Uganda at 50

By Ahmed Kateregga

In the run up to independence in 1962, there were no signs that he would eventually become Uganda’s first president. He even didn’t show any ambition for a political office. More so as Kabaka, Buganda was his responsibility and many thought he was not concerned about the rest of Uganda.

When Parliament elected him president in 1963, Sir Edward Mutesa II accepted the post, an indication that he cherished a united Uganda. To demostrate his love for the whole country, he donated his monthly salary to the then Karamoja district as a contribution to its development.

At the state funeral of Sir Edward Mutesa II in April 1971, the then president, Gen. Idi Amin Dada, commended him thus: “Mutesa may have made mistakes, but he also did good things. One of these was to dedicate his salary for the development of Karamoja.”

Almost 50 years later, the Karimojong still remember Mutesa’s donation. The elders say the money was used to fund water projects in the region.

At a ceremony to receive the First Lady, Janet Museveni after she was appointed state minister for Karamoja in 2010, the elders said that apart from her husband (President Yoweri Museveni), Mutesa was the other president who was concerned about the plight of the region.

However, Mutesa’s critics say although the act showed generosity, it also carried telltale signs of his desire to rule Uganda. They argue that, like the then prime minister, Apollo Milton Obote, Mutesa harboured an ambition of controlling the whole of Uganda as an emperor and that was one of his strategies, especially in areas without kingdoms.

This, they add, put him on the collision course with Obote and wrecked the independence dream of a united and stable Uganda.

But his admirers like Haji Abdul Nadduli, the Luweero district chairperson, say Mutesa was a patriot, who had allies all over the country. These were the Omukama of Tooro, Sir George Rukidi; Omugabe of Ankore, Sir Godfrey Gatsyonga; the Kyabazinga of Busoga, Henry Mulooki; Daudi Ochieng from Acholi; Balaki Kirya from Bukedi and Ankore’s Grace Ibingira.

Back in the 1950s, Mutesa’s lack of political ambition was seen when he declined to lead the nationalist struggle for independence.

According to Dr. Simba Kayunga, a Makerere University don, after the 1953-55 crisis when Mutesa was deposed and exiled in England by governor Andrew Cohen, the Uganda National Congress (UNC) leaders thought he was the national figure the country needed in the struggle for independence. The UNC was to later become UPC.

With him at the forefront, especially after the standoff he had with the governor, UNC leaders thought he would use that as catalyst to get Ugandans to fight for independence, but Mutesa declined.

The Kabaka had signed an agreement in 1955, where he became a constitutional monarch or a titular head, which barred him from partisan politics. According to the deal, if the Kabaka wanted to lead a political party, front, movement or contest for political power, he had to abdicate the throne.

Mutesa, who returned from exile as a national hero in 1955, preferred to retain his throne to abdicating in quest for national politics.