Archival Recovery

The Archives

150,000 court records, two judicial archives, and a century of ordinary people's legal reasoning, recovered and preserved.

150,000
The Largest Legal Archive in Sub-Saharan Africa

Between 2017 and 2018, I discovered two judicial archives in Kampala that had been left uncatalogued and deteriorating: the records of the High Court of Uganda and the Mengo Court, Buganda's principal native court.

The High Court records are in English and contain appellate rulings from across Uganda. The Mengo Court records are in Luganda, written by court clerks and judges in the Buganda Kingdom's native courts. Together they document divorce cases, land disputes, debt claims, assault charges, adultery hearings, and inheritance contests spanning nearly a century.

I assembled and led a team of 15+ archivists, academics, and court staff who transported over 800 boxes of materials, sorted, catalogued, and transferred the collection to the Uganda National Archives. No other archive of this scale exists for research anywhere in Africa.

150,000+
Court cases recovered
800+
Boxes transported
15+
Team members
~100 yrs
Of proceedings
Inside the Archive
Storage room packed with records
The storage room where the records were found, packed floor to ceiling
Shelves of deteriorating records
Shelves of court records in the original storage space
Sauda Nabukenya in the archive
In the archive, Kampala
Unsorted court records
Unsorted court records before cataloguing
Records stacked
Records as we found them
Sauda sorting court records
Sorting and reading court records during the cataloguing project
Archival team at work
The team sorting records in the courtroom workspace
Archival project team
The archival team at the High Court of Uganda, Kampala
Organized archive boxes
After: records organized, boxed, and transferred to the National Archives
Stanislas Mugwanya title certificate, 1907
The Stanislas Mugwanya Title, 1907
A certificate of the official estate of Stanislas Mugwanya, Omulamuzi of Uganda, found in the Mengo Court Archive. Dated September 23, 1907, and signed by Henry Hesketh Bell, His Majesty's Commissioner for the Uganda Protectorate.
Buganda Kingdom court form
Buganda Kingdom Court Record
A court filing form from the Ggombolola Enkulu Ey'Olukiko, Mmengo, written in Luganda. These forms recorded the names of complainants, defendants, and presiding judges in the Buganda Kingdom's native courts.
Archive Catalogues
Access the Catalogues
Mengo Court Archive catalogue volumes

Our team created detailed catalogues for both archives. These catalogues record each case file with identifying information, case type, and classification. They are available for download to researchers, students, and archivists.

📚
High Court of Uganda Catalogue
Appellate rulings from across Uganda, in English. Cases catalogued at the item level by case type, parties, and date.
Download PDF →
📚
Mengo Court Archive Catalogue
Native court records from Buganda's principal court, in Luganda. Prepared by the University of Michigan, Makerere University, and the National Records Centre.
Download PDF →
Video
Archive Project Films
The High Court of Uganda Archive Project
The Mengo Court Archive Project