{UAH} Police officer tips Obote on coup plot by Muteesa - People & Power
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Police officer tips Obote on coup plot by Muteesa - People & Power
On February 22, 1966, the history of Uganda changed after a planned military coup by Kabaka Mutesa II to oust prime minister Milton Obote was thwarted.
On that day, Obote usurped the office of the president from Sir Edward Mutesa II and abrogated the 1962 Constitution. Five Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) government ministers -- Grace Ibingira, Dr Emmanuel Lumu, George Magezi, Balaki Kirya and Mathias Ngobi -- were also arrested from a cabinet meeting at State House Entebbe for their alleged involvement in the coup plot.
Later, in April 1966, Obote told Parliament that the plot to oust him was engineered from Mengo, the headquarters of the Buganda Kingdom and instigated by Kabaka Mutesa and others.
How it all started
Brig Shaban Opolot, the commander of the Uganda Army from 1964, had since October 1965 been put under house arrest in Kampala.
Opolot had also been an acquaintance of Kabaka Mutesa and Daudi Ochieng, an MP and secretary general of the Kabaka Yekka (KY) – Buganda Kingdom's political movement – who on February 4, 1966, tabled before Parliament a motion to censure prime minister Obote and suspend Col Amin from the army.
In the motion, Felix Onama, the minister of State for Defence, Adoko Nekyon, the minister of Planning and Community Development, Col Idi Amin, the deputy commander of the army and Obote were accused of plundering gold, ivory, money and coffee from Congo.
Towards mid-1964, 'Brig Gen' Nicolas Philippe Olenga on behalf of Christopher Gbenye, a rebel leader fighting for the secession of Katanga from Congo Kinshasa, approached Obote for mercenaries from the Uganda Army. The reward was "too blinding" to let anyone see beyond it, apart from Brig Opolot.
Opolot's stubborn opposition to sending Uganda's army to Congo and refusal to be part of the mission, which his deputy Amin executed, rubbed suspicion into Obote's mind.
On October 7, 1966, Opolot was dismissed from the army and detained without trial at Luzira Maximum Security Prison.
Opolot had in March 1966 testified before a commission of inquiry set up to investigate the gold scandal. This was after MP Ochieng table a Bill before Parliament on February 4, 1966, for officials named in the scandal to be investigated.
Justice Clement Nageon de L'Eestang, the vice president of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa, chaired the commission.
After Opolot's testimony, it became "evident" that he was the one who had leaked the Congo deal to Mutesa and his childhood friend Ochieng.
Opolot remained in jail until January 29, 1971, when president Amin released him and other political prisoners, including the five former ministers.
In his interview with the Veteran Year Book, the National Resistance Army news publication, of June-September 1993, Opolot said: "I was asked to clarify whether I had sent any soldiers to Zaire. I had not."
"But this was a big embarrassment to Obote because they [Obote and others] had asked me to sign some documents purporting that I had sent some troops to Zaire. It would be an offence, as army commander, to send troops to another sovereign state without the consent of the government."
"So I had to make my position very clear that I never ordered anybody to go to Zaire. That's why they came to imagine that I had collaborated with Ibingira [Grace] to overthrow the government. I was telling the truth, I had never sent anybody to Zaire."
"… Going into Congo for gold was privately arranged," he added.
What failed the coup?
Events leading to the February 22, 1966, failed coup d'état had accumulated due to several differences over the years between Mengo and central governments.
From the time Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and Kabaka Yekka (KY), Buganda's political party, made the gentleman's agreement to form an alliance, it was evident that there was nothing binding UPC and KY leaders. No ideological bond whatsoever.
The fulcrum on which the alliance hinged was to deny the predominantly Catholic Democratic Party (DP) and its charismatic leader Benedict Kiwanuka the opportunity to lead Uganda to independence in 1962. Neither UPC nor KY alone could come ahead of DP at the polls.
With no trust or respect for one another, but only scheming for the opportune time to edge out the other, Mutesa II and Obote formed an alliance, which ended as soon as Mutesa II was elected president on October 8, 1963, by Parliament, though with a lot of UPC input.
Kabaka Mutesa, a non-executive president, wanted to act beyond his powers, and that was how the conflict between him and Obote started.
The Mengo establishment somehow thought they were at par with the central Uganda.
In early 1964, Mengo sent a budget proposal to the central government detailing its prospects, but the UPC government refused to release the funds, ostensibly because the budget was heavy for the central government to release in one lot. The Kabaka's government was furious over this.
Also in early 1964, the central government announced that the pending referendum on the Lost Counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi would be held on November 4, 1964.
First Mengo opposed it, although they hoped that the central government would "diplomatically" support them in retaining the two counties.
When it became obvious that the UPC government wanted the referendum held, but that the lost counties rather return to Bunyoro kingdom, Mengo panicked. Kingdom officials started sending youth from Buganda as well as World War II veterans to settle in the two counties before the referendum was held.
Some Baganda chiefs swindled huge sums of money from Mengo coffers, to apparently fund the resettlement of the Baganda in Ndaiga in Bunyoro Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Banyoro bitterly opposed the resettlement of the Baganda in the two contested counties, which the central government also opposed.
Angered by the protests in Bunyoro and frustrated by the central government, Kabaka Mutesa moved there to personally assess the situation and encourage his new settlers. However, the Banyoro opposed his presence in their kingdom.
On June 18, 1964, at Ndaiga market, some Banyoro heckled Mutesa in protest of his presence in Bunyoro Kingdom. Enraged, Mutesa picked his rifle, aimed and shot eight Banyoro dead at point blank.
News circulated that the Uganda government was to arrest Mutesa if he stayed in Ndaiga any longer. But the minister of internal affairs, Felix Onama, in the Uganda Nation of June 23, 1964, denied that the government was planning to arrest the Kabaka.
The killing of the Banyoro increased the resentment of the president also Kabaka across Uganda. Obote diplomatically exploited the Ndaiga massacre to isolate Mengo and Mutesa. Feeling let down, Mengo decided to end the alliance with the central government.
On August 24, 1964, the UPC-KY alliance collapsed with some former KY Members of Parliament crossing the floor to UPC. Those who crossed were branded traitors by Mengo traditionalists.
Perhaps the last stroke was Obote's refusal to provide president Mutesa with the Uganda Army band to entertain his guests on his birthday fete.
In early November, Mutesa wrote an undated note, according to Obote, requesting for the Uganda Army band to play on November 19, 1965, on the Kabaka's birthday.
Obote refused to release the army band, claiming the function was not a Uganda government function but a private one for the king of Buganda and not the president of Uganda.
With all the differences between the two institutions, Mengo felt suffocated by one man, Obote. Therefore, the only solution was to eliminate Obote from the office of prime minister, either politically or by a coup.
The opportunity to oust Obote politically presented itself. Two years earlier, he had sent Ugandan troops to Congo clandestinely, so it was time for him to account before Parliament.
Mengo shocked, angered
On February 4, 1966, when KY legislator Daudi Ochieng presented the motion before Parliament, he hoped that Obote would be censured and finished. However, Obote played politics and survived. Mengo was shocked and angered.
On February 9, 1966, Mutesa met the British High Commissioner to Uganda and asked for military assistance to topple Obote.
It is not clear what the High Commissioner's response was. But the British professor T. V. Sathyamurthy writes about Mutesa's request for military aid (mercenaries from Britain) his book The Political Development in Uganda: 1900-1986: "But the Kabaka's approach to foreign emissaries was born out of foolishness than craft. For, it was the strongest card in Obotes' possession when it came to delivering the final blow."
All the same, the plan to use the Uganda Army was initiated to stage a coup and to overthrow Obote.
A senior Muganda police officer (spy) went to brief the president as a routine. During the conversation, Mutesa asked the officer if he knew what was going to happen on February 22, 1966.
The officer asked if it was true there would be a coup on that day. The unsuspecting president responded: "Oh do not worry, this is one of the Kampala rumours."
The officer returned and reported to Obote. On April 15, 1966, Obote addressed Parliament and mentioned the attempt coup.
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