Masaka was Uganda’s second biggest town for a long time, today this status has changed as it was largely destroyed in the liberation war of 1979 and again in the 1981-1986 civil war which removed Obote 2 from power.

So Masaka District is one of the districts in Uganda, which has suffered the terror of bad governance, epidemics and total collapse of the service delivery system.  

This bad situation resulted in bringing down Masaka to her knees both socially and economically between 1971 and 1986.  The former local administration structures were all destroyed and a few which remained, were dilapidated.

The origin of Masaka is not very clear, but the local traditions have two views on how Masaka got its name:

1. The Local traditions say, “that there were big shrubs which were found in the area commonly known as a masaka”. So from that they named the area as Masaka.

2. Others say, “that Long ago there was a famine in Ankole and so the Ankole people migrated from their home land looking for food, when they reached in this area, they found millet, which in their language called Omugusha”.

So according to the presence of Millet or Omugisha as it was commonly known by the Ankole people, when they reached in the area they started asking for Omugusha (millet) to eat.

But the people who were in this area were Baganda and they would not pronounce the word as the Ankole people, so they called it Masaka and that was the beginning of the word hence naming that word to the area.

During the colonial period  Uganda was split into administrive districts and Masaka was one of them.

The district has a rich cultural heritage. It has also a diversity of ethnicities of about 40 ethnic groups though the majority of the people are Baganda followed by the Banyankole, Banyarwanda and Banyoro.

But most of the tribes practice Buganda culture. The main language spoken is Luganda and the staple food of the area is Matooke.

The major economic activities in Masaka include food crop agriculture for example matooke, sweetpotatoes, pineapples, and tomatoes. Cash crop agriculture including coffee and cotton, Animal Ranching consisting of cattle, goats, pigs and chicken.

Further more there is also fishing on Lake Victoria and fishing farming. Some people earn a living in small scale industries like Coffee processing, manufacture of soft drinks, metal fabrication/welding and Retail trade.