Mbalule Ngobi: Father of cooperatives goes to sleep

Certainly, Busoga Sub-region and Uganda have been breeding outstanding persons in the past.  Our greatest problem, however, is that we know little about such persons, because of our poor culture of not writing books about them.  This retrogressive culture may not allow even future generations to identify outstanding men and women among themselves.

Mathias Mbalule Ngobi Ikoona, a former Member of Parliament, whose lifeless body was lying  in front of us on Tuesday  deserves recognition not only in Busoga but also in Uganda.  I consider him one of the fathers or icons of the cooperatives movement in Uganda, and a true Ugandan nationalist.

Icon in cooperatives movement 
I first heard of Ngobi in 1958 when he was elected to represent Busoga South Constituency (which is now represented by 27 parliamentarians from Jinja City, Jinja Rural, Luuka, Mayuge, Iganga, Bugweri, Bugiri and Namayingo districts) in the first direct elections to the then Uganda Legislative Council (Legco) during British Colonial Rule.

I heard that he was elected because of his efficient management as the first general secretary/manager of Busoga Growers  Cooperative Union (BGCU), which he helped to establish in 1953. 

Later, I started hearing from Radio Uganda about his articulate and nationalistic speeches in the LegCo, pleading for establishment of cooperatives as one of the cornerstones of Uganda’s future economy.  

I was, therefore, not surprised when he became the first Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives in Uganda’s first four years (1962-1966) of the post-independence government under  Apollo Milton Obote.  

Since, I had become the first broadcaster in Lusoga language on Radio Uganda on  October 1, 1962, I keenly followed Ngobi’s efforts to lay the foundation for modernisation of agriculture and cooperatives, which he hoped would uplift the standards of living of Uganda’s peasants.

When Ngobi left BGCU in 1962, it started staggering and in 1989  received a major blow from the Barter Trade Policy, which sent it into financial and management coma from which it has not yet recovered.  

His earlier contributions to Busoga farmers to educate their children, build permanent houses and increase food security in their homes cannot be underrated.

As a true Ugandan nationalist
Ngobi was born around 1925 in the Baise-Mwebya Clan and in a humble  Catholic family which first lived in Igulamubiri Village in Bulamogi chiefdom or Kaliro District.  

However, his father Mikairi Ekirita and an uncle called Basembera Mwangala (a veteran from World War I) managed to help him begin to seek formal education.  He went to Jinja College and Namilyango College before joining Makerere University where he wanted to read Medicine, but later switched to Cooperatives Studies in Great Britain.

In 1959, Ngobi and William Wilberforce Nadiope who had won the Busoga North Constituency in the 1958 elections, together with other LegCo members formed the Uganda People’s Union (UPU) which merged with Obote’s Uganda National Congress faction to form the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) on March 9, 1960. 

In prison
Unfortunately, Obote arrested him and four other ministers (Grace Ibingira from Ankole; Dr  Emmanuel Lumu from Buganda; Balaki Kiirya from Bukedi and George Magezi from Bunyoro).  

He kept them in Luzira Maximum Prison from February 22, 1966, under the pretext that they were conspiring with the then president of Uganda Sir Edward Mutesa II and Vice-President (Sir William Nadiope) to overthrow their own government.However, they were never brought to court and tried for treason. 

Ngobi and the said ministers remained in Luzira for five years, that was up to January 1971, when Idi Amin, the then deputy commander of the Uganda Army cancelled Obote’s hope to remain in power for many years and introduced a more brutal regime,  which reigned in Uganda for eight years ( January 25, 1971 to  April 11, 1979), when he, too, was overthrown.  

Exile and back
During the Amin years, Ngobi went into exile, to avoid Amin’s blood-thirsty programme.
Ngobi returned to Uganda and served in 1979 as the minister for Local Government in Professor Yusuf Lule’s Government (April to June 1979) and as the minister for Agriculture in Godfrey Binaisa’s regime in July 1979 to May 1980).  

Unfortunately, his youngest daughter Rose Naisanga, was killed by a gun man on May 10, 1980 when she had gone to see him at Nile International Hotel in Kampala.  Naisanga was then a pupil in Senior  Four at  Mt St Mary’s College Namagunga. The innocent girl was one of the Ugandans who were killed as the Military Commission led by Paulo Muwanga was preparing to take over power from Binaisa the next day.  

Pricked by his own conscience, Ngobi refused to serve in Muwanga’s Government which went on to organise Obote’s return to Uganda in the same month and eventually return to power in hotly disputed parliamentary elections of December 1980.

Exile again  
Ngobi went into exile again and I had a chance to discuss with him and some other Ugandans in Nairobi about the future of our country, before I became  Secretary of National Resistance Movement (NRM) External Wing.  It was at that time that I understood more about his nature, including his faith in God; devotion to the Catholic Church and his family values; respect for other people’s views; intense desire for Uganda to promote democracy and good governance; and his non-vengeful spirit.  

Portfolio
Ngobi continued to serve the Uganda Government in different capacities, after 1986.  He was the first chairperson of Makerere University Council during the first NRM government.  President Museveni also appointed him to represent the Government in the Constituency Assembly which extensively debated the 1995 Constitution before it was approved by the fifth Parliament.  

He was also the Minister of Culture in Busoga under Isebantu Kyabazinga Henry Wako Muloki when Obwa Kyabazinga Bwa Busoga was restored, and remained a  close friend of Kakira Sugar Works Ltd which had evolved from the Madhvani Group of Companies.  He remained proud of his Busoga origins and spoke excellent Lusoga-Lutenga language throughout his life.  

Quick notes
Ngobi was born around 1925 in the Baise-Mwebya Clan and in a  humble  Catholic family which first lived in Igulamubiri village in Bulamogi chiefdom or Kaliro District.  

His father Mikairi Ekirita and an uncle called Basembera Mwangala (a veteran from World War I) managed to help him begin to seek formal education.  He managed to go to Jinja College and Namilyango College  before joining Makerere University where he wanted to read Medicine, but later switched to Cooperatives Studies in Great Britain.

*The writer  is a former Kagoma MP and Ag. Vice Chancellor -Busoga University.