One of the major events that preceded the celebrations was a panel discussion by the children of independence. These children were selected from outstanding post-independence families.
On the panel were David Mpanga, son of former minister Joyce Mpanga; Jimmy Akena, son of former president Dr Apollo Milton Obote; Kagimu Kiwanuka, son of slain chief justice Benedicto Kiwanuka; and Uthman Mayanja, son of former minister Abu Kakyama Mayanja.
Although their parents were bitter rivals during post-independence Uganda, the children enjoyed reminiscing the times. As a child of a former head of state, Akena said he recalled military vehicles surrounding their home in Kololo, before the family eventually relocated to exile in 1971.
While in exile in Zambia, Akena said he was forced to research more about his father Obote, to try and understand the person everyone was talking about.
“When I heard what people talked about my father and what the man I stayed with looked like, I couldn’t understand the person. I decided to undertake individual research about my father. As I interacted with more information, the more I got to love my father. The 24 hospitals that you celebrate today were established by my father’s government.
My father encouraged the “ugandanisation” of education. If you were from the West, you attended your education in the East, those in the Central went to either the North or the West. This helped people to get a national outlook.”
Schools such as Nyakasura, St Leo’s Kyegobe, Nabumali High, King’s College Budo, Sebei College, Mwiri and others became academic giants because of the diversity of their students.
“While growing up, the uncles that I knew at home were Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Enoch Ruzima Muntuyera (father of Gen Mugisha Muntu) and the rest. I didn’t even know their tribes, but they were my uncles at home,” Akena spoke with fondness of an era long-gone.
On the other hand, Kagimu faulted his father for not having recognized his interest in Mengo from the start. Kagimu said if his father had recognized the interests of Mengo, the country would not have plummeted into the challenges it did post-1966.
He added, “Some of us looked forward to independence that would be filled with happiness. It turned out differently. Post-independence, our family has been under persecution until President Museveni took charge. It is under Museveni that our family has found peace.”
“During his time in office, my father travelled to the United States and got 300 scholarships that were distributed equitably among the Catholics, Anglicans and Muslims. The Muslims declined his offer because they feared that Kiwanuka would convert them to Catholicism. My father increased the price of coffee and the salary of civil servants. With coffee, people could start constructing iron-roofed houses. When Akena’s father [Milton Obote] came, he slashed everything.”
David Mpanga noted that the early post-independence era was not the best for him and the entire family.
“I was born in exile because of the events in Uganda at the time. Politics was whispered. We were cautioned against saying most things because our parents feared for our lives. I grew up understanding politics but the best we could do was whisper.”
Post-independence, Mpanga noted that the country has failed to find internal cohesion in the colonial construct called Uganda.
“We cannot apportion blame to any of these leaders at the moment because the antagonism at the time was about the takeover of a colonial construct than any other actor would have. Let us resolve the structural issues in hope that this country will be better.”
Speaking cheekily on behalf of the children of politicians, Mpanga requested that the homes of politicians be respected on Sunday afternoons so that the children can enjoy a good time with their parents.
Uthman Mayanja said he was always impressed by his father’s ambitious and courageous nature. Abu Mayanja was also widely considered as one of the most intelligent people Uganda has had. Mayanja noted that Ugandans had the opportunity of reforming the country on the eve of independence but they squandered it.
“I have made a personal decision to stay away from politics because I have interacted with the pain it brought to my family.”
In Uganda, where there has not been a peaceful transfer of power in 60 years, being a politician is living a life of persecution, depending on who is in power, and for how long.
ABOUT THE PARENTS
Abu Mayanja co-founded the Uganda National Congress Party, Uganda’s first political party, together with Ignatius Kangave Musaazi in March 1952. During his time at King’s College Budo, Mayanja led a protest against the photo of the colonial governor being placed above that of the queen.
He was also expelled from Makerere University after leading students on a hunger strike over the bad food. He would later serve the Buganda and central governments in different capacities.
He died in November 2005 Benedicto Kiwanuka was the founder of the Democratic Party in Uganda. On March 1, 1962, Kiwanuka became Uganda’s first Chief Minister. In 1969, Kiwanuka was imprisoned by the Obote government. Immediately after the 1971 Idi Amin coup, Kiwanuka was among the 55 political prisoners released by Amin. In March 1971, Amin appointed Kiwanuka as the Chief Justice of Uganda.
After unending disagreements with President Amin, Kiwanuka was murdered on September 22, 1972, and his remains have never been found. Joyce Mpanga is regarded as one of the most consequential leaders of the women’s movement in Uganda. Now 89, Mpanga was one of the first women to be nominated to the Legislative Council (LEGCO) in Uganda.
An accomplished educationist, she has served Uganda and East Africa in different capacities as a member of parliament, minister of Women in Development, university lecturer, and minister of state for Primary Education, among others.
She lives a quiet life in Lungujja, Kampala. Apollo Milton Obote founded the Uganda Peoples Congress in 1960. The party delivered Uganda to independence in 1962 after entering a coalition with Kabaka Yekka party. From 1962 to 1966, Obote served as Prime Minister of independent Uganda.
Due to a rift with Kabaka Freddie Mutesa over the 1964 Ugandan lost counties referendum, Obote ordered a raid on the Mengo palace in 1966, which claimed the lives of many Buganda loyalists, including Mpanga’s grandfather, and left the Kabaka exiled in the UK where he later died.
Obote later declared Uganda a republic and became its second president until he was deposed by Idi Amin in 1971. During his second stint as president between 1980 to 1985, Obote was accused of state brutality and high levels of corruption and was later overthrown by the short-lived government of Tito Okello Lutwa.
THE EXHIBITION
The brainchild of Professor Derek Peterson, a special section of the museum has been dedicated to exhibiting some of the political, social and economic experiences in post-independent Uganda.
At the entrance into the room, The Observer was welcomed by a gigantic photo of Obote addressing a crowd in Soroti in the 1960s. To the right, a room was dedicated to the Ugandan struggle for independence, predominantly led by Baganda.
Notable among them are activists Augustine Kamya and Hajji Busungu. These organized rallies around Kampala in which they challenged the less than 100,000 Africans living within Kampala not to buy anything from European and Asian-owned shops.
Although the colonialists later arrested Busungu and Kamya, the boycott had already spread across the country. This boycott gave people a voice to agitate for self-rule. In the same room, Kamya is also recognized for having agitated for the separate independence of Buganda from Uganda – Kwefuga. At the time, Kamya and others said it would be asking too much of the Baganda to trust the destiny of their country in the hands of the political party leaders.
On December 31, 1960, the Lukiiko declared their independence from the larger Uganda. The lukiiko at the time reasoned that since it was Buganda that had asked for British protection, it was upon Buganda to end that protection.
A section of the same room has one of the youthful photos of Frederick Mutesa of Buganda and a map displaying the lost counties. Although the 1964 referendum was held in these counties, Buganda loyalists protested the results of the referendum as outgoing Buganda chiefs would now be replaced by Bunyoro chiefs.
Before the 1964 referendum, the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom had through their Rukurato (parliament) authored a resolution rejecting any inclusion of the lost counties into Buganda territory.
Along with the internal politics of Bunyoro and Buganda, the media played a major role in ensuring information was accessed. Newspapers like Uganda Argus were authored in English while papers like Omukulembeze, Uganda Eyogera, Obugagga Bwa Uganda, etc were in Luganda.
The second room displays the protest in the Rwenzori mountains under the Rwenzururu movement. The movement was led by Bakonzo and Bamba minorities under the stewardship of Isaya Mukirane (father of current king, Charles Mumbere). Mukirane and his colleagues saw Uganda’s independence as a disappointment.
By 1963, Mukirane had established the Rwenzururu Kingdom which he said was independent of Uganda. The photos taken by British journalist Tom Stacey show Mukirane in the bush, his correspondences with the then governor about the Bakonzo representation in the Lancaster conference for independence, and Rwenzururu rebellion recruits training, among others.
A section of the room has been dedicated to the 1960 protests led by people in Bukedi against their Baganda chiefs imposed on them by the British. The people were also angry at the inflated taxes they paid and the unaccountable power that the chiefs wielded.
In 1963, Uganda’s parliament adopted the Busoga Validation Act, clearing the way for William Wilberforce Nadiope to become Kyabazinga. A large photo of Obote attending the Kyabazinga’s coronation cannot be ignored.
As we transitioned from the cultural struggles, another room had been dedicated to Uganda’s political journey. Benedicto Kiwanuka’s judicial wig is newly on display. Also, details about the foundation of DP, its interactions with the Catholic church, and Kiwanuka’s interaction with Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere in his youth are a sight to behold.
Also, photos of Obote on foreign trips in Beijing, Obote officiating at state functions, and his blue-eyed minister Felix Onama who became an Internal Affairs minister in the Obote administration, are icing to Uganda’s political journey.
Some other photos display the 1965 postal workers’ protest for better pay and working conditions. This protest attracted postal workers from Uganda and Kenya. A room has also been dedicated to videos of Uganda pre- and post-independence. As one walks through the room, lyrics of different songs are on display. Notable among them are Twesiimye ne Africa by F Kanyike, and Oooh Africa by Fred Kanyike, among others.
Towards the exit, a section displays photos reproduced by film actor Ntare Mbaho Mwine from stored negatives of a one Kibate who was a photographer in Masaka. Since society is anchored on the well-being of women, photos of prominent women like Sarah Ntiro, Frances Akello, and Joyce Mpanga are also on display.
As you wind up your trip around this marvellous celebration of Uganda at 60, The Observer could only wish that more of this history was displayed. Professor Peterson, the lead curator of the exhibition, said it juxtaposes the ceremony of independence with historical materials created by marginalized communities.
“The exhibition gives voices to people who were not among the cheering crowds that starry night at Kololo. For some Ugandans, national independence was a disappointment, a threat, or a danger to their way of life. Cultural and political minorities were alarmed at the prospect of majority rule. They feared that an emboldened African-led government would trample local communities, making everyone subject to an arbitrary and unanswerable power.”
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