Political Development And Systems - Class 6 Social Studies Revision Notes

• Traditional Forms of Government
  • The Buganda System of Government
    • Factors that led to the rise of Buganda Kingdom
    • Structure of the Government
    • Administrative Structure of the Kingdom
    • Functions of the Kabaka
  • The Government Among the Nyamwezi
    • Structure of Government
    • Duties of Ntemi
  • Role of Traditional Governments
• Early Visitors To Eastern Africa
  • Explorers
    • Vasco da gama
    • John speke
    • Henry Morton Stanley
  • Results of the coming of explorers
  • Traders
    • Seyyid said
      • Reasons why he transferred his capital to Zanzibar
    • William Mackinon
    • Carl Peters
  • Reasons for the coming of early visitors
  • Results of the coming of early visitors
• Establishment of Colonial Rule
  • Scramble And Partition of Eastern Africa
    • Reasons For The Scramble
    • The Process of Partioning of Eastern Africa
• Colonial Rule
  • Colonial Systems of Administration
    • British Colonial Administration in Kenya
      • British structure of administration
    • The German Colonial Administration in Tanganyika
  • Effects of colonial rule
    • Positive effects
    • Negative effects
  • African Response to Colonial Rule
    • Resistance
      • Kabaka Mwanga
      • The Hehe Rebellion
    • Collaboration
      • Kabaka Mutesa I
      • Laibon Lenana
• Struggle For Independence In Tanganyika
  • Life And Contributions Of Prominent Leaders in Eastern Africa
    • Haile selasie
      • Contributions
    • Julius Nyerere
      • Contributions
• Regional Cooperations
  • The East African Community
    • Objectives of EAC
    • Problems facing EAC
  • Inter-Governmental Authority on Development(IGAD)
    • Objectives of IGAD
    • Problems facing IGAD

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Traditional Forms of Government

• In the pre-colonial periods aficans had well established governments through
  1. Kingdoms e.g.the wanga kingdom in kenya,buganda and bunyara in uganda
  2. Empires ruled by emporers in ethiopia
  3. Chiefdom ruled by powerful chiefs among nyamwezi in tanzania
  4. Council of elders among the ameru in kenya

The Buganda System of Government

• The Buganda Kingdom was situated to the south west of Lake Kyoga and North West of Lake Victoria
• The Buganda had a centralised type of government ruled by a king known as Kabaka
• The stories of origin of the Buganda kingdom conclude that it was founded by a person known as Kimera and Kintu

Factors that led to the rise of Buganda Kingdom

1. It was small and stable hence easy to rule
2. It was sorrounded by weak neighbours
3. Participation in the long distant trade
4. Enough food supply
5. Strong able ruler
6. Creation of a royal bodyguard to protect the king

Structure of the Government

• It was ruled by a king whose tittle was kabaka
• When the king died his son took over
• The kabaka was assisted by;
  1. Katikiro – prime minister
  2. Omulamuzi – chief justice
  3. Omuwanika – treasurer
• He was assisted by lukiiko(parliament)which made laws and discussed the budget

Administrative Structure of the Kingdom

• The Kingdom was divided into countries(district) called sazas ruled by ssaza chiefs
• Counties were divided into units called sub-counties or gombolola ruled by gombolola chiefs
• Sub-counties were divided into kitongole ruled by batangole chiefs
• Below the kitongole were villages ruled by miruka chiefs
• Clan heads called bataka assisted the king on matters relating to clan land

Functions of the Kabaka

1. Administrative. He was the head of government
2. Judicial. He settled major disputes
3. Religious. He acted as a demigod who linked the baganda and their God
4. Military. He was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces

The Government Among the Nyamwezi

• Nyamwezi are Bantus speakers in Tanzania
• The Nyamwezi lived in many independent groups ruled by chiefs known as ntemi
• The name Nyamwezi means people of the moon they came from the west the direction of the new moon.

Structure of Government

• The position of the nyamwezi chief was hereditary.
• Ntemi was assisted by five officials
  1. Mganwe – the ritual officer
  2. Mtwale – the army officer
  3. Mteko – assistant army officer
  4. Kikoma – the information officer
  5. Minule – the tax officer
• Council of elders among the nyamwezi was called wanyaphala
• The ntemi was chosen by a leadingheadman called mugabe
• Ntemi was also assisted by religious officials known as wanjikulu
• The most famous chiefs among the nyamwezi were
  
  1. Mirambo the chief of urambo
  2. Nyungu ya mawe the chief of ukimbu
• The mercenary soldiers among the nyamwezi was known as ruga ruga

Duties of Ntemi

1. He was the commander in chief
2. He administered the chiefdom
3. He made judgement on cases of murder
4. He controled trade between the arabs and his people
5. He chaired riligious ceremonies

Role of Traditional Governments

1. The leaders presided over social cultural and religious leaders
2. They maintained law and order
3. The stading armies protected the communities
4. They encouraged respect of authority
5. They settled disputes and conflicts among the people
6. They encouraged people to work hard to feed their families

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Early Visitors To Eastern Africa

• The early visitors to eastern africa came from different parts of the world and at different times They include
  1. The traders
  2. The explorers
  3. The missionaries

Explorers

• An explorer is a person who travels to new places to find out more about those places
• Explorers first came to eastern africa in the 15th century
• They called africa the dark continent(little was known about Africa)
  
  Examples of explorers
  1. Vasco Da Gama
  2. Henry Morton Stanley
  3. Richard Burton
  4. Samuel Baker and his wife
  5. John Speke
  6. James Grant

Vasco Da Gama

• He was the first european explorer to come to eastern africa from portugal
• He arrived in mombasa in 1498
• He was looking for a sea route to india to enable the porguese trade with India directly
• Looking for a place along the coast where they would get fresh supplies of food and water
• Vasco da gama was not well received in Mombasa he moved to Malindi where he built a pillar called Vasco Da Gama pillar
• He visited countries like Mozambique

 

John Speke

• He was born in england in 1827
• He first came to africa in 1856
• He was a soldier
• He was sent by the royal geographical society in london to find the source of River Nile
• He discovered lake victoria and named it after queen of England
•  After meeting Kabaka Mutesa of the Buganda he was shown a fall and named it rippon falls
• He travelled along river nile to england through Egypt

Henry Morton Stanley

• He was a journalist by profession
• He was sent by royal geographical society to look for Dr.livingstone
• He arrived in Zanzibar in 1871
• He met Livingstone to the west of Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji but he refused to go back to England
• In 1874 Stanley sailed around Lake Victoria and confirmed it was the source of nile
• He visited the Buganda Kingdom and established friendly relations with Kabaka Mutesa I
• The protestants missionaries who were sent by the church missionary society arrived in Buganda in 1876
• The Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in 1879

N/B Henry Morton Stanley established that there was no relationship between River Nile ,Lake Tanganyika and River Lualaba

Results of the coming of explorers

1. The Portuguese exposed Africa resources to the rest of the world
2. They opened up Eastern Africa for the colonialists
3. Report Dr.Livingstone helped to stop slave trade

Traders

• They were the earliest visitors to Eastern Africa
• They included
  1. Persians from iran
  2. Greeks from Greece
  3. Romans from Rome
  4. Chinese from China
  5. Arabs from Arabia
• They came to find markets for their goods and aquire raw materials for their industries 
• The traders included ;
  1. Seyyid said
  2. William mackinon
  3. Carl peters

Seyyid said

• He was a ruler in oman arab
• He transfered his capital from oman to zanzibar in 1840

Reasons why he transferred his capital to Zanzibar

1. Unfavourable climatic conditions in oman(extremely hot)
2. He wanted to effectively control the coastal towns and trade
3. Zanzibars good climate and fertile soils
4. Zanzibar had a good harbour
5. Zanzibar was centrally placed
6. Escape stiff competition for leadership in oman
7. To increase trade along the coast Seyyid Said did the following
   1. Organised trade caravans with the purpose of having regular supplies of ivory and slaves
   2. He signed trade treaties with USA, britain and france
   3. He invited indians traders and money lenders called banyans

N/B said sayyid died in 1856.

William Mackinon

• He was a businessman from Scotland
• He owned the British India Team Navigation Company which carried out trading activities between India and the coast of Eastern Africa
• He founded the British East Africa Company in 1887
• It later changed to Imperial British East Africa Company
• To ensure full control of the colony the IBEAC;
  
  1. Maintain law and order in the colony
  2. Collected taxes
  3. Recruited administrators to assist in governance
• Under the company rule revolts from the africans were widespread
• The British government took over the colony in 1898 when IBEACO bacame bankrupt

Carl Peters

• He was a German sent by the society of German colonization
• The association wanted to get colonies for Germany
• He founded the German East African Company to support trading activities
• In 1888 the German government took over the colony after the GEACo ran out of funds
• The German East African company enabled German to acquire Tanganyika, Burundi and Rwanda

Reasons for the coming of early visitors

1. To trade with the people of the coast
2. To look for markets for their goods
3. The romans traders wanted to break arab monopoly of the coastal trade
4. To look for resources for their industries

Results of the coming of early visitors

1. They introduced new crops e.g.maize, pineapples and cassava
2. Missionaries introduced modern health facilities by building hospitals
3. Introduction of western education
4. Introduction of islamic and christianity in the region
5. Intermarriage of arabs and bantus gave rise to the swahili language and culture
6. Development of towns e.g.Mogadishu, Kismayu, Lamu, Malindi, Kilifi, Mombasa, Dar er Salaam, Bagamoyo, Lindi, Mtwara, and Zanzibar
7. Construction of tourist sites such as Fort Jesus and Vasco da Gama pillar
8. They undermined African Culture
9. They opened up Africa to the scrabble for colonies
10. Africans lost their lands and independence
11. Slave trade led to depopualation of some parts of east africa
12. Resulted to forced labour
13. It led to racial discrimination
14. African workers were underpaid

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Establisment of Colonial Rule

Scramble And Partition of Eastern Africa

• Scramble refers to the way European countries rushed and competed to get colonies in Eastern Africa
• Partition was the orderly manner in which the Europeans divided Eastern Africa among themselves

Reasons For The Scramble

1. Europeans wanted to get raw materials for their industries
2. Wanted to get markets for their manufactured goods
3. The British wanted to control the coast of Eastern Africa so as to get Uganda and protect the source of River Nile
4. They wanted places to settle their surplus population
5. For their prestige or show how powerful they were
6. wanted to stop slave (missionaries)

The Process of Partioning of Eastern Africa

1. Tanganyika became a German protectorate
2. The Islands of Pemba and Zanzibar, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and part of Somalia were part of British of protection
3. Italians were allowed to have Somaliland
4. The French took part of Somaliland(today Djibouti)
5. Ethiopia remained independent after defeating Italy in 1886 in the battle of Adowa

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Colonial Rule

• After the partition the Germans took over the administration of Tanganyika from GEAC in 1892
• The british government also took over the administration of kenya in 1895 and uganda in 1894(british east africa protectorate)
• Initially the British Government appointed a commission and later a Governor to carry out administration of East African Protectorate
• The German Government also appointed a Governor to administer Tanganyika

Colonial Systems of Administration

British Colonial Administration in Kenya

• Kenya became a British East Africa protectorate in 1895
• It became a British colony in 1920
• The country was divided into provinces, districts, divisions and villages
• The colony was headed by a governor.
• Provinces, districts and divisions were administered by europeans officials
• Locations and villages were administered by chiefs, and headmen who were african
• The role of the chief was to
  1. Collect taxes
  2. Recruit labour to work in the settlers farms

British structure of administration

• Colonial secretary in britain
• Governor(representing british government)
• Provincial commissioner(PC)
• District commissioner (DC)
• District officer(DO)
• Chief
• Headman

The German Colonial Administration in Tanganyika

• Tanganyika came under German administration in 1888
• The German East Africa Company under the Carl Peters established Colonial Rule in Tanganyika
• The Company introduced taxes and tried to control trade at the coast
• The Arab traders led by Abushiri Bin Salim rebelled against the company(aAbushiri rebellion) in august 1888-1889
• The rebellion was crushed and Abushiri hanged
• In 1891 the German government took over the GEACo
• A governor was appointed who divided the country into provinces and districts.
• The akidas(chiefs)who were mainly arabs and swahili assisted in administration 
• The jumbes were headmen who were very harsh and cruel to the Africans
• In 1905-1907 the Africans revolted against the German rule led by Kinjiketile ngware in what they called maji maji rebellion
•  After the rebillion a new governor was appointed(Rechenberg)who made the following changes;
  
  1. He reduced the number of Africans working in the European farms
  2. Africans were allowed to grow cash crops
  3. He encouraged construction of roads
  4. He encouraged provision of education and use of swahili as a national language
  5. He replaced the Arabs and Swahili akidas and jumbes with educated africans

N/B German rule over Tanganyika came to an end after the first World War in 1918.Tanganyika was placed as a trust territory to the British by the league of nations. Rwanda and urundi were taken over by the belgium and became Rwanda and Burundi.

Effects of colonial rule

Positive effects

1. Led to growth of towns
2. Introduction of formal education
3. Introduction of new crops
4. Development and improvement of transport and communication
5. Colonial rule led to the abolishment of slave trade
6. It led to the rise and growth of nationalism

Negative effects

1. Loss of independence
2. Division of communities
3. Over-exploitation of natural resources
4. Mistreatment of africans
5. Neglect of craft industries
6. Loss of land
7. Loss of african culture
8. Creation of political boundaries separated communities
9. Loss of life and destruction of properties

African Response to Colonial Rule

• This refers to the way africans bahaved or reacted when europeans established their rule over them.
• Some africans leaders led their communities in welcoming the Europeans in their territories collaboration
• Others opposed colonial rule in their territories(resisted)

Resistance 

• Kabaka Mwanga
  
  • He succeeded his father Kabaka Mutesa I as a King in 1884
  • He bacame the king at the youthful age of eighteen
  • Mwanga reduced the influence of Christians by asking them to renounce their faith
  • Mwanga ordered for the killing of Christians who refused to renounce their faith
  • In 1885 Mwanga ordered for the killing of Bishop Hannington of the Cirus
    
    Reasons for the Mwangas Resistance
    
    1. He feared being conquered from the East according to the prophecy
    2. He feared that the christians converts would no longer be loyal to him
    3. He realized that missionaries in Buganda were becoming too strong to be controlled
    4. Warnings from the Arabs about the increasing number of Europeans
       
       
• The Hehe Rebellion
  
  • It was led by Chief Mkwawa of the hehe between 1891-1898(Mkwawa means conquerer of many lands)
  • In the attack the hehe warriors killed 300 Germans soldiers in 1891 in the battle of Lugalo
  • In 1894 the German attacked Mkwawa's headquarters at Kalenga but mkwawa escaped
  • In 1898 Germans cornered him but he commited suicide rather than be captured alive
  • The Germans chopped off his head and sent it to Germany to be kept in the museum

Collaboration

1. Kabaka Mutesa I
   • He ruled buganda between 1856-1884
   • In 1877-1879
   • He welcomed church missionaries society and the Roman Catholic missionaries
     
     Reasons for collaboration
     1. Wanted to check the spread of the Bunyoro kingdom
     2. Wanted to protect his kingdom from external attacks
     3. He respected the Europeans because of their knowledge and skills
     4. He feared the influence of muslims in the kingdom
     5. He greatly admired the medicines and presents that the Europeans came with
        
        
2. Laibon Lenana
   
   • He was the son of the great Laibon Mbatian who died in 1890
   • Mbatian had two sons Lenana and Senteu who competed for leadership
   • Lenana bacame the leader of the Maasai living in the north of Kenya- Tanzania border
     
     Reasons for collaboration
     1. He wanted British support against his brother
     2. Wanted support from the British who raided the Agikuyu
     3. He wanted help from the British because of the famine that had occured in his area
        
        Results of lenana collaboration
        1. He was recognised as a paramount chief
        2. He was rewarded with cattle for his co-operation
        3. The railway was built through maasai land without trouble
        4. Maasai morans used to raid communities who opposed the construction of the railway.
        5. Oloibon lenana signed two agreements with the British
           
           1. Anglo Maasai treaty of 1904
           2. 2nd Anglo Maasai treaty of 1911
        6. These treaties caused the communities to lose their land and independence

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Struggle For Independence In Tanganyika

• German rule in tanganyika ended in 1918 when it lost in the 1st World War
• In 1919, The League of Nations took over Tanganyika and gave it to the British a trust territory
• Tanganyika became a British colony in 1920
• In 1922 the Tanganyika territory African Civil Servants Associates was founded
• In 1924 Kilimanjaro Native Planters Association was formed to address the farmers problems
• In 1929 Tanganyika African Association was founded to demand for better jobs and more African to the legco
• In 1945 Nyerere became an official of TAA while still a Student in Makerere University College
• In 1954 TAA changed its name to Tanganyika African National Union with Nyerere as the president and Oscar Kambina as secretary general.
• Nyerere was nominated to the legco in 1954
• In 1956 the Europeans founded the United Tanganyika Party UTP to oppose TANU
• In the 1958 legco elections TANU won all the seats
• In 1960 elections were held and TANU won 70 out of the 71 seats Nyerere bacame the cheif minster as Tanganyika was granted self government
• In December 1961 Tanganyika was granted full independence with Nyerere as first prime minister.
• In 1964 Tanganyika merged with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania
• Nyerere became the president and Sheikh Abeid Karume the deputy president

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Life And Contributions Of Prominent Leaders in Eastern Africa

Haile selasie

• Haile selasie was born in 1892 in Harar, Ethiopia.
• His real name was Ras Tafari Mackonen
• Ras means prince
• He was a cousin to Menelik II
• Before he was crowned the emperor, he ruled Ethiopia as a regent
• A regent is a person who rules in place of a king who is either sick or too young
• Mackonen was helping Zaiduti who had become empress(Menelik’s young daughter)after the death of her father.
• In 1930 Mackonen was crowned the emperor and got a throne name Haile Selasie which means power of trinity

Contributions

1. He set up private schools to modernize education.
2. He introduced a new constition in ethiopia
3. He trained his army in France and equiped them with modern weapons
4. He brought American experts to advice on national development issues
5. He helped to abolish the ownership of slaves
6. He organised his government into ministries
7. He resisted Italian invasion in Ethiopia.
8. He was a founder member of Organisation of African Unity in may 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
9. NB haile selasie died in 1975

Julius Nyerere

• He was born in 1922 in Butian village in Musoma district of Tanzania
• He was trained as a teacher in Makerere University in Uganda
• After returning from England in 1953, he became the president of TAA.
• He founded TANU in 1954

Contributions

1. He became the chief minister in 1960
2. In 1961 he led the people of Tanganyika to independence. He became the first prime minister of Tanganyika in 1961
3. In 1964 they merged Tanganyika and Zanzibar to the United Republic of Tanzania with Nyerere as its first president
4. Through his efforts TANU and ASP merged to form Chama Cha Mapinduzi.
5. In 1967 Nyerere together with the leaders of Kenya and Uganda established the East African Community.
6. Took part in the liberation of some African countries still under colonial rule e.g.mozambique, angola, zimbabwe and namibia
7. He organised his people into villages called ujamaa villages where people shared facilities provided by the government
8.  He was a founder member of OAU.
9. He improved formal education
10. He campaigned for world peace and a reduction of dangerous weapons. Nyerere was rewarded the beyond war award in 1985
11. He helped liberalise Uganda from the brutal rule of Idi Amin in 1979
12. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere retired voluntarily as a president of Tanzania in 1986

NB Mwalimu Julius Nyerere died in 1999 after suffering from lukeimea at the age of 77yrs 

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Regional Cooperations

• Regional cooperation is the act of countries working together with a common objectives
• Examples
  1. East african community(EAC)
  2. Inter-government authority on development (IGAD)

The East African Community

• EAC was formed in June 1967 by three heads of state of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
• It had its headquaretrs in Arusha, Tanzania
• It collapsed in 1977
• In 1993 the heads of states revived the cooperation as East African Co-operation
• In 1999 it was transformed to East African Community
• The new EAC started its operations in july 2000
• The headquarters are still in Arusha, Tanzania

Objectives of EAC

1. Promotes a wider markets for goods
2. Reduce or remove trade barriers like taxes
3. Promote common services like transport, communication , education, health and security
4. Promotes science, research and technology.
5. Promotes peace, security and political stability in the region
6. Promotes free movement of people in the region

Member countries

• Kenya
• Uganda
• Tanzania
• Rwanda
• Burundi
• Rwanda and Burundi joined the organisation in 2008

Problems facing EAC

1. Production of similar items of trade
2. Lack of a common currency
3. Poor means of transport and communication
4. High taxes
5. Political instability
6. Mistrust among the leaders
7. The emergence of other regional bodies
8. Lack of enough funds

Inter-Governmental Authority on Development(IGAD)

• It was formerly formed as inter-government authority on drought and development (IGADD) in 1986
• Its objective was to check the spread of deserts in the horn of Africa
• In order to deal with other challenges facing the member countries IGADD changed its name to IGAD in 1992

Objectives of IGAD

1. Establish peace and security in the region
2. Promote food security
3. Promote inter-regional trade
4. Improve transport and communication facilities
5. Encourage the conservation and preservation of the environment
6. To eradicate poverty
7. Rehabilitate destroyed infrastructure and displaced people

Member countries of IGAD

• Somalia
• Sudan
• Uganda
• Kenya
• Ethiopia
• Djibouti
• Eritrea

Problems facing IGAD

1. Political instability due to civil wars
2. Lack of enough funds
3. Misunderstanding among the member states
4. Lack of a central government in Somalia that makes it difficult for IGAD to carry out its programmes
5. Religious differences between muslims and christians
6. Lack of primary health care and HIV and Aids PANDEMICS
7. Lack of trust and confidence among member states
8. Cultural beliefs that do not promote women’s welfare
9. Low levels of literacy due to inadequate educational facilities and teachers
10. Contributions from the member states do not get the secretarial on time therefore delaying its programmes
    
    

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