It was made up of the colonial Governor as President, and 4 officials namely: the Chief Secretary, the Attorney General, the Treasurer, and the Principal Medical Officer, plus 2 nominated non-officials who were: H.H.
This was refused on the grounds, according to the colonial government at the time, that representation in the LEGCO was not based on any community group.
Ranton, who was not a resident in Uganda, but had estates in Mityana, approximately 48 miles west of Kampala.
On Monday 21 March 1921, Ssekabaka Daudi Chwa (King of Buganda) and Sir Apollo Kaggwa wrote a letter to the colonial Governor questioning the Legislative Council's powers to make laws in Buganda.
The letter made reference to Article 5 of the Uganda Agreement 1900 which in effect meant Buganda had complete self-governance in terms of local administration and so any laws made by the colonial Governor applied to Buganda only if they did not conflict with the terms of the 1900 agreement.
Other parts of what is now Uganda were added to the British Protectorate two years later in 1896; these were: Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole and Busoga.
After the declaration of a British Protectorate, it took 27 years before a Legislative Council (LEGCO) was set up in Uganda.
The three African representatives who joined the LEGCO were sworn in on Tuesday 4 December 1945; they were: Michael Ernest Kawalya Kaggwa (Katikiro, i.e. Prime Minister of Buganda), Petero Nyangabyaki (Katikiro of Bunyoro), and Yekonia Zirabamuzaale (Secretary General of Busoga).
In January 1958, a Speaker to preside over the Legislative Council was appointed by the colonial Governor.
[2] The composition of the LEGCO in 1958 was as follows: (1) The Speaker, (2) The Government side was made up of (a) all members of the Executive Council, 3 civil servants who were there to support the ex-officio members (i.e. the Administrative Secretary, the Solicitor General, and the Secretary to the Treasury, (b) 3 Parliamentary Secretaries (all Africans) to the Ministries of Local Government, Education and Labour, and Commerce and Industry,(c) The Government Backbench which was composed of 15 nominated members made up of 10 Africans, 3 Europeans and 2 Asians.
On Wednesday 4 February 1959, a Constitutional Committee on self-government for Uganda was set up by the British colonial Governor Sir Frederick Crawford KCMG OBE.
The strict terms of reference for the committee were "to consider and to recommend to the Governor the form of direct elections on a common roll for representative members of the Legislative Council to be introduced in 1961, the number of representative seats to be filled under the above system, their allocation among the different areas of the Protectorate and the method of ensuring that there will be adequate representation on the Legislative Council for non-Africans."
The Committee also promised a supplementary report recommending constituency boundaries once the population figures by counties and sub-counties were available.
Although the LEGCO operated as a parliament of some sort, important matters to do with Uganda remained in the hands of the British government in London.
For example, when he appointed the constitutional committee, the colonial Governor made it clear that "the size and composition of LEGCO and also possible size of the Government....are matters on which a very special responsibility lies directly with Her Majesty's Government and cannot be settled here in Uganda.." The LEGCO was the first national legislature in Uganda.
[4] On Wednesday 1 March 1961, the first direct elections to the LEGCO were held in Uganda under the procedures recommended by the Wild committee.
Following elections on Wednesday 25 April 1962, Uganda gained independence from Britain on Tuesday 9 October 1962.