The Interim President

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (April 20^th 2015)

The Temporary President

With the Bush War nearing its end Idi Amin fled into exile, claiming that his 1979 ouster would lead to a return to colonialism. Dr Yusuf Lule was chosen to lead the country by the Ugandan National Liberation Front (UNLF), even though he had played only a small role in Aminʼs overthrow.

However, Lule was to become the definition of interim. He arrived in a Mercedes bearing the British rather than Ugandan flag and retained power for under ten weeks. It was the shortest Presidency ever – just 68 days.

Lule was chosen to unite Ugandans – necessary after Amin. Nevertheless, his Presidency made history for all the wrong reasons, but he almost had a second chance. His Uganda Freedom Fighters joined forces with Yoweri Museveniʼs Popular Resistance Army in 1981 to form the National Resistance Army, but he died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by Museveni who led a five-year long guerrilla campaign.

Both Milton Obote and Amin before him had confiscated property from Asians and expelled them. Lule refused to reverse this policy. Lule governed through the National Consultative Commission (NCC), but fatally underestimated where real power lay – Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, Paulo Muwanga, later to become President for a few days and the UNLF.

Coups

Lule tried to usher in reform of the military, which was seen by veterans of the liberation struggle as punishing them. A coup removed him from power in June 1979 and replaced him with Professor Edward Rugumayo, but faced with riots he was rapidly replaced with Godfrey Binaisa.

Meanwhile, Lule was exiled to Tanzania, where he was placed under house arrest. He was allowed to leave for treatment in London and finally died there. Almost a year after Lule was overthrown Binaisa suffered the same fate – the coup that toppled his government was carried out by Muwanga, Museveni, David Oyite-Ojok and Tito Okello.

The Return of Obote

Muwanga was installed as President for a few days before the Presidential Commission of Uganda was established. That Commission was chaired by Muwanga and oversaw elections, which gave Nyerere the result that he wanted – the return of Obote.

Muwanga declared that Obote had won the elections that were held in December 1980. Museveni did not accept the decision and began a guerrilla war against Oboteʼs government. Muwanga would later pay a price for his decision when Museveni toppled Oboteʼs second and last administration in 1985. Muwanga was jailed for kidnap. He was released a few months before his subsequent death.

After announcing the contested result in Oboteʼs favour Muwanga became Ugandaʼs Vice-President. Sadly, his second coming as President showed that Obote had learned little from the mistakes that plagued his first term and eventually would lead to the same end.