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By J. Kasangwawo

It is not unusual for all sorts of people to declare that Mengo wanted to kick Obote's government off Buganda soil, without making any attempt to mention the events culminating in that act, thereby giving the impression that somehow the members of the Lukiiko just woke up one fine morning and decided to order Obote out of Buganda without any reason. As I will show below, several attempts were made, not only by the Great Lukiiko but also by the then President Muteesa II himself, to bring Obote to reason and convince him to change his ways and retract his unconstitutional acts - all to no avail. It was only after all attempts had failed, that the Lukiiko made it clear that the basis on which Buganda had agreed to be part of an independent country called Uganda had been violated and told Obote to remove his government from Buganda soil.

Having said that, the Lukiiko was the only institution that made any visible attempt to stop Obote's illegal acts while others were numb due to his machinations.

Now to the events:

The Uganda government had supported the Congolese Simba rebels led by Gbenye (an army whose fighters dressed in monkey skins and cannibalized their opponents) during the armed conflict between Tshombe and Gbenye in the early 60s. At the end of the operations, some Ugandan MPs started raising questions as to who authorized the Uganda forces beyond guarding the Uganda border. There were also allegations that gold and ivory was brought back and shared among certain individuals. The issue was first publicly discussed in Parliament when a government backbencher tabled a motion on 12th March 1965 concerning the security situation in Buganda, the main objective of which was to ban Kabaka Yekka (KY) by branding it a party of criminals. During the debate, a DP member, Gaspari Oda, sought to amend the motion by adding corruption in the civil service and armed forces, which he said was a factor in the insecurity not only in Buganda but throughout the country. The amendment was finally defeated but not before Daudi Ochieng (KY) and Alexander Latim (DP) had introduced a lot of information in support of the amendment. Ochieng confirmed that the insecurity was not confined to Buganda but was spread throughout the country; that the soldiers patrolling near the Congo border in West Nile were becoming lawless; that morale in the armed forces was low due to the soldiers' belief that a few senior officers were making personal financial gain out of the border incidents.

Ochieng also informed Parliament that Amin, who was then Deputy Commander of the Uganda Army, had visited West Nile several times and had been seen bringing back parcels to his home in Entebbe which he guarded with utmost security. Through a mistake by the post office, whereby Amin's bank statement was put into the wrong box, the following information about his deposits became available: he had deposited $1,500 on 5th February 1965; $9,000 on 15th Feb; $3,000 on 17th Feb; $28,250 on 26th Feb and $3,250 on 2nd March. As Amin had no known private means of income, Ochieng wanted Onama, the Minister of Defence, to initiate an investigation into this sudden windfall. Incidentally, Onama had told Parliament at the beginning of the debate that Amin's bank account stood at $2,400.

Before introducing the information to Parliament, Ochieng and Latim had the courtesy of informing Onama and the Inspector General of Police about the whole situation. When Amin got wind of the reports, he phoned Latim and threatened to kill him and Ochieng. He later apologized to both gentlemen claiming that he had been upset by the allegations about his bank account. Onama, on his part, dismissed the allegations against Amin calling them "latrine talks". He even suggested that Amin's relatives had given him the money, or that Congolese refugees might have given it to him for safe keeping. Realizing the futility of his justifications, Onama promised to initiate investigations into the matter. The investigations were never carried out, since Brigadier Opolot, the Commander of the Uganda Army, was prevented from initiating them according to the Military Law.

The matter was left unanswered until Ochieng revived it on 4th February 1966 after the Penal (Amendment) Bill, section 41, which sought to curb the activities of KY, had been passed. His motion sought to suspend Amin pending investigations into his account. Ochieng alleged that some members of the government, together with Colonel Amin, were planning a coup to overthrow the Constitution. During the debate, it was disclosed that Milton Obote, Felix Onama and Adoko Nekyon, Minister of Planning and Community Development, had received large amounts of money from gold and elephant tusks from Congo after Uganda Army's incursions into that country. All the ministers present, except Onama (who denied the charges), were of the opinion that there was substance in the allegations. The Prime Minister knew that Ochieng would introduce the motion on 4th February but in his usual cowardly manner decided to go on a tour of the North from 1st Feb. until 12th Feb. All MPs present on both sides of the House, except government-backbencher John Kakonge, agreed to the suspension of Idi Amin and the police investigations. Nevertheless, Colonel Amin was just given two weeks' leave in contradiction to Parliament's wishes. Kakonge curiously stated that Obote's absence was suspicious.

On 13th February 1966, nine days after the accusations against him, Obote called a press conference and denied ever receiving gold or tusks from Congo or participating in any plans to overthrow the Constitution. As to the suspension of Amin, he said that there were still legal hitches to be straightened out before Parliament's resolution could be put into effect. Meanwhile, Onama, Amin and Nekyon also denied the accusations and demanded an apology from Ochieng within two days, which Ochieng rightly ignored. On 15th February the Cabinet asked Obote to read a statement to the press announcing its decision to set up a judicial commission to investigate Ochieng's allegations. He also called on Ochieng to make a statement to the police by 19th February.

Ochieng made the statement to the police but instead of suspension, Obote promoted Amin to the post of Commander of Uganda Army with effect from 23rd February 1966 and created a new post of Military Advisor to the Cabinet into which he moved Brigadier Opolot. (this is nowadays called 'putting someone on katebe').

On 22nd February, Obote out of the blue staged a coup d'etat against his own government and usurped all powers with the following statement:

'In the interest of national stability and public security and tranquility, I have today, the 22nd day of February 1966, taken over all powers of the government of Uganda. (under which article of the constitution ?) I shall henceforth be advised by a Council whose members I shall name later. I have taken this course of action independently because of my understanding of the wishes of the people of this country for peace, order and prosperity. (yeah, right !) Five former ministers have today been put under detention pending investigations into their activities. I call upon the judges and magistrates, civil servants - both Uganda and expatriate members of the security forces and the general public to carry on with their normal duties. I take this opportunity to assure everybody that the whole situation is under control.'

The five ministers who were arrested during a cabinet meeting and put under detention were: Dr. E.S. Lumu - Minister of Health and Chairman of UPC Buganda Region; Grace Ibingira - Minister of State and Chairman of UPC Ankole Kingdom; M. Ngobi - Minister of Agriculture & Cooperatives; B.K. Kirya - Minister of Mineral and Water Resources and Chairman of UPC Bukedi District and G.B. Magezi - Minister of Housing and Labour.

Obote's acts were the beginning of unconstitutionalism in Uganda. Firstly, contrary to the Constitution, one man had usurped all powers of the Government. Secondly, although the Prime Minister had the right to select his own Cabinet, the ministers had to be appointed by the President. Consequently, a minister could only be dismissed if the President (with the advice of the Prime Minister) so directed. As to the five ministers, the President had not so directed. Thirdly, the warrants for detention were signed by a magistrate long after the ministers had been arrested and deported to Patiko in Gulu. This was done even before a judicial inquiry, as prescribed by law, was initiated.

But that wasn't all. On 24th Feb. 1966 came the big blow. Obote suspended the Constitution with effect from 7pm of that day and issued a declaration purporting to implement his unconstitutional acts. There was no provision in the Constitution for the suspension of the Constitution or any part of it by either the National Assembly or any individual. Obote justified his unconstitutional acts by making false claims that while on his tour of the North, some people in high places were making requests to foreign missions in Uganda for massive military assistance involving foreign soldiers and arms. The declaration itself was signed by 13 ministers some of whom must have done so in absentia since they were nowhere near Entebbe on that day. One minister took to his heels after the arrest of his 5 colleagues. It is fair to say that the signing of the declaration was not quite voluntary.

In this intimidating atmosphere, Obote set up a Commission of Inquiry into the Congo gold allegations on 28th Feb. It would have of course been suicide for any person to come forward and give evidence against a Prime Minister who had taken over all powers of government, suspended the Constitution and even imprisoned his colleagues. Furthermore, he instructed the Commission that evidence that would adversely affect the reputation of any person or reflect upon his character or conduct would not be received ! (What was then the purpose of the Commission, I ask?)

On 3rd March, Obote made a TV and radio announcement during which he directly accused Sir Edward Muteesa with trumped-up charges of having called on some foreign diplomats to supply him (Muteesa) with troops in order to invade Uganda. He also accused him of dereliction of duty by failing to sign the "lost counties" Referendum Act, 1964; failure to sign the Act setting out the Buganda/Bunyoro boundaries, 1965; and failure to perform the official opening of the session of Parliament on 15th November 1965. These were the justifications Obote gave for suspending the Constitution and abolition of the offices of President and Vice-President.

The President's Secretary responded to Obote's accusations on 4th March 1966 and questioned why the Prime Minister did not specify which foreign diplomats had been asked to send troops. He reminded the Prime Minister that while on his Northern tour, serious allegations concerning plans to overthrow the Constitution had been made in Parliament and that on his return, the Prime Minister himself had acknowledged the great alarm, especially in Kampala, caused by the movement of troops which Obote himself had authorized earlier without informing the President. Connection was made between this illegal training of troops and the truck loads of arms and ammunition impounded by the Kenyan government the year before.

The response further stated that "In the circumstances, precautionary requests had to be made should the situation get out of hand. The safety of the nation was at stake. The President did not invite foreign troops to invade this country". The precautionary requests were conditional and did not precipitate anything. The answer further reminded the Prime Minister that during the army mutiny in 1964, he had called in British troops without informing the President who was both Head of State and Commander-in-Chief until Sir Edward demanded to be given the necessary information.

Concerning the dereliction of duty accusations, the Secretary to the President stated, and I quote:

"As to failure to sign the two Acts, section 67 of the Constitution provides, in part, that if the President "declines" to perform an act as required by the Constitution, the Prime Minister may himself perform that act. In his capacity as Kabaka of Buganda and President of Uganda, Sir Edward Mutesa was put in a most invidious position over the question of the Referendum. The two Counties, the subject of the Referendum, formed part of the Kingdom of Buganda. The Prime Minister was quite aware of this quandary himself and he agreed to follow the procedures laid down in section 67 and signed the Acts. The section envisaged such a situation. It was constitutional for the President to have declined as he did".

The same was true for the official opening of the session of Parliament. The Constitution did not provide that the President MUST (emphasis mine) perform the opening of each and every session. It envisaged occasions where the Vice-President could perform functions should the President be unable to do so. This was one such occasion. All of this shows that Obote was just trying to find petty reasons for carrying out his unconstitutional acts.

Another problem was that the President had no access to the mass media which was a monopoly of Obote and his government. So while Obote could reach a lot of people, Sir Edward could only depend on the mercy of the press which was also not quite free. But on 4th March 1966 the President managed to break his silence and published two letters he had written to the Prime Minister on 28th February 1966 and 3rd March 1966. The first one reads in part:

"This is to inform you that your public statements of 22nd and 24th February, 1966, have caused me much anxiety especially as you have not informed me of them as you are required by the Constitution".

He goes on to inform Obote that his taking over of all powers of the Government of Uganda was contrary to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land and that the suspension of the Constitution was unconstitutional.

I'll quote the rest of it in full in order to do full justice to the message:

"I have allowed plenty of time to elapse before writing to you in the hope that after careful thought you would find your way to retracting these unconstitutional acts. I had hoped that your advisers would point it out to you that the course you were pursuing might cause instability in the country, a situation which we are all striving to avoid. Now that the dark clouds continue to mount in the very lives of the people of this country, I feel I am in duty bound to ask you to stay your hand, and to desist from continuing with the procedures against Government personnel, especially those who are commissioned to serve me. Our first duty is to the people of this country. The people decided in their great wisdom that the best way to serve them is through the means laid down in the Constitution which they themselves made. Once again, I earnestly appeal to you to adhere strictly to the Constitution in order to remove this overhanging uneasiness which cannot be conducive to peace, good order and the country's prosperity".

It is clear from the above that Sir Edward still thought he could be civil in his dealings with Obote.

I'll quote the second letter of 3rd March in full, lest some quarters again view it as my 'wishes and expectations':

"Your endeavours to introduce a totalitarian regime in this country, in complete violation of the Constitution of Uganda, which endeavours culminated in your announcement last night, have got no support of the people of this country. You must be aware of this yourself.

"Your intentions are now clear, they are not motivated by the sense of service to one's own country. You would otherwise realise that the happiness and prosperity of Uganda are being jeopardized by your unconstitutional actions, which you have been pursuing single-handed since the 22nd February, 1966. The public in this country and abroad that believes in representative democracy will never recognize the fact of your usurpation of the powers which the Constitution clearly vests in the President whose election is by Parliament and by nobody else. I myself cannot be party to your present illegal exercise. I would like to add this further point - that your current conduct is very harmful to the cause of our brothers in the rest of Africa where every wrong step we take out here adds to their already unbearable burden. The existing tensions in the whole world today demand that we do our utmost best to reduce them instead of adding to them in any manner.

"I should be failing in my duty if I left you in the slightest doubt that the people of this country would ever accept these, your unconstitutional measures.

"There are far too many warnings elsewhere already for anybody to think that our people can ever acquiesce in this insult of their intelligence. Please read this letter alongside mine of 28th February".

Both letters were received enthusiastically by the public because up to that time, they did not exactly know what the President's stand was in the whole affair. The local and foreign press were not supportive of the Prime Minister's activities. The Time magazine even called it a 'coup of convenience'.

Obote now turned really nasty and put the State House off limits for Sir Edward, without even having the courtesy to inform him. The President complained about this in a letter he wrote to the Prime Minister on 8th March:

"It has been brought to my notice that in pursuance of your instructions State House has been sealed and the staff thereof ordered not to serve me anymore", he wrote. He stated that this was very serious as valuable property belonging to him was still in State House and that he was not informed when when it was being sealed.

Sir Edward seems to have been aware that he could be framed in the process, for he continues:

"There are two possibilities that can happen after this your unilateral act. My personal effects may be misplaced or lost altogether and secondly some extraneous matter may be introduced into the House. Both these aspects or either of them may cause alarming results".

"You have taken away all my staff, including the security officers, thereby exposing my life to maximum danger".

He ends the letter on a philosophical note:

"The future is mercifully closed to most of us, but the past, which is the greatest teacher known to man, has shown that desperate measures such as the ones we are now being subjected to by yourself, have the quality of a boomerang and they invariably lead to limited or general misery. The verdict will not wait for posterity as the living have now written their judgment regarding your actions".

Instead of replying to Muteesa, Obote issued a statement in the Uganda Argus on 11th March stressing that the offices of President and Vice-President had been suspended on 24th February and therefore it was necessary to secure government property at State House as well as personal effects belonging to the 'former' President.

He claimed that "Since then, Sir Edward has been free to remove any of his personal belongings from State House, and indeed he has already removed some of his personal effects. He is still free to send any authorised person to remove whatever is remaining".

Obote continued that since the Constitution was suspended, the 'former' President could not expect to use State House or any government property. "Anybody working for him must consider himself a personal employee at Sir Edward's expense", he stated, without taking into consideration that most of these employees were civil servants whose benefits, such as pensions, were in jeopardy because of his actions.

He finished by warning editors of newspapers who still referred to the offices of President and Vice-President to stop misleading or misinforming the public.

Elsewhere, the Lukiiko was also not inactive. After Obote suspended the Constitution on 24th February, it passed a resolution in a meeting on 26th February 1966 calling on all MPs representing Buganda in the National Assembly to inform the Lukiiko about the circumstances that led to the suspension of the Constitution. They also appealed to the people in Buganda to remain calm and peaceful.

The Lukiiko sat again on 28th February and passed the following resolution:

"The Lukiiko meeting held on 28th February 1966, has most carefully examined the pronouncements made by the Prime Minister, Dr. Milton Obote, on 22nd February 1966, in which he assumed full powers of the Government of Uganda and on 24th February in which he suspended the Constitution. The Lukiiko unreservedly objects to these acts which are contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of Uganda which the Prime Minister swore to abide by on assuming office on 9th October 1962. The Lukiiko calls on the Prime Minister to restore the Constitution of Uganda forthwith."

One day after the President published his two letters, the Lukiiko passed another resolution:

"The Great Lukiiko sitting today on 5th March 1966, strongly endorses and is in full agreement with the President's stand as expressed in His Excellency's three successive statements of 28th February, 3rd March and 4th, 1966, in which the President voices complete disagreement with and disapproval of the Prime Minister's action of assuming all powers and suspending the Uganda Constitution.

"The Lukiiko wishes to make it absolutely clear that it recognises the President of Uganda as the Head of State and the Vice-President, in his Office as the next in line to the President, as is provided for in the Constitution of Uganda.

"The Lukiiko also reaffirms its Resolution passed on 28th February 1966, in which it disagreed with the Prime Minister's action of taking it upon himself to suspend the Constitution of Uganda and appeals to all Members of the National Assembly to do all they can to get the National Assembly convened at the earliest possible date to resolve this burning issue."

The Lukiiko passed yet another resolution on 12th March, the gist of which was that since the Prime Minister had failed to respond to the Lukiiko's earlier resolutions urging him to revoke his actions, they now regarded them and his future actions unconstitutional and would not be party to them. Obote responded by writing to the Katikkiro on 28th March in regard to the earlier Lukiiko resolutions. However, the Prime Minister merely reiterated what he had been saying before and failed to explain where he derived the authority to suspend the Constitution. The Lukiiko consequently passed another resolution on 13th April noting this fact and demanding that the Constitution be restored immediately.

On 15th April, Obote surrounded the Parliament with troops and introduced without notice a new form of constitution which was put to vote that very day. It was adopted without debate and by MPs who had not even had a chance to see it. The Prime Minister then informed the MPs that they could find their copies in their pigeon-holes - hence the name 'pigeon-hole constitution'. The most significant changes to the Constitution was the position of the Kingdoms whose federal status was abolished while Obote increased his powers.

The Lukiiko, in a sitting on the next day, considered these new developments carefully and maintained the position of it's earlier resolutions. On 18th April 1966 the Lukiiko issued a lengthy statement in which it stressed its stand against the abrogation of the Constitution by the Prime Minister, its belief in the federal system of governance and the universal human rights principles as laid down in the UN standards. The Lukiiko maintained that the Uganda Constitution of 1962 was the true basis for Uganda's unity and stability and strongly protested Obote's breach of the country's supreme law.

After there had been no positive reaction from the Prime Minister and realizing that the basis upon which Uganda had become independent had been demolished, the Lukiiko passed a resolution on 19th May demanding the removal of the central government from the territory of Buganda by 30th May 1966. Obote reacted by declaring a state of emergency throughout Buganda on 23rd May. On 24th May, Obote ordered troops of the Uganda Army under the command of Idi Amin to storm the Kabaka's palace. Armed forces were deployed all over Kampala and in many parts of Buganda. Thousands of civilians were killed, but Sir Edward managed to escape from the palace and into exile in the UK where he died in abject poverty in 1969.

These then were the events leading to the request by the Lukiiko for the removal of the central government from Buganda territory. I hope that in future, before people simply make declarations that "Mengo wanted to kick Obote's government off Buganda soil", they remember these events that led to the crisis in 1966.

New information has emerged which indicates that the Lukiiko actually never passed a resolution on 19th May 1966 ordering Obote's government off Buganda land. A motion attempting to do this was introduced in the Lukiiko on 1st May 1966 but was overruled by the Speaker as illegal. It was then somehow inserted into the proceedings on 22nd May 1966. Obote himself reported on 25th May that after attempts to get Ssaza chiefs to move the resolution failed, an MP who had recently sat on his government benches helped to get someone in the Lukiiko to introduce the said motion and to organize a group of delinquents to shout down anyone who spoke against it. The Speaker, the Katikkiro and the Ministers consequently could not speak. In this kind of atmosphere, Obote wants to convince the public that a resolution was passed ordering his government out of Buganda. The truth of the matter is that no such resolution was passed because no voting took place.