[UAH] The last 24 hours of Lule as president - Thought and Ideas - monitor.co.ug

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/The-last-24-hours-of-Lule-as-president/-/689844/1884198/-/etbwk/-/index.html

One Tuesday, we were told that we would be going for a meeting at State House starting at 2pm. We all gathered at the Nile Conference Centre as we waited for departure at mid-day. But as we waited, members of the NCC, in small groups, discussed the president's disrespect for the Council.

At State House Entebbe, the meeting started with complaints over Lule's handling of the affairs of the State. Then the back-and-forth complaints started early in the evening and went on until midnight. All along, we had not even taken a break for a meal or tea. Around 1am, Paul Wangoola tabled a motion of no-confidence in President Lule; giving seven reasons to back his motion. 
After hours of debating, the council chairman, Edward Rugumayo, agreed to put the motion to vote. Lule was present all this time.

The vote was secret; all one had to do was to write either YES or NO on a piece of paper. Should the yes vote take the day, Lule would be dismissed as the chairman of UNLF and, therefore, cease to be the president.

After the votes were cast, Rugumayo asked the most religious among the group, Dr Rev Kef Semantic, to count the votes. We were all seated in the main living room of the State House when he put the papers on a coffee table in front of us and started counting. The YES votes were 18 and the NO votes were 14. There and then Rugumayo announced that "those in favour of the motion are 18 and therefore the motion is carried forward; therefore honorable compatriots (he always addressed us in the council as compatriots), Yusuf Lule is no longer chairman of the UNLF and thus no longer president of the Republic of Uganda". 
This was at around 3am. He immediately called for nominations for a new chairman.

Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere stood up and said "just like that? I can't be part of this." He picked his bag and left the room. He was followed by Andrew Kayiira, Prof Lule, Sam Ssebagereka; I followed and all the 14 who had voted against the motion walked out. All the 18 left behind were UPC and had only three Baganda. They were Paulo Muwanga, Sempangi and Prof Fredrick Sempebwa, who was the only Muganda to debate in favour of removing Prof Lule from power.

We left the main presidential living room where the meeting was and moved to the second floor where the president's private sitting room is and we wondered what to do next. It was while there that one of us raised a point that the Defence minister was not in the meeting.

Lule directed Kayiira who was then a State Minister for Internal Affairs to go and meet the Defence minister. Instead, he went to the president's office still on the same floor and called the minister, only to come back to us a very happy man saying Yoweri Museveni was on our side. With that, we knew we were going to challenge and overturn the earlier events.

Around 5am, we sought Nyerere's help. Lule still directed Kayiira to call him, but Nyerere did not pick up the call. From then up to 6am, we were planning what to and what not to do. We remembered the team that we left downstairs, and one of us said we better find out what was happening for they may decide to put us under detention.

I was told to go down and find out what was going on in the main lounge but the Tanzanian soldiers at the entrance stopped me. Rugumayo saw me and told them to allow me in. While in the room, I told him that my friends upstairs were worried they would detain us.

His response was very fast: "ooh no, come and join us." I turned, looked at the people around, and went back to call my group. I told them Nyerere's soldiers had denied me entry, I suspect Nyerere is on the other side. The other thing I told them, was that the man (Museveni) who had said he was on our side was in the same room with our opponents, and I told them that they had already appointed a president who was already in the house.

The shock 
They were shocked to hear that Godfrey Binaisa was the one who had replaced Lule. He was not a member of NCC and had been locked out of the Moshi Conference. Apparently it is even Museveni who had driven to Kampala in the night to bring him! I advised the group that we could not win; our only option was joining them. Before joining them, I was asked to go and negotiate terms of our rejoining.

It was agreed between me and Rugumayo that much as a lot had happened in the last couple of hours, we should not take our divisions out for the whole country to know. We also agreed that we would say Lule himself had decided that his major responsibility of leading UNLF to overthrow Idi Amin had been accomplished and was stepping aside to let the young blood continue with leading the country to recovery. My group agreed and joined the rest of the members. Lule joined Binaisa on the same sofa seat as though nothing had happened.

After a round of speeches by different members, Binaisa started nominating his cabinet for approval by the council. This was one of the reasons advanced against Lule; he was accused of appointing people to government posts without approval by the NCC. We were joined by Eric Otema Allimadi who was Lule's Foreign Affairs minister. He was coming in from Nairobi. When Binaisa saw him, he asked him to remain in his post, we all agreed.

There were Radio Uganda journalists in one of the adjacent room waiting to talk to the president (not knowing what had transpired the previous night). It was after they had talked to the president [Lule] that Muwanga and the rest of the team realised that he had given a press briefing without their knowledge. When the journalist was tasked to play back his recording, Prof Lule was heard saying "I have not voluntarily left the presidency. I have been forced out!"

Rugumayo turned to me and said "Mayengo is that what we negotiated and agreed upon?" Unfortunately, as we were still arguing about Prof Lule's remarks, the journalist disappeared. It was around 5pm. That very evening before we were ready for the announcement, the journalist ran the clip as he had recorded it from State House.

Still wondering what to do next, Binaisa asked for a break to have something to eat. This was to be the first meal since we had gotten to Entebbe the previous day. Much later after the meal did Binaisa remind the rest of the members that he had not been sworn in. Much as he had already appointed a new Attorney General Steven Ariko, whom he tasked with locating the chief justice and prepare the swearing in ceremony.

By the time we reached Kampala people had already heard the news and they were already on the streets. Around 7pm, we were at the stairs of the Parliament Building to swear in Binaisa. He had also asked for the presence of his parents, Nnalongo and Canon Binaisa, who were then staying in the Bukoto Brown Flats to be present. We were less than 30 people on the stairs who witnessed his swearing-in.

Binaisa spent the night at Nile Hotel while Lule stayed in Entebbe. I left Parliament and went back to my room on the 15th floor of International Hotel [Sheraton Kampala]. On the same floor was Samwiri Mugwisa, Tarsis Kabwegyere and other members of the NCC. Between 3 and 4am, we heard people down Nile Avenue singing "Abantu bekyaye tebagala Binaisa, fetwagala Lule obatufa tufe, Lule….!"

The demonstrations continued into the next day and spread to other parts of Kampala. Later in the day, the minister of Defence (Museveni) issued a statement banning any form of demonstration. Immediately after the announcement, a Tanzanian soldier at Speke Hotel opened fire in the air and dispersed people. I had a friend staying with me in the room with Remegio Kintu who suggested we go out and drive to Nairobi that day. I decided otherwise.

That was the downfall of Lule and the beginning of Binaisa.

The last 24 hours of Lule as president - Thought and Ideas - monitor.co.ug
http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/The-last-24-hours-of-Lule-as-president/-/689844/1884198/-/item/1/-/smd1ia/-/index.html