Renovating Buganda: The Political and Cultural Career of Apolo Kagwa (c.1879-1905)

Abstract

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the kingdom of Buganda in East Africa endured rapid changes which threatened its autonomy and power, including repeated civil wars, conversion Christianity, and the gradual transition to British colonial rule under the Uganda Protectorate. Apolo Kagwa (1864-1927) played important roles throughout, serving as prime minister and then as regent to two Bugandan kings, while also being knighted by the British. Kagwa needs to be recognized for his creative work in adapting politics and culture to protect and preserve the integrity and future of Buganda; this new biography informed by recent historical scholarship advances this. Pursuing his own interests, but also those of the kingdom, he mediated political and cultural change with the intent of renovating Buganda, heeding local politics while adeptly anticipating and manipulating British interests in the region, to help prepare and secure Buganda for the colonial period.