Allimadi had a will of steel

Aug 12, 2001

Even Amin’s military dictatorship could not change his unswerving loyalty to the UPC government

By Jenkins Kiwanuka It was towards midnight in Washington D.C. on that fateful day in January, 1971, when the telephone rung. Ambassador Eric Otema-Allimadi was directing me, as duty officer, to invite all the diplomatic officers to an urgent meeting at his residence. The ambassador had received news that Apollo Milton Obote's government in Kampala had been overthrown, by some elements of the Uganda army, led by Idi Amin Dada. How, in our view, should the mission react "to this unfortunate development"? he asked. A founder member of the Uganda Peoples' Congress, Ambassador Allimadi, who passed away at Mulago Hospital on Sunday, August 5, 2001, was in a combatant mood. Since it was not even clear whether the entire army was involved, the majority view of the officers was to wait for a brief from headquarters before taking any action. "What?" Allimadi asked in disgust. How in heavens could we simply sit back and wait for official briefings when a constitutional government had been overthrown by the military? To him, such procrastination was tantamount to collaboration with the enemies of the state. Without seeking further comment, Allimadi immediately formed a committee composed of three officers to draft an 'urgent message' (which he wholly dictated) supporting the 'legitimate' Government of Uganda and condemning the military for usurping power through force of arms. Further attempts to argue with the ambassador were futile. In addition, he directed that the message be transmitted to Kampala with copies to East African Airways, the airline which was flying President Obote home from Singapore, and to Uganda's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. As head of both missions, Allimadi made it clear that the message was binding on the New York staff as well. That decision demonstrated Allimadi's unswerving loyalty to the party and government that elevated him to the posts of Permanent Representative to the United Nations, ambassador to USA and the Dominion of Canada and, during Obote's second coming in the 1980s, to the highly coveted political position of Prime Minister. The information that trickled into Washington from Kampala after the message had been transmitted was, to say the least, alarming. The officer at the Foreign Ministry who first saw it could not believe his eyes. Having witnessed the massive celebrations by the army and the civilian population that were going on in Kampala in the wake of the military takeover, the officer concluded that only a lunatic could have dared to send such a message to Kampala at such a time. Amin was infuriated by the message. To him, all the foreign service officers in Washington D.C. and New York were traitors who should be recalled immediately to answer for their treachery. Amin was later convinced by some seasoned diplomats at home to recall only the heads of missions, including Ambassador Allimadi, "for consultations". Firm in his belief that the UPC regime would survive Amin's machinations, Allimadi did not hesitate to go home. It was obvious though, that if the coup succeeded as it was already doing, Allimadi would be in real trouble. And indeed he was, ending up in exile. At a meeting with mission staff in New York on his way to Kampala, Allimadi asked what he should expect on his arrival in Uganda. "You should expect the worst Your Excellency", one of the officers volunteered. Allimadi nodded sadly in agreement, but even when Amin ironically told him to stay in Uganda and wait for the general elections which Obote had slated to hold before his overthrow, he remained adamant in his stand against what he feared were the beginnings of military dictatorship in Uganda. Allimadi's appointment as Prime Minister was in itself a fulfillment of a life-time ambition. Born in Gulu in 1929, he belonged to that group of political leaders whose agitation for "independence now" often landed them in colonial jails. Allimadi had come up the hard way. I shared a blanket and a loaf of bread with him in Juba in 1959 when, as members of the Uganda National Congress, we were actively engaged in smuggling Ugandan students to Eastern Europe through Sudan and Egypt. We would play hide-and-seek with our hostile hosts (the Arab rulers) by crossing the bridge towards Nimule in daylight and returning to Juba under darkness to spend the night with Benayi Olak, a fellow Ugandan who worked for Barclays Bank in Juba. Between August 29 and September 6 1959, for example, we managed to smuggle Akena p'Ojok, Samuel Odur-Odula and Phillip Opiyo through Juba, returning safely to base, Allimadi's home in Gulu. He was a cool operator, a moderating force in the constant internal rifts that haunted the leadership of both the original Uganda National Congress and its successor, the Uganda People's Congress. During our earlier struggles to build a strong and united Uganda, I personally regarded him as a bridge between the north and south, and the fact that we have eventually achieved our objective means that his efforts were not in vain. May the Good Lord rest his soul in eternal peace.

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