A lot of historians only mention DP, UPC, UPM and CP as the only parties that participated in the 1980 elections, but there was another political party called ” God Commands Uganda “(GCU) led by a one Selasi Muhwezi Nowaruhanga.
What happened to GCU party?
——————————- BY AKIM ODONG VIA UAH
Abbey
In most countries including the UK, there are very many parties that have been registered and lay dormant. I believe this is the case with Uganda. There are parties with less than ten registered members and because they still have members, pay their dues, they cannot be written off. l don’t know about GCH perse, but what I know is that there is one, soon to appear on the Ugandan political horizon, a new outfit with no blemishes from the past, to re-direct the trajectory Uganda is headed for, to one which will avert catastrophe.
I cannot say much at this point but members are mulling over it. But soon, news will be out, to be or not be one!.
I recently had an online debate with Mrs. Nina Mbabazi Rukikaire, who also happens to be the NRM secretary General’s daughter, where she said that her political life has been influenced by both the NRM 10 point Program and the UPC’s Common Man’s Charter(CMC). I asked her to explain this and she came up with a lot of emotional explanations which had nothing to do practically with the two documents in question. So. I felt I should alert other Ugandans who may fall into the same trap and let them know that the two documents were just political propaganda than anything else. Propaganda simply means the systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause. It doesn’t have to be lies. Actually, the best propaganda is indeed true, but it is up to us to question its applicability in a situation such as Uganda.
Propagandists employ tactics that dehumanize those who support the opposing viewpoint through suggestion or false accusations. They influence public perception by disseminating negative and false information. For instance, Obote’s CMC wrongly portrayed most of the existing systems in the 1962 constitution as ‘inapplicable’ in Uganda. The document was more, for instance, against issues such as: kings, hereditary leadership, federalism or anything of that sort. For me, this kind of stereotyping by Obote and his CMS was not something that would have a lasting foundation in Uganda. Stereotyping is normally used by propagandists to arouse prejudices by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, or finds undesirable, and this is what late Obote and UPC were doing. This is what NRM is tactically doing now by starting a debate on cultural institutions in the country by presenting documents such as the traditional leaders Bill that are meant to humiliate cultural leaders and eventually lead to the abolishion of kingdoms. This means that even if that bill had not gone through, president Museveni’s propaganda against Kabakaship or traditional institutions had already been germinated, and it will not go away as long as he is in power.
I also noticed that Mrs.Nina Rukikairwe, herself, is feeding on old UPC propaganda through old guards such as Mathew Rukiikaire, as if UPC had all the out understanding of Uganda’s problems. The fact is that neither CMC nor the NRM documents were a ‘bible’ of truth on what direction the country is supposed to take. Uganda needs a new leaf from both these parties that seem to be identical twins in one way or ther other.For instance, Andrew Mwenda recently told us, while on capital fm, that Rwakasisi and Museveni used to work together and have been great friends for a long time.Rwakasisi, on other hand, was Obote’s right hand man throughout his leadership. Andrew Mwenda himself is a great admirer of Obote and UPC but also ‘loves’ Museveni in his own way.Nowonder UPC ‘old guards’ are now dominating Museveni’s cabinet than even the NRM historicals.
Propaganda can absolutely promulgate a democratic doctrine? The difference between political doctrine and propaganda is more like the one between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. In most cases, doctrines have been tested elsewhere unlike propaganda. Doctrine is more like regular food on a menu but propaganda is more like a ‘food special’. For instance, ‘Cultural diversity’ is a political propaganda term stolen from theorists of anthropology in the 1970’s. It is effective only to the degree that cultures are not diverse but simply have different appearances and rituals for the same values. It is something that became popular in American during President Johnson’s administration as he made attempts to change parts of American values and encourage more integration.
Nonetheless;Let us also try to find distinctions between the Common Man’s Charter (CMC) and Museveni’s 10 point programme. I’m not a Museveni sympathiser but sometimes I’m forced to defend his paper policies when someone starts ‘sugar-coating’ Obote’s failures or when one starts confusing others by saying that they were influenced by the two documents. Ok, let us see what we know so far about these two political propaganda documents:
Obote’s first administration started off as market-oriented and pluralistic. Then in 1966 Obote changed for the worse as we all know by now. The Common Man Charter(CMC) was a step influenced by what was happening in Tanzania at the time. So basically Obote moved to the left in 1969 and the CMC was adopted by UPC at their delegates conference in the same year.Nyerere had a hand in most of Obote’s changes in Uganda from the 1960s till when his death.
On the other hand, Yoweri Museveni started on the left ideologically. In the 1970s he was virtually a Marxist-Leninist. People like Robert Mugabe were radicalised by armed struggle. Yoweri Museveni was de-radicalised by armed struggle. Robert Mugabe became more and more of a socialist in the heat of the liberation war. Yoweri Museveni became less and less of a socialist in the tensions of armed struggle against the Obote regime.
The CMC buried Obote 1 because it was a threat to both the British and USA interests in the region. The British had about 80 companies in Uganda that faced the threat of nationalisation. On May 1, 1970 President Obote announced that the state would take over foreign enterprises in the famous Nakivubo Pronouncements.So the British through the Isrealis hatched a plan from South Sudan to get rid of socialist Obote. The USA also looked at the relationship Obote had with Nyerere as a threat to their capitalist interests in the region.
On the other hand, the 10 point programme had the blessing of most of the international community. Austria is where the 10 point programme was galvanised from and the movement held a lot of meetings there in 1985. That’s why the International Institute for Peace (IIP) president, Erwin Lanc, Austria’s former internal and foreign affairs minister and his wife, Christianne, were invited to attend the 15th Heroes Day celebrations at Ssembwe-Nyimbwa, Luweero.
The CMC was bound to fail from the beginning because, according to prof Ali Mazrui, the state had entered the market place of enterprise and pushed away the real entrepreneurs. It felt the role of government was to actively control and own business. They felt an equitable and just environment can only be created by government owning and interfering with business. The Government then simply rewarded supporters and chased away political opponents. A bedrock of nepotism and corruption and mismanagement was born. The companies were run down.
In addition, the CMC was introduced to make everyone relatively with money into their pockets to curb down on ‘kondoism’ or thuggery which was going at the time. Instead it just increased ‘kondoism’ as the rich kept being scared of the people. So it was a total failure. Let us also remember that Obote’s CMC was not pure socialism as that of Nyerere. So it was a bit of a confusing document with intentions which only UPC can expain.
On the other hand, the 10 point programme had the support of the masses in Uganda mainly in the south of the country. Museveni’s point No.5 for an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy, for which he is still fighting for, was and is a better attractive option for Ugandans than the so called CMC.Museveni has now supplemented this with the recently announced 5 year economic plan.
In addition, despite the fact that Museveni has not done much to get Ugandans out of poverty, his 10 point programme is even still popular among the opposition. For instance, DP former president, Sebana Kizito, was on record saying that DP will take up NRM’s 10-point programme and polish it in preparation for the 2011 general elections.Im actually wondering if Norbert Mao is running his campaigns and manifesto basing mostly on NRM’s 10 point program. May be that is why some people are suspecting him of being an NRM ‘mole’ in DP.
As far as I know, if president Museveni had genuinely implemented his 10 point program, then Uganda would have been on a totally different level. He just used the document as propaganda to make Obote unpopular in 1980s and subsequently help himself to an easy way to power. Museveni’s propaganda was sold to both Ugandans and the international community and it worked. There was nothing really serious in it. Time will come when somebody else will also come up with better propaganda than Museveni , and the population will be inspired to throw NRM out for good.
I would also like to say that I don’t hate Obote as per some statements I have seen flying around by some writers. I’m indifferent as far as Obote is concerned despite the fact that I lost a father during the time when he was the man controlling the system.
As I assume some of you already know, UPM which later evolved into NRM was a combination of several political parties. Let it also be known that most of the founders of UPM were former UPCs. When UNLF stopped being in existence and Binaisa was out of the office, some members of UPC who did not want to join DP thought of forming a new party. At first, they called themselves the ‘Third force’. This group was led by Akena Pojok(then minister of Transport and a UPC), Opira (former deputy chief of intelligence in Obote 1),Erisa Kironde(chairman of UEB in Obote1),Ruhakana Rugunda(then deputy minister of health), Bidandi Ssali(then minister of local Administrations),Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and other UPCs. The ‘Third force’ also recruited from DP territory and they managed to get guys like: Matia Kasajja of Hoima, Bernard Buzaabo, Dr. Bwambale and so many other DP supporters. They also went for neutrals and the biggest fish they got was Professor Tarsis Kabwegyere.
This ‘third force’ came up with a better name: ’Uganda Labour Congress’ in May 1980 which they later changed into UPM. Museveni(FORMER UPC) was chosen the leader of UPM. Guys like Yona Kanyomoozi, Ephraim Kamuntu, Dr. Ezra Nkwasiibwe, Kabwegyere and Pojok did not want Museveni to become the leader of UPM but they failed to block it. Actually, Kabwegyere later decided to join DP. So basically when one analyses all these political parties, they have been almost formed by the same people from older parties.
UPM (started before 1980 elections by the Musevenis) later changed its name to Uganda Liberation Movement when some UNLA soldiers joined them. Uganda Liberation Movement then changed to MOSPOR(Movement for the Struggle for Political Rights) which later also changed to Peoples resistance Army(PRA)-more like a replica of the ghostly rebel organisation started by Besigye in 2004. It was this PRA that later united with Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF) of professor Lule to form NRM.
Museveni also formed an alliance with the UFM(of Kayiira) and the UNRF when they met in London to form what is called Uganda Popular Front(UPF). FRONASA formed in the 1970s doubled as the military wing of UPM.
Yes, most Ugandans supported all these alliances, may be just as like we are asking the current opposition parties to unite for a common cause. The scale used to measure the unpopularity of a leader is when a leader attempts to rig an election, just as Obote did in 1980. When a leader does that, it means he has not got the majority of the population behind him.
Baganda did everything to support the war against Obote for obvious reasons. For instance, some families in Luwero lost their lives at the expense of hiding Museveni and the then NRA rebels. Obote was hated among various groups of people. The Banyarwanda hated him because of his isolationist policy against them headed by Rwakasisi. The west Nilers hated him because of the massacres committed there by UNLA soldiers in 1980s by Oyite Ojok and company.
I do not rule out the fact that some of the murders in Luwero might have been committed by NRA rebels . However, because of the nature of the war fought in Luwero, it’s fair to say that UNLA did more killing than NRA. Please click on the links below to see the names of some of the people killed in Uganda between 1981 and 1984.
Obote may have done some good things for Uganda under Obote 1 but it does not make him a messiah of any sort. These 1980 murders were committed at his watch as the leader of Uganda. He rigged the 1980 elections and that was enough to get him on his bike by force. We should not cover soil with faeces just because we want to eat mushrooms.
A letter from the head of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Paulo Muwanga. Among other things, it raises concern about the UPC rigging in West Nile (top of page 2):
Below is a clear transcript of the letter with AM Obote’s proposals for rigging the 1980 elections. Most of those proposals were implemented to the letter:
Submitted by Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto(UAH forumist)
The above transcript does not have AM Obote’s signature. Why? Because it is a transcript!
So Let me give you below a letter by Paulo Muwanga which in fact was reaffirming AM Obote’s words: That one is not a transcript.
Submitted by Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto (UAH forumist)
Obote and Sir Edward Mutesa before kingdoms were abolished
Dear friends,
I have always found articles in the media written by Mengo officials, such as Buganda’s Attorney General, Appolo Makubuya, about the relationship between Obote and Mutesa11, very interesting. And i think It is very wrong for some people to argue that Baganda generally hate Acholis or northerners in general. Baganda are very welcoming people and they have welcomed everybody starting with every name in the alphabets from A- Z including the Acholis. The person to blame for attempting to create divisions between the Baganda and the northerners was late Obote, but good enough he is dead and ,therefore, we can afford to move on or repair the damage he left behind if Museveni also goes sooner.
The truth is that Obote seemed to have had some banter to settle with Baganda. For instance, In a speech broadcast on radio Uganda, obote told a rally held in soroti in 1981 that if the baganda did not behave themselves, they (the Acholi-Langi alliance) would do to them what they did to the west Nilers in 1980. Secondly,Phares Mutibwa in his book ‘Uganda since independence’ also wrote that at Kololo(outskirts of Kampala city) , one Acholi soldier wrote on the wall:’killing a muganda or a munyankole is as easy as riding a bicycle’.
Nevertheless, the Acholis have never forgiven Obote for dividing the Acholi district into Simba and Moto Moto factions because he wanted to prolong his stay in power. Obote wanted to keep them fighting each other since a unified Acholi would worry his leadership and he was right when one looks at what happened at the later stages of his leadership. Obote depended on rival factions within the party to lead UPC for a long time. In Toro, he clandestinely supported a rival UPC group called ‘KAGOROGORO’ under Rwambarali against another one under Samson Rusoke. That is how he run his shows in UPC for a long time till the day called ”Mulindwa” happened in 1985.So why should Baganda continue to hate the Acholis who also later realised that they were just being used by Obote?
It is very unfair on the rest of Ugandans who hate Obote and UPC when someone just picks only on Baganda. Obote’s injustices did not limit themselves to Buganda borders alone such that when Dr.Otuunu or any other UPC leader is apologising, s/he may find himself doing it to the whole country apart from Lango. Obote was not only hated in Buganda but the rest of Uganda and the following may explain why:
Sedition charges started with Obote and Museveni just polished it. Sedition charges did not start with president museveni as he learnt that from one of his predecessors, Dr. Milton Obote. Journalists and the media were some of the biggest casualties of the government’s sensitivity to criticism during Obote and now Museveni.
Black Mambas started with Obote not Museveni. When president Museveni sent the ‘black mambas’ in the case of Dr.Kiiza Besigye and other PRA suspects Vs the state of Uganda, and black mambas surrounded the court, he was just polishing what he had been taught by his political master, Milton Obote. When Obote stole the 1980 elections just like most political thieves, he started manipulating the judiciary as a way of keeping himself in power. Lawyers who tried to represent people in courts were intimidated, detained or killed. For example, Cprian Kawoya was abducted from the high court while the court was in session and later murdered by Obote’s ‘black mambas’. Other lawyers killed or tortured under similar circumstances include: Hon. George Bamuturaki, Gideon Mutanga, Sewava Sempala,e.t.c.
UPC was the first party to ban political parties in Uganda under Obote 1 in 1968 under the famous Lugogo ceremony.So, when Museveni came into power in 1986, he did the same thing till 2004 when multi partysm got a breather after donor pressure and court cases fronted by DP and UPC.
Makerere students generally hated Obote because he used the campus to spy on students, intimidate and kill students. The Obote army intimidated and killed a lot of students at Makerere university in the 1980s purely because they wanted to devise ways of either UPC dominating the Guild or closing it altogether if UPC couldn’t have it. At one time, one George Bwanika was shot and damped in Namanve forests. UPC used the offices of the then Dean of students, George Kihuguru and the Deputy Vice chancellor, Gingera-Pinycwa, to plung the whole university into chaos with the help of obviously the army.
However much I admire the political acumen of Dr.Milton Obote, he made the gravest mistake of attempting to weaken Buganda by attacking the Lubili in Mengo in 1966.Obote himself is on record saying that was his lowest point in leadership.
A lot of Ugandans were killed under his watch between 1980 and 1984. For example, Hajji Abbasi Kibazo: Chairman Uganda Taxi OPERATORS Cooperative Union. He was arrested from his office in Kampala and taken to Makindye Barracks where they did what Kampalans call ‘OKUMUMIZA OMUSSU’ (murdered). Actually, he failed to protect the Ugandan population in Luwero when he was ‘legally’ made a president by a UPC chaired Electoral Commission after the 1980 elections. So many Ugandans lost their lives in Luwero and elsewhere because of the NRA rebels that cropped up after these elections
Obote was the man who started coups in Uganda by illegally ousting President Sir Edward Mutesa in 1966. This same year he illegally abolished kingdoms and is partly responsible for the death of Ugandans in the Lubili attack of 1966.
He is responsible for militarisation of politics in Uganda and this is exemplified by so many examples in his government (Obote 1 and 2). He also started the tribalisation of the army in Uganda when he recruited a lot of his tribes mate in the Uganda Army after taking over from DP’s Ben Kiwanuka.
He is responsible for producing a 1967 constitution that makes the offices of the Vice president and prime minister not independent of the presidency. The president can fire the VP and prime minister any time and this was started by the changes brought about in the 1967 constitution. The 1962 consitiution had separated the powers of the president, vice president and Prime minister but Obote changed that, and no president has rectified this up today.
It is also believed that president Obote did not want the Islamic University in Mbale to be built while he was in power. These allegations were made by president Museveni at one of the Mbale University’s graduation ceremony. Museveni also reportedly said that Obote did not want Uganda to be a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). Obote’s reason, according to Museveni, being that the two were linked to Idi Amin.
Obote was the politician who started the ‘TEMANGALO’(Corruption) environment in Uganda though it is arguably believed that NRM has been worse in this department. For instance, the GOLD ALLEGATION scandal of 1960s was the start of pure state corruption in Uganda and if it had been punished properly, probably it would have set a good precedent in Uganda politics. Another example is when Prime Minister Kintu Musoke attacked Obote for having bought a government house on Prince Charles Drive in Kololo at a giveaway price. The prime minister wanted to prove that Obote was the first politician to purchase a government house and to convince the public that it was therefore in order for President Museveni or his brother Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh to purchase the same house. Let us also remember that Uganda House was built using tax payers money though this could not be proved properly in the courts of law.
Apollo Milton Obote is the only party leader the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) had before he died. Remember UPC was established before even Uganda got independence. But you going to find a lot of UPC supporters asking a man who has been a leader of FDC party since 2005 to step aside because he has served one term.
Obote used men like Rwakasisi to terrorise Banyarwanda in the 1980S. Actually, some registration schemes were started in towns like Masaka headed by some guy I have forgotten. Surprisingly, Rwakasisis is now ‘reformed’ and a state buddy of president Museveni. He is one of the presidential advisors on security.
It’s an open secret that UPC under Obote rigged the 1980 elections and that marked the beginning of rigging in Uganda politics. It had never happened before. That’s why we are not surprised that even when Dr.Otuunu won the UPC presidency and beat his opponents fairly, some UPC still stuck with the 1980 mindset are telling people that he rigged.
As for why most Ugandans hate UPC more than the British, it is because these were colonialists who came in Uganda, did whatever they had to do and later packed their bags at the end of colonialism. They left a very good development program in 1960s (that included among many things the building of hospitals, for Obote 1 which he partly implemented. Uganda is now an independent country though we have failed to be economically independent. Donors are still pulling the strings as we have all seen with threats of cutting aid if Africa does not embrace homosexuality. Africa has got a lot of natural resources and it should be in a good shape now economically but our post independence leaders let us down.
Mr Kikira, the Chairman of the EC of the 1980s was a card-bearing member of the UPC. He had nothing to do with UPM. It was not accidental that the UPC-dominated Military Commission chose him to hold that post. He was a known veteran gerrymanderer and rigger, having aided the UPC in the 1963 Ankole District Coouncil election.
Recall that on 12th August 1980 AM Obote made some proposals on how to rig the elections and he specifically recommended that the EC should be chaired by a UPC sympathiser, “our old friend Kikira”.
See for yourself AM Obote’s letter. Look at Proposal one, (c) where Kikira is mentioned.
Documents Submitted by Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto(UAH forumist)
The Current chairman of Uganda’s Electoral Commission,Dr.Badru Kiggundu is also a NRM card holder as reported by the Independent newspaper.He has been the Chairman of the Electoral Commission since November 18, 2002. He is in charge of the Northern Region districts. According to Conservative Party (CP) leader and former Rubaga South MP John Ken Lukyamuzi, Kiggundu contested for Member of Parliament for Rubaga South in 1996 on an NRM ticket and lost. According to other reports, Kiggundu was also an LC official while he was Dean Faculty of Technology at Makerere University.
Dear people,
Whatever has become of president Museveni today, I still believe the Luwero Triangle war was justified and I support the initiative taken by Museveni and others to fight the Obote’s government. To broaden this discussion a bit, I’m gonna mention the main principles of the justice of war which are: having just cause, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used. Museveni and Group had a just cause: getting rid of a dictatorial government which had stolen the 1980 elections. The authority that declared war was a mixture of UPM and other registered parties in Uganda (forming something called NRM/NRA) and their intentions were good at the time and most Ugandans supported them particularly the Baganda. NRA/NRM fought a guerrilla war for only 5 years and that justifies the envisaged success. They knew that the population was behind them and that’s why they chose the Buganda spot where Obote was openly hated.
Child soldier
What exactly happened during the course of fighting in Luwero like killing innocent civilians; using child soldiers; and so on, cannot make a war unjustifiable and we have got international bodies that deal with people who break rules of war fare. For instance international agreements such as the Geneva and Hague conventions are historical rules aimed at limiting certain kinds of warfare. The real Luwero war was justified and there is no question about this. If any crimes were commited by the Museveni soldiers while in Luwero, then some body should investigate this and hand it to over to the international bodies but it does not make a war unjustifiable.
Mr.Otunnu, the UPC president is already asking for investigations in the Luwero war and it was very wrong for General Tinyenfunza to threaten him in response. By the way, these NRM guys don’t make threats as Mr.Otunnu may think. Let him ask Besigye who has since been subjected to anything you can think of, to the extent that he had to shift the remainder of his close family abroad. He has to make tours to USA every now and then to see his wife and son. Ambassador Otuunu should be ready for the fire in the kitchen because it’s gonna be very hot.
However, I must warn Ugandans that there are legal arguments in this area of what is considered moral and immoral when fighting a war. It is not an easy case of pointing fingers as some people are doing now. For example, to defeat Germany in World War II, it was deemed necessary to bomb civilian centres, or in the US Civil War, for General Sherman to burn Atlanta. Secondly, how do you morally justify the discovery and use of nuclear weapons in a war and end up killing more people than those that were killed in Luwero Triangle and bushes? The Soviets acquired nuclear and thermonuclear weapons in 1948 and 1953 respectively but an attack in 1948 was not seriously considered. An attack on the Soviet Union was quickly rejected by Eisenhower in 1953—although the main obstacle seems to have been the feasibility of removingpermanently the threat in one attack. Similarly, would you consider the Israeli destruction in 1981 by F-15’s and F-16’s of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor in Iraq a just war or not—although the U.S. and U.N. at the time formally condemned the attack and the Israeli policy? There are several examples including the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
The problem with some UPC supporters is that they just take things at face value without critically analyzing issues. Now let us analyse the internal dynamics of the war before they start comparing the Joseph Kony war and the NRA war (1980-86) .First of all, there is a difference between the conventional war and an irregular war (guerrilla war). Conventional wars have clear front lines in which attacks take place mostly from barricades and stable positions. Violence against civilians and combatants takes place in clearly distinguished spaces. Civilians are generally isolated from the battlefield: while some may live close to the frontlines, or even go there to visit combatants, their life is somewhat independent from the events taking place in it. The American Civil war (1861-1865) was a typical example of a conventional civil war. We have not had that kind of war in Uganda history since independence.
In Guerrilla wars (like Luwero Triangle), such a clear spatial distinction between battlefield and non-battlefield areas is lacking, as the war takes place unevenly all over the territory. In consequence, there is a greater mingling of civilians and combatants. So despite the fact that it is called the Luwero Triangle war, civilians were killed in other parts of the country as well. The battle lines were not limited in Luwero.
Civilians are killed in a guerrilla war when, for example, civilians hide potential victims, they help them to flee to other places; they give false indications to the groups, remain silent, or even engage in violent confrontation with the group. Going by this explanation, it’s so likely that the Obote men or UNLA would be the one to exert violence on the civilian population during the Luwero Triangle war. Several people were killed between 1980 and 1985 because they were thought to be ‘Bayekela’ (rebels) or helping the ‘bayekela’. Obote had no support from Buganda where most of the killing took place. He had ‘lost’ an election in 1980 but he decided to impose himself on the people of Uganda. So the aggrieved party here was the people of Uganda.
In Kony’s case, civilians in the north were most likely killed by the rebels because of non-cooperation with an enemy or occupier (NRMO government), civilian disobedience, and ideological opposition- “civilian defence”. Actually, the war in northern Uganda was one of the trickiest civil wars in the world because It’s very difficult to know who was doing the more killing between LRA and UPDF.
The difference between the Joseph Kony war or LRA war and Luwero Triangle war was that Joseph Kony failed to mobilize majority of the population in the north to support his cause unlike museveni who convinced majority of the population in the south of Uganda to support his cause to get rid of Obote dictatorship. Where there is a high level of mobilization of the population, armed groups are prone to target civilians in order to sweep the rears of potentially challenging enemies.
Well the point am trying to make here is that wars are justifiable depending on what I have mentioned above. However, what happens during the war does not make a war unjustifiable. Therefore, Museveni’s war against Obote’s forces was justifiable and if he had not done it, probably some body else would have done it. Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
We all feel bad about the people that died during and after the Luwero Triangle war. This war happened in Buganda and that means so many baganda died more than any other tribe. It is this very tribe that supported president Museveni and hated Obote and UPC. This very tribe still hates Obote and UPC and it is starting to hate Museveni.The Baganda killed in Luwero were not only UPC members as alleged by Obote or UPC supporters. Yes,both the NRA guerrillas and the UNLA killed a lot of people in the Luwero triangle and outside this triangle. However, there are several Ugandans that lost their lives from the time UPC rigged the 1980 elections , and among them include the following:
Joseph Nsubuga from Rubaga: He was killed along with his father and brother in law and their house was destroyed by a dynamite
Mr.Kinaalwa: He was chairman East Mengo growers Coop union. He was killed with 14 others following a visit by Paul muwanga and Hajji Musa Sebirumbi.
Alhajji Jabiiri: he was an elder from west Nile.When he returned to Uganda, he was arrested by police and later killed
Nelson Kirya Kalikwani: he was a veteran from Busoga who was picked up by security forces and taken to Luzira where he later died from.
Hajji SSali from Kabalagala: One of the founders of UFM. His house was bombed and all his family wiped out on the planet earth.
Katongole and his wife( mukyala we): both shot dead by UNLA soldiers at road block at Kabalagala
Anna Nantongo: she was a housewife but she was raped and strangled by UNLA soldiers
Lt.J.J Odong : Killed on orders from the army branch in Mbarara
Joseph Kyobe: he was an ex-magistrate of Lungujja.Both his sons were shot dead.Later the government apologized for this death with reasons of mistaken identity
Capt Darlington Ssengendo from Lubaga: he was shot dead at Bakuli by UNLA soldiers
Lt. Byarugaba: he was picked from officers mess in Moroto barracks and disappeared
Lt.George Kalenzi: he was killed by RSM Okello of Makindye barracks
Lt.Kutawanyika Mugisha: UNLA bastards killed him near Kampala on a road block
Captain Levi Mugarura: he was arrested at Nsambya Housing estate by Oyite-Ojok’s bodyguard and later killed in the nile mansions
Prof Joseph Ruremenkuba Muhangi: he was gunned down by soldiers at a road block near Kampala.Some body tramped up charges against him( as is the case today under Museveni) that he was gonna poison UPC’s Paul Muwanga
Cypriano Kalule Kawoya: This one was a lawyer. He was taken out of court in Kampala by soldiers and his body was later found on the outskirts of the city.
Moses Suubi Mugomba. He was based at Soroti flying school and was killed by soldiers in Jinja
Mrs Juliet Sebina: she was shot dead on her way to see the husband in prison soon after Vice president,Muwanga Paul, took over their petrol station on Entebbe road, near the clock tower
Stephen Mulira: he was the managing director of Lint MARKETING Board .He was arrested at road block and taken to the Nile mansions by the then army chief of staff, David Oyite Ojok.
Sam Karuhanga Rutehenda: he and his brother were killed because they were suspected of helping out on Museveni’s guerrillas.
The list is so long including my father and other relatives who were killed during that period. If any body wishes, they can add on it, because one day, some one has got to answer for these murders, atleast when s/he dies and meet God. My father was shot while hiding in the garage and left to bleed to death under his car.
I ask Ugandans to start compiling the list of any body politically killed from 1986 up to now. We need to know the dead because they should not be forgotten just like that.One day all the information considered as classified under Museveni will become public. If I had time I would have put out the whole list of ‘UPC murders’ . Please make records of everybody disappearing and dying under Museveni/NRM. If you don’t make these records, nobody will make them for you. Write a book of these murders, keep it safe, and publish it in future if necessary.
Nevertheless, I agree with the assertion that some people were unfairly punished in Buganda after the fall of Obote 1. The cases I know- involved their houses being destroyed and that was it, but not murders. One of the victims was Mr. Busulwa in Nakatundu, Kangulumira(BUGERERE), whose house was put on fire but nobody was killed. Mr.Muwonge in kyabazala was also a victim. My grandfather was also a victim of these crimes and I’m still confused as to why he used to support Obote, but then again he is a Ugandan and he has got a right to associate with any party.
One thing he has always told me though- is that Obote was the most intelligent president Uganda has ever had but he misused his intelligence and that’s why he landed in trouble, and I believe him. Why did he have to antagonize the Baganda by attacking the Kabaka’s Lubili in Mengo? Why wouldn’t he find another way of settling his ‘wars’ with Sir Edward Mutesa instead of attacking the Lubiri and killing a lot of people? It was a very stupid egoistic decision and I pray that Museveni is not advised by anybody to do the same some day because we seem to be moving towards the same direction.
The way forward is a truth and reconciliation committee which is similar to the one the South Africans had after the release of Nelson Mandela. My worry is that we cannot have such a committee under the NRM government that is taking us back where we came from.
I still believe the Luwero Triangle war was justified and I support the initiative taken by Museveni and others to fight Obote’s government. To broaden this discussion a bit, I’m gonna mention the main principles of the justice of war which are: having just cause, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used. Museveni and Group had a just cause: getting rid of a dictatorial government which had stolen the 1980 elections. The authority that declared war was a mixture of UPM and other registered parties in Uganda (forming something called NRM/NRA) and their intentions were good at the time and most Ugandans supported them particularly the Baganda. NRA/NRM fought a guerrilla war for only 5 years and that justifies the envisaged success. They knew that the population was behind them and that’s why they chose the Baganda spot who openly hated Obote and his regime.
What exactly happened during the course of fighting in Luwero like killing innocent civilians; using child soldiers; and so on, cannot make a war unjustifiable and we have got international bodies that deal with people who break rules of war fare. For instance international agreements such as the Geneva and Hague conventions are historical rules aimed at limiting certain kinds of warfare. The real Luwero war was justified and there is no question about this. If any morals were not considered by the Museveni soldiers while in Luwero, then some body should investigate this and hand it to over to the international bodies.
Mr.Otunnu, the UPC president is already asking for investigations in the Luwero war and it was very wrong for General Tinyenfunza to threaten him in response. I first heard the statement:’we will crash you’ when Besigye decided to start the Reform Agenda prior to 2001 elections. A certain ‘gentleman’ called General Salim Saleh allegedly aired the same words. By the way, these guys dont make threats as Mr.Otunnu may think. They mean real business. Besigye has since been subjected to anything you can think of , to the extent that he had to shift the remainder of his close family abroad. He has to make tours to USA every now and then to see his wife and son.Ambassador Otuunu should be ready for the fire in the kitchen because it’s gonna be very hot. He should seek comfort in Dr.Kiiza Besigye who has seen it all before- the threats, the prison, the charges, the courts, the handicuffs, exile, loss of relatives,……………..Those who are just joining the field should pay a visit to the good doctor.
However, I must warn Ugandans that there are legal arguments in this area of what is considered moral and immoral when fighting a war. It is not an easy case of pointing fingers as some people are doing now. For example, to defeat Germany in World War II, it was deemed necessary to bomb civilian centres, or in the US Civil War, for General Sherman to burn Atlanta. Secondly, how do you morally justify the discovery and use of nuclear weapons in a war and end up killing more people than those that were killed in Luwero Triangle and bushes? The Soviets acquired nuclear and thermonuclear weapons in 1948 and 1953 respectively but an attack in 1948 was not seriously considered. An attack on the Soviet Union was quickly rejected by Eisenhower in 1953—although the main obstacle seems to have been the feasibility of removing permanently the threat in one attack. Similarly, would you consider the Israeli destruction in 1981 by F-15’s and F-16’s of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor in Iraq a just war or not—although the U.S. and U.N. at the time formally condemned the attack and the Israeli policy? There are several examples including the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Well the point am trying to make here is that wars are justifiable depending on what I have mentioned above. However, what happens during the war does not make a war unjustifiable. Therefore, Museveni’s war against Obote’s forces was justifiable and if he had not done it, probably some body else would have done it.
Like I promised Ugandans, we are going to get a detailed evidence of how the 1980 elections were rigged by UPC .I found this topic very interesting because whatever means UPC used to steal the 1980 elections are the same means NRMO are now using to steal the presidential elections in Uganda. It shows that Ugandan leaders never learn anything from history and that makes us doomed. So how did Obote’s UPC steal the 1980 elections?
Obote while in exile in Tanzania wrote to Paul Muwanga ,who was then a cabinet minister under Binayisa’s government, to do everything possible to get UPC back to power even if it meant staging a coup. The letter is a public document which can be seen by anybody in various textbooks and is dated 06/02/1980. Muwanga ,Rwakasisi and group implemented this plan in July 1980 by getting rid of president Binaisa through a ‘coup d’état’. Before the 1980 elections were held, Muwanga wrote to the UPC tabliqs to start laying grounds for the rigging of the 1980 general elections and they awarded him handsomely. Muwanga’s letter is also public property to those who want it.
Another document written by Obote on 12/08/1980 reveals how Obote personally laid out the master plan as to how UPC would stop the election, or, if it was held, rig it, or seize power by military force if his party lost. This document is also public property if any one fancies it.
The appointment of the Electoral Commission was also strongly part of the process of rigging the 1980 elections. First, the military commission was full of UPC people and there were the ones that appointed the Electoral Commission (EC)- just like the current EC is full of people loyal to NRMO and Museveni. The few voices in the military commission who were anti-Obote like Yoweri Museveni could not change anything. Secondly, the chairman of the electoral Commission appointed by Muwanga and group was a strong UPC cadre called Kosea S.M. Kikira. Furthermore, the EC was both partisan and incompetent. Most of the people appointed did not have any experience in election monitoring apart from the chairman himself.
The military commission (MC) was the one that kept announcing the election programs instead of the EC as required by the constitution. The MC reached to the extent of dismissing the 14 DCs who had been appointed as Registration Returning officers by the EC, because they had refused to be comprised by UPC and Muwanga. Muwanga replaced them with 15 UPC members to pave a way for the rigging within the EC.
In addition, the MC interfered with the voter registration exercise such that a certain man who was acting as the UPM publicity secretary called George Grace Bakulu Mpagi, decided to challenge the irregularities in the courts of law. However, the judge came out with almost a similar ruling as the judges in the Besigye Vs Museveni cases of 2001 and 2006, when he said that everything was unlawful but his hands were tied.
The nomination exercise was also flawed and almost every electoral law was broken by the Muwanga and group for the sake of winning the 1980 elections. For example, polling stations in the 4 Kampala constituencies did not open until mid-day which broke the EC laws but was done with the intention of showing common wealth observers that the situation was the same all over the country where there were few observers.
As if that was not enough, UPC made violence and intimidation part of the rigging process just like we have got the Kakoza Mutale of NRMO. For instance, a rally organised by DP candidate,Mr.Anthony Ocaya was disrupted by the UPC gangs while he was campaigning in Gulu. Muwanga also wrote to the Kayihura of that time-directing him that potential DP candidates particularly: Martin Aliker , Hajji Akbar Nekyon, Yoweri Kyesimira and James Kaigiriza, be banned from speaking at public meetings and rallies.
UPC did a lot of things to rig the 1980 elections but the most embarrassing one was when Paul Muwanga stopped the returning officers from announcing the election results and he directed he alone was to announce the results and declare the elected candidates. He took over full control of the EC when he realised that UPC was losing to DP. Obote refutes this in his memoirs published in the monitor newspaper before his death but that was expected from a fulltime politician like him. Muwanga then released the doctored results after 18 hours to the EC whom he asked to announce them on the radio Uganda.
The question that bothers me from all this is that:’ why would Museveni employ the same tactics used by Obote to rig elections in 2001 and 2006 yet he was part of the MC and witnessed how the country went into decline after the rigging of the 1980 elections?’ Does this make Museveni a better politician than Obote or they are birds of the same feather.
Sedition charges did not start with president museveni as he learnt that from one of his predecessors, Dr. Milton Obote. Journalists and the media were some of the biggest casualties of the government’s sensitivity to criticism during Obote and now Museveni. Pro-baganda newspapers like the economy had a breather after the fall of Amin but things started getting tougher afterwards. Obote also got tougher on foreign journalists who had had freedom under Lule and Binaisa. Many newspapers like the weekly topic were closed down by government officials under obote 2. Anthony Sekweyama, the editor of the main Luganda newspaper, Mumansi, and two other employees of the paper were arrested in March and held for three weeks on sedition charges. They were released in mid-April, but the paper — which was the voice of the opposition, Democratic Party — did not reappear until the middle of May. Even the Chief Editor of the new Sunday edition of the government Uganda Times was detained after only editing two issues. The Obote government was apparently annoyed by an article criticising the US boycott of Libyan oil. Obote had turned his previous socialist policies on their head and had been hard at work courting Western investors. No doubt he did not wish them annoyed by a government paper. Surprisingly, Museveni’s paper: Resistance News of the NRM was left on the streets for a while-a point which strengthenes the argument of those who say that Obote always did undermine the strengths of Museveni from day one.
Museveni’s idea of the media centre headed by Robert Kabushenga did not come from the moon. Obote was the man who first introduced Newspaper and Publications Act to lay down conditions for the starting of a newspaper or magazine in Uganda. Museveni’s media centre is an equivalent of Obote’s Press Accreditation Committee (PAC) which had representatives from the Ministries of Information, Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Ugandan journalists wishing to send material to foreign sources had to be approved by the same body.
In addition,The throwing away of foreign journalists from Uganda did not start with Museveni as some people think. Four Western journalists who included: Christabel King, Nick Worrall, June Dechter and Bob Dietz, had their accreditation withdrawn before the December 1980 elections which brought Obote to power, mainly because they were considered unsympathetic to Obote. Then four other journalists resident in Kampala also had their press credentials withdrawn and these were: Cameron Morton (September 1981), Mark Lee (December 1981), Tom Lansner (November 1981) and Trent O’Keefe (January 1982). Visiting correspondents, including representatives of the Daily Telegraph and British Independent Television News, were also thrown out of Uganda. The Minister of Information at that time, Dr David Anyoti, said that only qualified and bona fide journalists were permitted to work in the country. He condemned freelance journalists as bent on ‘sensational and subjective journalism’ and condemned the foreign news media for using ‘second-rate yellow journalists’. Cameron Morton, for example, was put under house arrest and expelled immediately after reporting army massacres in the West Nile and Trent O’Keefe had his accreditation withdrawn a few days after a BBC report of the murder of five churchgoers by Ugandan troops during a Sunday service in Katiti village in Luwero district. Actually, any body telling you that the killing of Ugandans like bees in Luwero started with NRM is just kicking himself in the teeth.
As far as I know, Black mambas were in existence during Obote 2 and Museveni’s government and not in FDC. Whatever Obote did during his reign, Museveni can do better. When president Museveni sent the ‘black mambas’ in the case of Dr.Kiiza Besigye and other PRA suspects Vs the state of Uganda , and black mambas surrounded the court, he was just polishing what he had been taught by his political master, Milton Obote.
When Obote stole the 1980 elections just like most political thieves, he started manipulating the judiciary as a way of keeping himself in power. Lawyers who tried to represent people in courts were intimidated, detained or killed. For example, Cprian Kawoya was abducted from the high court while the court was in session and later murdered by Obote’s ‘black mambas’. Other lawyers killed or tortured under similar circumstances include: Hon. George Bamuturaki, Gideon Mutanga, Sewava Sempala,e.t.c.
Another incident is when Barak Kirya was acquitted of treason charges in Dec 1984, he was rearrested in the same way Besigye was rearrested and taken back to Luzira Prison. Kirya just like Besigye was co-accused with others on treason charges( who included captain Mark Kodili, major Hussain Ada, Captain Sajjad Soori, Frank Kivumbi and James Balamu), who were also acquitted by the judge but the Obote’s ‘black mambas’ surrounded the court and these guys could not leave the court room. They were eventually forced out and taken back to Luzira. So Ugandans, the black mambas you saw in 2006 who surrounded the high court did not start with president Museveni. He is doing exactly what Obote used to. We shall see all these things as we continue throughout this year and see how UPC and NRM are now similar in the way they approach national issues. The man (Matsiko) who wrote an article in the monitor this week about the similarities between NRMO AND UPC did not just dream. We have got UPC 111 now in Uganda.
If I were DP, I would not go into any alliance with UPC alone without any other political party because they are the biggest political capital for museveni. So the idea of an Inter Party Cooperation(IPC) is good for DP as long as FDC,JEEMA and CP are there.
Everyone has played around with DP for a long time to make their ends meet but being used by UPC again will be unthinkable. When DP was formed, the Kabaka institution and others looked at it as a threat to their existence and that is how Kabaka went into an alliance with a ‘snake’ to fight DP. King Freddie himself explains this properly in his book: the Kabaka of Buganda, The Desecration of My Kingdom (London:Constable, 1967. He pointed out that the chief aim of the KY was to destroy the DP.
When the ‘snake’ finished biting the Kabaka, they went for DP and this reached a climax with the crossing of the floor by a number of DP members, led by Basil Bataringaya. Obote’s power was unquestionably established after this.
It should be noted that Museveni also managed to weaken DP by retaining a lot of their supporters in NRM after the marriage collapsed in 1996. People like Maria Mutagamba, Specioza Kazibwe,……….. never went back to DP after Semogerere fell out with Museveni in1996
Uganda is a long way to uniting as one country which is sad. Late Obote divided the country so much and the current politicians are also still taking advantage of these divisions. Obote practically divided the north and south of Uganda from the 1960s. Museveni rightly used this division to get rid of Obote dictatorship and getting himself into power.
Obote used to call the freedom fighters in Luwero Triangle ‘bandits’ after he illegally imposed himself on Ugandans on the evening of Saturday,11 December 1980 ,and unsurprisingly some UPC supporters are also using the same words(bandits) of their mentor in some of their messages. It’s no secret that Obote hated Baganda and the vice versa was true. For instance, In a speech broadcast on radio Uganda , obote told a rally held in soroti in 1981 that if the baganda did not behave themselves, they (the Acholi-Langi alliance) would do to them what they did to the west Nilers in 1980.
Phares Mutibwa in his book ‘Uganda since independence’ also wrote that at Kololo(outskirts of Kampala city) , one Acholi soldier wrote on the wall:’killing a muganda or a munyankole is as easy as riding a bicycle’.
So basically, whoever was to fight a guerrilla war against Obote’s despotic regime had to exploit this divisionism which had been started by Obote from the 1960s when he made sure that the army was dominated by northerners. It is the very reason why museveni chose Luwero triangle as his spot to fight Obote because he knew that Baganda and southerners in general would support the rebels in everything. It was also claimed in a public lecture at Makerere University in 1988 by A.G.G Gingyera-Pinycwa, professor of political science, that the NRM/NRA went to the bush to remove the northerners from power, and I don’t think that he was far from the truth.
The questions we should also ask ourselves are:
Who started this process of dividing Uganda into the north and south?
What can be done by the present and future generation of Uganda to make sure that it does not happen again?
Do northerners need some form of a sensitisation program to realise that anybody can become a president whether he or she is shorter than you? What matters is what that person has got to offer.
Can the current tribal divisions in UPDF also cause us future problems if they are left unchecked for a long time?
I would wish to push forward the spirit of reconciliation with the past and I guess I have already told Ugandans this at some point. My problem is when some UPC supporters come in a public forum and start calling Obote and UPC ‘Jesus’ when we all know what happened in the past.
1. Yes, it is true that UPC and NRM came to power differently but they have now got a lot in common. When one analyses Museveni’s 3rd term (6th term), it is operating on the same UPC principles of isolating enemies, weakening the baganda and Buganda kingdom, building an ethnic based army and call it a ‘national army’, e.t.c. UPC came into existence a result of Obote divorcing Iganatius Musazi’s UNC over the composition of leadership which was full of baganda. Obote then united with UPU which was also anti-baganda to form what is called UPC. So, as far as I know there was no vote in the formation of UPC apart from the usual ‘wakayima tondeka nyuma’ skills by Obote. UPC has never got the people’s mandate to govern Uganda because their leader has always been afraid of elections. When did Ugandans ever elect Obote to be their president?
2. The internal problems UNLF got were all pre-planned by the elements within UPC who were both members of the UNLF and the military commission. These people were all there to drive UPC interests and not a united government interests. They got rid of yusuf Lule and later on also got rid of Binayisa after realising that he was not gonna push UPC interests despite him being a member of UPC or oboteist earlier on. Obote himself acknowledged in the letter he wrote to Paulo muwanga on 6th January 1980 that: ‘……..the UNLF was founded as an anti-upc organisation……as my friends have told me, Lukongwa is most likely to go. Iam sure apart from our members, the rest of the members of the NCC would not want to consider the candidature of a leading UPC member such as yourself.’
3. Museveni’s FRONASA were by then part of the UNLA with their leader deputising Paul Muwanga in the military commission. Most of the murders that took place in Kampala happened after the rigging of the 1980 elections. Oh my God, so many people were killed like jiggers by none other than Obote’s UNLA since the Musevenis had gone to the bush after the rigged elections. There are specific well documented incidents that incriminate Obote’s forces in the crimes committed against Ugandans after imposing himself on them in the 1980s.
4. Ugandans did not ask Obote to come from Tanzania to come and lead them. UPC comrades did and he was expecting it because he had set the ground for it. Dr. Obote never wanted the 1980 elections to take place because he knew his party were gonna lose badly and this is evidenced in the secret document he wrote on 12/08/1980: ‘ our party is opposed to elections and will only accept the prospect of holding elections at the greatest of pains. I don’t need to remind you how much the Baganda hate me personally. Nor do you need to be reminded the demonstrations that followed Lule’s fall…….we must do everything possible to see that elections are not held on the 30th of September as proposed’. He also said in the same document that: ‘if it appears just before, during or immediately after the elections that things are not working out as expected there should immediately be a mutiny by the Army. For this purpose the chief of staff has already ensured that all commanders of the Brigades are loyal to us.’ Obote has never wanted to be an ordinary Uganda just like president Museveni as never wanted to be an ordinary Uganda. Both these guys are so superficial in their characters.
I’m not going to talk about the killing spree by the movement ,as some UPC members call it, before they came to power. In any case, they aren’t different from UPC now. I will leave that to NRM Supporters to serve you the ‘usual’ on their menus. All I know is that the situation in Uganda
deteriorated so much in the 1980s to the extent that there was no any other way of kicking out UPC dictatorship other than fighting it militarily. So I still maintain that the war in the Luwero triangle was justified. What has happened after this war makes you think twice about wars but what can we do with these men who don’t wanna listen. You tell me.
FRONASA was formally formed in 1973 but it was operational way back before that. Museveni’s book also can give you some hints on this to show you that he made his mind up to fight Obote dictatorship in the 1960s.
Museveni also said that FRONASA was the one that attacked Makenke Barracks(Mbarara) in 1972.So what makes some people think that FRONASA was formed in 1973? I also read somewhere that Major Gen Muhoozi’s mother joined FRONASA in 1971.How and when she died, i don’t know, and i dont want speculate.
Museveni was in Obote’s GSU as insider operative of FRONASA.Obote kindly recruited him but he did not know he was recruiting a spy. Eriya Kategeya was also in UPC as an ‘informer’ for FRONASA and i think Museveni mentions him in his book’ sowing the mustard seed’ for being so courageous in this role. He also briefly joined FDC as allegedly an informer for NRM.
FRONASA operatives also continued to operate calendestinely by taking up jobs in Amin’s govt.People like Wanume Kibedi, Amama Mbabazi, Rugumayo, and John Kazoora were already part of FRONASA.Kazora later helped Museveni to marry Janet Museveni when they were in exile in Nairobi. There are those who were fighting the regime from outside amongwhom include FDC’s Augustine Ruzindana and Otaffire Kahinda who were trained in gueirilla warfare from mozambique and they were very instrumental in fighting the Amin regime between 1973 and 1978.
The first ‘official’ chairman of FRONASA was Lapwony GINYAKOL, a northerner, but FRONASA had its unofficial owners as we now know today. Electing some of these people was meant to widen the alliance base.
Yes,FRONASA was intergrated into UNLA/UNLF but they still kept their organisation intact since Obote’s KIKOSI MALUM had decided to dominate the army. The lesson here again:’Never abandon the aims and objectives of your organisation because of all alliance‘. This is where the Kayiiras and Lules got it wrong. Most FRONASAs also joined UPM and they were the one that helped Museveni to become the chairman of UPM in the first place despite resistance from guys like Professor Tarsis Kabwegyere. So UPM became FRONASA’s indirect political wing, if i can say so. People like Francis Bwengye tried to recruit Museveni into DP and they did not want him to form UPM but it was too late.
Please i dont know much about FRONASA but all i know it was already operational before it was officially lauched in 1973. As for Obote, i’m even not sure whether ‘hate’ is the right word to use here when describing him.I think im now indifferent where Obote is concerned.He just happens to be a big part of our history and therefore i cant avoid mentioing his name.
One Isaac Balamu wrote on the UAH forum:‘Okay, If I may ask, how was Dr Obote (RIP) a dictator between 1967-71?”.
In simple terms, Obote illegally aborogated the 1962 constitution and kept us without a constitution for 1 month. This was illegal and there are no two ways about it. Even a book i read recently written by a certain UPC legal expert agreed with this position. THis was a coup and leaders who come to power through coups remain dictators till when they hold an election. Obote never held any till when Amin kicked his ass in 1971. He illegall did a lot of stuff ,as i assume you already know, without the mandate of the people of Uganda, and that’s not democracy,sir.
Im however happy to hear that Isaac Balamu is also another Bugererian(from Nazigo). What did Obote do in Nazigo really?please educate me! Last time i checked, it was mainly St.Kalemba which was still the pride of the region. When you down there in Kyampisi, people have been stinking of poverty since Obote days, i hear. Museveni just added salt to the injuries.
Isaac is also right that Sabagereka did not die as soon as NRM took power but 1993 is not far from 1986, and i think i didnt mean to say that he died straightaway after the struggle, because i remember attending one of the NRA parties at his place when i was a kid.We were invited as students to sing for the NRA big people where we sang songs in Lunyankole like ‘EKIBINA KYETWE NRA. NIKYEBENGERE OMUSHAYIZI OMWETEGELEZI.JIZUNGILE EKITISA KILI OBULI UGANDA. AMAHANGA GONE NEGAKIMANYA. I recently passed via his house when i was in Uganda-that KALINA on the road side, but it looked like some deserted place.
One UAH member called Mr.Musisi,wrote:’’When I say that Obote was elected into office unmarried, I surely mean 1962 – and did not get through rigging, regardless of process, and tye electorate preferred umarried Milton Obote’s UPC to married Ben Kiwanuka’s DP’’
I would like to say that apart from the time when Obote was elected to the Legco in 1958, he never directly got elected by the people of Uganda into any office. He never presented himself to be elected and when he did in 1980, he rigged his way into power which led to the luwero bush war because Ugandans could not accept him.
He was chairman of the Lango District Council before being elected to the Legco in 1958. Lango is not a populous district, and though his popularity in that district was built up soon after his entry into politics upon his return to Uganda, his power stemmed from the influence wielded by his clan rather than from any mass organization he was able to create there. So basically he relied on his clan to win that election as well not his popularity as a person or leader.
In 1962, Obote was ‘elected’ or chosen by parliament(and not the people of Uganda) to become our PM because his party had become the majority in the legislature. In 1966, he imposed himself on the people of Uganda and he assumed the powers of the president and VP but we spared him till when Amin kicked him out in 1971. He again imposed himself on us through election rigging in 1980 but we never allowed him to enjoy the chair even for a second because he was already very unpopular among the masses.
Actually, we should have had a General election in 1967 but because of Obote’s fear of elections, the Republican constitution was passed in that year and under it, it was specifically provided that all members of the then existing parliament were deemed to have been elected for a further term of 5 years. I guess Museveni picked the trickery of extending ‘5years term’ from the man buried in Lango and now we are stuck with him too.
In 1980,when Obote came back in Uganda via Bushenyi which was a strong UPC stronghold, he declared his intentions to stand for presidency. Because of his known fear of direct elections, he immediately failed to to call a delegates conference. He knew that some people within Upc were planning to get rid of him and this group was headed by Akena Pojok and Tiberondwa. They later held a bogus delegates conference( current NRM style) after some pressure within UPC in which he was endorsed as the party candidate without any one challenging him. He rigged the 1980 elections and the rest is now history as he is history too.
But I must also say that both Obote and Muwanga did not deserve to be in parliament in the 1980s for they were not elected. Paulo Muwanga should never have been in Parliament in 1980 as a member because he did not contest any parliamentary seat. He was also not specially elected by parliament to sit there as a member nor was his elected by his party to sit in parliament. So Muwanga and Obote’s membership in parliament in 1983 were legally very questionable. They both broke the 1967 constitution and we need to charge their graves if possible. The 1967 constitution itself Obote used to form a cabinet and open up parliament was not respected after stealing the elections. Because Obote did not stand as an MP somewhere nor specifically elected by the UPC parliamentary group,he broke the law to allow himself to be sworn in as a member of parliament
Democracy was not part of Obote’s dictionary or needs and anybody who relate anything democracy to Obote is taking Ugandans for a ride. So it is unfair to say that the electorate preferred unmarried Milton Obote’s UPC to married Ben Kiwanuka’s DP since Obote has never been directly elected by the people of Uganda. In any case, UPC went through because the electorate in Buganda loved their kabaka and voted for KY which had earlier formed a coalition with UPC to defeat Kiwanuaka’s DP. Obote and UPC alone would never have defeated Kiwanuka because he was even popular in the north.
Secondly,Nyerere was running the show in Uganda in post Amin administration and whoever acted against his wishes was shown the way out. Lule was the 1st to be shown the way before Binaisa. Nyerere was Obote’s personal friend and he was somehow in control of the UNLF government or the military commission. When Binaisa removed Oyite Ojok from his position, he could not consult the NCC b’se he knew the majority were Obote’s men or UPC people.
The Museveni whom some people call strong in the NEC was not even around when Binaisa was being removed. He was not consulted at all b’se there was no need to consult him. He was a small fry in the pan by then. In any case, Binaisa knew that Museveni could not be trusted in the 1st place and he had demoted him to the ministry of regional cooperation from Defence. So they were not seeing things on the same page already.
The 1980 elections were a political landmark in the country called Uganda and that’s where we will mostly pin UPC and Obote b’se they failed the 1980 test and exam.
It’s a chicken-and-egg thing, isn’t it? Dictators like Idi Amin,Obote ,Mugabe and Jean-Bedel Bokassa weren’t white guys imposed on African nations – but citizens of Africa who rose to power through those nations’ “legitimate” political structures! Obote was born and bred in Uganda. He fed on politics. He knew what he was doing by stealing the 1980 election that it will set the country back. Amin was born and bred in Uganda. Museveni is also legally a Ugandan citizen supposedly bred in Uganda and he knows that rigging elections is not good but he does not care as long his party is in power with him as the president.
On the other hand, the population is also to blame to an extent. Even people in the NRMO know that certain aspects of the electoral process aren’t right but nobody gives a monkey as long as NRMO wins and they retain their daily bread and butter. Unless this changes, we are going to see more rigging as if the 1980,2001,2006 election ‘thefts’ were not enough. The good thing is that all this rigging has been documented and it will be used as a reference as we sort out this mess in our country. What perturbs my mind is the continued denial of rigging by certain parts of the population like as if Uganda will end with Obote or UPC or Museveni. For instance, the documents I and Mr. Otto Patrick posted to the UAH forum with regard to the 1980 elections are genuine but you will find a certain part of the population passionately ready to kiss the hot flat iron just to say that they are forged. These are genuine documents and they will be part of the future reference for the future generation in regard to the 1980 election.Have people ever stopped wondering what Uganda would be like if DP had been given a chance to deservedly lead Uganda after the 1980 elections. The only thing people talk of the immediate war that was sparked after this election theft.The UPC people then continue to blame buganda and baganda for losing their power and these are signs of a selfish person.Very soon they will be asking for the independence of the north b’se that’s where UPC support is.Actually,Mao is steering the wheels towards that way.
Therefore, I would say that both the leader and the population (party members) take the blame. This business of saying: ‘I eat chicken but not an egg is non starter’.
Like I promised Ugandans, we are going to get a detailed evidence of how the 1980 elections were rigged by UPC .I found this topic very interesting because whatever means UPC used to steal the 1980 elections are the same means NRMO are now using to steal the presidential elections in Uganda. It shows that Ugandan leaders never learn anything from history and that makes us doomed. So how did Obote’s UPC steal the 1980 elections?
Obote while in exile in Tanzania wrote to Paul Muwanga ,who was then a cabinet minister under Binayisa’s government, to do everything possible to get UPC back to power even if it meant staging a coup. The letter is a public document which can be seen by anybody in various textbooks and is dated 06/02/1980. Muwanga ,Rwakasisi and group implemented this plan in July 1980 by getting rid of president Binaisa through a ‘coup d’état’. Before the 1980 elections were held, Muwanga wrote to the UPC tabliqs to start laying grounds for the rigging of the 1980 general elections and they awarded him handsomely. Muwanga’s letter is also public property to those who want it.
Another document written by Obote on 12/08/1980 reveals how Obote personally laid out the master plan as to how UPC would stop the election, or, if it was held, rig it, or seize power by military force if his party lost. This document is also public property if any one fancies it.
The appointment of the Electoral Commission was also strongly part of the process of rigging the 1980 elections. First, the military commission was full of UPC people and there were the ones that appointed the Electoral Commission (EC)- just like the current EC is full of people loyal to NRMO and Museveni. The few voices in the military commission who were anti-Obote like Yoweri Museveni could not change anything. Secondly, the chairman of the electoral Commission appointed by Muwanga and group was a strong UPC cadre called Kosea S.M. Kikira. Furthermore, the EC was both partisan and incompetent. Most of the people appointed did not have any experience in election monitoring apart from the chairman himself.
The military commission (MC) was the one that kept announcing the election programs instead of the EC as required by the constitution. The MC reached to the extent of dismissing the 14 DCs who had been appointed as Registration Returning officers by the EC, because they had refused to be comprised by UPC and Muwanga. Muwanga replaced them with 15 UPC members to pave a way for the rigging within the EC.
In addition, the MC interfered with the voter registration exercise such that a certain man who was acting as the UPM publicity secretary called George Grace Bakulu Mpagi, decided to challenge the irregularities in the courts of law. However, the judge came out with almost a similar ruling as the judges in the Besigye Vs Museveni cases of 2001 and 2006, when he said that everything was unlawful but his hands were tied.
The nomination exercise was also flawed and almost every electoral law was broken by the Muwanga and group for the sake of winning the 1980 elections. For example, polling stations in the 4 Kampala constituencies did not open until mid-day which broke the EC laws but was done with the intention of showing common wealth observers that the situation was the same all over the country where there were few observers.
As if that was not enough, UPC made violence and intimidation part of the rigging process just like we have got the Kakoza Mutale of NRMO. For instance, a rally organised by DP candidate,Mr.Anthony Ocaya was disrupted by the UPC gangs while he was campaigning in Gulu. Muwanga also wrote to the Kayihura of that time-directing him that potential DP candidates particularly: Martin Aliker , Hajji Akbar Nekyon, Yoweri Kyesimira and James Kaigiriza, be banned from speaking at public meetings and rallies.
UPC did a lot of things to rig the 1980 elections but the most embarrassing one was when Paul Muwanga stopped the returning officers from announcing the election results and he directed he alone was to announce the results and declare the elected candidates. He took over full control of the EC when he realised that UPC was losing to DP. Obote refutes this in his memoirs published in the monitor newspaper before his death but that was expected from a fulltime politician like him. Muwanga then released the doctored results after 18 hours to the EC whom he asked to announce them on the radio Uganda.
The question that bothers me from all this is that:’ why would Museveni employ the same tactics used by Obote to rig elections in 2001 and 2006 yet he was part of the MC and witnessed how the country went into decline after the rigging of the 1980 elections?’ Does this make Museveni a better politician than Obote or they are birds of the same feather.
As far as I know, Black mambas were in existence during Obote 2 as has been the case in Museveni’s government too . Whatever Obote did during his reign, Museveni can do better. When president Museveni sent the ‘black mambas’ in the case of Dr.Kiiza Besigye and other PRA suspects Vs the state of Uganda during the 2006 presidential elections , and black mambas surrounded the court, he was just polishing what he had been taught by his political master, Milton Obote.
Similarly,when Obote stole the 1980 elections just like most political thieves, he started manipulating the judiciary as a way of keeping himself in power. Lawyers who tried to represent people in courts were either intimidated, detained or killed. For example, Cprian Kawoya was abducted from the high court while the court was in session and later murdered by Obote’s ‘black mambas’. Other lawyers killed or tortured under similar circumstances include: Hon. George Bamuturaki, Gideon Mutanga, Sewava Sempala,e.t.c.
Another incident is when Barak Kirya was acquitted of treason charges in Dec 1984, he was rearrested in the same way Dr. Besigye was rearrested and taken back to Luzira Prison. Kirya just like Besigye was co-accused with others on treason charges( who included captain Mark Kodili, major Hussain Ada, Captain Sajjad Soori, Frank Kivumbi and James Balamu), who were also acquitted by the judge but the Obote’s ‘black mambas’ surrounded the court and these guys could not leave the court room. They were eventually forced out and taken back to Luzira prison.
So Ugandans, the black mambas you saw in 2006 who surrounded the high court did not start with president Museveni. He is doing exactly what Obote used to. We shall see all these things as we continue throughout this year and see how UPC and NRM are now similar in the way they approach national issues. The man (Matsiko) who wrote an article in the monitor about the similarities between NRMO and UPC did not just dream about these things. We have got UPC 111 now in Uganda.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
An article written in 2008 before the Buganda riots
UPC started rigging of elections at Makerere University. Obote 2 and Amin(a UPC member who later turned against his boss) both banned the guild offices at Makerere University because they looked at them as power threats.
Under Obote 2 the student Guild was abolished because UPC had lost popularity at Makerere. Therefore, the Guild was abolished in 1981, and the then Guild President Mr Opiyo Oloya was driven into exile. After the Guild was abolished in 1981, the UPC leaders named Mr Mbaine-a Munyankole doing Bachelor of Commerce as the new chairman.
The Obote army intimidated and killed a lot of students at Makerere university in the 1980s purely because they wanted to devise ways of either UPC dominating the Guild or closing it altogether if UPC couldn’t have it. At one time, one George Bwanika was shot and damped in Namanve forests.
UPC also used the offices of the then Dean of students, George Kihuguru and the Deputy Vice chancellor,Gingera-Pinycwa, to plunge the whole university into chaos with the help of obviously the army.
On 20th February 1981, Obote invited some UPC student supporters and Mr.Kihuguru for a meeting at state house and this is where they devised the plan to get rid of the then Guild president, Opiyo Oloya. I think this guy(Opiyo) is now writing for the New Vision as I have read several articles authored by him in that paper. After this meeting, UPC students broke into the offices of the Guild, looted files, beat up the Guild officials and announced that they had overtaken Opiyo’s government. The whole thing was done in Amin style and then you wonder where Idd Amin learnt these coup tactics from.
Before Opiyo, there was a UPC Guild president in the names of Welikhe Watuwa who was the first to abrogate the constitution of the Guild (just like Obote did abrogate the national constitution in 1966), because he(Welikhe) was simply a fascist or rather neo-fascist. When Welikhe did this, a resolution of vote of no confidence was introduced and tabled in the Guild General Assembly to boot him out. Opiyo Oloya was the one that was elected to replace Welikhe and in the press release of 6th Dec 1980, Opiyo warned that the majority of students he represented wouldn’t recognise any government that would come in power illegally or fraud.So when UPC stole the election, they booted him out and that’s how he ended up in
Canada.
Ogenga otunnu was Guild President 1982-3, and was succeeded by Okuraba who was also rigged for by the same UPC machinery. The late Paulo Muwanga also rigged for UPC’s Badru Ssebyala.
UPC is a party that trained and started rigging in Uganda. They rigged the 1980 elections because they wanted Obote to become the president of Uganda by all means.
President Museveni, a former UPC member also started where Obote stopped by rigging the elections in 2001 and 2006. He however accused UPC of rigging the 1980 elections and gave it as one of the reasons for waging a gurilla war against the then Obote government. For instance, Museveni who was in Uganda People’s Movement(UPM) in 1980, is quoted to have said that “Kategaya was a very bad UPC. He even stole our votes. He stole eight. He told us. He voted eight times”. Probably president Museveni learned all the tactics of rigging elections while still a member of UPC because he also has been taken to court for the same after the 2001 and 2006 elections.
Dear Ugandans,
1.UPC was the first party to ban political parties in Uganda under Obote 1 in 1968 under the famous Lugogo ceremony.
2. Yes, it is true that UPC were more experienced in politics than any other group in Uganda and that’s why i called them the ‘tigers’ (1960-1980). They wanted to use their ‘tigerish’ status in 1980 elections but a few Ugandans under the leadership of Museveni decided to take the bull by its horns and kicked them out of the ring. Since then, all peaceful Ugandans have been working towards weakening them further and restricting them to ‘Uganda House’.However, it would be credible to franchise one of the chains of restaurants in England called’ Tiger Tiger’ on one of the floors at ‘Uganda House’ for the sake of remembering the UPC of 1960s.
3.Since I’m not a politician, I’m gonna be honest with UPC supporters:when Museveni banned political parties in 1986, he was targeting mainly one group and that was UPC.Trust me, i would have done the same during that time if i was the president of this country. NRM were still ‘young’ in politics and needed to learn on the job to stabilize the country. Guys likeDr. Besigye, Tumwine, Rwomushana, Salim Saleh,…….. and Museveni himself were so young when they took over offices in 1986. Therefore, they needed no disturbances from the experienced groups such as UPC. If UPC was not around or already weak at that time, i can bet you, with all my heart, that Museveni and group would not have banned political parties in Uganda in 1986. Parties were released when everybody was sure that UPC were in a ‘nursing home’ somewhere. Most of their young cadres had left the country after the fall of Obote 2 and gone abroad to start new lives, and several of them are still living abroad. So most Ugandans are not worried about them. They don’t want to come back to Uganda because they have become comfortable abroad with some career jobs or something like that. Even the few Ochienos(like my brother,Joseph Ochieno, in London here) who make trips back home every now and then, don’t wanna leave Europe indefinitely.Ochieno went back to contest for some post in the last UPC delegates conference but he immediately came back to the UK as soon as he realised that there is less hope for him in Uganda
4.There was nothing in Moshi like ‘locking out’ as in like stopping Ugandans to attend the conference. Please, brother Ochieno, stop misleading readers. UPC wanted to cheat in the conference by bringing their majority in exile in TZ to the conference. So they had to be stopped because each group was asked to send in two representatives. However, UPC again went for their plan B of ‘cheating’ by creating bogus groups under different UPC leaders which represented them in the conference.
5.UPC or Obote’s men were ready to dominate the military Commission(MC) and UNLA as the latter was under the direct control of the former.MC comprised mainly of UPC ‘TABLIQS’ such as: Paulo Muwanga(UPC) as the chairman,Col Zedi Maruru(UPC) as its secretary, Tito Okello(UPC), Oyite Ojok(UPC), Colonel Omaria(UPC) and others. ‘Musajja watu’, Museveni, who has now turned into ‘Gusajja wattu’, was only sneaked into the position of Vice chairman of MC at the intervention of Nyerere. Obote was controlling the MC and UNLA using a remote control in his sitting room in TZ.
The reason why I think that banning political parties, particularly UPC, was justified could be found on why Binaisa lost his presidency. If Binaisa had started by banning political parties, rather UPC, he would have lasted in that presidency as probably Museveni. You cannot organise elections in an environment that was as volatile as Binaisa and Lule’s Uganda yet they both never had armies of their own. So in terms of political strategy, Museveni and his ‘friends’ were right to ban political parties when they had just come to power in 1986. Museveni knew that at some point political space or multi partism would have to be opened up and that’s what happened in 2004.
Several groups or parties cropped up during Binaisa and this made him not to concentrate on stabilising the country first before thinking of his leadership. His leadership was threatened from the beginning due to these unbanned political groups, among which included the following:
Uganda National Union (UNU): This was headed by Lameck Ntambi(RIP) who called on Binaisa to resign or risk being denied aid by ‘friendly countries’.
Obote in TZ: this guy was in TZ and he kept reminding Binaisa he was coming home to stand for presidential elections as if there were no other UPC candidates in Uganda. If he had banned UPC for some time, Obote would have become weaker and probably UPC would have considered him a liability to their resources in the process of reorganising their party
DP: This also created a problem for Binaisa as they kept fighting for multipartism instead of the so called UNLF umbrella.
The UPC ‘gang of four’: this included Paulo Muwanga, Professor Dan Nabudere, Professor Yash Tandon, Omwony Ajwok and Edward Rugumayo. These guys used the NCC to mobilise against Binaisa and Lule big time because they wanted to prepare for Obote’s return.
Museveni and his FRONASA: these were also ready to strike him any time they sensed any weakness or loophole anywhere.
Binaisa later realised that he should have put a stop to this political party nonsense in the first place but it was rather too late. In April 1980, Binaisa addressed a meeting of UNLF district chairmen and activists at Makerere University and said that all elections would be held under the UNLF umbrella.
On hearing this, DP was the first to send a delegation led by Semogerere Paulo, and included guys like professor Kyalwazi, Evaristo Nyanzi( probably not the one who knelt for Museveni b’se of ministerial appointment), Henry Semukutu and others , to have a 1:1 with Binaisa about Multipartism. Now you see how the man was not concentrating on other issues apart from ‘BIBINA’, consolidating his leadership and politics.
The UPC group under Luwuriza-Kirunda and notorious Rwakasisi also addressed a press conference some time later opposing Binaisa on this because they knew that it was their ticket to bring Obote back and possibly lead Uganda again. When UPC realised that Binaisa was very serious with retaining the presidency, they organised a coup since it was already their trade mark in the politics of Uganda. That Military Commision headed by Muwanga came to power through a coup: they ordered the soldiers to surround Radio Uganda, the post office and state house and putting the then president under detention.
The Musevenis were also cheering ‘AMUKUBYE’ since they were less influential at the time and just waiting for the big boys to finish their fights before they start theirs.
So how can anybody argue that UPC would not be still in power today if somebody had not taken a decision to fight them in Luwero bushes? They were not ready to follow the paths of democracy when one analyses all their actions before and after the fall of Iddil AminDada. They just wanted power at all costs and that was unacceptable. Good enough, they are no longer ‘tigers’ as they have been reduced to ‘parrots’(those birds that repeat words after you when in the house). Parrots are similar in behaviour as mynah birds. Nobody takes them so seriously when it comes to serious issues.
On a personal note, I’m still happy to stay in the UK at the moment; after all I’m not yet planning and probably will not plan to stand for any elective office in Uganda, unlike some people who are doing it from UK. It is like a person who plans to get a mango fruit from a mango tree using ‘OLUSOLOBYO’( a long, straight and light stick) instead of climbing the tree. In England, they use ladders or cherry pickers to get the fruits but at least they are near the fruit tree.
We all know that Museveni was once a member of DP and UPC before he became NRM or NRMO or whatever it is at the moment. CP and UPM are off springs of UPC.
Both the DP EXECUTIVE and the millitary government or commision never wanted Lule to come back. It is believed that Lule wrote to the Chairman of the Military Commission(MC),Muwanga, asking for permission to come back.Muwanga then wote to the then DP executive seeking their advice about this but to Lule’s disappointment, the DP executive wrote back to say that they had nothing officially to to do with Lule’s return to Uganda. In otherwords, the Bwengyes,Ssemogereres and the like did throw Prof Lule into the hands of the Lion without any fight. However,DP promised to welcome him as any other party member(not supporter) but they were not so much bothered about pressing the MC for his urgent security.
DP exective also sent a delegation led by Zachary Olum to go and tell Lule in person that the party had nothing to do with his return. The delegation also scared him off by revealing that his return was unsafe. The fact of the matter was the DP executive did not want Lule to come back as guys like Semogerere and Bwengye risked losing their posts within the party in the looming delegates conference.They also feared and they were right that Lule’s return would divide the party which wasnt in their best interests at the time.
When Lule realised that these guys were doing everything possible to block his return, his supporters formed an interim executive committe chaired by another DP CARD HOLDER,professor Senteza Kajubi. They then started negotiating with Yoweri Museveni(as Vice chairman of the MC) directly to help them guarantee the safe return of Professor Lule. Museveni initially gave them assurances that Lule would be protected but only lateron to connive with the Muwangas and Oyite Ojokos to stop Lule from coming back.
Ugandans are also right to say that ‘DP decided to organise a parallel function in Bushenyi the day Prof. Lule was coming spearheaded by the then Publicity Secretary of the Party Dr. Kawanga Ssemwogere’.However, they later got AKAKUBA NSONYI or ‘BANATULABA BATYA’ and decided to send Bwengye,James Kahigiriza and Bernard Buzaabo to go and join the people that were welcoming Lule at the Entebbe International Airport.
How could any one have separated a supporter, sympathiser and a member efficienly at that time in the 1960s when Museveni was arguably a DP member or supporter.All i know is that there is a thin line between a supporter, sympathiser and a member because at the end of the day each group end up voting for the same party on election day.So it is so likely that Museveni voted for DP at that time when he was ‘whatever category’ some DP members wanna put him.
The fact of the matter is that the Bahima were traditionally DP supporters before NRM and Museveni changed this. The Bahima supported DP for historical reasons in Ankole. Just before independence the protestants who were sharing power with the Bahima protestants wanted to snatch power from the Bahima aristocratic system(Obugabe of Ankole). Therefore, the Bahima allied with the Catholics to foil the Bahiru protestant move. When DP was therefore formed in the 1950s, nearly all of them joined DP. That’s how the Muhiru prime minister, Nganwa, was toppled in 1962 and replaced with a catholic called Kabeirebo John.What i cannot definitely tell you is whether all the Bahima that joined DP at that time were DP card holders or not. There is a possibility that one was mainly identified with a certain party because they were openly supporting or sympathising with it, and if that was the case, then Museveni was a once member of DP.
This reminds us of the time in early 1980 when Professor Lule was planning to come back to bid for the DP leadership and then the then executive started panicking by saying that he wasn’t a DP ‘member’ or card holders as you called them.This did not however STOP DP card holders such as: Sam Njuba,Sam Sabagereka, George Kalanzi, Christopher Ntabazi, Sam mukasa, Paulo Kavuma ,……from campaigning for the ‘supporter’(LULE) without a card.Lule himself had to hold a press conference while in Nairobi to declare that he hadjoined the party in 1959when Ben kiwanuka was the president general. So if i may ask, is Lule now remembered as a DP ‘supporter’, ‘member’ or just a ‘sympathiser’? OR does DP only categorise people when it suits them?
One DP member called Lawrence Mukasa wrote:’……………. Re-read Bwengye’s “The Agony of Uganda” (Regency Press), it is a long time since I read it, but the facts are that Museveni came to DP leaders and asked them to give him the party leadership.….’’
According to Bwengye(1985),Museveni never approached the DP leaders as it was the other way round. In the first week of May,Bwengye was informed of the imminent launching of the party called ‘Uganda Labour Congress’ and that Museveni was behind it. In order to stop this launch,Bwengye in his capacity as the Sec General of DP made a personal approach to Museveni to persuade him to join DP instead. Museveni was later again met by other DP ‘generals’ in his office NOT their offices, in the Nile Mansion, a delegation that included 3 people:Dr.Semogerere,Boniface Byanyima and Bwengye himself.
Museveni agreed to rejoin DP as ‘ his people at home,including his own father, were all DP supporters’.He later changed his mind and the rest is now history. Just open page 95 of the book and you will find everything there.
As regards DP and FEDERO as an historical tie, EBYO NZE SINDIBIMANYI as Kayanda used to say in a certain song that goes like:’Kayanda onkwatira otya kumukyala wange.Lelo luno Nkusse’
Home and Away! 
