82 AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS
educational advancement, and the possibility of escape created by labour migration, have made the people more openly critical of his conduct, and they no longer respond so readily to the many demands he makes upon their services. There is no tendency as yet to advocate abolition of the chieftainship, but the stricter measures introduced by the Administration to keep the chief under control and to protect the tribe from abuse have been generally welcomed, especially by his more literate subjects, who apparently hanker after a 'constitutional monarchy' of the kind they have learned to know from their school-books.
At the same time, the chief himself is in a by no means happy position. His people look to him to protect their interests, and often enough his actions are inspired by genuinely patriotic rather than purely selfish motives. The Administration, again, on the one hand holds him responsible for the maintenance of peace, order, and good government, and on the other expects him to see that the laws it imposes and the instructions it issues are duly carried out. It has already happened that a situation may arise in which the chief must choose between his duty to the Administration and what he regards as his duty to the tribe* If he attempts to enforce the wishes of the Administration, he is only increasing his own difficulties by arousing the hostility of the people; if he disobeys the Administration, he is liable to punishment and even suspension. These and some of the other problems nowadays confronting the chief were recently discussed in an article by Tshekedi/ which shows how far removed the modern system of administration is from the day, little over forty years ago, when Kgama was told in London by the Secretary of State that he would be allowed to continue ruling his people 'much as at present*.
1 'Chieftainship under Indirect Rule', J. R. Afr. Soc.y vol. xxv (1936), pp. 251-61.