Sir Andrew Cohen was the Governor of Uganda from 1952 to 1957. His was widely considered as the best tenure of any pre-colonial Governor. Having previously helped guide Ghana to self-government between 1945 and 1951, he embarked on the same in Uganda by increasing the Ugandan representation on the Legislative Council (Legco).
He is also famous for deporting Kabaka Muteesa to Britain in 1953 after Buganda insisted on seceding from self-governing Uganda. The Kabaka would only return to Uganda in 1955 after successful negotiations between Sir Keith Hancock and the Governor in 1954.
Some of his methods were truly enviable. Governor Cohen arranged for Abu Mayanja; a bright and able student who at the time was faced with expulsion from Makerere College for leading a strike over poor diet, to study at his former university, The University of Cambridge.
Copyrighted Images courtesy of Makerere University Library
