Museveni faults UPC gov''t over post-Amin deaths

ARUA - President Yoweri Museveni has criticised the Uganda People’s Congress leadership for failure to manage the post- Amin politics to rebuild the nation, saying it resulted into unnecessary loss of lives of Ugandans.

 

“In 1979, we had a chance to make a fresh start. We had just chased away Amin and I was trying to advise the UPC, but they did not listen. They squandered that chance, which led to the unnecessary killing of people like Gaspero Oda and those massacred at Ombaci in Arua,” he said. true

 

Oda (right) was one of the most prominent post-independence politicians from West Nile. Museveni said UPC’s failure was the reason he started a rebellion that later propelled him to capture power.

 

The President was speaking during a memorial mass for Gaspero Oda at his home in Komite village, Pajulu subcounty in Arua on Saturday.

 

Oda was assassinated by a suspected Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) soldier on September 15, 1979 after the overthrow of Amin.

 

UNLA was the Uganda national army between 1979 and January 1986, with the name derived from the military wing of the liberation front that ousted Amin from power in 1979.

 

It is said authorities of the UNLA government at the time invited Oda to return from exile in Zaire (currently Democratic Republic of Congo).

 

Upon his return, Oda reportedly went for a meeting in Kampala and Arusha in Tanzania. He was murdered near his house in Arua, after returning from Arusha. The President said he did not meet Oda personally despite having been a DP youth member in Mbarara.

 

Museveni said he admired what he read about Oda starting in 1958 when he began reading about the pioneer legislators for his P.6 exams.

 

“Oda was a man of principle. He had issues with DP later and stood firm for what he knew to be correct,” he said, referring to the immediate aftermath of the 1962 elections, which saw most of DP MPs crossing to the UPC government.

 

The life of Gaspero Oda

Oda was born in 1911 near Ombaci Catholic Mission in Cinyara village, Manibe subcounty, Arua district.

 

Oda’s parents are reported to have wanted him to graze livestock at the expense of education. He fled home when he was seven years old to live with the missionaries, who were glad to have a child from whom they could learn the local language.

 

It was under the guardianship of the missionaries that Oda went to school, passing through Lacor Minor Seminary and Katigondo Major Seminary.

 

After completing philosophy studies, Oda left the seminary and married Dorotia with whom he had 10 children, three of them (a son and two daughters) are still alive. The children were born between 1942 and 1960.