When Uganda gave aid to Britain
A missionary poses for a photo with Ugandan children between 1867 and
1955. Uganda donated money to the British World War II Fund, in form of
special gifts and interest free loans to enable it stay afloat during
the wars. Photo by Cambridge University and Royal Commonwealth Society
Library.
In Summary
Turning tables. Financial aid from Britain is one of the
key sources of Uganda’s revenues today but less than a hundred years
ago, during a time of Britain’s need, it was Uganda, along with other
colonies, which were the donors.
It is one of the least reported stories. While many
Ugandans know that some of their ancestors fought in World War I and II
on the side of the British and their allies, few know of the financial
contribution that the country made to keep Britain afloat in that
period.
This series has already noted the nature of the
colonial economy and how it was structured to support the factories in
England produce goods for sale back to the colonies.
It was an economy designed to produce what it did
not consume, and consume what it did not produce with any surplus mopped
up by the colonial administration through taxes and repatriated back to
London.
Citing studies from the time, Prof. Mahmood Mamdani
has argued, for instance, that the creation of monopoly marketing
boards which skimmed off 38 per cent of Uganda’s total earnings had, by
1958, channelled £30.8 million from Ugandan growers to the cotton and
coffee Price Assistance Funds, and about £30 million in various export
duties. These were all deposited in the Bank of England and contributed
to the British war effort.
Outstretched hands
These, however, were not the only such contributions. In 1931, the Colonial Secretary James Henry Thomas sent out a circular to all Dependencies appealing for financial aid to help Britain navigate through the Great Depression and the slump it found itself in. It is useful to quote extensively from the appeal.
These, however, were not the only such contributions. In 1931, the Colonial Secretary James Henry Thomas sent out a circular to all Dependencies appealing for financial aid to help Britain navigate through the Great Depression and the slump it found itself in. It is useful to quote extensively from the appeal.
“I feel it my duty to call the attention of the
responsible authorities in all territories for the administration of
which I am responsible to Parliament to the extreme difficulties with
which His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom are faced in
consequence of the present financial crisis,” he wrote.
“My object in writing this dispatch is to remind you of the
fact that the interests of the United Kingdom and of the colonies and
dependencies are inseparably bound up with one another…it is not
unreasonable to look for some common effort and common sacrifice on the
part of communities which are face-to-face with a common peril.”
He argued that although the Dependencies were also
affected by the global slump, a collapse of the British economy and
currency would pose a calamity for coloniser and colonies. It was a
situation not too dissimilar to contemporary discussions in the Euro
zone!
Although affected by the global slump, Uganda had money – an annual surplus of £900,000 by 1940.
Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere notes that by 1943, Uganda had offered interest-free loans to Britain worth £700,000.
The money was collected through the Uganda War Fund
in which people were encouraged to make voluntary contributions (which
some did), although in other cases they were pressured to do so. In
Teso District, for instance, each county chief paid Shs50; the
sub-country chief Shs20; the parish chief Shs10 and the village chief
Shs5.
All Native Government employees paid a shilling
each and every adult male paid 50 cents. The people of Mbale sent £200
to buy a mobile canteen, one of 13 that different people of Uganda had
contributed to the War Fund. In a speech in 1941 the Governor revealed
that such contributions amounted to £110,000.
More money was still to come in the form of loans
and gifts to Britain. Some of the Ugandan districts which lent money to
Britain included Teso (£15,000), Busoga (£11,250), Bukedi (£10,000),
Bugisu (£3,000), and Karamoja (£1,000).
By June 1948, Britain owed £650,000 to these and other groups in Uganda.
As far as gifts go, Uganda gave £10,000 towards Sir
Winston Churchill’s 67th birthday but Prof. Kabwegyere argues that this
was “clearly understood as a contribution to the war”. The following
districts also offered a ‘special gift’ to the Mayor of London: Buganda
(£10,250), Busoga (£6,000), Teso (£6,000), Bugisu (£3,500), Bugwere
(£2,500), Budama (£1,500) and Karamoja (£300)When Uganda gave aid to Britain
A missionary poses for a photo with Ugandan children between 1867 and
1955. Uganda donated money to the British World War II Fund, in form of
special gifts and interest free loans to enable it stay afloat during
the wars. Photo by Cambridge University and Royal Commonwealth Society
Library.
In Summary
Turning tables. Financial aid from Britain is one of the
key sources of Uganda’s revenues today but less than a hundred years
ago, during a time of Britain’s need, it was Uganda, along with other
colonies, which were the donors.
The Kabaka of Buganda’s birthday celebration in 1940
was postponed and the money put into the War Fund instead; the Omukama
of Toro offered a fortieth of his £1,220 salary for the duration of the
war; schools in Nkokonjeru and Nsambya dipped into their meagre funds;
and even the Ongino Leper Colony in Kumi made a contribution.
In a statement issued in September 1944, the War
Fund committee noted that it had received and passed on to Britain
£1,084,125 in the four years up to that time excluding the ‘gifts’ but
it is not clear how much more money it handled until its closure in
1946.
The figure does not also include £278,000 paid by
the Uganda Protectorate or the £17,000 a year paid since 1939 by
Buganda, East and Western provinces, contributions in kind, or monetary
contributions made during World War I.
Weakening economy
“Some [colonies have been so generous as to offer their surpluses as gifts towards the war effort,” Lord Moyne (Walter Guinness) noted at the time.
“We accepted the gifts gratefully, but with a certain doubt whether we were morally right to do so.”
“Some [colonies have been so generous as to offer their surpluses as gifts towards the war effort,” Lord Moyne (Walter Guinness) noted at the time.
“We accepted the gifts gratefully, but with a certain doubt whether we were morally right to do so.”
Speaking about the contributions, Prof. Kabwegyere
notes: “The money, which might have been invested in development
projects was siphoned off to Britain to maintain that nation through the
war and later to assist in its recovery from the war…this outward flow
of money must have caused a contraction in the economy. Especially
affected were those areas which were poor like Karamoja and in no way
with a surplus, who deflated their coffers in order to help the mother
country.”
Apart from the money, there was a human contribution to the war effort as well.
Continues Tomorrow.
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