{UAH} Allan/Edmund/Gook/Pojim/WBK: Facebook-Corporal Patrick Otto -THE ROOTS OF THE 1966 CRISIS PART II

THE ROOTS OF THE 1966 CRISIS PART II

1/6 In Part I we hinted at the ugly encounter between the 1964 referendum and the financial indiscipline of the government at Mmengo. It is important that we take the question of financial indiscipline to its conclusion, not only as an aspect of the administrative incompetence of the Michael Kintu ministry, but also to highlight the sheer inability of Mmengo to manage its affairs on its own. At this stage, we mention the question of the referendum only secondarily: it will receive special attention later as a principle factor in the subsequent rupture between Entebbe and Mmengo. Money first!

2/6 It should be recalled that, at this point, the Mmengo establishment had convinced itself that the referendum on the "lost counties" would never take place; or if did at all, it would be in Mmengo's favour. The common view at Mmnego was simple: The counties were "a god-given our inheritence". The only way that Buganda would lose those counties would be if a flood or "mukoka" washed them away and carried them to Bunyoro.

3/6 Such was the mood of delusion and self-deception at Mmengo that the dawning of the truth was fraught with the possibilities of instability. That instability lay in waiting. To shore up the delusion, money had to be spent or rather squandered on what was called the "Ndaiga Scheme", approved by the Lukiiko and initiated in mid-1963 with the aim of promoting economic development in the "lost counties, improving the road system, but most importantly, resettling Baganda ex-service personnel and their families, along the patterns of Israeli Kibbutzim.

4/6 It did not take long for it to become evident that Ndaiga was becoming a bottomless pit. By january 1964, questions were being raised on whether the Minister in charge of Ndaiga (also holding the portifolio of Health and Works) had received Lukiiko approval to spend public money on the scheme. Lukiiko committee that investigated the scheme discovered that, £120,000 was spent without authorisation £45,000 could not be accounted for, and supposedly cashed as a cheque made out in Dr Muwazi's name, in a London bank) £12,000 had been wasted on the purchase of junk machinery; £4,000 had been spent on road surveys which had in fact already been undertaken by Uganda government. An undisclosed (but reportedly obscene) amount had been spent on entertainment.

5/6 More was to follow later in 1964 when the fear of losing the referendum led to £30,000 overspend, of which, £10,000 went on "gifts". A lot was spent on campaigners deployed by individual Mmengo ministers. Many of those campaigners (like those of Masembe-Kabali) filed fictitious weekly reports on stories of success and squeezed large amounts of money from Mmengo. A few hours before the referendum, £2,500 was released by the Omuwanika (treasurer) "which in that time could only have been spent on converting the thirsty or congratulating the converted", as one observer noted.

6/6 For all that great, if clumsy financial effort, Mmengo lost the referendum massively. That rude awakening that was to give further momentum towards the crisis that was reach its climax in May 1966..... PART III to follow.

  

Moses Ocen Nekyon

Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb disputing the results.

Benjamin Franklin

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