Annual departmental reports relating to Uganda

Catalogue record

Notes

The governmental organisation of the Uganda Protectorate was a familiar one in British colonial Africa. The apex was the Governor, who alone was responsible to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for all aspects of the government of the territory. From 1920, there was a legislative council, but on both this and the executive council there sat a majority of officials, and constitutionally the Governor. Until the introduction of internal self-government, on the eve of independence, the Governor was (subject to the control by the Secretary of State) an absolute ruler and therefore responsible for all the functions of government. These functions were operated by civil servants and organised on a departmental basis. In the first place, and standing in a special position, was the Provincial Administration, consisting of provincial commissioners and district commissioners (and their assistants), who were responsible for the efficient conduct of all public business in, their respective provinces or districts. Then there were the various departments staffed by professional and technical civil servants and responsible for the provision of a wide range of services, which steadily grew in number during the life of the Protectorate. The head of a department would normally have, in addition to his headquarter organisation, a representative in each province or district who was responsible for the local implementation of their departmental policy. The Governor, on whose behalf the Provincial Administration and the departments carried out their functions, controlled their activities through his Chief Secretary who was responsible for the co-ordination of all aspects of public business. Then in the 1950's, with the introduction of the ministerial system of government, Ministers were responsible to the Governor for the running of the departments within their portfolios. The head of each department was required to submit annually a report on the activities and progress of his department during the course of the preceding year. These reports provide valuable and detailed information as to the development of the Protectorate Government's administrative, professional and technical services which not obtainable from any other source. In a number of instances, from education to medical care, the judiciary, and housing, the native population were subject to different governmental systems than those experienced by colonial officers. From a Medical Department designed solely to care for colonial staff, to a native court system for natives, and a separate department for African Housing, the divide between the native population and the colonial officers who ran it was built into the institutions by which colonial Uganda was governed.

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