The Making of Modern Uganda

First published in 1958, The Making of Modern Uganda is concerned with the formation of modern Uganda in the sixty years since the 1890s when the foundations of the British administration were laid. In the first decade of the 20th century Sir Hesketh Bell, Uganda’s Governor, decided that Uganda should be built up by Africans under the disinterested guidance of Europeans. The book therefore traces the emergence of a territory whose material prosperity is mainly based upon peasant agriculture guided by the advice of British agricultural officers. It describes the development from an era of tribal, clan and even village organisation to the system of centralised government along semi-parliamentary lines but notes the disagreement as to whether Uganda’s future should lie as a unitary or a federal state. The controversial issue of closer union with the other East African territories is studied at some length as also is the growth of the politically active minority which plays so important a part in the modern Protectorate. The author believes that the years of ‘happy Uganda’, the years before the Second World War, were a period in which hard work coupled with peace and obvious progress tended to conceal for many the growth of new forces which needed an outlet and only found one in the political and constitutional developments of the post-war age. This book will be of interest to students of history, African studies, ethnic studies and political science.

Kenneth Ingham