To grasp what was at issue with the "lost counties", we need to go into its history, its genesis. It all began in December 1893 when Colonel Colville led a full military campaign against Kabalega and the Banyoro. After suffering a series of defeats, Kabalega was driven from his country and forced to take refuge in Lango in 1894. As a reward for assistance against the Banyoro, Colonel Colville in the early part of 1894 promised the Baganda chiefs that all Bunyoro territory south of River Kafu would be incorporated into Buganda. This was roughly the area comprised of Buyaga and Bugangazzi (Bugangazzi) northern Singo, Buruli and the formerly semi-independent area of northern Bugerere which had been part of Bunyoro territory. Colonel Colville was forced by illness to leave Uganda before implementing this promise.
However, when E.J.L. Berkeley who succeeded Colville was in 1896 appointing a Munyoro to be chief of this area, the Ganda chiefs present reminded him that his predecessor had pledged the area to be part of Buganda. Berkeley consulted the Foreign Office who instructed him to implement the promise. The incorporation into the Kingdom of Buganda of this territory, which was clearly part of Bunyoro with Banyoro inhabiting, was so blatantly unjust that two British officers then serving in Bunyoro (Pulteney and Forster), resigned their posts in protest against the decision. Banyoro never accepted this situation and this loss of territory was to become the festering "lost counties" issue which was a subject of many deputations by the Kingdom of Bunyoro to the British throughout the colonial period.
The "lost counties" was a serious issue at the Constitutional Conferences preparing for Uganda's independence in London. On 27 June, as the Buganda delegation was walking out of the Conference, having sensed the dominant mood, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Maudling, delivered the verdict of the British government. Buyaga and Bugangazzi were to remain part of Buganda while being administered by the Central Government, and "after not less than two years, the National Assembly shall decide on the date for a referendum - in which the people of the counties will say whether they prefer to be in Buganda or Bunyoro, or remain under the Central Government."(Mutibwa, P.M. 1982: 296) Obote, the Prime Minister, accepted this ruling but both Buganda and Bunyoro had misgivings. Dr. Majugo, a member of the Bunyoro delegation, declared on his return to Uganda, that Independence Day, 9 October, would be "a funeral in Bunyoro" and that Bunyoro would not be part of the independence celebrations. (Mutibwa, P.M. 1982: 297) Be that as it may, Uganda became independent on 9 October 1962, with Milton Obote, the leader of UPC, as head of Government.
The "lost counties" remained a very thorny issue. These counties had been turned over to Buganda as a reward for assisting in British subjugation of the Banyoro therefore independence would not be real for Banyoro before the return of the counties. Moreover, the Banyoro in the counties were being treated like colonial subjects, who were among other things being forced to abandon their language and adopt Luganda. There is no doubt that the return of the counties would restore the dignity and self-esteem of the Banyoro to a great extent. However, much as the Constitutional conference had resolved that a referendum would be held in the "lost counties" to determine where the residents wanted to be administered from, things were not that easy and straightforward. The imminence of this referendum unleashed one of the most fervent political struggles Uganda has known. The protagonists in this struggle were the forces of national-democratic liberation led by Obote, on the one hand, and Buganda chauvinism organized by the neo-traditionalists on the other.
As the Government of the day was an alliance between UPC and KY, the latter having a stake in the referendum, the UPC leadership had to ensure that it had the necessary parliamentary strength to pass the legislation authorizing and laying down the ground rules for the referendum. By the middle of 1964 this strength had been attained, and Parliament passed the Referendum Bill which provided that only those registered to vote in the counties in 1962 would be eligible to vote. This provision was aimed at excluding the Baganda ex-servicemen who the Buganda administration was settling into the area under the so-called Ndaiga scheme intended to influence the results of the referendum. The Ndaiga scheme had been set up as a device to make double sure Buganda did not lose the "lost counties". To accord it legitimacy, the Kabaka had lent it his personal involvement. He had moved in and resided in the "lost counties" for sometime. One Sunday the Kabaka "went on an expedition to the lost counties with 8,000 ex-servicemen, demonstrated his royal prerogative of being above the law by one morning shooting nine Banyoro peasants gathered in a market place..." (Mamdani 1976: 244).The scheme had also been allocated money well in excess of 30,000 British pounds. Notwithstanding all these efforts, when the results of the referendum were declared on 5th November, the residents had voted overwhelmingly to be part of the Kingdom of Bunyoro. It was a decision that was welcomed not only in Bunyoro, but by all the minority nationalities/identities in the country.
The loss of these counties was very painful to Buganda. "The crisis over the loss of the 'Lost Counties' to Bunyoro brought other developments in Mengo. When the results of the referendum were announced there was a state of despondency, confusion and disbelief at Mengo, if not in the rest of the kingdom. During the session of the Great Lukiiko at Bulange that debated the matter, Kabaka's ministers were shouted down from the rowdy crowd in the public gallery. The Katikkiro of Buganda, Michael Kintu, was heckled and shouted down as he addressed the Lukiiko. He was booed and insulted as he left the Lukiiko Hall and he was rescued from the angry crowd wanting to lynch him by officials of the Lukiiko who guided him out of the Bulange Building through a back door and smuggled him out of sight in a Volkswagon! Michael Kintu resigned as Katikkiro....." (Mutibwa, P.M. 80) It is great irony that when Kintu's resignation was announced, the crowd celebrated as though some sort of victory had been won.
YOGA ADHOLA
UPC POLITICAL ACTIVIST
USA
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