Final homage to Fort Lugard’s remains

By Vision ReporterThe only remnant of fort Lugard nestles at old Kampala hill like a crumbling tenement. The house, perched on top of a jutting column of red earth, is a theatre of desola tion and wreckage. The decision to revive the construction of the Mosque complex on the hill is to see the eventual relocation of the over 100 year old remnant. “Plans are under way to relocate the materials that form the house together with some visible architectural and artistic remains,” Dr. E.R Kamuhangire, Commissioner for Antiquities and Museums said.“It was one of the reknowned recreation areas.” When Old Kampala hill was leased to the Uganda Moslem Supreme Council (UMSC) by Idi Amin in 1972, visitation to the fort was controlled. Today, the remnant is maintained as a public mystery.During my afternoon visit to the house, I cringed in sympathy. What initially stood as a mark of class proclaiming British dominance looks like a deserted homestead.The wooden windows and doors creaked woefully at the slightest breeze. The corrugated iron sheets that brightly lit the hill top signifying British supremacy and territorial claim have been dulled by the rust and corrosion.Trees and grass defiantly creep on the walls, their roots safely anchor in the exposed sun-baked bricks. The ceiling boards and walls peal and crumble in grimaced gesture at the dramatic reversal. Black coatings and written inscriptions muffle the inside walls. It is extravagantly sinking in rack and ruin.Sun rays filtered through part of the wrecked iron sheet roof, filling one room with trembling ironic beams of hope. The rest of the rooms were cold and silent, crowded with historical sensation.When Britain sent Lugard, a Senior British Commissioner for the Imperial British East African Com-pany to secure their predominance in Uganda, the quest for colonies as emblems of power and sources of raw materials was imploring.On December 18, 1890, Lugard arrived at Kabaka Mwanga’s Palace, on Mengo hill. He was to quickly establish British authority in Uganda before the Germans, who occupied present day Tanzania.Mwanga offered him places to camp which he demurred. He opted to move further uphill with his people; 270 porters, 50 ill-trained Sudanese and Somali soldiers.“I went on top of a low gravely knoll of wasteland and I said I would camp there. Its name was Kampala,” Lugard recalls in one of his diaries. Considering the religious strife between the Catholics and Protestants, Lugard decided to establish a military presence against any onslaught. He built a fort that occupied the whole parameter of the hill. On January 15, 1891, the big house for the Europeans was completed. It was made up of upright logs of date palm fitted close together. Other houses were smaller and built with mud.The fort was made tenable by digging a wide trench and embattlement at the bottom. Here, Lugard raised the company flag. The British christened it ‘Fort hill.’Sir Gerald Portal, the British council General at Zanzibar arrived at Mengo from Mombasa on March 17, 1893. In April, Uganda was then declared a British Protectorate. The Fort served as the colonial government seat. In 1900, it was moved to Nakasero. However, since its establishment, the image of the fort has resiliently cycled through waves of change. In 1908, Government decided to establish a museum at fort hill, now Old Kampala hill. Sir Hesketh Bell, the special commissioner for the government, designed one of the houses as a small Greek Temple. It served as a museum till 1943 before being moved to Makerere. When Amin allocated Old Kam-pala hill to the UMSC for construction of a Mosque complex in 1972, the entire hill top was barricaded with iron sheets. The grading and levelling claimed the trench and most of Fort Lugard houses, leaving only the building that served as the museum currently at old Kampala hill. “The survival of the existing building was not by intent,” Dr. Kamuhangire explained.“It was to do with financial and legal complications contrary to the statutory instrument No.66 of 1972. It declared the site as government preserved and a protected object under the historical monument Act of 1967.” Under the statutory instrument, UMSC was an illegal occupant. “In march 1999, the instrument was amended. Government retained 2 acres as a protected site while the UMSC was granted 10 acres for the development of the Mosque complex,” Kamuhangire said.Today, the house left of Fort Lugard is encircled by the foundation of what is to become a Mosque complex. “We shall try to keep the integrity of the house by reusing most of the old bricks and adapting some of the designs,” he said.ends