First Mugisu minister, Wakholi, killed by Amin

true Last Thursday marked 34 years since the fall of Idi Amin on April, 11, 1979. Among the people who lost their lives to his regime was Joshua Wakholi, Obote’s minister. Here is his story.

By Charles Etukuri and Joseph Wanzusi

On the morning of January 25, 1971, former public service and cabinet affairs minister Joshua Wakholi was at his home in Entebbe preparing to go to office in Wandegeya.

As he had his breakfast, a coup announcement was made on Radio Uganda. President Milton Obote had been overthrown and the commander of the national army, Idi Amin, was the new President.

The cabinet was suspended and Amin ordered all former ministers to report to his office and promised them security. After handing over his office, Wakholi went to his village, Wangooli. But his stay there was shortlived for the dreaded State Research Bureau trailed him, forcing him to go into hiding.

“He kept on changing residences,” says his young brother, George Walwanyi.

Arrested

Walwanyi, who remained with Wakholi’s car to run his errands, also landed in trouble.

On March 28, 1971, after a football game, Walwanyi drove to Malukhu to pick Wakholi’s wife, Alice who was a nurse, and her newborn girl, Agnes Namutosi, to see the former minister at his hideout.

“As we approached Mbale town, we met a convoy of cars carrying soldiers who then surrounded our car,” he says.

Walwanyi was pulled out of the car, severely beaten and asked to reveal the whereabouts of his brother before being stuffed into a boot and driven to Mbale Central Police Station.

“They introduced themselves as soldiers from Makindye and ordered the Police to keep me in for the night,” he adds.

Wakholi’s wife and child were driven back to her residence and asked to disclose his whereabouts, but they refused. A message was then sent to Wakholi to surrender if he wanted to see his family. He surrendered the next day.

Prison life He was whisked away to Makindye Military Prison and placed next door to the infamous Singapore, which was reserved for those condemned to death.

“We visited him one day and he told us of the harrowing tales of massacres in prison,” says Walwanyi.

He added that when Amin massacred 36 army officers in 1971, Wakholi was among those selected to scrub Singapore cell.

“He told us the floor was a quarter of an inch deep in blood, pieces of skull and teeth, brain tissue and empty shell cases. It took them six hours to clean it up. He said every day, soldiers would call out names of some suspects who were with him and none ever returned,” says Walwanyi.

When Wakholi was released, he discovered that several of his close friends with whom they had been in cabinet had been brutally murdered, so he fled to Kenya.

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Dr. Milton Obote being welcomed by Idi Amin Dada back in the day. Then minister Wakholi learnt from radio that Amin had overthrown his boss, President Obote.

War on Uganda

 From Kenya, Wakholi joined Obote in Tanzania in June 1971 and underwent military training for two months in preparation for an attack on Uganda.

In September 1972, a decision to attack was made. Obote’s trained force of about 1,300 soldiers, who were based in Sudan, was supposed to be airlifted to Entebbe and attack from the South.

Another force was supposed to go through Mutukula and capture Masaka barracks while the other was assigned to attack Mbarara barracks. Walwanyi, who had also fled to Tanzania, participated in the attack on Mbarara, which was led by Yoweri Museveni.

Walwanyi says his brother was discouraged from joining in the attack because he was ill-trained, but he refused. The attack failed.

Walwanyi said the plane failed to land in Entebbe, leaving only the other two planned attacks to continue. Wakholi was among the over 800 fighters assigned to attack Masaka. Walwanyi said they surprised Amin’s soldier at Mutukula and destroyed a few jeeps but ran out of ammunition.

So, they advanced onto Kalisizo to replenish their ammunition but fell into an ambush where Wakholi, former information minister Alex Ojera and Picho Ali, Obote’s secretary for research, were arrested.

Wakholi was severely injured in the attack and died later from gunshot wounds. According to a senior officer in Amin’s army who participated in the battle, Amin was briefed about the fate of the arrested ministers and he ordered for their immediate transfer to Kampala.

Amin gave family bad news 

On September, 19, 1972, a news bulletin on Radio Uganda announced that Wakholi, together with Ojera, had been captured and that Wakholi had died from bullet wounds.

After the announcement, Amin summoned Wakholi’s family to Kampala “Wakholi’s mother, Priscilla Namakanda, left Mbale with my elder brother, Eridad Wakholi, to meet the President,” says Walwanyi.

“They were driven to the International Hotel and treated to a sumptuous meal and drinks before being ushered into a room where Amin was waiting for them.

“Your son has been killed,” Amin told Namakanda before telling her to warn the rest of her children not to engage in armed rebellion,” disclosed Walwanyi.

Search for his body

It is largely believed that Wakholi was buried near a Uganda Army detach on the Kyotera- Mutukula road.

After the fall of Amin’s government, Wakholi’s relatives tried to locate his burial site in Kyotera with a plan to exhume the remains and give him a decent burial. In 2006, the family called off the search after failing to raise the sh6m demanded by a guide.

They also failed to produce two eggs from an owl, to be used by one Rubarema Keya in rituals near Mutukula border post where Wakholi was reportedly buried.

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Sam Wakholi, Henry Webuyi and a relative looking for the grave of the former public service minister Joshua Wakholi in Kibaale village near Mutukula on the Uganda-Tanzania border on Saturday 15th July 2006.

His legacy

Walyanyi regrets that a centre built in Wakholi’s memory at Nabumali corner has not yet been completed.

Andrew Nyote, the Mbale district chairman for the Uganda People’s Congress, described Wakholi as a cheerful and upright politician who promoted the co-operative movement in Bugisu.

He worked closely with other politicians like the late Shaban Nkutu and Cuthbert Obwangor to promote development in the eastern region by setting up factories.

These included the African Textile Mill, Soroti Meat Packers, Blue Bird Garments, the Pepsi Cola Factory and Dairy Corporation, all which collapsed during the Idi Amin regime in the 1970s,” Nyote said.

He added that Wakholi also convinced Bugisu Co-operative Union to give money to neighbouring Teso district toconstruct Teso College, Aloet.

Nyote added that although people say little about Wakholi’s contribution to pre and postindependence Uganda’s politics, his name will always remain in the annals of Uganda’s political struggles to nationhood.

WAKHOLI'S FACT FILE

• He was born in Lwangooli village, Busoba subcounty in Mbale district in 1922

• He attended Bubulo Primary School and Nabumali High School before joining the Survey Training School, Entebbe (now the Institute of Survey and Land Management). 

• He later joined the cooperative movement and in 1956, he become a councillor in Lukhobo (Bugisu Legislative Council popularly known as LEGCO), representing Busoba sub-county before becoming the council chairman.

• He contested for the Bugisu South East constituency seat, becoming its first representative in Parliament before he was appointed deputy minister of agriculture.

• He served as cabinet minister for public service and cabinet affairs between 1962 and 1971. He was the first Mugisu minister in post-independence Uganda.

• He is best remembered for presenting a document amidst the Bagwere- Bagisu claims over Mbale town, which formed the basis upon which a commission of inquiry recommended that Mbale town was part of Bugisu.

• He never drank alcohol, was a down-to-earth person, approachable and interacted freely with the local population.

• He initiated the construction of Busano Health Centre to stop his constituents from trekking long distances in search for health services.