{UAH} A MAN I ONCE KNEW SO WELL | Part I
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A MAN I ONCE KNEW SO WELL | Part I
In his article to a newspaper, "King Freddie's Own Story" as the paper called it, the Kabaka wrote a revealing account of what actually happened between him and Obote, which is very comprehensive, to warrant any further submissions, besides this one. It was titled: "Why Dr. Obote Seized My Kingdom" with a sub-title "A MAN I ONCE KNEW SO WELL" by Kabaka of Buganda, in The Sunday Telegraph. It goes like this:
"When my father ascended on the Throne of Buganda in 1897, Queen Victoria presented to him with a rather fine throne emblazoned with a crown. Eventually it came to me and I was proud and pleased to sit on it. For all I know, it may now be decorating the drawing room of Dr. Milton Obote, who now calls himself President of Uganda. For after the attack on my Palace a month ago, he went there and my people tell me that the throne was taken away, and with it the Crown and my Robes of State.
It is not so long ago that Dr. Obote declared at a Constitutional Conference in London: 'We Africans of Uganda believe in our Kings.' Now he has even destroyed the royal drums of the Kabaka which the Baganda, my people, loved so much. These drums which they wrecked are, in the eyes of the Baganda, much more than ceremonial trappings. They represent to my people the seven-century-long history and achievements of their nation. Anybody who tampers with such symbols must surely raise the wrath of the people. So the symbols of monarchy disappear in a Uganda fast becoming a totalitarian, one-party state. I mention this to show how a man I once knew so well has been degraded by his own terrible cunning.
In 1963, the Office of President was created. Dr. Obote proposed me for election by Parliament as representative of the most important Federal State. The Presidential Candidate had to be either a Ruler of a Federal State or District. So it was that Dr. Obote, who became my Prime Minister, helped me become President.
Milton Obote is an intelligent man, and an able one, but in power and in seeking power he has learnt all the wrong lessons. He has become a schemer; his mind dwells always on plots and plotting, and he suspects everyone else is the same.
It was not always so. He had a strain of humanity which now seems to have become lost. Only a few years ago, my son Prince Ronald used to bicycle down from my residence to the Prime Minister's lodge. Dr. Obote was very fond of him and always treated him nicely; giving presents like cameras which he thought might please the boy. The guards on the gate would smile and make way for the Prince to peddle back.
The goodwill ended when on May 24 [1966] Obote's troops attacked my Palace at Mengo and I had to flee for my life. This last week I have been thinking back into the recent past. In between visits to the doctor, who now finds a bone in my back was broken when I leaped from the Palace wall, I have been trying to analyse how, so few years after Uganda's Independence, the high hopes and promise for the State has come to violence and confusion. Even here in London, I am not completely isolated from danger. In Uganda the police are carrying out witch-hunts. Everyday news comes of some new arrest or escape as people from Buganda sneak out of the border by night to pass information.
Five Ministers were arrested and sent into forced residence. A number of army officers including Major Katabarwa, younger brother of one of the Ministers held, have been dismissed or arrested. They are all accused of conspiracy and high treason. So would I be, were I still in Uganda, for sometimes Dr. Obote claims that I prodded army officers into action and sometimes that they pushed me.
He is convinced that the British taught me many nasty things about how to eliminate him. This is absolute nonsense. I was quite prepared to work in harmony with him; my only interest was the good of the State of which I head, and for the good of my people, the Baganda of whom I am the only true King as long as I live.
To his suspicious mind I became chief conspirator simply by consulting foreign Diplomats and asking their advice-- as I had a perfect constitutional right to do so, in times of crisis. I consulted, for example, African countries as well as Mr. Ronald Hunt, the British High Commissioner, and his staff, and let me assure Dr. Obote most emphatically, that I have never asked for a brigade of paratroopers as he always claimed.
The time has come for me to explain how things went wrong in Uganda. In its final stages the trouble was about the help which Dr. Obote gave and two other Ministers gave, without the knowledge of Government or Parliament to the rebels fighting Mr. Tshombe."
* "THE BRAVE KING" at pp. 192 - 193.
--
-- In his article to a newspaper, "King Freddie's Own Story" as the paper called it, the Kabaka wrote a revealing account of what actually happened between him and Obote, which is very comprehensive, to warrant any further submissions, besides this one. It was titled: "Why Dr. Obote Seized My Kingdom" with a sub-title "A MAN I ONCE KNEW SO WELL" by Kabaka of Buganda, in The Sunday Telegraph. It goes like this:
"When my father ascended on the Throne of Buganda in 1897, Queen Victoria presented to him with a rather fine throne emblazoned with a crown. Eventually it came to me and I was proud and pleased to sit on it. For all I know, it may now be decorating the drawing room of Dr. Milton Obote, who now calls himself President of Uganda. For after the attack on my Palace a month ago, he went there and my people tell me that the throne was taken away, and with it the Crown and my Robes of State.
It is not so long ago that Dr. Obote declared at a Constitutional Conference in London: 'We Africans of Uganda believe in our Kings.' Now he has even destroyed the royal drums of the Kabaka which the Baganda, my people, loved so much. These drums which they wrecked are, in the eyes of the Baganda, much more than ceremonial trappings. They represent to my people the seven-century-long history and achievements of their nation. Anybody who tampers with such symbols must surely raise the wrath of the people. So the symbols of monarchy disappear in a Uganda fast becoming a totalitarian, one-party state. I mention this to show how a man I once knew so well has been degraded by his own terrible cunning.
In 1963, the Office of President was created. Dr. Obote proposed me for election by Parliament as representative of the most important Federal State. The Presidential Candidate had to be either a Ruler of a Federal State or District. So it was that Dr. Obote, who became my Prime Minister, helped me become President.
Milton Obote is an intelligent man, and an able one, but in power and in seeking power he has learnt all the wrong lessons. He has become a schemer; his mind dwells always on plots and plotting, and he suspects everyone else is the same.
It was not always so. He had a strain of humanity which now seems to have become lost. Only a few years ago, my son Prince Ronald used to bicycle down from my residence to the Prime Minister's lodge. Dr. Obote was very fond of him and always treated him nicely; giving presents like cameras which he thought might please the boy. The guards on the gate would smile and make way for the Prince to peddle back.
The goodwill ended when on May 24 [1966] Obote's troops attacked my Palace at Mengo and I had to flee for my life. This last week I have been thinking back into the recent past. In between visits to the doctor, who now finds a bone in my back was broken when I leaped from the Palace wall, I have been trying to analyse how, so few years after Uganda's Independence, the high hopes and promise for the State has come to violence and confusion. Even here in London, I am not completely isolated from danger. In Uganda the police are carrying out witch-hunts. Everyday news comes of some new arrest or escape as people from Buganda sneak out of the border by night to pass information.
Five Ministers were arrested and sent into forced residence. A number of army officers including Major Katabarwa, younger brother of one of the Ministers held, have been dismissed or arrested. They are all accused of conspiracy and high treason. So would I be, were I still in Uganda, for sometimes Dr. Obote claims that I prodded army officers into action and sometimes that they pushed me.
He is convinced that the British taught me many nasty things about how to eliminate him. This is absolute nonsense. I was quite prepared to work in harmony with him; my only interest was the good of the State of which I head, and for the good of my people, the Baganda of whom I am the only true King as long as I live.
To his suspicious mind I became chief conspirator simply by consulting foreign Diplomats and asking their advice-- as I had a perfect constitutional right to do so, in times of crisis. I consulted, for example, African countries as well as Mr. Ronald Hunt, the British High Commissioner, and his staff, and let me assure Dr. Obote most emphatically, that I have never asked for a brigade of paratroopers as he always claimed.
The time has come for me to explain how things went wrong in Uganda. In its final stages the trouble was about the help which Dr. Obote gave and two other Ministers gave, without the knowledge of Government or Parliament to the rebels fighting Mr. Tshombe."
* "THE BRAVE KING" at pp. 192 - 193.
--
Rehema
Patriot in Kampala,East Africa:UMBS is a registered organization devoted to matters of interest to Muslims in Uganda.Muslims from other countries are welcome to join us too. Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/UMBSFORUM. To donate to UMBS activities, click on: http://um-bs.com/donate/ or just deposit money on UMBS Bank A/C at Bank of Africa:07074320002 .
Patriot in Kampala,East Africa:UMBS is a registered organization devoted to matters of interest to Muslims in Uganda.Muslims from other countries are welcome to join us too. Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/UMBSFORUM. To donate to UMBS activities, click on: http://um-bs.com/donate/ or just deposit money on UMBS Bank A/C at Bank of Africa:07074320002 .
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