Apolo Kagwa

Apolo Kagwa (* 1869 ; † February 21, 1927 in Nairobi , Kenya ) was a Bugandi politician and ethnographer .

Kagwa served at the court of the Kabakas Mutesa and Mwanga II and became Prime Minister ( Katikiro ) of Buganda under Mwanga in 1890 . As a result of the Ugandan religious conflicts , there was also a Catholic Katikiro in addition to the Protestant Kagwa with Stanislaus Mugwanya since 1892 .

In January 1897 it was among others Kagwa who reported Gabriel Kintu to the British authorities, which triggered the unsuccessful rebellion Mwanga against the British. Since Daudi Chwa II, appointed by the British as Mwanga's successor, was only one year old, Kagwa took over the official duties in Buganda with Mugwanya and Zakaria Kizito Kisingiri . In this role he was also involved in the formulation of the Buganda Agreement , which reorganized the land situation in Buganda and which greatly benefited him by being awarded 78 km² of land. In the following years he continued to work closely with the British and campaigned for the modernization of agriculture and the creation of an education system. His defense of the privileges of the Bakungu brought him increasingly in opposition to the British administration as well as to the Kabaka. He held the post of Prime Minister until 1926 when he resigned because of a relatively minor conflict in which he was overlooked in his authority by the British administration.

After Christian missionaries began their work in Uganda, Kagwa converted to the Anglican faith early and was active in the Church Missionary Society (CMS). He was also one of the leading figures during the construction of the Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala .

For the coronation ceremony of Edward VII in 1901, Kagwa traveled with his secretary Ham Mukasa , who wrote a report in Luganda about this trip that was tailored to the interests of the native Baganda , for whom Europe was a distant unknown country.

In 1905 he was named Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George .

literature

• Ham Mukasa: Uganda's Katikiro in England: Being the Official Account of His Visit to the Coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII. Translated by Ernest Millar, Hutchinson, London 1904.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Honorary Knights and Dames at Leigh Rayment's Peerage