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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
TILTI
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6.
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The Depopulation of the Mainland Shore.
**The absolute and thorough removal of all natives from the fly-infested was considered to be the main and most important feature shores of the lake
we hope that, by removing from of our fight against sleeping sickness, the neighbourhood of the fly the source of fresh infection, we will render these insects as innocuous as they appear to have been prior to the appearance of sleeping sickness in Uganda, and thus prevent the spread of the disease. It appears that even a single person afflicted with trypanosomiasis is capable of providing the means of infection of a considerable number of flies, and it is therefore most important that the removal of all persons from the vicinity of the tsetse should be complete and without exception."*
7. It was not proposed "that the districts adjoining the Victoria Nyanza should be tabu for ever, but merely that they should be cleared of population for a year or two." All the lands involved had been granted to various chiefs under the "agreement," and "fortunately these chiefs appear to be amenable to reason and they have promised to remove to other estates which they own in fly-free locali- ties inland all the people who are now inhabiting the dangerous zone on the shore. I have given the chiefs an assurance that no attempt will be made by the Government to resume possession of the lands temporarily vacated by them, and that, if our measures for the suppression of sleeping sickness prove successful, they will be allowed, later on, to replace these people on the lands now about to be depopulated. They have been warned that everyone must be removed before the 31st of March next, and that after the 1st of June, 1907, all huts and banana fields found in occupation will be destroyed.‡
"carried 8. "This step, which might possibly have caused much trouble," was into effect without the slightest difficulty. The chiefs, to whom the raison d'être of the whole scheme had been carefully explained, gave very loyal assistance, and, on "All along being assured that the tenants on their lake shore estates would not be irretrievably dispersed, they put no obstacles whatever to the execution of the plan." the whole border of the lake, from Buddu to the Ripon Falls, the peasants have evacuated their holdings, and have been moved to suitable properties owned by their chiefs farther in the interior of the territory. Their huts have been burnt, and their plantations of bananas have gone to waste. Only the seriousness of the whole situation could have warranted such drastic measures,§ and the docility with which our orders have been carried out speaks volumes for the respect in which the authority of the Government is held."||
9. Depopulation was practically completed within the time set (31st March, 1907), according to reports forwarded to the Government by the Lukiko, but it was found that the "two-mile zone" had been differently interpreted by different chiefs, and that in many cases people were left within that distance from the shore. Hence the instructions to the District Commissioners above quoted (paragraph 6), which were followed by delimitation of the two-mile zone, and removal of addi- tional inhabitants inland. The sazas of Busiro, Mawakota, and Buddu appear to have been principally affected by the stricter application of the rules. Thus the large islands of Zinga (Busiro) and Bunjako (Mawakota) were found to be entirely within the two-mile zone from the open lake (they were separated from the mainland by fields of papyrus) and were evacuated by all their inhabitants. In Buddu it appears that the peninsula of Bujaju was similarly depopulated a more narrow zone depopulated in 1907, and during 1908, after having had farther south in Buddu, at Sebweru, Namirembe, Bale, and Dumo the population was removed from villages one-half mile or more removed from the foreshore, but
* Instructions from the Governor to the District Commissioner, 3rd March, 1908. No. 588/08.
t Despatch No. 218, paragraph 42.
Despatch No. 218, paragraph 49.
The italics are mine.-W.F.F.
S.M.P.
Il Despatch No. 197, 9th December, 1907, from His Majesty's Commissioner to the Right
Honourable the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, etc., etc. (No. 1 in Miscellaneous No. 224.)
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within the two-mile limit.* But by the end of 1908 the whole Buganda shore appears to have been depopulated for fully two miles from the water, except at authorized landings.
Depopulation of the Island Sazas of Sesse and Buvuma,
10. The remarks quoted in paragraph 8, it will have been noted, applied only to the mainland, and, if depopulation of the two-mile zone could properly be con- sidered a drastic measure, that of the islands was drastic in the extreme. Two entire sazas were involved which possessed more individuality than any others in the Province or even in the Protectorate. They were home and country to races of people who spoke each its own dialect and whose customs, traditions, modes of life, and methods of gaining a livelihood were moulded to fit the unique and highly attractive regions they occupied.
11. It was not considered practicable to extend the depopulation measures to include these sazas until, in March, 1909, their saza chiefs agreed to do so. The Regents wrote to the Provincial Commissioner, under date of 9th March, as follows:-
12.
"We beg to inform you that the saza chiefs Kweba and Mbubit and all their islanders have agreed to leave the islands and come to the main- land on account of the sleeping sickness. Colonel Bruce told us that if all the people leave the islands for three years the sleeping sickness would be all gone, so we asked the chiefs and they consented to do so. We beg of you, if you would be kind enough to forward this our matter to the Chief Secretary to the Government, so that he may understand that the people on the islands are willing to leave them and go back when the sleeping sick- ness is over. We quite agree with their assent, and we acknowledge that we wish very much all the people would leave the islands."
On the 12th April the saza chiefs, in joint letter to the Regents, wrote
as follows:
"We have arranged this serious matter of quitting our country, the We islands, on account of the sleeping sickness, which would kill all of us. are willing to move, but there are some questions about which we have great anxiety and would request you to ask His Excellency the Governor to do them for us.
(1) We agree to move, but how long shall it be before we go back to our country? Is it certain that when sleeping sickness has come to an end we shall return to the islands?"
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*
*
13. In reply, the Provincial Commissioner wrote:-
"His Excellency the Acting Governor states that you should inform Kweba and Mbubi that it is at present impossible to make any definite promise as to when the islanders will be permitted to return to their homes, but as soon as the islands are considered to be absolutely safe of infection by sleeping sickness they will be allowed to do so, and anything in the nature The natives of an agreement signed by the Governor appears unnecessary. should clearly understand that moving the islanders is for their own good and that of the country."
*
14.
*
Arrangements were made on this basis, and depopulation effected--but only a small part of the Basesse and none of the Bavuma (except thirty-four) had left before 1st July of that year. The islanders were, naturally, extremely loath to leave. Many of the Basesse demurred, and most of the Bavuma, and moral pressure had to be accompanied by force in some instances. Many refused to move until their huts were burnt by their own chiefs, and "the noise made by the people' on Bavuma was very great." By August the movement was on in earnest, and by October had practically been completed, but it was found necessary to destroy or sequestrate all canoes before the people could be reconciled to remain upon the mainland.
*I have been unable as yet to secure full data concerning the details of depopulation in Buddu. This is the native account of it. Despatch from the District Commissioner, Masaka, to the Provin- cial Commissioner, Hongo, shows that Sebweru, Bukakata, Namirembe, and Dumo were occupied to some extent as late as January, 1908.
+ Of Sesse and Buvuma respectively.