Katto beats Muhangi in dramatic 1998 Castro Independence rally

Super Katyusha: Katto and his co-driver Frank Gitau cruising in their Toyota Celica 205 during the 1998 Safari Rally. Photo by JB Ssenkubuge

What you need to know:

  • Motorsport. Ugandan motor rally legend Emmanuel Katto without doubt enjoyed the biggest and most passionate fan base in East Africa. The 1996 and 1997 national champion is one of a few drivers to have won the Uganda National Championship back to back. The others being Sam Sali (1989, 90, 91, 92), Karim Hirji (1993, 94, 95) and Charlie Lubega (2000, 2001 and 2002).
  • The legendary driver has taken occasional breaks from the sport over the years due to business commitments across various continents but he is not done with the sport. In part 5 of a 10-story series dubbed ‘Emmanuel Katto Flash Back’ that will be published every week, Hussein Waheed Muk takes you back to the the 1998 Castrol Independence Rally and its post-event melodrama

The 1998 season was quite eventful and inevitably the national champion Emmanuel Katto was at the centre of it all. Katto lost the championship to Charles Muhangi but not before enjoying some hard fought victories.
Muhangi had just sealed the national championship thanks to the Pearl of Africa Rally victory, but was still itching to square it off with Katto.
The Castrol Independence Rally, the last race of the season, would have ordinarily been low-key since the national title had already been sealed but the excitement was akin to that of a title decider. The new Katto-Muhangi rivalry had propped up the stakes—the entry list was longer and fans travelled to Mbarara in big numbers.
Surprisingly it was Karim Hirji who set the pace on day one before he retired having damaged his Toyota Celica ST205.
After an overnight stop in Mbarara, the contest was between Katto and Muhangi. Katto also in a Toyota Celica ST205 set the pace in nearly all competitive sections, leaving Muhangi and co-driver Jimmy Kabuleta astonished.

With defeat in sight Muhangi lost his cool and queried the results at one of the Time Control points in Mpigi.
Muhangi who finished second to Katto disputed the results and had no kind word for Uganda Motor Club that had organized the rally. It was not the end of the Muhangi drama.
Still furious, the next day he called a press conference at the International Conference Centre and announced he had quit the sport. He gave away his collection of trophies to journalists and inquisitive fans who attended press conference.
The Automobile Association of Uganda (AAU) banned Muhangi for six months for bringing the sport into disrepute. That’s how he ended up competing in Africa Championship which he won in 1999.

What Katto recalls
The Castrol Independence rally was a real test between the men and the boys. We were expecting it to be a tussle between us and Muhangi but were totally taken by surprise by Karim Hirji’s pace on the first day. He blew us away in his dust and hard as we tried, we were just not able to live with his new found pace! Luckily for us he couldn’t stand the pressure from Muhangi and I, and he went off the road damaging his car too severely to be able to continue. We then had a huge fight on our hands exchanging times with Muhangi just separated by mere seconds. It was a battle royale and we narrowly won the event by the slimmest of margins. Unfortunately Muhangi was not willing to accept the defeat leading to his very unfortunate suspension.
As for Karim, we later learned that he had gone to Europe for rally driving lessons in order to keep up with us and this was the reason for his new found pace!