Party Politics and a Rural Immigrant Community

Extract

It is now nearly five years since Buganda rebelled against the Government of Uganda, and the Kabaka, Sir Edward Mutesa, fled to Britain. Relatively little has been written about these events, perhaps because they happened so rapidly and were dealt with so determinedly that not much precise information is available. In rural Buganda, in such places as Bugerere where I was engaged in fieldwork, party political activity reached a crescendo in the months before the May 1966 crisis and was then abruptly extinguished. Ever since, things have been ostensibly very quiet – indeed the districts of the disbanded Kingdom have remained under a declared state of emergency. During the heyday of politics I was impressed by a clear distinction in the focus of party activity; in the commercial townships on the main road through Bugerere its intensity was immediately obvious, whereas in the farming villages which spread over the fertile, rolling land of the county it was scarcely in evidence. What was the reason for this discrimination? The answer, I was sure, had not a little to do with the unusual economic and demographic circumstances of Bugerere.