Everything about Uganda totally explained
The
Republic of Uganda is a
landlocked country in
East Africa, bordered on the east by
Kenya, the north by
Sudan, on the west by the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by
Rwanda, and on the south by
Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of
Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with
Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the
Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of the country including the capital
Kampala.
History
The earliest known human inhabitants in contemporary Uganda were
hunter gatherers. Between about 2000 and 1500 years ago
Bantu speaking populations, who were probably from
central and
western Africa, migrated to the southern parts of the country. These groups brought and developed ironworking skills and new ideas of social and political organization. The
Empire of Kitara in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries represents the earliest forms of formal organization, followed by the kingdom of
Bunyoro-Kitara, and in later centuries,
Buganda and
Ankole .
Nilotic people including
Luo and
Ateker entered the area from the north, probably beginning about
A.D. 120. They were cattle herders and subsistence farmers who settled mainly the northern and eastern parts of the country. Some Luo invaded the area of Bunyoro and assimilated with the Bantu there, establishing the Babiito dynasty of the current
Omukama (ruler) of Bunyoro-Kitara. Luo migration proceeded until the 16th century, with some Luo settling amid Bantu people in Eastern Uganda, with others proceeding to the western shores of
Lake Victoria in
Kenya and
Tanzania. The Ateker (
Karimojong and
Teso) settled in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the country, and some fused with the Luo in the area north of
Lake Kyoga.
Arab traders moved inland from the
Indian Ocean coast of
East Africa in the 1830s. They were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the
Nile.
Protestant missionaries entered the country in 1877, followed by
Catholic missionaries in 1879. The
United Kingdom placed the area under the charter of the
British East Africa Company in 1888, and ruled it as a
protectorate from 1894. As several other territories and chiefdoms were integrated, the final protectorate called Uganda took shape in 1914.
Uganda became an independent nation in 1962, with
Milton Obote as Executive
Prime Minister. The constitution was changed in 1963 to satisfy an alliance between the
Uganda People's Congress and the
Kabaka_Yekka Party, during the elections in 1962. This created a post of a titular Head of State called the President and a position of a Vice President. The UPC government appointed
Edward Muteesa II,
Kabaka (King) of Buganda, as the President and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. William Wilberforce Nadiope, the Kyabazing of Busoga (paramount chief), was appointed Vice President. In 1966, Obote overthrew the king. A UPC-dominated Parliament changed the constitution, and Obote became president. The elections were suspended, ushering in an era of
coups and counter-coups, which would last until the mid-1980s. Obote was deposed twice from office, both times by military coup.
Idi Amin took power in 1971, ruling the country with the military for the coming decade.
Idi Amin's rule cost an estimated 300,000 Ugandans' lives. He forcibly removed the entrepreneurial
Indian minority from Uganda, decimating the economy. His reign was ended after the
Uganda-Tanzania War in 1979 in which Tanzanian forces aided by Ugandan exiles invaded Uganda. This led to the return of Obote, who was deposed once more in 1985 by General
Tito Okello. Okello ruled for six months until he was deposed after the so called "
bush war" by the
National Resistance Army (NRM) operating under the leadership of the current president,
Yoweri Museveni, and various rebel groups, including Federal Democratic Movement of Andrew Kayiira, and another belonging to John Nkwanga.
Museveni has been in power since 1986. In the mid to late 1990s, he was lauded by
the West as part of a
new generation of African leaders. His presidency has included involvement in the
civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other conflicts in the
Great Lakes region, as well as the civil war against the
Lord's Resistance Army. In 2007, Uganda deployed soldiers to the
African Union peacekeeping mission in
Somalia.
Government
The
President of Uganda, currently
Yoweri Museveni, is both
head of state and
head of government. The president appoints a
prime minister, currently
Apolo Nsibambi, who aids him in governing. The parliament is formed by the
National Assembly, which has 303 members. Eighty-six of these members are nominated by interest groups, including women and
the army. The remaining members are elected for five-year terms during
general elections.
In a measure ostensibly designed to reduce sectarian violence,
political parties were restricted in their activities from 1986. In the
non-party "Movement" system instituted by Museveni, political parties continued to exist, but they could only operate a headquarter office. They couldn't open branches, hold rallies or field candidates directly (although electoral candidates could belong to political parties). A
constitutional referendum canceled this nineteen-year ban on multi-party politics in July 2005.
The presidential elections were held in February 2006. Museveni ran against several candidates, the most prominent of whom was exiled Dr.
Kizza Besigye. Museveni was declared the winner in the elections, but international election observers didn't condemn the election results or endorse the electoral process. Despite technically democratic elections, harassment of opposition had started months earlier in the form of a disturbing opposition campaign, detention of activists, rape and other criminal allegations against Besigye, and use of state funds for electoral campaigning.
Museveni's tenure in office has been marred by allegations of massive corruption, embezzlement of public funds by a small section of the population and continued uncontrollable demonstrations of recent PRA suspects in court and Mabira Forest give-aways.
Geography
The country is located on the East African
plateau, averaging about 1100 metres (3,250
ft) above sea level, and this slopes very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain to the North. However, much of the south is poorly drained, while the centre is dominated by
Lake Kyoga, which is also surrounded by extensive marshy areas. Uganda lies almost completely within the
Nile basin. The Victoria Nile drains from the lake into Lake Kyoga and thence into
Lake Albert on the Congolese border . It then runs northwards into
Sudan. One small area on the eastern edge of Uganda is drained by the Turkwel river, part of the internal drainage basin of
Lake Turkana.
Although generally equatorial, the climate isn't uniform as the altitude modifies the climate.
Southern Uganda is wetter with rain generally spread throughout the year. At
Entebbe on the northern shore of
Lake Victoria, most rain falls from March to June and the November/December period. Further to the north a dry season gradually emerges; at Gulu about 120km from the Sudanese border, November to February is much drier than the rest of the year. The north eastern Karamoja region has the driest climate and is prone to droughts in some years.
Ruwenzori in the south west on the border with Congo (DRC) receives heavy rain all year round.
The south of the country is heavily influenced by one of the world's biggest lakes, Lake Victoria, which contains many islands. It prevents temperatures from varying significantly and increases cloudiness and rainfall. Most important cities are located in the south, near Lake Victoria, including the capital
Kampala and the nearby city of
Entebbe.
Although landlocked, Uganda contains many large lakes, besides Lake Victoria and
Lake Kyoga, there's
Lake Albert,
Lake Edward and the smaller Lake George.
Districts and counties
Uganda is divided into 80
districts, spread across four administrative regions: Northern, Eastern, Central and Western. The districts are subdivided into
counties. A number of districts have been added in the past few years, and eight others were added on
July 1,
2006. Most districts are named after their main commercial and administrative towns. Each district is divided into sub-districts,
counties,
sub-counties,
parishes and
villages.
Parallel with the state administration, five traditional
Bantu kingdoms have remained, enjoying some degrees of mainly cultural autonomy. The kingdoms are
Toro,
Ankole,
Busoga,
Bunyoro and
Buganda.
Economy
Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable
mineral deposits of
copper and
cobalt. The country has largely untapped reserves of both
crude oil and
natural gas.
Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force, with
coffee accounting for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government (with the support of foreign countries and international agencies) has acted to rehabilitate an economy decimated during the regime of
Idi Amin and subsequent civil war.
During 1990 - 2001, the economy grew because of continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs between 1990 and 2001. Ongoing Ugandan involvement in the
war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption within the government, and slippage in the government's determination to press reforms raise doubts about the continuation of strong growth. In 2000, Uganda qualified for the enhanced
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative worth $1.3 billion and
Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001 - 2002 was solid despite continued decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export. According to IMF statistics, in 2004 Uganda's GDP per-capita reached $300, a much higher level than in the Eighties but still at half of Sub-Saharan African average income of 600 dollars per year. Total GDP crossed the 8 billion dollar mark in the same year.
With the Uganda securities exchange established in 1996, several equities have been listed. The Government has used the stock market as an avenue for privatisation. All Government treasury issues are listed on the securities exchange. The Capital Markets Authority has licensed 18 brokers, asset managers and investment advisors. As one of the ways of increasing formal domestic savings, Pension sector reform is the centre of attention (2007).
Foreign capital inflows have risen recently. There are private equity inflows and remittances from Ugandans abroad which have helped stabilised the foreign exchange rate for recent two years.
Recent floods in Uganda have devastated the local farmers. Destroying predictions of increased food productions, the heavy rains created landslides that destroyed the crops and also wet the stored food supply. The result has been a big hit to the economy which had been growing steadily.
Uganda's economic growth greatly depends on her neighboring country Kenya. The country was plunged into an economic major distraction after Kenya was plunged into unrest following the December 2007 presidential elections.
Demographics
Uganda is home to many different ethnic groups, none of whom form a majority of the population. Around forty different languages are regularly and currently in use in the country.
English became the official language of Uganda after independence.
The most widely spoken local language in Uganda is
Luganda, spoken predominantly in the urban concentrations of Kampala, the capital city, and in towns and localities in the
Buganda region of Uganda which encompasses
Kampala. The
Lusoga and
Runyankore languages follow, spoken predominantly in the south-eastern & south-western parts of Uganda respectively.
Swahili, a widely used language throughout eastern and central Africa, was approved as the country's second official national language in 2005, though this is somewhat politically sensitive. Though the language hasn't been favoured by the Bantu-speaking populations of the south and southwest of the country, it's an important
lingua franca in the northern regions. It is also widely used in the police and military forces, which may be a historical result of the disproportionate recruitment of northerners into the security forces during the colonial period. The status of Swahili has thus alternated with the political group in power. For example, Amin, who came from the northwest, declared Swahili to be the national language.
According to the census of 2002,
Christians made up about 84% of Uganda's population. The
Catholic Church has the largest number of adherents (41.9%), followed by the
Anglican Church of Uganda (35.9%). The next most reported religion of Uganda is
Islam, with Muslims representing 12% of the population.
Recently, grassroots organizations have been attempting to raise awareness about the children who were kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army to work as soldiers or be used as wives. Thousands of children as young as eight were captured and forced to kill. The documentary film
Invisible Children illustrates the terrible lives of the children, known as
night commuters, who left their villages and walked many miles each night to avoid abduction.
Freedom for homosexual relationships continues to be a matter of contention. Such relationships are illegal and denounced as a foreign import, despite the well known native traditions which predated the European colonization, such as those openly practised at the court of the
Buganda royalty.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Uganda'.
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