses are offered at Makerere in Agriculture, Arts and Social Science, Education, Medicine, Science, Fine Art and Technology; and, except for Science, post graduate diplomas are also offered in these faculties. Total enrolment at Makerere for 1971/72 was 3,139. Having no sea coast, Uganda is dependent principally upon the railway line to Mombasa, Kenya, for her imports and exports. There are 1,237 kilometres of mainline railways in Uganda between Tororo and Kasese and Tororo and Pakwach. There are 27,536 kilometres of roads of all sorts, of which 2,226 kilometres are bitumenised main highways. Uganda's international airport is situated at Entebbe, twenty-one miles from Kampala. The main runway is 12,000 feet in length. There are also landing grounds at Tororo, Jinja, Soroti, Gulu, Arua, Kasese, Murchison Falls and Mbarara from which internal services are operated by the East African Airways Corporation. A second international airport is planned for Arua. Radio Uganda and Uganda Television are both State controlled. Uganda's export receipts in 1973 amounted to U.Sh.2,290 million of which exports to Kenya and Tanzania, within the East African community, accounted for U.Sh.98 million. Main overseas export earners were: Coffee (U.Sh.1,509 million); Cotton (U.Sh.336 million); Copper (U.Sh.110 million); Tea (U.Sh.109 million); animal feed stuffs (U.Sh.33 million) and Hides and Skins (U.Sh. 43 million). Britain's imports from Uganda in 1973 were U.Sh. 453 million; goods to the value of U.Sh. 1.138 million were imported by Uganda from overseas in 1973. Imports from Kenya and Tanzania in the same period totalled U.Sh. 463 million. Revised estimates indicated a current revenue for 1973/74 of U.Sh. 1,201-4 million with an expenditure on current account of U.Sh. 1,634-9 million. Development expenditure in 1972/73 declined to U.Sh. 581 million with expected receipts from foreign borrowing at U.Sh. 125·8 million in 1972/73 and a further decline to U.Sh. 69 million in 1973/74 (source: IMF Documentation). Uganda Independence Day is 9th October and she celebrates the anniversary of the Second Revolution (1971) on 25th January. HISTORY Archaeological evidence points to human occupation of the area which is now Uganda from the earliest times. The pursuit of agriculture may have originated in the first millenium B.C., probably coincidentally with Bantu settlement. For a time the earlier stone-age inhabitants and the agriculturalists continued to exist side by side, the former being gradually absorbed. The working of iron was learned perhaps a thousand years ago. The fertility of the south and west of the country favoured the development of political institutions, and in those areas there grew up a number of highly coherent, centrally controlled units. Up to the nineteenth century the most powerful of these was Bunyoro, but in that century Buganda took the lead. In the north, different conditions had favoured the development of small tribal organisations. During the nineteenth century, the first British traders, explorers and missionaries reached Uganda. Speke and Grant penetrated from the east coast of Africa in 1862; Baker from the north in 1864. In the 1870s there were unsuccessful attempts by Egypt to obtain control. In the late 1870s the first missionaries reached Buganda. In 1888 British interests in East Africa were assigned by Royal Charter to the Imperial British East Africa Company, and in 1890 Captain (later Lord) Lugard was sent to represent the Company in Uganda. He concluded a treaty with the Kabaka of Buganda and established the Company's influence. The cost of the Company's operations was, however, prohibitive, and in 1893 an Imperial Commissioner, Sir Gerald Portal, assumed the obligations and rights of the Company on behalf of the British Government. Buganda was formally declared a Protectorate in 1894; Bunyoro, Tororo, Ankole and Busoga followed in 1896. New agreements were negotiated with Buganda, Toro and Ankole in 1900 and 1901. The basic pattern of Uganda's economic development was laid down before the First World War, in spite of the Administration's pre-occupation with the suppression of an outbreak of sleeping sickness which devastated the country. Cotton growing by peasant farmers, introduced in 1904, flourished, and the development of this sector of the economy stimulated the growth of transport and communications. The construction of a network of all-weather roads was begun, and a connection with the coast was obtained by a shipping service across Lake Victoria to Kisumu in Kenya, which was linked to Mombasa by rail in 1901. In 1913 the Busoga Railway was completed, and this, with the system of waterways radiating from the Nile basin, helped the development of the area of fine cotton-growing soil in the eastern part of the country. The 1914-18 War made considerable demands on manpower, and checked Uganda's economic progress, especially in the context of world depression in the early 1920s. Coffee was developed as an alternative cash crop, and the first sugar refinery was opened in 1924. By 1928 the railway from the coast had been extended as far as Jinja, and the completion of a bridge over the Nile in 1931 finally linked Kampala with the Indian Ocean. Under British administration land policy prohibited acquisition by nonAfricans of freehold title to land. As a result European settlement did not become a feature of Uganda's development; and in Buganda, where title to land was held almost exclusively by Africans, indiscriminate purchase and exploitation by non-Africans was eliminated. This was an important factor in the development of harmonious race relations in Uganda. The war of 1939-45 also made great demands on Uganda's resources and the emphasis of Government policy in the immediate post-war period was upon economic rehabilitation and development, a programme which was greatly helped by the high prices obtainable for cotton and coffee. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Uganda Order in Council 1902 made provision for the government of the protectorate, and control was passed from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office in 1905. By 1914 a series of boundary commissions had established the country's boundaries which remained unchanged until the present day except for the transfer of Rudolph Province to Kenya in 1926. In 1921 Executive and Legislative Councils were created, and the latter was expanded in 1953 to make it more representative. The Legislative Council was further increased in 1955, half the membership then being African. At the same time a ministerial system was introduced, a number of the ministers being non-officials. In 1958 direct elections of African Representative Members to the Legislative Council were held in a number of Districts. Buganda, however, did not take part and was consequently not represented in the new Council. The year 1960 saw further constitutional advance, with the general objects of broadening the composition of the Legislative Council and restricting its membership almost entirely to elected members, and of converting the Governor's Executive Council into a Council of Ministers. A Commission under Lord Munster considered the relationships between the Kingdoms and the Central Government. A general election under the new arrangements was held in March 1961 and resulted in a majority for the Democratic Party, led by Mr Benedicto Kiwanuka, who became Chief Minister. Following a constitutional conference in London later the same year Uganda attained internal self-government in March 1962 and Mr Kiwanuka became the first Prime Minister. The new Constitution provided for a Legislature of a single Chamber, styled the National Assembly, consisting of a Speaker, 82 Elected Members and 9 Specially Elected Members. Of the Elected Members, 21 were elected within Buganda (excluding the Municipality of Kampala) and the Buganda Lukiiko (Legislative Assembly) had the power to declare before each General Election that these Members should be elected by the Lukiiko itself. The executive power was to be exercised on behalf of Her Majesty by the Governor but, except in regard to certain reserved functions, he could assign responsibilities to Ministers and was normally required to act on the advice of the Cabinet which was collectively responsible to the National Assembly. Buganda's relationship with Uganda was defined as a federal one. A general election held in April 1962 resulted in a majority for the Uganda People's Congress, supported until 24th August 1964 by the Kabaka Yekka, a Buganda political organisation. Mr Milton Obote, leader of the U.P.C., became Prime Minister. At the opening of the new Parliament the Governor announced that his Ministers desired that Her Majesty should be Queen of independent Uganda and that Uganda would seek membership of the Commonwealth. Following a further Constitutional Conference in London in June 1962 Uganda became an independent sovereign country and a Member of the Commonwealth on the 9th October 1962. In 1963 the Uganda Parliament amended the Constitution so that from 9th October 1963 (the anniversary of Independence) Her Majesty The Queen would no longer be the Head of State of Uganda and instead Uganda would be a sovereign independent country with a citizen of Uganda as Head of State, to be known as 'President of Uganda'. The first holder of this office was the Kabaka of Buganda, Sir Edward Mutesa. At the same time Uganda expressed a desire to continue as a Member of the Commonwealth of which the Queen is the Head. On 24th February 1966, the Prime Minister, the Hon. Dr A. M. Obote, MP, announced that the Constitution had been suspended, except for certain specified subjects. On 2nd March 1966 it was announced that Dr Obote acting with the advice and consent of the Cabinet had declared that the executive authority of Uganda should be vested in the Prime Minister (instead of the President) and that the duties, powers and other functions performed or exercisable by the President or Vice-President should be vested in the Prime Minister. On 15th April in the National Assembly, Dr Obote announced the abrogation of the 1962 Constitution and moved a motion for the introduction of a new Constitution which was adopted by 55 votes to 4. Dr Obote was then sworn in as President. Under the 1966 Constitution, the President was both Head of State and Head of the Executive, advised by a Cabinet of Ministers of which he was a member. The National Assembly consisted of 82 elected members, all directly elected, including 21 from Buganda (exclusive of Kampala) and nine specially elected members. Parliament was to continue for five years unless sooner dissolved by the President, acting on the advice of the Cabinet. In June 1967 the National Assembly resolved itself into a Constituent Assembly to consider proposals submitted to it by the Government for the amendment of the 1966 constitution. After due consideration the proposals, as modified following debate, were adopted, and a new Constitution under which Uganda became a Republic was proclaimed on 8th September 1967. The main changes from the previous constitution were the abolition of the old kingdoms and the dissolution of Buganda into four districts for administrative purposes; and provision for specially elected members in number related to the strength of the party having greatest numerical strength in the National Assembly in order to give that party a majority of not more than ten. The number of elected members remained at 82. The powers of the President were defined and the rights and freedoms of the individual prescribed. It was decided that subject to the provisions of the Constitution for dissolution, the life of the Parliament should be five years from the introduction of the preceding constitution, viz. 15th April 1966. On 25th January 1971 the Commander of the Armed Forces, Major-General Idi Amin, mounted a successful coup d'état against Dr Obote. A military government was set up headed by General Amin as President. Parliament was dissolved and those Sections of the 1967 Constitution dealing with executive and legislative powers suspended. The President rules by decree. Under plans for the reorganisation of the administration announced in August 1973, the President's principal sources of advice were to be the State Supreme Council and the National Forum. Neither body has yet been constituted, but the Cabinet remains in existence and a Defence Council, consisting of the Commanders of the Armed Forces and such other officers as might be coopted from time to time, was set up. Otherwise the provisions of the 1967 Constitution remain in force. HISTORICAL LIST Sir Edward Mutesa, 9th October 1963 to 24th February 1966 PRIME MINISTER Dr A. Milton Obote, MP, from 9th October 1962 to 15th April 1966 GOVERNMENT HEAD OF STATE PRESIDENT, AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES His Excellency Field Marshal Alhasi Idi Amin Dada MINISTERS Minister of Provincial Administration: The Hon. Brig. Moses Ali Minister of Commerce: The Hon. Captain Noah Mohamed Minister of Industry and Power: The Hon. Col. Saboni Minister of Works and Housing: The Hon. Lt-Col. S. Lukakamwa |