Obote got rare second chance, but blew it

By Rashid Suleiman

Some say he used his tongue to get to power; perhaps the reason Milton Obote was one of the civilians to take power in a coup in Africa.

While writing his obituary, the Guardian described Obote as one of the few deposed African leaders who had a rare chance — a second chance — but blew it.

He lost power, got it back but did nothing to steer Uganda from the ‘slaughter house’ it had became. He was overthrown in 1962 but was helped back to power by President Julius Nyerere in 1980.

The former salesman and construction worker’s rule is said to have been one of the most atrocious.

President Yoweri Museveni’s government estimates more than 500,000 people died during Obote’s second presidency as a result of him trying to make people move from rural areas into cities.

Though he described himself as coming from the ruling class, Obote worked for his entry to Ugandan politics after he dropped out of Makerere University.

Apprenticeship

He said his departure from the university was voluntarily, but some reports said he was expelled after he organised a strike. While at Makerere from 1948 to 1950, he distinguished himself as an outstanding orator. He later completed his formal education through correspondence while working in Buganda area as a salesman, labourer and clerk. As a northerner, it was difficult to find work in the southern part of Uganda because of the domination of Baganda and tribal discrimination. Consequently, he came to Kenya and became a construction worker for several companies.

1970: World leaders from left, Kenneth Kaunda, Marshal Tito, Indira Gandhi, Julius Nyerere, Milton Obote at the third Conference of Non-Aligned Countries.

While at it, he became a member of Kenyatta’s Kenya Union during the troubled period of the Mau-Mau emergency.

When he decided to return home, he founded the Uganda National Congress (UNC) in 1955, and three years later joined the pre-independence Uganda legislative council, as a full-time politician.

Misrule

In addition to gaining a reputation for outspokenness with the colonial authorities, he soon became a canny political operator. He thus concluded an electoral alliance with the newly-established Kabaka Yekka, or King Only Party, so that his own Uganda People’s Congress had a comfortable majority in coalition, with Obote as prime minister, at independence in 1962.

His rule was characterised by corruption, economic plunder and misuse of state agents to terrorise those who questioned him.

In 1966, he thwarted an effort to investigate his involvement in arming rebels in Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, and plunder of its minerals. Days after scuttling efforts to probe him, Obote suspended the constitution before declaring himself president with executive powers, thereby ousting the Kabaka and ruling under emergency powers. The Buganda tribe through their regional parliament reacted by declaring their incorporation into Uganda was null and void after Obote’s civilian coup and the suspension of the constitution. The Kabaka declared Obote’s actions illegal and ordered him and his government to leave Buganda kingdom. Kampala, the seat of government is part of Buganda territory. Obote responded to the Baganda quit notice by sending troops under the command of his protÈgÈ Idi Amin to storm the Kabaka’s palace in May on the pretext there was a cache of arms at the royal residence. Heavy fighting ensued as Baganda defended their place. After many casualties, the Kabaka escaped from the palace and went to Britain where he died a desperate alcoholic.

Death of kingdom

Kabaka’s flight left Obote as the unchallenged master of Uganda. In 1967, he ‘legitimised’ his coup by engineering a new constitution. Under the new dispensation, Uganda’s federal system of government and the kingdoms were abolished and a presidency with executive powers was created. For this, Obote earned enemies among Baganda and other tribes that had kingdoms. They never forgave him for abolishing their treasured kingdoms, which had been in existence for centuries.

Cold rule

When an attempt was made on Obote’s life in 1969, he banned political parties and became an absolute dictator. Under his rule, a draconian state of emergency was in force most of the time in Uganda and he took full advantage to deal ruthlessly with opponents. He either detained critics without trial or eliminated them through extra-judicial killings. However, years of Obote’s rule as President from 1966 to 1971 were on the whole quiet years in Uganda’s history. A state of emergency was in force for much of the time and many political opponents were jailed without trial but life for ordinary citizens was quite uneventful. Economic growth was good most of this time.

After the coup, Obote became increasingly authoritarian in a one-party dictatorship. He relied too much on repression and the military to rule Uganda as an iron-fist dictator. His falling out with his long time protÈgÈ Amin heralded his political doom. The two men started having problems as early as 1969.

Obote met his first waterloo in January 1971 while attending a Commonwealth Summit in Singapore. He had been toying with the idea of arresting Amin but he only got to issue the order when he was in Singapore. It is said Amin got wind of the order and swung into action, using mainly Sudanese soldiers incorporated into the Uganda army, to take power. Reports indicate that western powers annoyed with Obote’s socialist leanings aided or at least knew about the coup while Israel is said to have been an active participant. From Singapore, Obote went to Tanzania where his close friend, Julius Nyerere offered him asylum for nine years. He spent time denouncing Amin’s atrocities and visiting training camps of his loyalists in Sudan. With Tanzanian military help, Obote got another chance at the top in 1979. He was virtually installed in power by Nyerere in flawed elections in 1980. This was the first time Uganda held elections since independence. Even in his second coming, Obote seemed neither to have learnt from his mistakes nor the murderous and disastrous rule of Amin. He was even more brutal, trying to wipe-off whole villages to deal with a rebellion led by Museveni. His was a police state that used terror tactics and crude torture against real or imagined opponents, mainly the Baganda and Acholi. He committed ghastly atrocities in the Buganda area that became known as the ‘Luwero

exile Triangle’ in a bid to clear out Museveni’s rebels. Some people say that the five years known as Obote II in Uganda claimed many more lives than the nine years of Amin. Five years after his second coming, he was once again toppled by his military chief General Tito Okelo Lutwa and Brigadier Basilio Olara-Okelo. Olara-Okelo and his northern troops only took 45 minutes in a battle of mortar and gunfire to take Kampala and send Obote fleeing to Kenya by road and then Zambia where his friend, Dr Kenneth Kaunda granted him exile. After living in relatively quiet exile for 20 years, Obote died of kidney failure in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 10, 2005. It marked the departure of one of the leaders in Africa who had the best opportunities to make a difference but failed miserably.