The Kabaka Goes
The deposition of the Kabaka of Buganda revealed, with distressing suddenness, trouble brewing in yet another British African colony. In part the Kabaka has only himself to blame for his enforced abdication. By demanding the virtual separa- tion of Buganda from the Uganda protectorate and its eventual transformation into an independent state within the Common- wealth he has made himself the mouthpiece of extreme local separatism (always powerful in Buganda), while the assurances given him (which he accepted as satisfactory) that Uganda would not be forced into East African Federation against the wishes of the population take away the only reasonable excuse for such action. In the circumstances his deposition was probably inevitable. But the clash between the Kabaka and the Colonial Office was apparently precipitated, by references to the possibility of East African Federation in a speech made by Mr. Lyttelton some months ago, and the whole episode has shown all over again how much distrust there is among Africans of the intentions of the British Government. One obvious moral is that the greatest care is needed to avoid alarming African opinion which is always suspicious and often ignorant. Another is that the British people should be given more time to think about British Governmental action in Africa. Mr. Lyttelton has attgued with some conviction that it would have been difficult to reveal the course and nature of his discussions withihe Kabaka without reducing the chances of a favourable outcome. But, as it has turned out, we have had neither a favourable outcome nor the benefit of early publicity.
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