Milton Obote

President of Uganda (1966-1971, 1980-1985)

• Born: December 28, 1924
• Birthplace: Akoroko, Lango, Uganda
• Died: October 10, 2005
• Place of death: Johannesburg, South Africa

Obote was one of the leaders of Ugandan independence, steering that nation toward a form of socialism through a one-party state and eliminating traditional and feudal social patterns.

Early Life

Milton Obote (oh-BOH-tay) was born Apollo Milton Obote to Stanley Obote, a farmer and minor chieftain of the Lengo tribe in northern Uganda, at that time a British protectorate. Obote was educated at a Protestant mission school in Lira, and he then entered Makerere University College, Kampala, in 1948. The third of nine children, Obote became quite a radical and was expelled two years later and denied permission to take up a scholarship to study abroad. He had to complete his undergraduate studies by correspondence at home.

Initially, Obote worked as a laborer and clerk in southern Uganda, in the large kingdom of Buganda, which formed the most prosperous and advanced part of the country. He then moved to neighboring Kenya and worked for an engineering firm. He was further radicalized after joining Jomo Kenyatta’s Kenya National Union, which was waging a bitter guerrilla war against the British for independence.

In 1955, Obote returned to Uganda, founded the Uganda National Congress (UNC), and fought for Ugandan independence. By 1958, he was a member of the preindependence legislative council and a full-time politician. In 1961 he founded the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), a movement more socialist in nature than was the UNC. In the 1962 elections prior to independence, the UPC gained most government seats.

Life’s Work

Obote became prime minister of Uganda , which gained independence on May 25, 1963, with his party in coalition with the Bugandan party known as Kabaka Yekka (KY). The party’s leader, Kabaka (or king) Edward Mutesa II, became Uganda’s president. The country was now a republic within the British Commonwealth.

In 1966, the first of many crises developed, as Obote and Idi Amin , the army chief, were accused of corruption after smuggling gold. Obote responded by suspending the constitution, installing himself as executive president, and arresting Mutesa with the army’s help. The king was driven into exile, and the powerful Bugandan kingdom disintegrated and was divided into four districts. Mutesa died in London in 1969, and Bugandans never forgave Obote for the exile of their king.

Obote transformed Uganda into a one-party state with a socialist agenda called the Common Man’s Charter. Uganda, which enjoyed a good climate and fertile land, became more stable and somewhat more prosperous. However, Obote’s politics turned a number of previously supportive Western governments against him. In the developing world, however, he was a hero, especially because of his attacks on apartheid and colonization. He supported the formation of the East African Community and became close friends with neighboring presidentsKenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who were moving their countries along similar lines.

In 1969, as part of his socialist program, Obote announced partial nationalization of large, mainly foreign-owned, companies. However, growing internal dissent did not seem to concern Obote. In December, 1969, he lived through an assassination attempt. The following month an outspoken opponent of Amin was murdered, and Obote followed with orders to investigate. He fired Amin as army chief later that year. In January, 1971, Amin retaliated in a military coup while Obote was out of the country at a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Singapore.

Obote returned to the region but fled with many of his followers to neighboring Tanzania, where President Nyerere treated him as an honored guest. At first, Ugandans welcomed the Amin regime, and an attempted invasion of Uganda by Obote and his supporters in 1972 failed. However, as Amin became more ruthless, many other Ugandans fled to Tanzania. About one-half million Ugandans had died under Amin’s regime, including many of the country’s leaders and intellectuals.

By 1978, Nyerere decided the situation in Uganda was becoming too threatening, so he called a conference at Moshi for March, 1979. Active opposition to Amin was united into the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), though Obote was not appointed its leader. The UNLF’s National Liberation Army fought alongside the Tanzanian army to overthrow Amin in April, 1979. Obote, whose supporters made up the majority in the subsequent interim government, returned to Uganda in May.

Obote’s part won the December elections, but it became clear that the elections were rigged. Commonwealth observers did not challenge the elections, however, so Obote gained a rare second chance to be president. His second presidency, though, was unsuccessful. In fact, it turned out to be as bloodthirsty as that of Amin, since Obote failed to gain control of the army. Widespread massacres of the Luweros, a tribe that supported Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, a former minister of Obote and founder of the Popular Resistance Army in 1981, annihilated some 250,000 people, and just as many had to flee the country. Many died, too, in Obote’s attempts to resettle the rural poor into the cities. In all, it is believed that as many people died under Obote’s second term as had under Amin.

Obote was unable to move ahead with the much-needed reconciliation process. Uganda remained deeply divided, with Museveni launching a guerrilla war in the west and another rebel group, the Lord’s Army, beginning a war in the north. Economic development continued to remain stagnant. Amin’s expulsion of the Asian trading community from Uganda had gutted the country’s economic strategy, and Obote’s socialist policies failed to bring any improvement. There followed severe shortages of vital goods. The East African Community had long since collapsed, so there was little help from neighboring countries. Finally, as law and order collapsed, Obote was deposed for the second time by the military, this time in July, 1985, forcing him to flee to Zambia, where President Kaunda gave him asylum. He was to remain there the rest of his life. He died on October 10, 2005, in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Significance

Socialist policies and a one-party state can be made to work, as happened under Nyerere in Tanzania. Obote’s failures were at a more human level: He was unable to work with the multitribal politics of Central Africa. His coalition with the Bugandans was merely a ploy to gain power, rather than a principled attempt to include their expertise in a well-ordered economy. Nevertheless, it could be argued that the Buganda segment would always be a threat to other, much smaller, tribes, and therefore had to be dealt with. By using the army to do it, however, Obote made a vital mistake.

It is clear Obote did not learn from his mistakes. Indeed, he compounded these errors during his second presidency. After Museveni finally took power a few years later, Ugandans experienced for the first time democracy and national unity as an independent nation.

Bibliography

Adoko, Akena. From Obote to Obote. New Delhi, India: Vikas, 1986. A developing-world assessment of the two Obote regimes.

Anguria, Omongole R., ed. Apollo Milton Obote: What Others Say. London: Fountain, 2006. A collection of newspaper articles and commentaries by politicians, journalists, and Obote’s own family. Also includes a contribution from President Museveni. The fifty articles cover many conflicting views.

Hansen, Holger, and Michael Twaddle, eds. Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development. London: James Currey, 1988. Part of the East African Studies series and one of the first complete assessments of the Obote years and legacy.

Ingham, Kenneth. Obote: A Political Biography. New York: Routledge, 1994. This is the first major biography of Obote, detailing how he became an unchallenged leader. Perhaps the first reassessment of his legacy, defending him against charges of tyranny and suggesting his political achievements have been underestimated.

Ofcansky, Thomas P. Uganda: Tarnished Pearl of Africa. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996. Part of the Nations of the World: Africa series, this volume deals with events in Uganda between 1962 and 1994, covering all the Obote years.