Power Back to the People

written by Vick Lukwago Ssali

The Relevance of Ethnic Federalism in Uganda

The infamous “Scramble for Africa” resulted in random and unlikely borders that remain today. The West partitioned territory for the sake of its short-term goal of influence or mastery. They gave little thought to the long-running consequences for the Africans themselves. This arbitrary carving up of Africa, the colonial policy of divide and rule, and the resultant segmental cleavages in most post-colonial African states may be blamed for the horizontal inequalities, conflicts, and insecurity rampant since independence. In Uganda, as in many other African countries, the most evident of such cleavages have been tribal and ethnic. Recently there have been calls for constitutional reform that would devolve power to the tribal regions and revive the idea of federalism which was the organizing principle in the immediate aftermath of independence. This book highlights the dynamics of ethnic politics in the post-independence sub-Saharan setting in general and the background, meaning, and relevance of the debate on ethnic federalism in Uganda, in particular. Part of the book covers Vick Lukwago Ssali’s own experiences growing up in an independent but troubled Uganda. However, its central thesis is based on the voices of selected samples of ordinary people in ten different tribal areas of Uganda and what they comparatively think about the issue of federalism. Is their loyalty growing towards the centre or fading outwards from the troubled state to their integral traditional and cultural units?

Vick Lukwago Ssali

Vick Lukwago Ssali has a a Ph.D. in Global Studies from Doshisha University, Japan. Vick, who currently teaches English and The Cultures of British Commonwealth Countries at Aichi Gakuin University in Japan, is the founding president of the Japan Society for Afrasian Studies (JSAS).