Sir Andrew Cohen was the best British governor
THE appointment in 1952 of Sir Andrew Cohen as governor of Uganda as successor to Sir John Hall, whose 11-year tenure had been tumultuous was greeted with excitement and great expectation. Cohen, who had been to Uganda in 1951 to accompany the colonial secretary, had the reputation of having been on
By Peter Mulira
THE appointment in 1952 of Sir Andrew Cohen as governor of Uganda as successor to Sir John Hall, whose 11-year tenure had been tumultuous was greeted with excitement and great expectation. Cohen, who had been to Uganda in 1951 to accompany the colonial secretary, had the reputation of having been one of the people who guided Ghana to self-government between 1945 and 1951, when he worked as under-secretary at the colonial office in London.
Renown also for his prodigious intellectual equipment, the new governor and his wife Hellen did not disappoint their admirers. Soon after their arrival, they plunged themselves into a whirlwind of welcoming parties and sought to change the way things had been done in the last 10 years. Lady Cohen endeared herself to the public when it became known that she had become a customer of a popular local dressmaker, Ben S.S Edebe, who had his outfit in Katwe township.
This change from the old detached ways of Sir John’s period, which were usually confrontational, opened the space for a lively dialogue between the government and the people as never before and soon nationalist newspapers sprang up on the scene, which replaced the old collaborative press. When Makerere students rioted over poor food, Cohen reacted characteristically by arranging for a scholarship for the strike leader, Abu Mayanja, to go and study at his old university instead of banishing him arguing that “if he is going to argue with us, he might as well be as educated as us.â€
Perhaps the most significant event at the time was when the governor accepted an invitation to attend a reception organised in his favour by the Federation of Partnerships of Cooperate Societies which was a rebel organisation in the sense that it had defied the government by refusing to register itself under a draconian 1946 law under which the previous governor had used his powers to ban such organisations. At the reception attended by over 500 farmers, Cohen promised to change the law and to attend to issues raised by the Federation’s president, I.K Musazi.
The reception opened a new chapter for the Uganda farmer as the governor proved true to his word. Soon a new law was put in place and the African farmers’ demands were allowed to enter into the coffee curing and cotton ginning industries, previously the preserve of European and Asian entrepreneurs. To help stabilise prices for crops, Cohen transferred three million pounds from the Coffee Price Fund to a new Uganda Development Fund, whose interest was used for the purpose of maintaining to the African growers a fair and reasonable price for their crops, while marketing boards were set up to neutralise the exploitation of the farmer by the middleman.
At the time, the African intelligentsia had been apprehensive about the type of economic development which was superimposed from above and which was based on foreign and private capital that did not benefit the country. For example, the total income from the mining industry in 1938, was Pounds 7,274,000 which was distributed thus: company profits and interest pounds 4,514,000, expatriate salaries pounds 1,645,000 with the remainder going into African salaries, the only money which remained in the country (Phillips Dean Measurement of Colonial Incomes, Cambridge University, 1948.)
To address the problem, Cohen set up the Uganda Development Corporation as the industrialisation arm of the government which at is peak had more than 50 major companies under its flag. The commissioning of the Owen Falls Dam in Jina in 1950s turned that town into the industrial centre of east Africa before Kenya claimed the prize. In order to open up the potential of the hinterland, railway lines were extended and this was accompanied by the tarmacking of all major trunk roads.
In the social sector, Cohen’s policy aimed at bringing all races together. When the headmaster of all European Nakasero Primary School refused to admit an African, Kaddumukasa Kironde, the present food commentator, the governor ordered him to reverse his decision, which opened the door to more Africans to join the school, including the present auditor general and the minister for Information and Communications Technology. Under the aegis of Kampala Sports Union, a multi-racial outfit, Lugogo Sports grounds were completed. In order to promote culture and racial interaction, Cohen built the National Theatre and Cultural Centre in Kampala and formed the Uganda Club for members of the legico and others to meet in a more convivial atmosphere.
This new atmosphere led to the formation of the country’s first political party, the Uganda National Congress, which immediately demanded for the Africanisation of the civil service. Cohen responded by appointing a standing committee to†keep under continuous review on all matters relating to recruitment and promotion of Africans in the civil service†and announced the setting up of a fund of pounds 400,000 from the cotton surplus funds to be used for scholarships for at least 150 students to pursue further studies in British universities.
In the constitutional field, Cohen aimed at developing a self-governing Uganda through evolution in the legislative council. To this end in August 1953, the governor announced the increase of African representation in the legco from eight out of 32 members to 20 out out of 56 members. Unfortunately, at the time, Buganda refused to send representatives to the legico and sought secession from Uganda. Meetings between the Kabaka and the governor on November 6, 27 and 30, 1953, failed to resolve the issue, which resulted into the Kabaka’s deportation to England.
After an agreement which enabled the Kabaka to return two years later, for the first time Buganda sent five representatives to the legco. Further changes were made by virtue of the Royal instructions of December, 17, 1957, under which the governor ceased to be chairman of the legislative council pursuant to a 1924 law and abolished the membership in the house of three ex-official members appointed by the governor. Buganda objected to the changes and withdrew her representatives (three remained) and this marked the start of her separatist demands.
At the time Cohen took up office, the education system was ran along religious lines and the country’s leadership was divided along the same lines. Cohen, a Jew, was determined to change this by setting up secular schools to compete with the christian schools. His pet school was Ntare School for which he brought down a friend from university days to be headmaster, with a brief to train a different type of leadership. Fifty years after Cohen left, the political and military leadership of the country are in the firm grip of Ntare graduates, a tribute to the buccaneering governor.
From Uganda, Cohen became his country’s representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Committee, a very sinecure job for his ability. Many people put this down to the Conservative Party’s leadership which was in power in Britain, which abhorred his socialist sympathies. The colonial secretary at the time seemed to confirm this when he wrote “Sir Andrew Cohen had been appointed during Mr Griffiths’ term of office. It was supposed he would become permanent under secretary at the colonial office when the Conservative government fell, which happy event would harmoniously come about at the end of his governorship. The electorate pervely upset this time table†(“The Memoirs of Lord Chandosâ€)
Indeed, Cohen became a Permanent Under Secretary when the Labour Party won the elections in 1964. One evening in 1968, while at a dinner table with some members of his family, the governor who served Uganda well, suffered a heart attack which took him off at the age of 58, leaving a legend as one of the best, if not the best, British colonial civil servants of all time.
The writer is a lawyer
THE appointment in 1952 of Sir Andrew Cohen as governor of Uganda as successor to Sir John Hall, whose 11-year tenure had been tumultuous was greeted with excitement and great expectation. Cohen, who had been to Uganda in 1951 to accompany the colonial secretary, had the reputation of having been one of the people who guided Ghana to self-government between 1945 and 1951, when he worked as under-secretary at the colonial office in London.
Renown also for his prodigious intellectual equipment, the new governor and his wife Hellen did not disappoint their admirers. Soon after their arrival, they plunged themselves into a whirlwind of welcoming parties and sought to change the way things had been done in the last 10 years. Lady Cohen endeared herself to the public when it became known that she had become a customer of a popular local dressmaker, Ben S.S Edebe, who had his outfit in Katwe township.
This change from the old detached ways of Sir John’s period, which were usually confrontational, opened the space for a lively dialogue between the government and the people as never before and soon nationalist newspapers sprang up on the scene, which replaced the old collaborative press. When Makerere students rioted over poor food, Cohen reacted characteristically by arranging for a scholarship for the strike leader, Abu Mayanja, to go and study at his old university instead of banishing him arguing that “if he is going to argue with us, he might as well be as educated as us.â€
Perhaps the most significant event at the time was when the governor accepted an invitation to attend a reception organised in his favour by the Federation of Partnerships of Cooperate Societies which was a rebel organisation in the sense that it had defied the government by refusing to register itself under a draconian 1946 law under which the previous governor had used his powers to ban such organisations. At the reception attended by over 500 farmers, Cohen promised to change the law and to attend to issues raised by the Federation’s president, I.K Musazi.
The reception opened a new chapter for the Uganda farmer as the governor proved true to his word. Soon a new law was put in place and the African farmers’ demands were allowed to enter into the coffee curing and cotton ginning industries, previously the preserve of European and Asian entrepreneurs. To help stabilise prices for crops, Cohen transferred three million pounds from the Coffee Price Fund to a new Uganda Development Fund, whose interest was used for the purpose of maintaining to the African growers a fair and reasonable price for their crops, while marketing boards were set up to neutralise the exploitation of the farmer by the middleman.
At the time, the African intelligentsia had been apprehensive about the type of economic development which was superimposed from above and which was based on foreign and private capital that did not benefit the country. For example, the total income from the mining industry in 1938, was Pounds 7,274,000 which was distributed thus: company profits and interest pounds 4,514,000, expatriate salaries pounds 1,645,000 with the remainder going into African salaries, the only money which remained in the country (Phillips Dean Measurement of Colonial Incomes, Cambridge University, 1948.)
To address the problem, Cohen set up the Uganda Development Corporation as the industrialisation arm of the government which at is peak had more than 50 major companies under its flag. The commissioning of the Owen Falls Dam in Jina in 1950s turned that town into the industrial centre of east Africa before Kenya claimed the prize. In order to open up the potential of the hinterland, railway lines were extended and this was accompanied by the tarmacking of all major trunk roads.
In the social sector, Cohen’s policy aimed at bringing all races together. When the headmaster of all European Nakasero Primary School refused to admit an African, Kaddumukasa Kironde, the present food commentator, the governor ordered him to reverse his decision, which opened the door to more Africans to join the school, including the present auditor general and the minister for Information and Communications Technology. Under the aegis of Kampala Sports Union, a multi-racial outfit, Lugogo Sports grounds were completed. In order to promote culture and racial interaction, Cohen built the National Theatre and Cultural Centre in Kampala and formed the Uganda Club for members of the legico and others to meet in a more convivial atmosphere.
This new atmosphere led to the formation of the country’s first political party, the Uganda National Congress, which immediately demanded for the Africanisation of the civil service. Cohen responded by appointing a standing committee to†keep under continuous review on all matters relating to recruitment and promotion of Africans in the civil service†and announced the setting up of a fund of pounds 400,000 from the cotton surplus funds to be used for scholarships for at least 150 students to pursue further studies in British universities.
In the constitutional field, Cohen aimed at developing a self-governing Uganda through evolution in the legislative council. To this end in August 1953, the governor announced the increase of African representation in the legco from eight out of 32 members to 20 out out of 56 members. Unfortunately, at the time, Buganda refused to send representatives to the legico and sought secession from Uganda. Meetings between the Kabaka and the governor on November 6, 27 and 30, 1953, failed to resolve the issue, which resulted into the Kabaka’s deportation to England.
After an agreement which enabled the Kabaka to return two years later, for the first time Buganda sent five representatives to the legco. Further changes were made by virtue of the Royal instructions of December, 17, 1957, under which the governor ceased to be chairman of the legislative council pursuant to a 1924 law and abolished the membership in the house of three ex-official members appointed by the governor. Buganda objected to the changes and withdrew her representatives (three remained) and this marked the start of her separatist demands.
At the time Cohen took up office, the education system was ran along religious lines and the country’s leadership was divided along the same lines. Cohen, a Jew, was determined to change this by setting up secular schools to compete with the christian schools. His pet school was Ntare School for which he brought down a friend from university days to be headmaster, with a brief to train a different type of leadership. Fifty years after Cohen left, the political and military leadership of the country are in the firm grip of Ntare graduates, a tribute to the buccaneering governor.
From Uganda, Cohen became his country’s representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Committee, a very sinecure job for his ability. Many people put this down to the Conservative Party’s leadership which was in power in Britain, which abhorred his socialist sympathies. The colonial secretary at the time seemed to confirm this when he wrote “Sir Andrew Cohen had been appointed during Mr Griffiths’ term of office. It was supposed he would become permanent under secretary at the colonial office when the Conservative government fell, which happy event would harmoniously come about at the end of his governorship. The electorate pervely upset this time table†(“The Memoirs of Lord Chandosâ€)
Indeed, Cohen became a Permanent Under Secretary when the Labour Party won the elections in 1964. One evening in 1968, while at a dinner table with some members of his family, the governor who served Uganda well, suffered a heart attack which took him off at the age of 58, leaving a legend as one of the best, if not the best, British colonial civil servants of all time.
The writer is a lawyer