On April 13, 1979, the UNLF's first leader, Prof. Yusuf Lule was sworn in as president. After 68 days, he was ousted, and replaced the next day, June 21, by Godfrey Binaisa himself who was booted less than a year later in May 1980.
The remarkable thing was that both Lule and Binaisa were not war-lords, in the sense that they didn't have their own armed rebel groups. The military and political power, at that time, lay with the Tanzanian army which had spearheaded the overthrow of Amin. The most powerful Ugandan groups were all armed. There was the UPC axis led by Paul Muwanga-Brig. Oyite Ojok-Tito Okello with its Kikoosi Malum forces, Yoweri Museveni's Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), and the more broadly-based Save Uganda Movement (SUM) of Akena P'jok, Col. William Omaria and Ateker Ejalu & Co.
Binaisa was plucked from near-obscurity and installed by Museveni as president. Binaisa remained hostage to the military, and was booted when he demoted Museveni from minister of Defence to Regional Co-operation, and tried to shunt the powerful UNLA Chief-of-Staff off to Algeria as ambassador.
Thus since Obote overthrew the constitution in 1966, Lule and Binaisa were the only people to become president without having their own armies. It was an unprecedented period of press freedom, though one must acknowledge that that was possible partly because the government was too weak to be authoritarian. The now defunct Weekly Topic was the sensation of that season, and lines used to form early in the morning as people waited for the paper.
So powerful was Weekly Topic that when Lule fell, the were attempts to bomb the paper's office because it had played a large role in the man's fall. The pressure was so high, Bagenda Mpiima who was editor of the paper jumped ship, leaving it to be edited by a troika comprising now Monitor chief Wafula Oguttu, New Vision's old man Paul Waibale Snr., and alternative studies researcher Luutu Mukasa (who was to distinguish himself as the first man to publicly refuse to take up a ministerial job in the government that overthrew Binaisa). When the Military Commission took power, Paulo Muwanga (RIP), who like his predecessors had to deal with the overwhelming power of Weekly Topic, used to say that "this country will not be ruled from Sapoba [Bookshop Press, Topic's publishers]."
And the interim Parliament then, the National Consultative Council (NCC) had powers which are comparable only to that of the US Congress. They routinely used to throw out budgets, hold up contracts and the president's appointments. And they didn't have a dress code. It was a sight to behold, the badly dressed and stunningly intellectual fellows tearing the government to shreds.
The sycophancy of the UPC Parliament to the Obote II government, and that of the NRM's National Resistance Council and recently elected Parliament was inconceivable even in the most idle imagination during the heydays of UNLF. They would have told Kaguta long ago to try his luck in Rwakitura.
The actions of UPC, like those of the NRM, only served to wipe out the memory of this period which had demonstrated that radical democratic possibilities were available in this country out of the public mind. It was a standard no politicians who followed after Binaisa wanted to be held to, or to let people know existed.
Thus though the Obote II regime observed "Liberation Day," they turned it into an occasion to glorify only the role of the UPC's armed wing, the Kikoosi Malum. The KM would parade in funny khakish uniform, on this day. By so doing, the contribution of Museveni's FRONASA in particular, and other groups like SUM in general, was denied.
The UPC then created another huge public event to eclipse Liberation Day in its magnitude. That was the "Hero's Day" on May 27 to mark Obote's return from nine years' exile in Tanzania. From all corners of the country, party faithful would descend upon Bushenyi, where Obote landed upon his return from exile, in an orgy of praise chanting, song, dance, drink, eating, and hanky panky.
The NRM was more brazen. It does not even pay lip service to April 11. No prizes for guessing why.
But a story I was told by a UNLF minister involving Museveni and Binaisa perhaps sums it best. The UNLF rulers, led by president Binaisa were politicking in Mubende and Mityana, and the tour climaxed in one big rally.
At the rally site, as is the custom, a special pee-hole (PH) was set up for the president as, commensurate with his status, His Excellency does not share a urinal with lesser mortals. My source alleged that at one point Museveni, still very much a rebellious fellow, went and used His Excellency Lukongwa Binaisa's PH. As it happened, when he was returning from there, Binaisa was also on his way in to use it. Seeing Museveni, Binaisa was kind of startled and stood in the way. Museveni is alleged to have nudged him aside and then marched to sit, unperturbed, in the pavilion.
Think about it. What would happen to someone today if there was a special PH set aside for the president, and that person went and used it as Museveni did with Binaisa's?
©1996Charles Onyango-Obbo & Worldwide EP. All rights reserved.