O Obote, Milton (1924– ) president of Uganda
8, 1962, King Mutesa II of Buganda became president while Obote served as prime minister. At length Mutesa’s conservatism and Obote’s desire for a socialist one-party state collided over the issue of corruption. In February 1966, both the prime minister and his leading general, IDI AMIN, were accused by the legislature of misappropriating war booty taken in the Congo. Obote countered by suddenly arresting numerous ministers, suspending the constitution, and expanding the central government’s powers. When Mutesa protested this usurpation of power, Obote directed Amin to attack the king’s palace, and Mutesa fled to exile in Great Britain. The prime minister was now wellpositioned to attain the kind of centralized authority he always coveted. In September 1967 he authorized passage of a new constitution that eliminated the federal arrangement, abolished the kingdoms, and established a unitary state with himself as president. His control of affairs was further abetted once the UPC became the nation’s sole legitimate party. Once in power, Obote initiated a dramatic move to the left through adoption of his “Common Man Charter.” Banks and many industries were nationalized, and he passed new laws that made the president of the UPC also the chief executive of the nation. However, this one-party rule engendered considerable disunity in Uganda, which was deeply cleft between
Apollo Milton Obote was born in Akoroko, Uganda, on December 28, 1924, the son of a minor chief of the Lango tribe. He was educated at missionary schools and briefly attended Makerere College before British colonial authorities expelled him for political activism. Obote next moved to Kenya to work, where he was caught up in the nationalist activities orchestrated by JOMO KENYATTA. By the time he returned to Uganda in 1957, Britain had allowed for popular sovereignty through a national legislature. Obote won a seat representing the Uganda National Congress Party (UNCP) where he was outspoken in his criticism of colonialism. Finding the UNCP too conservative for his socialist inclinations, Obote broke with them in 1960 and founded a new organization, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC). As UPC leader he began complex negotiations with the archconservative Kabaka Yekka (King Alone) Party of Buganda to establish a ruling coalition after independence. This proved a tricky proposition at best, for the nation consisted of several traditional tribal kingdoms, of which Buganda was the largest and most powerful. Obote next lent his expertise to devising a constitution that encompassed Uganda’s four distinct kingdoms in a federal framework. When the nation finally broke with Great Britain on October
341