Obote officials flee to exile amid oppression, killings
Oyite Ojok death. An illustration of the helicopter crash site where Army Chief of Staff, Maj Gen David Oyite-Ojok, and five other senior UNLA officers died in Luweero on Friday, December 2, 1983. Oyite-Ojok’s death was a big blow to Obote and his UPC government. ILLUSTRATION BY IVAN SENYONJO
When the Uganda Peoples Congress ship was beginning to sink, it was the village chiefs, especially in the Luweero Triangle, who detected it first before the captain, Milton Obote, and his crew.
The chiefs in the National Resistance Movement (NRA) captured territory, crossed and joined the rebels led by Yoweri Museveni who was fighting the UPC government.
In Kampala, Augustine Tumusiime-Rukwira fled to Britain to save his head. He had been the Kampala District Commissioner (DC) since 1980. The UPC diehard joined the party in April 1967 and in 1980 resigned as a magistrate in Kampala to contest for the Mpigi North-West constituency, but lost to Democratic Party’s Evaristo Nyanzi.
Following the loss, president Obote appointed him DC for Kampala City. But in September 1983, he fled the country and was replaced by another UPC diehard James Nsaba Buturo, who later became a minister in the NRM government.
Secrets spilled
When Tumusiime-Rukwira arrived in London, he was interviewed by Africa Now magazine of November 1983. He revealed a lot about the UPC regime.
Besides insecurity, indiscipline and violence by the soldiers, he said: “The headquarters of the UPC and the seat of the government are in the heart of Buganda [Kingdom], where people are largely hostile to Obote and his party.”
“But the UPC leadership and many of the party leaders, the bulk of them non-Baganda, behave like an occupying force; punishing the Baganda for their failure to support the right party.”
As the DC of Kampala, he was also on the district security and intelligence committee, which was a sensitive position.
In May 1983, while at a function to install a UPC chief in Rubaga Division in Kampala, Tumusiime-Rukwira said Uganda was a multi-party State in which people were free to join any of the political parties.
This, he said, after Opposition members at the function wondered why UPC was forcing Ugandans to join the party against their will.
Tumusiime-Rukwira’s statement angered party fanatics, including Chris Rwakasisi, then minister of State in the President’s Office in-charge of Security, who forced him to write an apology to the party in the Pilot newspaper which had earlier quoted him.
During the interview with African Now, the former DC repeated his position: “I made it clear that there were no specific laws that prevented anyone from belonging to any political party or forcing someone to join the UPC in order to remain safe or secure.
“I was on the side of the Baganda and that I should tell them what to do in my capacity as DC instead of letting them tell me. He [Rwakasisi] said that I was acting as a non-UPC supporter and that I should withdraw my statement.”
In spite of the apology, his home in Najjanankumbi was attacked by gunmen. Feeling insecure, Tumusiime-Rukwira asked then vice president and minister of Defence Paulo Muwanga to allocate him a house under the Ministry of Defence, which Muwanga did.
Immediately he entered the house, he was forced out by security officers from the President’s Office. Muwanga helped him secure another place on Plot 18 Old Kampala Road.
But on August 8, 1983, he was again forced out of the house on orders of Rwakasisi, according to the interview.
When he rented a house in Najjanankumbi, he was again attacked by gunmen who killed his escort. Unbelievably, the army refused to provide transport for the dead soldier.
Asked about other senior government official’s thoughts of the situation in Uganda, Tumusiime-Rukwira said: “Some ministers are aware of the problems caused by this anarchy. They are worried that it is undermining the government’s progress in other areas.”
Ex-minister Ntenge Lubwama speaks out
While Obote was a uniting factor in the period leading to Uganda’s independence in the early 1960s, it was a skill he failed to replicate in the 1980s during his second government.
And because of that, several cliques emerged in the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) government, with each plotting to overthrow Obote.
For instance, there was the UPC led by president Obote himself, then the UPC led by vice president Paulo Muwanga. Other cliques included UPC original, UPC Enkomba/Kakongoliro, UPC Bushenyi, UPC Kampala, UPC Lango, UPC Busoga and UPC syndicate. All these factions weakened the party.
Divisionism was not only in the party, but in Cabinet as well. Ministers were either loyal to Obote or Paulo Muwanga.
One Cabinet minister who warned that Obote’s political ship should change course in order to avoid disaster was Ntenge Lubwama. He was seen as a detractor and he paid a heavy price.
Early in 1985, his home in Gayaza was attacked and his wife seriously injured. His daughter did not survive the attack by what he called government security operatives. In May 1985, he fled to exile in London.
On Thursday, June 6, 1985, he was hosted by the BBC in London from where he was quoted as having said: “The Cabinet was not amused by my stand against institutionalised crime. Consequently, my farm was looted by government soldiers in broad daylight and all the livestock and the property was taken or maliciously destroyed.
I reported the matter to Obote… Obote nonetheless did not take the matter seriously and the culprits went scot-free.”
“Obote should have a change of heart. He should for the sake of humanity allow for a peaceful change. My fear is that his stubbornness is likely to bring about another coup, which in the long run may not be in the interest of the nation.”
Obote was ousted a few weeks later on July 27, 1985.
Factors that led to Obote fall
Corruption in Parastatals: Party stalwarts and senior government officials influenced and fixed their relatives in lucrative government offices. This sometimes caused clashes amongst party loyalists.
Death of Oyite Ojok: The death the Army Chief of Staff, Maj Gen David Oyite-Ojok was a terrible blow to Obote and the UPC government. The general largely held together both governement and the army.
Allies withdraw support: Commonwealth members withdrew their staff from Uganda in early 1985. By that time, Obote’s former friend and ally, Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere also withdrew his support and instead supported rebel leader Yoweri Museveni.
Muwanga plots for Obote’s fall: Vice president Paulo Muwanga and others clandestinely worked with some Uganda National Liberation Army generals as well as NRA rebel leader to overthrow the government. President Museveni in his book Sowing the Mustard Seed mentions how he worked with Muwanga to oust Obote.
Religious divide: Another cause of tension and divide in Uganda was the religious tensions. It drew a rift which was too big for Obote to bridge. In a Cabinet of about 50 ministers, more than 40 were Protestants. And only two Muslims.
Insecurity: From December 1981 when Obote was sworn-in to July 1985 when he was overthrown, there was a burial almost weekly of people killed by thugs or government forces.
Land grabbing: UPC government officials first grabbed land in the 1960s and resumed the 1980s when they returned to power. But as they forcefully grabbed public and people’s land, resentment of their government sky rocketed. And there was a hefty price to pay by the land grabbers when the regime collapsed.
In the final episode next week read about the overthrow of president Obote.
