Can Miria fit in Obote’s shoes?
Nov 08, 2005
“To all of you, I say Milton is back. He is home. His spirit lives on,†were the words former first lady Miria Obote echoed to mourners in Lira amidst cheers.
By Charles Etukuri
“To all of you, I say Milton is back. He is home. His spirit lives on,†were the words former first lady Miria Obote echoed to mourners in Lira amidst cheers.
With the demise of her husband, Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, the leader of the opposition Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and two-time former president, one of the persons to watch in the Uganda’s political scene is Mama Miria.
Having been the first lady twice, each time being unceremoniously sent to exile by military coups, the first coup in 1971 by Idi Amin and the second by Tito Okello in 1985, Miria has seen it all.
Returning to the country after a long stint in exile and still in a mourning mood, one would say that she might not have had time to acquaint herself with developments here. But that was not the case with her. Addressing mourners in Lira, she attacked the Government and advised it to immediately close IDP camps, share the national cake more equitably, revise its poverty alleviation policy, which according to her was not working and demanded that President Yoweri Museveni reconciles with his opponents and take up peace negotiations in Uganda.
She also used the opportunity to call for unity, urging the UPC members who had defected to return. She assured the mourners that UPC could form the next government.
As the motorcade carrying the casket containing the remains of her late husband travelled east, making brief stopovers in the towns of Jinja, Bugiri, Tororo, Mbale, Kumi, Soroti, Lira and finally Apac, mourners screamed calling on Miria to be their presidential candidate.
It is in Lira, her husband’s home area and backyard, that she received the first ever call from UPC members in the district that she takes over the party leadership. Led by Mr. Nasur Ogwang, chairman of the District Organising Committee, the leaders implored Miria to replace Obote in the hierarchy.
The call was not made in vain. With the top leadership of UPC doing nothing apart from reading press statements in their Tuesday press briefings, the masses needed something fresh. In Miria their answer seems to lie. If the thought of another Obote presidency excites you, then that is what should be expected soon. Because, as of this moment, if Miria stated that she was going for the top seat of the party there is no doubt that she is on a virtually uncontested trajectory to win the UPC nomination and as to whether that would victory would extend to the 2006 election is another matter. But one thing that remains evident is that she has no serious opposition in her husband’s party. Indeed if the UPC party elections were held last week, Miria would almost go unopposed.
Miria is certainly a power to watch on the Uganda’s political stage. Many first ladies have ridden on the popularity of their late husbands to try to wrestle power. Sonia Gandhi, wife to the assassinated former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, led her husband’s party to power and she just declined to become the Prime Minister.
Despite her negative side, Imelda Marcos, wife to the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, rode on her husband’s fame put a formidable challenge to George Estrada in the 1998 presidential elections. Although she lost, she was elected a legislative representative from her native district of Leyte.
With the search for Obote’s replacement beginning immediately after his burial on October 24 and with no suitable candidate of consensus in sight, the task of a successor is onerous. So far, most senior politicians in UPC are too old to take over the leadership in this group — the likes of Cecilia Ogwal, Badru Wegulo, Okello Okello, James Rwanyarare and Aggrey Awori.
The young turks who would be seen as the future hope for the leadership have taken a laidback approach and lack grassroots support. The likes of James Akena and Joseph Ochieno have been in exile for long and are not as charismatic as Mama Miria who sails above all in UPC. She is a good speaker and has the opportunity of capturing the sympathy votes in the country.
The vacuum in UPC makes it quite possible that she can be put forward as the party’s flag bearer. Desperate to get a person to move them closer to State House in 2006, the party is in search of a real candidate, someone of stature, someone charismatic who can challenge Museveni.
With her power to move the crowds in her powerful speeches, UPC’s hope may lie in Miria if she opted to stand. However, only time will tell how long she will ride on her late husband’s popularity and sympathy to climb higher.
If she chose to take the political line, Miria’s biggest task lays in Buganda region, her own home area, where her husband was detested for the abrogation of the 1966 Constitution which resulted in the Kabaka’s exile and eventual death. For this, the Baganda have never forgiven him and it was not surprising to see crowds of Baganda celebrating the death of Obote.
At her residence in Kololo, Miria attacked the Mengo establishment for distorting the 1966 crisis. “Mengo itself was not an innocent party in this confrontation,†she said. “That is what many people forget. Kabaka Mutesa had requested the British Government for massive military assistance including arms and ammunition.
“He had also placed an order for a large quantity of weapons with a company called Gailley and Roberts. They have portrayed my husband as a person who hates Baganda. That is not true I can testify. My husband loved Ugandans,†she said amidst thunderous handclaps and cheers from thousands of people that had braved the sunshine to pay their last respects to fallen former President.
She then posed a question to fellow Baganda amidst silence in the crowd. “If today the Lukiiko passed a resolution that Buganda is breaking away from the rest of Uganda and then the Kabaka’s palace began to openly rebel and the people responded by attacking army lorries and police posts creating an atmosphere of rebellion, what would President Museveni do? Would he sit in Nakasero and simply watch the events without taking action?
“My husband should have been given more respect as a former elected head of state. Instead, my husband has had to die far from home,†Miria added.
The Eastern and Northern regions have, for along time, been UPC stronghold block. It is not surprising therefore that while in Soroti, she was quick to point out the poor state of Soroti. “I have seen that the more you move eastwards and northwards, the more you encounter really poor people,†she said.
Born in a staunch Buganda family, she never had any political ambition. A close family member who knows her well and went with her to Gayaza describes her as “A product of conservative upbringing based on Buganda norms and traditionsâ€.
At a time when it was close to a taboo in Buganda to engage a man from Northern Uganda, Miria did the imaginable. She broke the taboo and got engaged to Obote. Word has it that she was being groomed for a senior politician in the Kabaka’s Government before Obote landed eyes on her while in one of his drinking sprees in Katwe.
Her closeness to Obote exposed her to the political limelight as she began officiating at functions on most cases as the first lady and this could have slowly made in the mastering the art of politics.
The Kabaka Edward Mutesa and several dignitaries in Buganda graced her marriage to Obote in 1963. At one time, it stood out to be the most expensive wedding until the recent wedding of Kabaka Ronald Mutesa to Lady Sylvia Nagginda.
“To all of you, I say Milton is back. He is home. His spirit lives on,†were the words former first lady Miria Obote echoed to mourners in Lira amidst cheers.
With the demise of her husband, Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, the leader of the opposition Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and two-time former president, one of the persons to watch in the Uganda’s political scene is Mama Miria.
Having been the first lady twice, each time being unceremoniously sent to exile by military coups, the first coup in 1971 by Idi Amin and the second by Tito Okello in 1985, Miria has seen it all.
Returning to the country after a long stint in exile and still in a mourning mood, one would say that she might not have had time to acquaint herself with developments here. But that was not the case with her. Addressing mourners in Lira, she attacked the Government and advised it to immediately close IDP camps, share the national cake more equitably, revise its poverty alleviation policy, which according to her was not working and demanded that President Yoweri Museveni reconciles with his opponents and take up peace negotiations in Uganda.
She also used the opportunity to call for unity, urging the UPC members who had defected to return. She assured the mourners that UPC could form the next government.
As the motorcade carrying the casket containing the remains of her late husband travelled east, making brief stopovers in the towns of Jinja, Bugiri, Tororo, Mbale, Kumi, Soroti, Lira and finally Apac, mourners screamed calling on Miria to be their presidential candidate.
It is in Lira, her husband’s home area and backyard, that she received the first ever call from UPC members in the district that she takes over the party leadership. Led by Mr. Nasur Ogwang, chairman of the District Organising Committee, the leaders implored Miria to replace Obote in the hierarchy.
The call was not made in vain. With the top leadership of UPC doing nothing apart from reading press statements in their Tuesday press briefings, the masses needed something fresh. In Miria their answer seems to lie. If the thought of another Obote presidency excites you, then that is what should be expected soon. Because, as of this moment, if Miria stated that she was going for the top seat of the party there is no doubt that she is on a virtually uncontested trajectory to win the UPC nomination and as to whether that would victory would extend to the 2006 election is another matter. But one thing that remains evident is that she has no serious opposition in her husband’s party. Indeed if the UPC party elections were held last week, Miria would almost go unopposed.
Miria is certainly a power to watch on the Uganda’s political stage. Many first ladies have ridden on the popularity of their late husbands to try to wrestle power. Sonia Gandhi, wife to the assassinated former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, led her husband’s party to power and she just declined to become the Prime Minister.
Despite her negative side, Imelda Marcos, wife to the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, rode on her husband’s fame put a formidable challenge to George Estrada in the 1998 presidential elections. Although she lost, she was elected a legislative representative from her native district of Leyte.
With the search for Obote’s replacement beginning immediately after his burial on October 24 and with no suitable candidate of consensus in sight, the task of a successor is onerous. So far, most senior politicians in UPC are too old to take over the leadership in this group — the likes of Cecilia Ogwal, Badru Wegulo, Okello Okello, James Rwanyarare and Aggrey Awori.
The young turks who would be seen as the future hope for the leadership have taken a laidback approach and lack grassroots support. The likes of James Akena and Joseph Ochieno have been in exile for long and are not as charismatic as Mama Miria who sails above all in UPC. She is a good speaker and has the opportunity of capturing the sympathy votes in the country.
The vacuum in UPC makes it quite possible that she can be put forward as the party’s flag bearer. Desperate to get a person to move them closer to State House in 2006, the party is in search of a real candidate, someone of stature, someone charismatic who can challenge Museveni.
With her power to move the crowds in her powerful speeches, UPC’s hope may lie in Miria if she opted to stand. However, only time will tell how long she will ride on her late husband’s popularity and sympathy to climb higher.
If she chose to take the political line, Miria’s biggest task lays in Buganda region, her own home area, where her husband was detested for the abrogation of the 1966 Constitution which resulted in the Kabaka’s exile and eventual death. For this, the Baganda have never forgiven him and it was not surprising to see crowds of Baganda celebrating the death of Obote.
At her residence in Kololo, Miria attacked the Mengo establishment for distorting the 1966 crisis. “Mengo itself was not an innocent party in this confrontation,†she said. “That is what many people forget. Kabaka Mutesa had requested the British Government for massive military assistance including arms and ammunition.
“He had also placed an order for a large quantity of weapons with a company called Gailley and Roberts. They have portrayed my husband as a person who hates Baganda. That is not true I can testify. My husband loved Ugandans,†she said amidst thunderous handclaps and cheers from thousands of people that had braved the sunshine to pay their last respects to fallen former President.
She then posed a question to fellow Baganda amidst silence in the crowd. “If today the Lukiiko passed a resolution that Buganda is breaking away from the rest of Uganda and then the Kabaka’s palace began to openly rebel and the people responded by attacking army lorries and police posts creating an atmosphere of rebellion, what would President Museveni do? Would he sit in Nakasero and simply watch the events without taking action?
“My husband should have been given more respect as a former elected head of state. Instead, my husband has had to die far from home,†Miria added.
The Eastern and Northern regions have, for along time, been UPC stronghold block. It is not surprising therefore that while in Soroti, she was quick to point out the poor state of Soroti. “I have seen that the more you move eastwards and northwards, the more you encounter really poor people,†she said.
Born in a staunch Buganda family, she never had any political ambition. A close family member who knows her well and went with her to Gayaza describes her as “A product of conservative upbringing based on Buganda norms and traditionsâ€.
At a time when it was close to a taboo in Buganda to engage a man from Northern Uganda, Miria did the imaginable. She broke the taboo and got engaged to Obote. Word has it that she was being groomed for a senior politician in the Kabaka’s Government before Obote landed eyes on her while in one of his drinking sprees in Katwe.
Her closeness to Obote exposed her to the political limelight as she began officiating at functions on most cases as the first lady and this could have slowly made in the mastering the art of politics.
The Kabaka Edward Mutesa and several dignitaries in Buganda graced her marriage to Obote in 1963. At one time, it stood out to be the most expensive wedding until the recent wedding of Kabaka Ronald Mutesa to Lady Sylvia Nagginda.