Uganda’s first elections: What went wrong?
Milton Obote had warned that African nationalism would crush Buganda, but as Uganda prepared for another election and the Lancaster House Conference, the young politician changed course and reached out to Mengo for a crucial political alliance.
L-R: Army chief Shaban Opolot, Mutesa and Obote at a state reception, Lugogo in 1962. Though political parties and other parts of Uganda welcomed the report by John Wild, Mengo disagreed. (File)
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In February 1960, John Wild handed his committee’s report to the colonial government with recommendations on how Uganda’s independence journey would proceed. The report, among other things, provided for direct elections across Uganda in 1961.
In his book titled A Political History of Uganda, Prof. Samwiri Karugire argues that whereas political parties and other parts of Uganda welcomed the report, Mengo disagreed and started direct negotiations with the colonial governor about Buganda’s position.
In response, politicians from other parts of Uganda warned that making special concessions to Buganda would not go down well with other parts of the country.
To this effect, Apollo Milton Obote, the then secretary of the elected members of the Uganda Legislative Council (LEGCO), warned in 1960 that the emerging African nationalism hates small states and that it would crush Buganda.
Despite the acrimony, the colonial government stuck to its guns in holding the 1961 elections.
On March 1, 1961, amidst a lot of opposition from Buganda, the colonial government held the first general election, which was won by the Democratic Party (DP) under the leadership of Ben Kiwanuka.
The turnout in Buganda was extremely low, less than 5%, largely due to a boycott campaign that was mounted by Mengo.
Because of Buganda’s boycott, Kiwanuka, despite becoming a chief minister, struggled to gain legitimacy to lead independent Uganda. Both the colonial government and Mengo were uncomfortable with having Kiwanuka, a Catholic, at the helm of Uganda.
In his book, The Desecration of My Kingdom, Mutesa described Kiwanuka as “puffed up with pride and success. Until then, I had seen him as a friend from whom I had drifted apart. Now he became intolerable. He made personal attacks on me.”
Amidst this confusion, in June 1961, the relations committee that had been set up earlier to moderate relations between Buganda and the rest of Uganda handed over its report to the governor, and it was on its basis that the Lancaster House Conference in London was convened from September 18, 1961 up to October 9, 1961, to discuss the pillars of the independent Ugandan state and how it would be governed.
But before the Lancaster House Conference of 1961, Milton Obote, a 37-year-old politician who was representing Lango district in LEGCO, was to change his stance towards Buganda. He had led a breakaway faction of the Uganda National Congress into a union with a new party, the Uganda People’s Union of William Rwetsiba, to form the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC). UPC had lost to DP in the March 1961 elections, but when the colonial government announced that there would be a repeat poll in April 1962, Obote re-strategised.
As representatives of Uganda prepared for the Lancaster House Conference, Obote reached out to Buganda with a proposal for an alliance to help it defeat Kiwanuka.
