SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL's IMPRESSION OF UGANDA WAY BACK IN 1908

On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 7:11 AM, Kato Kintu <katokintuw@gmail.com> wrote:

In his book titled “My African Journey” that published in 1908, Winston Churchill precisely stated as follows:

♞ “The kingdom of Uganda is a fair tale. Uganda is a native State. Two days after I arrived at Entebbe the Governor took me over to Kampala. The distance between the ancient and administrative capital is about twenty four miles..The road from Entebbe to Kampala passes through delicious country. "

♞ But I have forgotten that we have been passing through Kampala road, and now we are almost in sight of the city. It was not until the shadows began to lengthen that we visited the Kabaka on the Royal Hill. He received us in his Parliament House. "

♞ "The Kabaka can write a good letter in English. In this large and beautifully constructed grass building about seventy chiefs and Baganda notables were assembled. The Kabaka sat on his throne and his subjects grouped themselves around and before him. The Kabaka gave us a tea inside his house. It is a comfortable European building, quite small and modest, but nicely furnished, and adorned with familiar English prints and portraits of Queen Victoria and King Edward."

♞ "Surrounded by officers of the State, the King of Uganda presides over the meetings of his council and Parliament, or worships in the huge thatched cathedral which has been reared on Namirembe Hill."

♞"The manners of the Baganda are ceremonious to a degree. They well deserve Sir Harry Johnstone's description of them as the “Japanese of Africa." If you say “Good morning” to a stranger on an English road, it is as like as not that his surprise will thrown him into a posture of self-defence; but when two Baganda meet they begin to salute each other as soon as they come within earshot."

♞"If you wish to make a Baganda perfectly happy, all you need to do is to say, “way wally,” (Webale?) which means a sort of supremely earnest “well done.” The moment this talismanic expression has left your lips, the native to whom it is addressed will probably fall on his knees, and clasping his hands together, will sway them from side to side, as if he were playing a concertina, while all the time his face beams with the most benignant and compulsive smile, and he purss, “A—o, a—o, a—o,” as much as to say, “My cup of joy is overflowing.” It is not in accordance with our ideas that man should kneel to man, and one feels uncomfortable to see it done. Yet it should not be thought that the action, as performed by the Baganda, involves or implies any servility. It is their good manners— and meant to be no more. Nor, once you are used to it, do they seem to lose all in dignity. Only they win their heart. "

♞"Three separate influences, each of them powerful and benevolent, exercise control over the mass of the Baganda nation. First the imperial authority; secondly the native Government; and thirdly the missionary enterprise. "

♞"For a new station in an almost unknown land, Entebbe certainly presents many remarkable evidence of progress. The slopes of the lake shore are covered with pretty villas, each standing in its luxuriant garden. There is an excellent golf course, and a very bright pleasant society."

♞" Finally, there is a reason of a different character which ought to impose a final bar on a return of the Imperial Government to the native city. Uganda is a native state. Much of our success in dealing with its population arises from the fact that we work through and by the native Government."

♞"But what an obligation, what a sacred duty imposed upon Great Britain to enter the lists in person and to shield this trustful, docile, intelligent Baganda race from dangers, which, whatever their cause, have synchronising with our arrival in the midst! I have described how Kampala lies under the leaves of the plantain groves about the slopes of many hills. Each hill has its special purpose and occupants. "

SOURCE: Winston Spencer Churchill (1908) “My African Journey,” London: Hodder & Stoughton.