In memory of Uganda’s forgotten heroes

Nov 12, 2006

Mzee Aurelio Vuje, whose photographic mind earned him the nickname ‘camera’, is also for the same reason called kamaera, the Madi word for ‘it remembers me.’

By George Laghu
Mzee Aurelio Vuje, whose photographic mind earned him the nickname ‘camera’, is also for the same reason called kamaera, the Madi word for ‘it remembers me.’ The octogenarian is truly entitled to such names since nothing can be fitting to describe his memory.
For everything Vuje did, there was a substantive reason and when he rummaged through his metallic box that morning, the village knew he was up to something.
He fished out a khaki pair of shorts and a shirt; that priceless memoir of his soldierly escapades, washed it carefully and ironed it in starchy water left from boiled cassava tubers. He shined his army boots and cleared his bugle as he narrated how they – as veterans – introduced the idea of independence in Uganda and “Suku–leke or women’s knickers in the area. “Suku–leke actually means sooka oleke or first wait, a cry by the Baganda women who wore knickers as they restrained the impatient male veterans from the north who were not used to knickers,” Vuje said.
Next morning, Vuje’s trumpet pierced through the village as he marched to the town’s central flag post in front of what was then the office of the colonial district commissioner.
He sang songs of victory in praise of Britain and the allied forces and damnation to Japan and Germany. To the inquisitive crowd of children and a few adults, Vuje talked of the great world war and how Africans helped in winning it. He amused the crowd when he said that by the end of the Second World War, a wasted effort of his resulted into a delicately-moulded baby girl of his, born to a Burmese woman.
Full of knowledge, generosity and humility, Vuje, one of the few surviving ex-service men of the Kings African Rifle (KAR) or Keeya, was celebrating the memory of his colleagues in the ceremony of the ‘Three Elevens’, when at the 11th hour of the night of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, the armistice to end the First World War was signed. Since then, that day has been marked as the armistice or Veterans’ Day in honour of those who not only died in the two world wars, but also diligently served in the armies of their respective nations to bring honour and dignity to mankind.
In the Commonwealth, it is a day of commending the patriotism of the veterans in serving their motherland.
Politicians all over the world know very well that veterans form a very strong social and political lobby, capable of tilting electoral fortunes. The veterans are regarded with dignity and some countries assign a ministry to their welfare.
Vuje is one of the few surviving Ugandan veterans of the World War who rendered service to the British cause without any terminal benefits.
In Uganda as in other parts of the Commonwealth, come November though not necessarily at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, the British High Commissioner, military attaches from Commonwealth countries and officials representing the army and the Police will turn up at the 11, 11, 11 celebrations at the memorial tomb at the Constitutional Square, where a handful of the surviving ex-service men will routinely ask for their terminal benefits before retiring for bottles of soda and chicken, as the memory of the veterans fades away.
While Britain is eternally debted to the veterans for fighting alongside them, Ugandans owe much to them for bringing the idea of struggling for independence.
In his book, The Kings African Rifle, Lt. Col. Moyse Bartlett studied the military history of East and Central Africa where KAR served in the pacification and prosecution of the two major wars in which the Uganda Rifle was outstanding.
Formally constituted on January 1, 1902, the Uganda Rifles had been trained and raised long before that by chartered companies like the Imperial British East African Company of Capt. Frederick Lugard and Emin Pasha’s troops in the north.

Having great soldiery qualities of courage, cheerfulness, endurance and outstanding loyalty, the Ugandan Rifle soon formed part of the six regiments of the KAR such as the central African Regiment, the East African Rifle, the Indian Regiment and the British Somaliland Regiment,” Bartlett said.
Based in Bombo and Jinja, the Uganda Rifle played a major role in establishing British administration in East, Central and the Horn of Africa.
During the First World War of 1914-1918, the Uganda Rifle took part in conquering the vast German territory in central and southern Africa, while in the Second World War of 1939- 1945, they fought outside the continent on the side of Britain and the allied forces in Japan – Burma (now Ceylon) and India.
Rising from scantily-equipped levies with outdated arms employed on local expeditions on ill-armed tribes, the Uganda Rifle worked and fought hard from its nucleus of 270 porters, 75 Sudanese soldiers, each having 11 rounds of ammunition and an old maxim gun. Led by Khedive Ismile under the command of Selem Bey, the Uganda Rifle formed Emin Pasha’s troops who joined hands with Lugard to get training under Captain W.H Williams. The number, which grew to 650 men, learnt to respond to the bugle calls, advance with order, aim with care and take cover.
The Uganda Rifle fought hard in defence of Kenya between 1939-1940. Following Adolf Hitler’s demand for the lost territories, the British War Office on August 22, 1939, sent a war alert, which was dispatched from Nairobi on September 3, 1939. Thereafter, 1,500 Ugandans joined the KAR depot battalion in Jinja to leave for Iringa.
By the time Hitler invaded France and Belgium on May 10, 1939, Ugandan forces of the 6th KAR batallion at Bombo were ready to join their Kenyan counterparts at Lokitaung to defend Somaliland. With their help, Mogadishu fell on February 5, 1941. Members of the Uganda Rifle of 1–6 KAR batallion under Lt. Col. Blackden assaulted Aba in Ethiopia and on April 6, 1941, Gen. Witheral captured Addis Ababa, with the help of East Africans.
Ugandans helped in securing the Madagascan port of Diego Suarez following the loss of Singapore in 1942.
Apart from providing internal security, the Ugandan Rifle defended the construction of the Uganda Railway, by undertaking punitive expeditions in the Kenyan highlands against the marauding Nandis. They secured the Ugandan border and the northern frontiers.
According to Lt. Col. Bartlett, members of the Uganda Rifle could not be paid terminal benefits because the War Office in London had turned down a request by Governor Collville for Britain to regard the Uganda Rifle as Her Majesty’s Forces.
“Troops of this kind are regarded as the Police or constabulary over which the War Office has no responsibility,” Bartlett quoted in his book.
In his book, My African Journey, former British Prime Minister and statesman, Winston Churchill, who christened Uganda ‘The Pearl of Africa’ was full of praise for the forces and commanders of the Uganda Rifle among whom, he talked of meeting the first commander who rode a bicycle from Mombasa to Kampala.
As the memory of these gallant sons of Uganda fades, it is saddening to note that all their efforts were in vain. Perhaps when the Queen comes to Uganda in November next year to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, she will make 11, 11, 11 a worthy memory for the few surviving veterans who live in abject poverty, relishing a memorable past in partnership with British veterans who are enjoying full benefits.
Ends

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