Ethnicity, Christianity, and the Development of Social Stratification in Colonial

Ankole, Uganda
Author(s): Martin R. Doornbos
Source: The International Journal of African Historical Studies , 1976, Vol. 9, No. 4
(1976), pp. 555-575
Published by: Boston University African Studies Center

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ETHNICITY, CHRISTIANITY,
AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN
COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA

Martin R. Doornbos

Analysts of social change in Africa frequently focus on colonial

intervention as the major catalyst in the process of structural
transformation, first describing the precolonial situation, then con-
trasting it with subsequent developments. All too often, however, these
efforts have been limited to only one of two purposes. One considers the
distinctive characteristics or cultural attributes of a particular society,
supposedly rooted in tradition, which the researcher traces through the
colonial period and beyond in order to document how change has been
mediated and accommodated in that particular case. The continuity of
culture is a theme which has long been pervasive in much of the
anthropological and historical literature on single African societies
incorporated into colonial frameworks. The other perspective is
different and disregards much of the detail. Again colonial intervention
is treated as a major watershed, but in this case African societies are seen
as molded to the image, or shaped by the intention, of the colonizing
power into either modernizing states or the exploited reservoirs of
human and material resources. The stress is on the force and
consequences of colonialism and imperialism rather than on what is
distinctive or culturally specific. Tradition becomes a residual categor
Detailed sociopolitical features of a particular people may scarcely figu
in the analysis of change, or may be considered separately from outsi
influences, leaving ambiguous how colonial processes impinged upon
and transformed social structures.
These differences are matters of emphasis, related in part to
disciplinary traditions, in part to other kinds of preferences. But as points
of view they can illuminate one set of conditions and eclipse another. In

The International Journal o'f Afican Historical Studies, IX, 4 (1976) 555

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556 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

this paper I try to understand the processes of change that colonialism

provoked, but my main interest is the effects colonial arrangements had
on the formation of sociopolitical groups in a particular society, that of
Ankole District in western Uganda. I am therefore concerned with
change rather than continuity, and with examining its specific
repercussions in the Ankole sociopolitical context, hopefully without
losing sight of more widespread effects of the European presence. Since
the early 1900s Ankole had been subject to the familiar strains and
impacts that followed the imposition of European colonialism, but in
this case the general pattern showed a peculiar variation: during the
formative stages of the new order, ethnicity and Christianity were
juxtaposed to create a three-tiered ethnic-religious pecking order which
largely met the purposes of colonial control.
Colonialism was formalized with the Ankole Agreement of 1901,
which was signed by the British and by the Omugabe (king) and principal
chiefs of the new kingdom-district. The nucleus of Ankole District was
the old Nkore kingdom, but conquest and annexation, especially at the
expense of its neighbor and rival, Mpororo, swelled Ankole to several
times the size of the original territory. In Ankole, as in Nkore, the
population was basically divided between Bairu and Bahima. The latter, a
numerical minority (they comprise about five percent of present-day
Ankole, although originally they were a much larger group) are
pastoralists, while the Bairu majority are primarily engaged in agri-
culture. The occupational pursuits of the two groups required concentra-
tion in different ecological areas, and were also reflected in contrasting
modes of sociopolitical organization. The Bahima raised (and raided)
cattle, activities which involved a more explicit and territorially more
extended sociopolitical network than farming. They were governed by a
system of chiefs who ruled over particular domains; the Nkore kingship
was essentially a Bahima affair. The Bahima also enjoyed a certain power
advantage in relation to the Bairu communities, which by and large
lacked such a chiefly structure.
Nkore hardly represented an example of an ethnic hierarchy,
however. In a provisional typology of ethnic-group contacts based on
different forms of ecological interdependence, Barth distinguishes,
among other types, between situations in which two or more groups
"may occupy clearly distinct niches in the natural environment and be in
minimal competition for resources, [in which case] their interdepen-
dence will be limited despite co-residence in the area, and the articulation
will tend to be mainly through trade, and perhaps in a ceremonial-ritual
sector," on the one hand, and on the other, situations in which "they
may monopolize separate territories, in which case they are in

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 557

competition for resources and their articulation will involve politics

along the border, and possibly other sectors."1 By virtue of its different
and minimally competitive modes of subsistence, the Nkore case
approximated the first definition, although the territorial concentration
of Bairu and Bahima added an element of the second. But unlike a third
Barth category, in which "they also compete and accommodate through
differential monopolization of the means of production,... [entailing] a
close political and economic articulation, with open possibilities for
other forms of interdependence as well,"2 political articulation was
largely confined to an intra-Bahima context and largely addressed to
intra-Bahima objectives. Bahima chiefs played a leading role in these
political interactions, although they did not necessarily rule directly over
the Bairu. The assumption that, dominated by Bahima, Nkore politics
governed Bairu and Bahima alike has been at the root of many
misunderstandings, including the one implicit in the design colonial
architects imposed on the society. All qualifications aside, one can say
basically that two communities existed side by side and in close contact,
but that the Bahima had a more articulated and recognizable political
organization and elite than the Bairu.3
Notwithstanding a semblance of indirect rule and institutional
continuity, colonization in the Ankole case, as elsewhere in Uganda,
meant the establishment of a colonial administrative state. This in turn
implied the creation of a new chiefly elite whose sociopolitical status was
derived from, and defined by, the colonial framework. By virtue of the
franchise4 and benefits granted to them and in the absence of alternative
ranking criteria, the new chiefs assumed a strategic position which made
them a privileged stratum and a local ruling class. This resulted in some
peculiar regroupings in Ankole, one of which was either an historical
misconception or a deliberate strategy: a disproportionate number of

'F. Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture
Difference (Bergen, Oslo, and London, 1969), introduction, 19.
21bid., 20.
3See further my article, "Images and Reality of Stratification in Precolonial Nkore,"
Canadian Journal of African Studies, VII, 3 (1973).
4The concept of franchise may help to solve an apparent contradiction between
external control and colonial authoritarianism on the one hand and the existence of
extensive chiefly powers on the other. Colonial domination in many parts of the world was
maintained, and perhaps largely had the impact it had, as a result of certain formulas for
government and administration. While its execution lay in the hands of local individuals
and groups, strict adherence to the formula was continuously demanded. Among other
things, this gave the system its near-universalistic quality and made the pattern of
organization roughly comparable to that of, for example, the Roman Catholic Church or
some multinational corporations.

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558 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

Bahima were recruited into the senior ranks of the new leaders. Entailed
was a self-implementing hypothesis: that historically Nkore had been
based on an ethnic hierarchy, with Bahima at the top and Bairu at the
bottom. This in turn gave rise to ethnic friction, as Bairu began to
question the basis on which political rewards were allocated. Further
differentiation among Bairu and Bahima complicated the pattern; over
time a division grew between Protestants and Roman Catholics among
the Bairu, and between a new chiefly elite and the pastoralists among
Bahima. Together these tendencies drastically changed the nature of
Ankole sociopolitical relationships.

The Displacement of the Bahinda Elite

The establishment of the colonial structure was accompanied by a

struggle for influence on a clan basis between groups aspiring to
positions of privilege. The Bahinda were Nkore's royal clan; they held
exclusive title to the kingship and to various senior chieftainships. The
Bashambo were the royal clan of the neighboring kingdom of Mpororo,
parts of which were incorporated into Ankole at the time of British
intervention.5 Both were Bahima clans which were similarly related to
the Bairu populations in their respective areas. During the nineteenth
century the Bashambo had ruled various other areas which came under
the suzerainty of Nkore, and thus were of some significance in the
expanded Ankole district. The death of Omugabe Ntare V of Nkore in
1895 resulted in complex interplay and rivalry among Bahinda, among
Bashambo, and between the two clans.
The arrival of a colonial administration necessitated considerable
accommodation on the part of the senior chiefs, mostly Bahinda. In 1901
shortly before the Ankole Agreement was signed, the Enganzi, or
principal chief of Nkore, was a Mushambo, Nuwa Mbaguta.6 The Brit
found Mbaguta cooperative, interested in innovation, and eager to follow
their instructions, and with their backing he shrewdly asserted h
power. An outsider to the royal clan of Ankole, Mbaguta was keen
curtail traditional Bahinda influence; furthermore, as a key contact m
of the British he had several opportunities in this respect. The tradition
chiefs were incorporated into an administrative command system wh
imposed specific duties and considerably restricted their exercise o
authority. The Bahinda chiefs soon felt that bureaucratic control w

5See H.F. Morris, "The Kingdom of Mpororo," Uganda Journal, 19 (1955), 204-207;
Morris, A History of Ankole (Kampala, 1962), 17-22.
6F. Lukyn Williams, "Nuwa Mbaguta, Nganzi of Ankole," Uganda Journal, 10 (19
196-208.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 559

encroaching too far on their powers, and their reactions varied from
reluctance to resistance. Early in the 1900s this resentment culminated in
a series of incidents. While to date Ankole historiography has been
surprisingly inexplicit about these episodes, their significance is
evidenced by the flight of most of the Bahinda aristocracy, who feared
punitive sanctions by Mbaguta and the British. Some of the positions
which their departure left empty were taken up by Bashambo and other
Bahima, and various chieftainships were filled by Baganda especially
recruited by Mbaguta. The elimination of the Bahinda stratum thus
clearly effected an important change in the traditional political structure.
Had the Bahinda retained their influence in Ankole, intensified conflict
over conceptions of authoritative institutions might have marked the
extension of colonial rule. As it was, the British administrative design for
Ankole did not encounter effective opposition after the initial abortive
resistance.

Ethnic Composition of the Senior Chieftainships

The Bahinda displacement had considerable implications for the

staffing of positions. This is reflected in data on the administrative
establishment in Ankole, particularly of the county and subcounty
chieftainships. For many years these chieftainships (which were
appointive administrative offices, notwithstanding the connotations of
the title) have been locally considered of key importance because of the
power and status commonly attached to them. Staffing data indicate
many mutations during the early colonial years, and, although the data
are not systematic, they nevertheless show the pattern of composition
on which the appointments were based.
In a sense, the first staff list was the 1901 Ankole Agreement, whose
signatories on the Ankole side were the Omugabe and ten senior chiefs,
for each of whom a subdivision was marked out. Of these ten chiefs,
nine were Bahinda or other Bahima; the identity of the tenth is
uncertain.7 At the beginning of the colonial era, therefore, the chiefly
hierarchy of the expanded district was overwhelmingly Bahima-
dominated. During the first years of the colonial presence, however, all
but three senior chiefs in charge of counties were displaced, thus
reflecting the eclipse of the traditional Bahinda ruling stratum discussed
earlier. The three who were unaffected were Ruhara, the county chief of

7See D.A. Low, "The Establishment of British Administration: Two Examples from
Uganda, 1900-1902," East African Institute of Social Research Conference Paper Number 3
(Kampala, 1956).

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560 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

Rwampara; Ndibarema, the traditional claimant to the chieftainship of

Buhweju; and the Enganzi Mbaguta, who administered Shema, Kashari,
and Ngarama. New chiefs were appointed between 1901 and 1907 in all
other counties which constituted Ankole at the time, namely, Mitoma,
Bunyaruguru, Igara, Isingiro, Nyabushozi, Buzimba, and Nshara. These
changes clearly indicate an early and major reconstitution of Ankole's
political-administrative elite. However, the ethnic basis of its composi-
tion was not altered, since the Bairu's lack of involvement tended to be
reinforced by the recruitment of outsiders, mainly Baganda.
An unusually detailed list of chiefs is available for 1907 in an official
report entitled The System of Chieftainship ofAnkole.8 In that year the ten
county chiefs included six Bahima and possibly one Mwiru. In addition,
three Baganda-Abdul Aziz, Nyemera, and Abdul Effendi-had taken
office in Mitoma, Isingiro, and Nshara respectively. Of the six Bahima
only one, Ryamugwizi of Buzimba, was a Muhinda.9 Thus, notwith-
standing the fact that replacements were made soon after the colonial
set-up was introduced, its ethnic composition remained unfavorable to
the Bairu. Although they had had few chiefs in precolonial times, the
majority of Bairu had not been directly subordinate to Bahima chiefs.
Within the expanded Ankole District, the Bairu now found themselves
under the immediate control of colonial chiefs, who were largely
Bahima.
By 1907 steps had been taken to further subdivide administrative tasks.
In addition to the county or saza chiefs, the Ankole system of
chieftainships then included subcounty chiefs or batongole (later called
gombolola chiefs, following Kiganda nomenclature), who were seventy-
four in number. The 1907 report lists their ethnic backgrounds as follows:

Bahinda 12
Bahima 30
Bairu 8
Baganda 22
Batoro 2

Batongole Total 74

8System of Chieftainships of Ankole (Kampala, 1907).

9Ibid., 1.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 561

Adding county and subcounty chiefs together, the report arrived at the
following "Summary of Races or Tribes": 10

Mhinda (the Princely Mhima tribe,

to which the Kabaka belongs) 13
Mhima (other than members of the
Mhinda tribe) 35
Mwiro (the peasant race to
majority of the Ankole peo
ple belong) 9
Total of persons of Ankole Extraction 57

Mganda 25
Mutoro 2

Total of persons of Alien Extraction 27

The System of Chieftainship of Ankole thus provides an illuminatin

picture of the staffing situation shortly after the establishment of Britis
rule. The Bahima (including Bahinda) preponderance is evident.
Nonetheless, only a few years after the creation of Ankole as an
administrative unit, almost one-third of the chieftaincies had been filled
by people from elsewhere. Moreover, the report indicates that it was
primarily the Bahinda county chiefs who were displaced, whereas among
the subcounty chiefs Bahinda still retained a fairly large representation.
Finally, it shows that the Bairu, who probably formed ninety percent of
the population, held only nine of eighty-four chiefly positions in Ankole.
Inadequate statistical data make it difficult to analyze the post-1907
chieftaincies. Nevertheless, by considering transfers and appointments
we can deduce the trends in staffing positions of senior chiefs over the
next few decades. In 1922, for instance, when Ruhara was replaced, the
ten county chiefs included nine Bahima and one Muganda. This
continued for the next two decades. By 1942 a slight change had taken
place: the ten county chiefs then included seven Bahima, two Bairu, and
one Muganda. More significant modifications were affecting the
subcounty level. Bairu gombolola chiefs in 1942 numbered thirty-nine, as
against eighteen Bahima, five Baganda, and one "partly Hima."11 The

0l?bid., 5.
"Cited in a letter from the Enganzi to District Commissioner, dated 1 June 1942, which
was written in response to a request for information from the District Commissioner,
addressed to the Enganzi and dated 27 May 1942, who asked: "Please let me have a list of
saza and gombolola chiefs (titles only) who are of (a) pure Hima stock (b) partly Hima (c)
Bairu." This communication indicates an emerging concern of protectorate officials with
the ethnic composition of the chiefly ranks in Ankole. Both letters are located among the
papers of the District Commissioner's Office, Mbarara.

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562 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

proportion of Bairu subcounty chiefs had thus substantially increased,

and the number of Baganda chiefs employed in Ankole government
service had been considerably reduced. The shifts occurred mainly in the
1930s, when repeated complaints about the demeanor of chiefs, Bahima
and Baganda, induced withdrawal policies which tended to be directed
particularly toward the "alien" element. The increase of Bairu in
subcounty chieftainships hence appears to have been primarily due to
vacancies resulting from the retirement of Baganda and only to a lesser
extent to positions that Bahima vacated. However, the Bairu still held far
less influence than was commensurate with their numbers in society:
despite their ninety-percent majority they occupied only thirty-nine of
sixty-three subcounty chieftainships.

Chiefly Recruitment and Colonial Control12

Far from significantly altering or expanding the social basis of
chieftaincy recruitment, colonial rule long perpetuated the ethnically-
restricted composition of the Ankole elite. Basically, the situation was
created by the British, but whether wittingly or unwittingly is not clear.
Both possibilities are plausible and deserve further discussion. If the
British erroneously based their policy on the assumed existence of a rigid
ethnic hierarchy in precolonial Nkore, with Bahima the rulers and Bairu
the ruled, the post-intervention structure was created involuntarily.
Several factors might support this: the fact that British entry was effected
through contact with the Bahima; the difficulty of establishing the
historical meaning, let alone the position, of "Bairu" in Nkore society;13
and possibly the belief that hierarchy and subordination were viable
characteristics of all societies. The fact that four decades later the
distinction between state and stateless systems was received as a major
landmark in the scholarship and understanding of African society might
confirm the long-standing prevalence of the British misconception on
status.14

12This section is adapted from my Regalia Galore: The Decline and Eclipse of Ankole
Kingship (Nairobi, 1975).
'3An intriguing but now virtually unanswerable question is whether any alternative
terminology might have been available around the turn of the century to refer to the
Ankole agricultural population. In that case, a different choice of terms might well have
induced different perceptions of the social structure. For example, if the agriculturalists in,
say, Rwampara or Shema had been more directly involved in the identification of social
categories which were reported in the early literature, they might not have called
themselves Bairu, but rather perhaps Banyarwampara or Banyashema.
14The distinction is the one developed in M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, eds.,
Af/ican Political Systems (London, 1940).

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 563

Nonetheless, the possiblity that the policy of differential ethnic

recruitment in Ankole was deliberate, intended to secure the support of a
strategic section of the population so as to more effectively control the
whole, deserves serious attention in the light of colonial practice
elsewhere in Africa. Examples abound, but in two that were near the
Uganda scene, Burundi and the Sudan, the Belgians and the British
respectively placed members of one section (Batusi and Northerners) in
positions of greater political supremacy over another (Bahutu and
Southerners) than they had known before. In Uganda the point is
illustrated by the employment of Baganda agents to help subjugate and
rule annexed territories, an important ingredient in British control
strategies. Some elements of this policy were even present in Ankole,
although by and large the function of the Baganda chiefs recruited to the
district was supportive of the new Bahima establishment.
These different lines of explanation for the creation of an ethnically-
tiered administration do not necessarily exclude one another: the
establishers of the colonial system in Ankole may have erred in their
grasp of history but may nonetheless have been determined to use ethnic
division as a means of control. Whatever the exact causes and
calculations that intervened, the British clearly put their cards
Bahima as administrators in Ankole. It should be noted that the Bahima
had made a favorable impression on the British: early reporters were
nearly unanimous in their praise for the pastoralists' qualities, calling
them "born gentlemen," "born rulers," or a "superior race." Sir Harry
Johnston expressed his view that "the men of Hima blood are born
gentlemen, and one is so struck with their handsome bearing and
charming manners as to desire ardently that this fine race may not come
to extinction,"15 although no Muhima had asked for the opinion. In the
process, however, a more rigid and divisive ethnic cleavage was created
than had ever existed before; the Bairu had become a subject category,
the Bahima an elite. The policy also provided its own justification: the
appointment of Bahima to the senior chieftainships rested on a self-
implementing hypothesis, namely, that the Ankole polity (implying
precolonial Nkore) had "always" been so constituted. In this manner a
myth about the past was created and allowed to mold the present. The

lSSir Harry Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate,. II (London, 1902), 630. There was one
exception to this tendency, although the view concerned was as manifestly unfounded as
the praise bestowed on the Bahima. Before coming to Ankole, J. Willis reflected, "What
one hears of the natives, who are Bahima by race [sic], is not to their credit: they seem to
be an idle and untrustworthy people; one hears the same report from all sources. So we
shall need much prayer." Willis Journal, unpublished document located in the Africana
section, Makerere University Library, Kampala, I, 101 (1901).

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564 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

appointments soon obliterated any traces to the contrary; not only did
the Bahima come to be seen as the traditional chiefs, they were accepted
as having traditionally been involved with and in control of the Bairu
communities. The persuasiveness of the theory can be gathered from the
subsequent literature; most writers have accepted it as fact and
proceeded accordingly. On the other side, Bairu inevitably were able to
obtain only the lower ranks of the chiefly hierarchy for many years, a
situation which the withdrawal of the Bahinda chiefs and the subsequent
new recruitment did nothing to change. Instead, the staffing of these
positions with other Bahima and with Baganda served to confirm the
Bairu's apparent ineligibility.
The significance of these arrangements should be measured not
merely by the prerequisites and the status which these offices entailed,
however important they were to the individuals concerned and their
retinues. In the context of colonial Uganda they meant primarily the
power to control others, even if it was kept within the bounds of formal
jurisdiction. Throughout most of the colonial period this power extended
over areas as wide as the notion of law and order could be stretched,
implying broad and pervasive domination over large population groups.
But when power is exercised largely by members of one ethnic group
over another, severe implications for the structure of society necessarily
result.
The records show that the Bahima establishment was given a fair
amount of leeway in matters of recruitment, and that Mbaguta's role was
especially influential.16 Nor could this have been otherwise. During the
early phases of British occupation, colonial officers inevitably experi-
enced acute problems in identifying alternative and meritorious
candidates. Consequently, the pattern approximated one of co-optation,
with the tacit approval of British officials. The Bahima elite could thus
feel that they were in control, as in a sense they were, but what they little
realized (with the possible exception of some of the Bahinda who opted
out) was that this control was in itself a means of control for other
objectives, those of British colonialism.
Such an approach to colonial administration through franchise
required a minimum of overseas investment and personnel, and was in
that sense effective and economical. But its low expenditure was more

16In the 1930s these powers were virtually institutionalized. A frequent entry under
"Reasons for Selection" on forms then used in connection with the appointment and
dismissal of chiefs read "Recommended by Omugabe and his advisers." These
recommendations- were discussed and formulated in meetings of the county chiefs and the
Omugabe, in which Mbaguta played a key role.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 565

than offset by the social costs inflicted upon the society. The policy o
indirect rule in the Ankole context meant that one section of the
population was set over and against the rest, creating a profound and
lasting divisiveness which negatively affected sociopolitical relation-
ships. And while the costs of colonial administration were thus
internalized, the colonial power ironically was placed in the role of
arbiter of local disputes. During the terminal colonial period the
opposing groups presented their grievances about each other to British
officials and institutions, not fully realizing that the pattern of their
conflicts resulted largely from the way in which colonial policies had
been introduced. Ankole (and much of Uganda, for that matter) might
well have emerged as a more unified society had the British more
directly undertaken the tasks of colonial administration.

Colonial Policy and Emergent Elite Interests

In addition to creating and ethnically-selectively staffing novel

positions, the colonial system stimulated new and active interests in
these offices and in the fringe benefits they entailed. The effect was to
deepen the division between Bahima and Bairu in Ankole, not only
because the senior chiefs were eager to keep their sinecures, but also
because various benefits were obtained at the cost of the population.
This added another dimension to the colonial social framework, the
significance of which is hard to overrate.
Under colonial rule, the Bahima elite were granted a number of
privileges, the most important of which were laid down in the Ankole
Agreement. Chieftaincy itself was a key prerogative, but the British also
allowed the Bahima chiefs to collect taxes and to employ labor. This not
only enhanced their political powers, but significantly promoted their
economic welfare. Tax and labor dues from the Bairu were quite
considerable and were often used for personal enrichment. Last but not
least, the distribution of mailo land-a term adopted from Buganda,
where mailo had developed as the local expression for the square miles of
land allocated in even greater numbers to the new elite there-similarly
tended to accentuate the social and economic gap between the Bahima
and the Bairu.
Mailo policy is a good example of how group interests were created
through the grant of colonial benefits.17 It helped confirm the colonial
framework, and in the process initiated profound divisions within the

17See my "Land Tenure and Political Conflict in Ankole, Uganda," Journal of

Development Studies, 12, 1 (Oct. 1975).

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566 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

society. Parallel policies of taxation, of labor requisition, and of

recruitment to chiefly positions produced similar effects. Together they
stimulated interest in newly defined, though scarce, resources, and
caused those who had access to them to define themselves as members
of a privileged group. Their interests and orientations were not in the
beginning centered on ownership of any means of production, as the
term has commonly been defined in the Western situation and in
Marxist terminology. But they were oriented toward the control of
important resources, extracted from society to maintain the colonial
state and with a key bearing on stratification. In that sense, the interests
were early but clear expressions of a growing class awareness emerging
among those who had come to occupy the strategic ranks in the colonial
bureacracy at a local level.
Their nascent consciousness of a privileged position had another
effect, however, one which in an ethnically divided society such as
Ankole had to be pronounced. The structured superiority of Bahima
chiefs led to arrogance and to assumptions of Bairu backwardness and
inferiority which increasingly colored social relationships in Ankole
society. The newly gained status, the close exposure to colonial practices,
education, and religion, and the praise and admiration of early European
visitors all contributed to the Bahima elite's view that they constituted a
select few.18 Bahima chiefs tended to extend their precolonial experi-
ences with Bairu servants (often the only Bairu with whom they had
been in close and continuous touch) to the Bairu communities as a
whole, where their contacts had been far less. These tendencies appear to
have led to a changing use of the term Bairu, which stressed its low-
status, serf-like connotations even when applied to the agricultural
population as a whole.19 Bahima stereotypes of Bairu as unclean,
ignorant, and unable to perform worthy tasks spread throughout the
Bahima ranks, derogatory terms regarding the Bairu population in-

18This posture was of critical significance in generating Bairu grievances with the
system. To many Bairu, Bahima arrogance toward them was more objectionable than their
preponderance in official posts.
19The following comment by Johnston might be noted here, notwithstanding the
generally low reliability of this author and his erroneous understanding of "mixed Bairu
clans" and their designations: "The word 'Bairo' is apparently the Hima designation of
those whom the proud Hamitic invaders regard as their slaves.... Amongst themselves
the Bairo, who are divided into numerous clans, take the names of Basita, Ngando,
Basambo, Baitera, Bayondo, Abagaihe, Bawago, Bashikoto, Balisi, Bachawa, and Barendi,
though all these clans have now become so mixed as to be fused generally under the
common race-name of Bairo." Johnston, Uganda Protectorate, 607.

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 SOCIAL STRATICACATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 567

creased, and the infrequent intermarriages, previously limited because

they were impractical, became morally taboo. In this way Ankole society
institutionalized this dimension of social cleavage.

Education, Religion, and Elite Differentiation

In addition to its central vertical axis, an elite's configuration

comprises several more or less specific aspects which derive largely from
a society's historical processes. Among the major factors in Ankole's
elite formation we have noted the displacement of the Bahinda as a key
political variable by another basically Bahima ruling group; the ethnic
basis of the staffing of Ankole's senior administrative ranks, which
continued for half a century, and its implications in terms of colonial
policy; and the articulation of interests as well as a consciousness which
typically accompanies the rise of a new class. The particular orientation
and sociopolitical position of the Ankole establishment were also
significantly shaped by the impact of Western education and religion.
In Ankole, as in other parts of Africa, education and religion were
closely related. Schools were founded by church agencies, and from their
common source these two arms of Western influence spread hand in
hand.20 In addition, missionary activities were closely tied with the
colonial enterprise and were even considered by some to be its
justification; moreover, the colonial administration was largely depen-
dent on mission schools for training its African recruits and familiarizing
them with clerical skills. But while these policies and relationships were
common to African situations and the colonial world, in Ankole they
added further complexity to prevailing social cleavages. In a sense,
religion produced another ethnicity, while formal education added one
more basis for entry into the elite. The two factors could reinforce or
reduce the existing juxtaposition of ethnic status variables; in the end
they did both, the difference being a matter of phases. Protestant
education bolstered the position of the Bahima elite for at least half a
century. At the end of that time, however, the extensive schooling which
the Bairu enjoyed and the minimal impact of education on the rank-and-
file Bahima deprived the Bahima elite of their intellectual lead, and they
found their position becoming increasingly isolated.
Religion again initially strengthened the position of the Bahima elite,
who opted for wholesale conversion to Protestantism (the administra-
tion's favored denomination), while the Bairu were divided into

20The establishment of schools and churches was often a concurrent undertaking.

Nonetheless, the generalization is sometimes advanced in Ankole that in the early colonial
period Protestants began with schools and Roman Catholics with churches.

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568 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

Protestants and Roman Catholics.21 Since Bairu Catholics were rather

more numerous and generally had little chance of administrative
employment, any potential challenge to the Bahima ruling class was
temporarily minimized by the division, as the Bairu were not likely to
form a common front against them. But the Protestantism that the
Bahima elite and almost half the Bairu shared proved an ineffective basis
of support; in the end, it was primarily the Protestant Bairu who
challenged the role of the Bahima elite.
The qualities required of chiefs during the first years of colonial rule
may serve as a convenient starting point for a better appreciation of
these factors. Formal educational background, hardly available at the
time, did not count heavily, being at best one of several criteria
employed in the selection of candidates for chiefly positions. The chiefs
played a key role as the major instrument of command and communica-
tion between colonial officials and the people; barazas or public
gatherings were the characteristic medium. Chiefs were appointed to
maintain order and to ensure compliance with government directives in
their areas. Hence they were especially assessed on their capacity to
command obedience: the ideal chief was at once a strong potentate, an
effective conciliator, and a skillful manipulator of local allegiance and
sentiment. Such qualities were expected to ensure that political
tranquility was maintained, taxes levied, and the population mobilized in
orderly fashion for agriculture, road building, and other labor duties.
As time passed, however, the administrative apparatus grew far more
intricate than the system which had established the colonial presence in
the district. Not only were the roles of chiefs differentiated, but more
and more reliance was placed on specialized officers to fulfill an
increasing number of tasks. The nature of the operation became that of a
bureaucratic organization, in which administrative norms and clerical
proficiency were necessarily stressed. In time, therefore, chiefs of all but
the lowest ranks, far from being lordly power holders, had to run offices
and work their way through an unabating flow of routine correspon-

21In addition, a Muslim minority developed largely through the proselytizing efforts of
Baganda traders. However, this conversion was not only religious but in most cases also
involved a change of ethnic identity. Most Baganda traders who came to Ankole were
Muslims, and, although they were limited through a lack of funds and schooling facilities
compared to the Protestant and Catholic missions, for many years they were able to
sustain a steady proselytization into Islam. Islam and Baganda were closely identified,
which meant that almost all Banyankore who became Muslims also "became" Baganda;
once they embraced the faith, they adopted a Kiganda name, dress, and even speech.
Today the number of Muslims in Ankole is well over ten thousand, but only a few
hundred adhere to Islam and at the same time identify as Banyankore.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 569

dence, reports, and other documents. This tendency, which peaked

during the terminal colonial period, was evident in Ankole as much as in
other parts of Uganda. The chiefs' functions changed markedly,
requiring drastically different qualifications. Familiarity with reporting
procedures, filing systems, and bylaw regulations were more useful skills
than the whys and hows of traditional communal behavior. Mission
schools generally provided the basic education needed for these
changing roles; the curricula of the (Protestant) Native Anglican Church
schools were considered especially close to the administration's
requirements.
Thus the intensity and average length of chiefs' school experience
increased. We can chart the rise in formal educational qualifications of
senior Ankole chiefs, which ran from one or two years of schooling in
the early 1900s to two or three times as much some decades later. But
even that would be only one way of describing their changing
characteristics and position. More telling perhaps is the fact that in 1907
chiefs were listed according to the head of cattle they possessed, while
later categorizations were made in terms of years of school attendance.22
The former criterion stressed wealth and power, the latter clerical
proficiency and bureaucratic acumen as a basis of ranking. This contrast
suggests at least one important way in which the system had changed.
Significantly, the Bahima elite, whose incorporation into the colonial
framework had been largely based on qualities of the wealth and status
variety, had been able to make the transition by acquiring the requisite
administrative skills. That they continued to hold their positions for so
long is even more remarkable when we consider not only the spread of
colonial education and the new skills among the Bairu majority, but the
fact that the elite represented only a small segment of the Bahima, who
were themselves a minority. Bahima domination during the first half of
the twentieth century was in fact maintained by a surprisingly small
chiefly class. Beyond the basic colonial support and their own efforts to
perpetuate their tenure, the explanation appears to lie in their early
educational advantages.

22 The System of Chieftainship of Ankole in 1907 differentiated between chiefs on the

basis of the size of their cattle ownership in addition to their ethnicity. Thus, most chiefs
were listed as owning a few dozen or even a few hundred head of cattle; several had over a
thousand head. In contrast, for example, one of the key classifications in the 1955 survey
on which East African Chiefs was based ranked the Ankole chiefs in terms of the number
of years of educational experience. While most had two or more years of primary
education, several had secondary school qualifications. See D. J. Stenning, "The
Nyankole," in A. I. Richards, ed., East African Chiefs (London, 1959).

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570 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

Since its opening in 1911, the Protestant Mbarara High School was the
nfain training ground of Ankole's elite. During the crucial first few years
of its existence (crucial in terms of administrative recruitment of
students), over seventy-five percent of the student body was Bahima,
eight percent Baganda, and the remainder Abambari and Bairu.23 Many
of these early students gained high positions, thus giving the Bahima a
strong buttress. Earlier still, other Bahima had attended Mengo High
School near Kampala, and some Bahima students continued to Buddo
College for extended education.
In considering this advantage, we must bear in mind that Bahima
parents were generally better able to pay the school fees than were Bairu.
Apart from taxes, school fees probably constituted the major item of
cash expenditure for the local population at that time, and the ability to
pay them also determined who would finally be eligible for administra-
tive employment. Even with little monetization during the early part of
the century, cattle ownership commanded a better bargaining position in
this respect than reliance on subsistence crops. The Bahima who were
salaried chiefs had even less trouble making the payments.
But even these economic advantages were not sufficient to ensure
Bahima school enrollment. This was in fact rather difficult to achieve,
because many of Ankole's pastoralists showed pronounced indifference,
at times verging on resistance, toward formal education. School routine
conflicted with Bahima views on what constituted relevant education,
with the tasks of cattle husbandry, and with diet.24 Their lead in
educational qualifications was due mainly to enforced school attendance,
in particular of the sons of chiefs. The Enganzi, Mbaguta, is remembered
partly for having pressed the chiefs and other notables to send their
children to school, even to the extent of detailing an askari to fetch
them. In addition, Mbaguta himself paid the fees of quite a large number
of students, including a few Bairu. The basis was thus laid for prolonging
the Bahima establishment during colonial times; many Bahima who
attended Mbarara High School in the 1910s later staffed the Ankole
government, and a few were influential even until the 1970s. At the same
time, however, the position of the Bahima elite became increasingly
tenuous.

People in Ankole often argue that the Bahima deliberately tried

slow down Bairu social development to maintain their own politica

23Based on an analysis of the register of Mbarara High School by Richard Kaijuk

collaboration with the author.
24See S. R. Karugire, A History of the Kingdom of Nkore in Western Uganda to 1896
(London, 1971), 41.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 571

supremacy. They reputedly discouraged the Bairu from seeking ad-

vanced education and discriminated against them in the allocation of
school bursaries. Nevertheless, the spread of education virtually ensured
that the non-elite Bairu in time would outdo the Bahima in educational
attainment and in the long run would lay claim to the majority of
administrative positions. Schooling was thus again of considerable
significance. However, the ethnic basis of elite recruitment was not to be
changed without problems, and the friction that later ensued made this
transition a critical landmark in Ankole's development.25
The education and occupational experiences of the Bahima elite had
yet another significant effect: a cultural reorientation which caused a
growing social distance between them and the pastoral Bahima, the
majority of whom were uninterested in the educational facilities
introduced during colonialism. Only during the last decade or so have
these attitudes begun to change, partly due to the proselytizing efforts of
the Protestant Balokole sect, which in Ankole finds its adherents mainly
among Bahima.26 Previously the distinction between the chiefs, some
clergy, and others who occupied high positions on the basis of
educational skills and the majority of Bahima pastoralists was considera-
ble. Basic differences were involved not only in educational standards
but in life styles and orientations deriving from settled versus semi-
nomadic existence, and above all from quite different occupational
involvements.
This division did not give rise to antagonistic or otherwise clearly
separated groups, however. In this sense it differed from, for example,
the division between the urban-based Fulani Gida and the cattle Fulani
in the northern parts of Nigeria. In Ankole the two groups maintained
closer relationships than was true among the Fulani, whose diverse
occupational patterns were of course also of much longer standing. The
Bahima elite continued to demonstrate great affection for the pastoral
life. Even today, most are still cattle owners and when on leave try to
spend some time around the cattle kraals. It is not unusual for high-
ranking Bahima to devote themselves to pastoralism after retirement.
The Omugabe of Ankole retired to his cattle ranch when his position was
abolished in 1967, for example, and other Bahima chiefs have done the
same, at times practicing new methods of animal husbandry. During the

25See further my "Kumanyana and Rwenzuru: Two Responses to Ethnic Inequality,"

in R. I. Rotberg and Ali A. Mazrui, eds., Protest and Power in Black Africa (New York, 1970).
26D. J. Stenning, "Preliminary Observations on the Balokole Movement Particularly
among the Bahima in Ankole District," East African Institute of Social Reasearch
Conference Paper (Kampala, Jan. 1958).

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572 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

early colonial years it was even more common for Bahima chiefs to
continue active involvement in cattle keeping as an adjunct to their
office.
This involvement in pastoralism, even if only intermittent, gave the
elite a continued sense of affinity with the wider Bahima community.
Interestingly, Runyankore, the language of Ankole, has not introduced
terms with which to distinguish between the two groups of Bahima, thus
tending to confirm the continuation of a shared identity. Yet the
endurance of these links could not close the gap between them. The elite
often expressed regret that they had lost "control" or "guidance" over
the pastoralists and were disappointed, perhaps a little embarrassed, that
the latter kept trekking through Ankole, Buganda, and beyond,
unresponsive to their suggestions for adaptation and change.
The differential social development among the Bahima had profound
implications, which were essentially two-pronged. On the one hand, the
economic wealth represented by cattle ownership continued to provide
social and political security, to the Bahima generally and in particular to
its elite:27 the Bahima elite-mass relationships which developed during
colonial times were unusual in that they did not really involve the
juxtaposition of a rich and an impoverished section. In that sense the
pastoralists were a support rather than a burden to the elite. Nor were
they economically exploited as the concept is commonly understood;
pronounced and antagonistic socioeconomic dependency relations
tended to develop between the Bahima elite and Bairu peasants rather
than with Bahima herdsmen. On the other hand, the Bahima elite were
drawn from a minority of the population, and the disinterest shown by
most Bahima in Western-type education and jobs limited the possibility
of further recruitment.
There was thus a certain logic to the affiliation of the elite with the
pastoralists, and the lack of serious conflict of economic interest between
the two Bahima groups. But it was not sufficient to rejuvenate and
prolong the elite's tenure, which increasingly demanded social and
administrative orientations to which the Bahima as a whole did not
subscribe.

27Yet the security derived from this base was vulnerable to some erosion, and might in
fact have caused the Bahima to lose their lead as a result of the pastoralists' non-
involvement in the cash economy. For example, for years administrative efforts to
stimulate a ghee (butter) industry among the Bahima failed due to their disinclination to
sell this product. Awareness of a possible encroachment on their economic advantages
perhaps was indicated by the Bahima elite's reproaches to Bairu who in the late 1920s
undertook to sell milk in Mbarara.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 573

Finally, the position of Ankole's Bahima elite was also determined by

the inroads of Western religion. From the early years of colonial rule
onward, administrative positions in Ankole tended to be filled by
Protestants rather than Roman Catholics. Protestantism became known
as the king's religion in Ankole; in more than one sense it was also the
colonial government's religion. Without exception, all Bahima county
and subcounty chiefs were Protestant, and marked preference was
shown toward Protestants in the recruitment of non-Bahima chiefs.
Whether a condition or a consequence of this bias, liaison between the
requirements of the administration and the curriculum of Protestant
schools was very close. As a result, throughout the colonial era
Protestants on the Ankole district administrative staff were greatly
disproportionate to their numbers among the population at large.28
This is partly explained by the way in which Christianity made its
entry into Ankole society. Virtually all converted Bahima became
Protestants, joining the Native Anglican Church,29 but they were only a
minority of the total Bahima population. On the other hand, most Bairu
were converted during the colonial period, rather more becoming
Roman Catholic than Protestant. The situation was largely the result of
timing: the Protestant missionaries had arrived first and enjoyed the
support of the authorities. Initially they concentrated their efforts on the
Bahima ruling stratum at the center, whereas the Roman Catholics, who
came later, began their work among the Bairu in more distant locations.
Following the pattern of mission stations established by the two
denominations, Protestantism was relatively predominant in the central
counties of Shema, Igara, Kashari, and Rwampara, whereas Roman
Catholics concentrated in the northern peripheral areas of
Bunyarunguru, Buhweju, and Ibanda and to a lesser extent in Isingiro in
the south.
Christianity was introduced in a somewhat competitive fashion, and
for a long time the contacts between Protestant and Roman Catholic
missionaries, in the beginning British and French respectively, were
strained. Different religious orientations developed among the people,
partly due to the nature of denominational education. Roman Catholic
missions combined broadly-based low-level education with a specialized
seminary-type training for a selected few; the Protestants offered wider
opportunities for intermediate and extended instruction, and their
curricula were more closely geared to the requirements of the
administration.

28See Stenning, "Nyankole," 171.

29The hierarchy of the Anglican church in Ankole, like that of the government,
became dominated by Bahima.

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574 MARTIN R. DOORNBOS

But an equally crucial factor was the Protestant complexion of

Ankole's ruling group after 1900. Not only did this group generally
support the interests of the Native Anglican Church and its schools with
the tacit consent of the British district commissioners, it also was more
likely to employ Protestants than Roman Catholics. These Protestants
included Bairu adherents of that denomination, who were appointed in
greater numbers than Roman Catholics as lower-ranking chiefs, clerks,
and askaris. On the whole, therefore, the opportunities open to
Protestant Bairu, though far more limited than those of the Bahima,
were better than those of the Roman Catholics. As a result, the Roman
Catholic Bairu for long remained engaged in self-sufficient traditional
cultivation, while the Bahima elite, and to a much lesser extent the
Protestant Bairu, began to participate actively in the new order.
In time the divergent social developments among the Bairu were to
have important political consequences. From the early years of the
century until the heyday of colonialism they produced a pecking order
which placed the Bahima elite first, the Protestant Bairu second, and the
Roman Catholics third in their access to the system's advantages. A
pyramidal status structure emerged which roughly reflected the
allocation of administrative ranks, Bahima at the top occupying the
senior (especially the county) chieftainships and the most important
posts in the district administration, Protestant Bairu with a few
subcounty chieftainships but mostly at the lower echelons as parish
chiefs and in other minor posts, and Roman Catholic Bairu on the
fringes, enjoying the least benefits and influence of all.30
This construct accorded the Bahima enormous advantages as long as
the pyramid retained its basic shape. Few other arrangements could have
given a small ruling group such sway over the entire system. Moreover,
the Bairu religious split was conducive to this control in that it reduced
and divided potential opposition. The preferential treatment of Protes-
tant Bairu in regard to minor benefits tended to stimulate a Protestant
Bairu stake in the system, which at crucial points might lead them to
support the Bahima hegemony. Protestantism symbolized a unity of
interests and reduced the visibility of the command structure. In other
words, religion in Ankole produced forces which tended to exacerbate
the effects of other social divisions. For a prolonged period its effect was
to conceal and reinforce ethnic inequality in the colonial framework.
The fact that it did not create a one-to-one cumulative relationship
between Protestantism and Bahima status and between Catholicism and

30Stenning, "Nyankole," 171-173.

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 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN COLONIAL ANKOLE, UGANDA 575

Bairu status (which might have strengthened the ethnic strata but not the
stratification system), tended to lessen the exposure of the ethnic gap
and consequently any chances of early conflict.
These arrangements served the purposes of the British colonizers,
whose policy of franchise and self-rule recommended that local statuses
should be allocated and arranged to produce a system which rested
largely on its own checks and mechanisms of control. This does not
mean that the sociopolitical framework which developed in Ankole was
entirely a product of wilful social engineering. But it does imply that the
divisiveness which originated in the district's ethnic-plus-religious
cleavages facilitated external control, and produced an administrative
establishment that required little manipulation to serve the colonial
cause.31
The effectiveness of this structure for Bahima-and colonial-control
endured as long as its pyramidal shape did not basically change. Indeed,
the hierarchy was a critical linchpin for the perpetuation of the system.
In the end, however, it could no longer be maintained. The second
quarter of the twentieth century saw the beginning of a gradual but
accelerating expansion of the intermediate stratum of the ranking
system, followed by growing demands by its members for increased
involvement. Helped also by the narrowing base of Bahima elite
recruitment, the rising middle echelon was to make inroads into their
entrenched position and eventually to erode it. The significance of these
developments lay largely in the revised sociopolitical relationships
generated within the Ankole colonial framework. These processes,
which have been discussed elsewhere,32 go well beyond the phase of
early colonialism. The present material shows that this early phase has
been of major significance in shaping subsequent patterns of ethnic
stratification, conflict, and change in Ankole society.

31In the end, non-intervention would actually produce political pay-offs. When Bairu
protest was articulated and began to gain momentum, the colonial government could
make a shift of support and pose as the champion of Bairu aspirations, thus commanding
their popularity. The credibility of such a change of position was enhanced by the extent to
which the theory of "traditional" Bahima overrule had become accepted.
32See Doornbos, "Kumanyana and Rwenzururu."

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