When colonial official George Wilson arrived to conduct an inquiry into Galt's death, his search for justice was hampered by his own fear and racism. These two factors led him to believe that the murder was the result of a conspiracy, even though there was no evidence to support his theory. Because he believed colonial subjects were pawns in the hands of African chiefs known as pastoralists (Willis, 390), he refused to accept the fact that one agriculturist might have worked alone.
Wilson's conspiracy theory was born of the fear common among British colonial officers in Africa that they were constantly at risk of losing their position of power . These two factors led him to convict two innocent chiefs as scapegoats, keeping the peace instead of stirring up anger by insisting on finding and punishing the entire group who participated in the "conspiracy." The African pastoralists compromised and sacrificed the two minor chiefs, also in order to keep the peace.
Galt's murder became so significant in the history of Uganda that older Africans, to this day, mark time by referring to his death.
In "Killing Bwana: Peasant Revenge and Political Panic in Early Colonial Ankole," Justin Willis links Galt's murder with the fragile yet complicated balance of power between the British and African authorities (379-400). He argues that British colonial power in Uganda rested precariously on the cooperation between African chiefs and British officials alongside the amount of influence that the African chiefs had with their subjects.
Although basic British policy was limited to one thing -- that governors in the field should keep order -- field policy and governing varied widely from colony to colony. In Uganda, these African chiefs known as pastoralists had power over geographic areas that British officials divided up between them. Chiefs had the difficult job of walking the tightrope between their "subjects" and colonial powers. From a colonial standpoint, the internal conflict of these two demands produced an unfortunate dilemma: those chiefs who were most cooperative with the British officials, and therefore, most useful, often lacked influence among their African subjects (Willis, 395-396).
The importance of Galt's murder lies in the fact that it illustrates Britain's most important colonial policy in Africa -- "keeping order." The British believed they should spend their time in Africa "establishing order, keeping peace, doing justice, enlightening ignorance, making smooth the path of religion" (Porter, 185). As long as colonial subjects felt that the British were masters, but in a gentle and kind way, British colonial officials felt that their consciences before the Queen were clear (Porter, 188).
