[allAfrica.com]  [http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0921/p07s01-woaf.html?s=swAfrica]


Peasants Fanned Liberation Struggle

New Vision (Kampala)
ANALYSIS
October 9, 2004
Posted to the web October 11, 2004

By Denis Ocwich
Kampala
WHEN President Yoweri Museveni says power lies with the peasants, he is spot
on. And when Justice George Kanyeihamba argues that the peasants do not have
political power, he is also probably right.
The peasants may not play a direct role in decision making of governments. But
think of the strength of their votes, and the so-called 'people power' through
demonstrations, strikes and riots!
Provided the impetus
At the dawn of African nationalism, the peasants played a key role in the quest
to stamp out white supremacy. Today's 42nd birthday for Uganda's Independence
is no exception of the fruits of peasant struggles.
As the intellectuals like Milton Obote, Grace Ibingira, John Kakonge, Benedicto
Kiwanuka and Ignatius Musaazi sprung up to champion Uganda's demands for
Independence, it was the peasants who provided the impetus.
Peasantry uprisings
Whenever the elite went about addressing rallies, the peasants were there in
huge numbers, waving placards, tree branches, burning tyres and roaring for
"Self Government Now!"
Political parties, including Uganda National Congress (UNC), Democratic Party
(DP), Uganda People's Congress (UPC), Uganda People's Union (UPU) and Kabaka
Yekka (KY), which took centre stage in the struggles of 1950s and 1960s had
their roots in peasantry uprisings.
Among others, the grievances were against exploitation of the Africans by the
Europeans and the Asians, who monopolised trade and cotton ginning. The
Africans wanted better prices for their cotton, and control of ginneries.
At the close of the Second World War in 1945, the atmosphere became more
charged and the African farmers more determined to fight for their economic,
political and social rights.
But the struggle can be traced as far back as 1920s and 1930s when the
peasants, with a few elite like Yusuf Bamutta, started challenging the colonial
agents (Baganda chiefs), and the colonial administrators over unfair taxes,
land policies and unfavourable crop prices. They also wanted their own
representatives at local administration set-ups.
Discriminated against
Besides the economy, Africans were discriminated against in almost every sphere
- education, employment, medical services and social gatherings. All these were
slowly adding to the African discontent against the exploitative, oppressive
and alien style of rule.
In 1931, Gambuze (a Luganda newspaper) carried an article complaining about
ill-treatment of Africans at the hands of ginners at Ngogwe in Kyaggwe,
stating, "a good number of people are ready to give evidence."
In 1954, the Young Basoga and the Bataka Association sent a memorandum to the
governor complaining about the monopoly of timber trade in Busoga by Asians.
A document sent by Amos Sempa to his West African friends vehemently attacked
the economic structure: "We shall remember a certain governor, who introduced
the operation of the cotton industry in Uganda in the interest of Europeans and
Asians to the disadvantage of the African grower."
Birth of political parties
"The formation of the Uganda African Farmers Union (which was a spring board
for the birth of the first political party, Uganda National Congress in 1952)
in Buganda was an attempt to question the same basic imbalance in economic
relations," writes Tarsis Kabwegyere in his book: The Politics of State
Formation and Destruction in Uganda.
The others that spearheaded the articulation of African grievances were the
Young Baganda Association and the Baganda Bataka (clan elders) Party.
"In the early 1930s, Baganda traders, taxi drivers, farmers and teachers formed
associations, which voiced their grievances and the demands of the common man,"
writes Phares Mutibwa in the book: Uganda Since Independence.
The other nature of struggles by the common man, especially in the 1940s,
manifested itself through riots in Buganda.
Peasant riots against Mengo oligarhchy
The riots, as Mutibwa puts it, were directed against the ruling oligarchy in
Mengo as well as against the Asian and European monopoly of crop marketing and
processing.
A petition to the Kabaka in 1949 thus read:
- Your Highness should open the rule of democracy to start giving people power
to choose their own chiefs.
- We want the number of 60 unofficial representatives (in the Lukiiko) to be
completed.
- We demand the abolition of the present (Buganda) government.
- We want to gin our own cotton.
- We want to sell our produce in outside countries, that is, free trade.
Mutibwa sums it up: "...these were the first proletarian risings against both
the colonial administration at Entebbe and the feudal system of Buganda, mass
movements determined to break the chains of capitalism and colonial rule."
And the baby Independence was to be born on October 9, 1962 with much pomp and
ululation across the country as the Union Jack gave way to Uganda's flag. "Free
at last," so everybody celebrated. Happy 42nd Birthday, dear old Uganda!

   

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