Ugandans elect MPs for the first time

On October 20, 1958, the first direct parliamentary elections were held in Uganda.
Since 1921 when the Legislative Council (LEGCO), a colonial National Assembly, was established, members of the House had either been appointed or nominated by the governor of Uganda.
That is to say the governor of Uganda on behalf of the Queen of England and Northern Ireland, as was known then, determined who was to be a member of the Legislative Assembly.
It took 37 years for Ugandans to get representation in the Legislative Council. In 1945 three Ugandans were allowed to join the House. They included eastern Uganda representative Yekoniya Zirabamuzaale, also the secretary general of Busoga territory, Peter Nyangabyaki, the prime minister of Bunyoro Kingdom representing western Uganda and Ernest Michael Kawalya Kagwa, Katikkiro (prime minister) of Buganda representing Buganda Kingdom.

Calls for direct parliamentary elections
Dr Eri Mukasa Muwazi is recorded as one of the first Ugandan legislators to bring the issue of direct parliamentary elections to the floor of the House.
According to the monthly government magazine, the Uganda Protectorate official bulletin of January 1956 volume 7 No 1, Muwazi, representing Buganda, moved four private member’s Bills.
“Dr Muwazi’s third motion, which asked the House to consider sympathetically the early establishment of machinery which would make it possible for direct elections of all representative members of the council to be held in 1957, followed by the election of a speaker, attracted less support and was beaten on division [vote],” reports the publication on page 18.
Muwazi’s other motions were the rejection of a grant worth £60,000 from the Uganda Treasury to build the Cultural Centre and National Theatre; the repeal of the outlying Districts Ordinance; and the repeal of the Deportation Ordinance.
“Hon Muwazi’s four motions generated perhaps the liveliest debates since the establishment of the LEGCO in 1921,” the magazine reported on page 19. “And finally, it was interesting to note that whatever their views might be on other things, the British, those members who supported Dr Muwazi had nothing but praise for the British parliamentary system.”
Muwazi and three other Ugandans studied human medicine in Britain in the early 1950s.

Govt grants direct elections
After protracted demands and negotiations, on April 24, 1956, Governor Andrew Cohen announced that direct parliamentary elections would be held.
The governor’s speech titled ‘statement on elections’ read in part: “I wish to address the Council on the subject of elections, in which you as representatives of the people of Uganda are deeply interested. The government welcomes this interest and has itself been studying the question of elections for some months. When the council debated the question last January, there was general agreement by honourable members that the aim should be to introduce direct elections to Legislative Council.”
“But the great majority of members, including a substantial majority on the representative side, vote against binding ourselves to the introduction of direct elections throughout the Protectorate in 1957… there will, I believe, be general agreement in the House that the objective of our policy must be to introduce direct elections on a common roll for the representative members of Legislative Council from all parts of the protectorate.”
This was so because at the time Buganda had rejected the idea of direct election of its members to the Council.
It is important to note that in spite of Muwazi’s contribution on the floor of the Parliament, he was in 1957 forced to resign by Mengo because he supported direct elections of LEGCO members which the Buganda Lukiiko was opposed to.

Sessional paper on elections
The sessional paper No.4 of 1957/58 of the Legislative Council about the introduction of direct elections of members read in part: “In 1956, the government felt that the proper course to follow for the election of the African representative members in 1957 for the Legislative Council due to begin its life in 1958, assuming the agreement was reached under Article 7 (4) of the Buganda Agreement, 1955, for a system of direct elections in Buganda was to use direct elections in Buganda as an experiment leading up to the introduction in 1961 of elections on a common roll, with suitable provision for the adequate and effective representation of non-African communities, provided that arrangements acceptable to Her Majesty’s government could be recommended; and to leave the electoral arrangements in the other provinces as they are at present, or possibly to modify them to the extent of introducing a system of electoral colleges.”
The document published on June 25, 1957, further mentioned that government was prepared to modify its views about the introduction of direct elections for African representative members in the eastern, western and northern provinces, not only as a result of discussions held in all parts of the protectorate in 1956 and the development of a greater interest in a system of direct elections during the past 12 months, but also because it was satisfied that it was preferable that the African representative members should be elected on the same basis throughout the protectorate and not by different methods.
“The government recognises that this will necessitate prolonging the life of the Legislative Council for a period long enough to allow the necessary Legislative and administrative arrangements to be made.”
The paper concluded that government was, however, anxious lest any alteration in its programme for elections should divert attention from its main objective, which was the introduction of the common roll in 1961.

Elections ordinance enacted
Until 1957, there was not a single election legislation in the country. Neither was there a national election body.
On October 16, 1957, the Legislative Council (elections) ordinance, 1957 No.20 of 1957 was assented to by Uganda’s Governor Fredrick Crawford.
The Bill had earlier been debated by the council for two days. The legislation was described as “an ordinance to provide for the manner in which elections to the Legislative Council shall be conducted, the declaration of electoral districts, the qualifications of the electors and candidates, the registration of electors, the procedure at elections and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto”.
Interesting to note is that according to the law, voters were to be 21 years and above.
The first direct elections should have been conducted in 1957. But due to circumstances prevailing in Buganda, they were suspended.
Buganda Kingdom was initially opposed to the direct election system and wanted the Electoral College system. Buganda claimed that the electoral law made in 1957 was vague. But other regions wanted the direct electoral system.
The discrepancy was resolved and on October 20, 1958, direct elections were held for the first time in Uganda.
While they were referred to as direct elections, they were conducted under the Electoral College system.
Twelve Ugandans were elected to the Legislative Council, 10 of them directly.
The 10 included Apollo Milton Obote representing Lango District, Balaki Kirya, John Babiiha representing Tooro, Cuthbert Obwangor representing Bukedi, George Magezi, Kyabazinga of Busoga William Wilberforce Nadiope representing Busoga District, Mathias Ngobi, P.I Oala, Gaspare Oda representing West Nile, and AG Bazanyamaso representing Kigezi.
Of the 10 legislators, four, including Obote, were from the Uganda National Congress (UNC) party. The Democratic Party won one seat. The rest of the seats were won by independent candidates.
On November 17, 1958, Speaker John Griffins swore-in the 10 Ugandan members of the LEGCO. The function was held at the Town Hall in Kampala which was the assembly.
The president of the LEGCO and also governor, Sir Fredrick Crawford, presided over the function.
“This is a historic occasion for, for the first time, 10 of the African representatives have been directly elected. I consider that the manner in which these direct elections have been conducted reflect the greatest credit on all concerned voters, candidates and election staff and would like to pay tribute, I am sure on behalf of the whole council to the triumph of organisation involved,” the governor said.