The Uganda Relationships Commission, also known as the Munster Commission, was a body established by the Government of the United Kingdom to make recommendations on the best form of government for an independent

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

History

Britain had established the

Uganda Protectorate The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Br ...

in 1894, formalising British control over Uganda, but was by 1960 pursuing a policy of managed decolonisation. This required the establishment of what the British Government hoped would be stable, democratic institutions in her colonies, including Uganda. The Relationships Commission was formally established by

Reginald Maudling Reginald Maudling (7 March 1917 – 14 February 1979) was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1962 to 1964 and as Home Secretary from 1970 to 1972. From 1955 until the late 1960s, he was spoken of as a prospecti ...

, as

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

, on 15 December 1960. It was to be headed by the Earl of Munster and was tasked with "consider ngthe future form of government best suited to Uganda the question of the relationship between the Central Government and the other authorities in Uganda". In this sense it was a particular response to the desire of the

Kingdom of Buganda Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 ...

, as set out in its memorandum of 24 September 1960, to "go it alone" rather than continue progress towards a united Uganda as the British Government favoured. This disagreement had created significant political unrest in Buganda, culminating in the ''de facto'' Bugandan boycott of the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

held on the 23 March 1961. The Commission started work in January 1961 and reported in June. It recommended "a federal position for Buganda, because she has virtually reached that position already, and a federal position for the three Kingdoms f Bunyoro, Ankole and Toro.. The three Kingdoms would have substantial elements of federalism for their own internal purposes, but in relation to the Central government they would be in roughly the same position as the other districts .e. regions of Uganda not part of one of the Kingdoms" The Commission also recommended the codification of Ugandan customary law. The Commission's recommendations formed the basis for proposals discussed at the

Ugandan Constitutional Conference The Ugandan Constitutional Conference, held at Lancaster House in the autumn of 1961, was organised by the British Government to pave the way of Ugandan independence. History The Conference opened on 18 September 1961 and concluded on 9 October ...

, held at Lancaster House in September and October 1961.

References

External links

* {{cite hansard, jurisdiction=United Kingdom, house=House of Lords, title=Buganda, url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1960/oct/25/buganda, date=25 October 1960 , column_start=996 , column_end=997 , speaker=Lord St. Oswald
The Commission's Report
(1961) on

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

United Kingdom commissions and inquiries 1960s in Uganda 1960s in the United Kingdom 1964 establishments in the United Kingdom