‘Clean Spirit’: Distilling, Modernity, and the Ugandan State, 1950–86

Abstract

This article explores official attitudes to illicit distillation in Uganda in the mid-twentieth century. Tracing continuities in rhetoric which are strikingly revealed by two reports on the problem of illicit distillation, the article offers a discussion of the development of illicit distillation and argues that for officials in the late-colonial and independent state, this became a symbol of the potential dangers of modernity. Governmental schemes for the production of a ‘clean’ distilled drink, on the other hand, asserted the ability of the state to provide a safe route to modernity. The state was challenged in this field – with such challenges made possible by the patrimonial nature of authority, which has constantly subverted the pretensions of the state – yet policy on the production of spirits has remained an important area for the discursive creation of legitimacy.

Notes

1. Public Record Office [PRO] CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Use of Jaggery’, with Cohen (Governor, Uganda) to Secretary of State, 20 Aug. 1952.

2. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 11.

3. Akyeampong, ‘What's in a Drink?’

4. Lugard, Rise of Our East African Empire, II, 210.

5. Uganda National Archives [UNA] A 46/1993 Chief Secretary to all PCs, 14 Feb. 1921; Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 2–3.

6. See the provisions of ‘An Ordinance Relating to Liquor, No. 9 of 1916’.

7. In interviews carried out in Bunyoro: for example, Int Nyoro25a, 6. Babumba emphasised this link between distillation and women's attempts to secure cash for their own use: Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 4.

8. Speke, Journal of the Discovery, 306–08; Baker, The Albert N'yanza, II, 468–69.

9. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 7.

10. ‘Possession of Waragi’, Uganda Herald, 3 July 1935.

11. Chapter VI of the General Act for the Repression of the African Slave Trade, reprinted in Miers, Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade, 361–62.

12. Pan, Liquor in Colonial Africa, 25–40; Olorunfemi, ‘The Liquor Traffic in British West Africa’, 220–42.

13. PRO FO 84/2010, Salisbury to Vivian, 12 Nov. 1889; Willis, ‘Demoralised natives’, 55–74.

14. Percy Anderson, quoted in Miers, ‘The Brussels Conference’, 83–117.

15. PRO FO 84/2011, draft text of Vivian's speech, nd (Jan. 1890).

16. Pan, Liquor in Colonial Africa, 41–45.

17. Liquor Rules, 4 Feb. 1921; and UNA A 46/1993, Chief Secretary to all PCs, 14 Feb. 1921. For the confusion over distillation, see UNA A 46/1993, Minute by Attorney-General, 29 Oct. 1920.

18. UNA Z/325 20, DC Busoga to PC Eastern, 17 Sep. 1924.

19. Gutkind, The Royal Capital of Buganda, 150; Police Annual Report for 1927, 32, UNA A 46/ 228.

20. ‘Birthday of the Kabaka’, Uganda Herald, 14 Aug. 1935.

21. See the description in Mair, An African People, 114 and 127, which stresses the commoditisation of banana wine in Buganda, but also 135–37, revealing the continuing non-commercial consumption and exchange of banana wine.

22. Appadurai, ‘Commodities and the Politics of Value’, 13–17.

23. Hoima District Archives [HAD] NAF 9, DC Bunyoro to PC Eastern, 30 Oct. 1950.

24. As is apparent from Southall and Gutkind, Townsmen in the Making, 60 and elsewhere.

25. PRO CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Use of Jaggery’, 22 Nov. 1951, attached Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

26. For a distinctly unalarmed report, see HAD NAF 9, DC Bunyoro to PC Eastern, 30 Oct 1950.

27. Tanzania National Archives [TNA] SMP 12802 Vol. II, Chief Secretary Tanganyika to Chief Secretary Uganda, 19 Nov. 1936.

28. PRO CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Use of Jaggery’, attached Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

29. HDA FIN. 7, DC Hoima to Verjee, 4 Dec. 1954 and Commodore, East African Railways and Harbours, Butiaba to DC Hoima, 8 June 1954.

30. Gunter, Inside Africa, 417.

31. As was explained to other governors of less liberal inclinations: PRO CO 822/630, Commonwealth Relations Office to Governor, Southern Rhodesia, 4 Apr. 1949.

32. PRO CO 822/630, Draft memo, attached, CO to FO, 19 May 1951.

33. PRO CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry in to the Use of Jaggery’, 2-4, attached, Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

34. PRO CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry in to the Use of Jaggery’, 5, attached, Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

35. Willis, ‘Demoralised Natives’.

36. PRO CO 822/630, ‘Report of the Committee of Inquiry in to the Use of Jaggery’, 6, attached, Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

37. Apter, The Political Kingdom in Uganda, 264–67.

38. PRO CO 822/631, Cohen to Gorell Barnes, 12 Feb.1953.

39. For the Tanganyika experiment, see TNA SMP 20309, Minute, Solicitor-General, 17 Jan. 1953. A similar system was introduced in Northern Rhodesia: PRO CO 822/631, Governor, NR – SoS, 15 Apr 1953.

40. PRO CO 822/630, Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

41. PRO CO 822/630, Cohen to SoS, 20 Aug. 1952.

42. Kenya National Archives [KNA] MAA 2/5/212, ‘Sociological Aspects of Waragi Drinking’; paper produced by Uganda govt, nd, submitted to Kenya Government 1955.

43. PRO CO 822/630, Gorell Barnes to Cohen, 11 Sep. 1952.

44. PRO CO 822/630, Memo, nd 1952.

45. The crucial moment was in 1953 when the Secretary of State approved a principle of ‘quiet disregard’ towards the provisions of the Congo Basin Treaties, and asked that new legislation be prepared in all African colonies: PRO CO 822/631, telegram from SoS to Governors, 14 July 1953.

46. ‘Liquor Bill Passed with General Support. “Discrimination” gone’, Uganda Argus, 14 Jan. 1955.

47. PRO CO 822/1069, Ag Governor to SoS, 15 Apr. 1954.

48. KNA MAA 2/5/212, Officer in Charge, Nairobi to Secretary for Defence, 14 Sep. 1954; Ag PC Rift Valley Province to Secretary for Defence, 14 Sep. 1954.

49. KNA MAA 2/5/212, Minute 1/54, Coast DCs’ meeting, 22 Sep. 1954.

50. KNA MAA 2/5/212, Minute, Carey Jones, 8 Oct. 1955.

51. KNA MAA 2/5/212, Mackenzie, Treasury – Turnbull, Chief Secretary's office 22 Sep 1955; Minute, Carey Jones, 8 Oct. 1955.

52. KNA MAA 2/5/212, ‘Report on Sociological Aspects of Waragi Drinking’; and Attached, Asian MWP – Administrator, East Africa High Commission, 5 Dec 1955; PRO co 822/1069, Minute, 26 Sep. 1955.

53. Uganda Argus, 17 Jan. 1958.

54. ‘House Told of Waragi Increase’, Uganda Argus, 18 Jan. 1958; ‘29 Stills Smashed by Police’, Uganda Argus, 10 Jan. 1959.

55. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 4.

56. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 17.

57. Haugerud, The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya, 81.

58. ‘Socialism Must Govern’, Uganda Argus, 8 Jan. 1964.

59. Letter, O. James, Uganda Argus, 2 Mar. 1965.

60. ‘West Mengo Regulates Drink Hours’, Uganda Argus, 8 Feb. 1968.

61. HDA NAF 9, Katikiro Bunyoro to Chiefs, 14 Aug. 1947, and Sabairu Buyenje to Supt. of Railway Landies, 10 Dec 1951.

62. For examples of the numerous advertisements, see Uganda Argus, 9 Jan. 1962; 11 Jan. 1965; 6 Feb 1967.

63. For Babumba, see Iliffe, East African Doctors, 139–40, 154.

64. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 7, 17.

65. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee. 7, 11–12.

66. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 17.

67. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 7.

68. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 1.

69. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 11–12.

70. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 11.

71. KNA MAA 2/5/212, Director of Medical Services, Kenya, to Asian MWP, 29 Dec. 1955; small-scale distillation was long tolerated and regulated in France, apparently without widespread poisoning: Sournia, A History of Alcoholism.

72. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 11.

73. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 18–19.

74. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 11.

75. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 20–21.

76. Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 20, 21. Akyeampong's description of the Ghanaian system does not reveal whether a central distillery played any role: Akyeampong, ‘What's in a Drink?’, 233–35 and Akyeampong, Drink, Power and Cultural Change, 144.

77. The report coyly noted that an ‘outside firm’ had been identified as a partner; the list of witnesses to the Committee reveals that this was Gilbeys-Mathieson: Babumba, Report of the Spirituous Liquor Committee, 22, and Appendix 1.

78. Uganda Development Corporation owned 51 per cent; and Gilbeys-Mathieson 26 per cent; the Development Finance Corporation of Uganda (largely owned by the Commonwealth Development Corporation) held the remainder of the shares.

79. Sec. 19, Cap. 96, Laws of Uganda.

80. ‘Jaggery Fines’, Uganda Argus, 11 Jan. 1963; ‘Charged with Bribing Police’, Uganda Argus, 26 Jan. 1963.

81. ‘Waragi, Waragi’, Uganda Argus, 14 Apr. 1965.

82. ‘Waragi on Sale in April’, Uganda Argus, 19 Jan. 1965.

83. ‘Collection of Enguli’, Uganda Argus, 24 Apr. 1965.

84. See, for example, Uganda Argus, 7 Jan. 1965.

85. ‘Women Sold Enguli Without Licence’, Uganda Argus, 11 Jan. 1966.

86. ‘Few Seek Enguli Licences’, Uganda Argus, 7 Apr. 1965.

87. HDA, Minutes of meeting of Bunyoro Enguli board. 6 Oct. 1965.

88. ‘Enguli Excess Denied’, Uganda Argus, 7 Feb. 1967; HAD ADM 5, Bunyoro District team Minutes, 31 July 1965.

89. For these figures, see ‘Enguli Export Ban’, Uganda Argus, 25 Jan. 1965, and advertisement in Uganda Argus, 7 Jan. 1966; a similar picture emerges from Heald, Controlling Anger, 87–88.

90. For evidence of chiefs’ continuing involvement in abetting distillation, see HDA JUD.3, Kihika, Magistrate Grade II to Admin. Secretary, Bunyoro District, 20 Mar. 1971.

91. From the 1950s, newspaper advertisments for beer and bottled spirits were commonplace, with solgans like ‘Live Well, Drink Tourell’, and ‘Uganda's Proud Brew’; see Uganda Argus, 7 Jan. 1965, 7 Feb. 1968. When Amin overthrew Obote, he adduced the drinking patterns of the political elite as evidence of their distance from the rest of the people: ‘Miria Can Go to Dar’, Uganda Argus, 18 Feb. 1971.

92. ‘Enguli Producers’ Memo’, Uganda Argus, 12 Dec. 1971.

93. ‘Col. Sabuni Tours Industries in City’; ‘Okuda Orders Arrest of Offenders’; ‘Governor Ozo on Role of Chiefs’, Voice of Uganda, 2, 18 and 19 July 1975.

94. Int Nyoro25b, 5.

95. For this information, I am indebted to Mr Sentamu of Uganda Waragi.

96. For news items which reveal the openness of – and police complicity in – illicit distillation, see ‘Residents Cry Foul on Malwa Ban’, and ‘Lira Lira Blast Rocks Nakawa’, New Vision, 7 and 9 May 1998.

97. Willis, ‘The Only Money a Woman Can Claim’, 1–16.

98. ‘Waragi on Sale in April’, Uganda Argus, 19 Jan. 1965; Letter, Daily Nation, 26 Jan. 1966.

99. ‘Tanzania to Make Konyagi’, Standard, Tanzania, 8 Jan. 1971.

100. ‘For Many Drinkers, There Are No Choices’, East African, 31 Aug. to 6 Sep. 1998.