UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
of the referendum, and the counties were returned to Bunyoro. This angered the Kabaka
to the extent that he wanted Obote and his Government out of Buganda territory. 105
In February 1966, Obote suspended the 1962 Independence Constitution and declared
himself President. In April of that year he had copies of a new Constitution dropped
in parliamentarians’ pigeon holes. Participants in Kitgum described this Constitution as
the ‘Pigeon-Hole Constitution’. Further, he abolished the post of Prime Minister, and
vested all executive powers in the President (himself). In response, the Parliament
of the Buganda Kingdom, the Lukiiko, demanded that the central Government
remove itself from Buganda soil (effectively announcing secession). 106 The following
month (May 1966), Prime Minister Obote ordered Idi Amin to lead an armed attack
on the Kabaka’s Palace at Mengo in Kampala. During this ‘Battle of Mengo,’ 107
which caused the death of numerous Kabaka sympathisers, the Kabaka himself managed
to escape into exile.
The participants described the Kabaka crisis as the first time in the history of post-
Independence Uganda that the State had deliberately and systematically turned its guns
against its own people. Indeed, the national army deployed military tanks and artillery
against the Kabaka and his loyalists, resulting in great losses to the Buganda Kingdom. 108
The falling out between Obote and the Kabaka was said to have ‘brought the army into
politics’. 109 In September 1967 a new Constitution was enacted that abolished Kingdoms,
established a Republic, and conferred much more wide-ranging powers on the central
Government.
11. Abolition of Kingdoms (1967)
Kingdoms in Uganda have played vital roles in shaping the history of the country. Those
that became parts of the British protectorate from 1901 retained a considerable degree
of autonomy. Many of the kings at the time, notably in Buganda, Bunyoro, Tooro, Ankole
and Busoga, continued to rule themselves despite British interests in controlling their
economic and political affairs. 110 Even as monarchies in many other African countries
were facing extinction, political lineage systems survived the British colonial influence
in Uganda.
It later became apparent that the Kingdoms that survived the arrival of colonialists would
not survive their departure, as the attainment of Independence in 1962 introduced a
political system that undermined the authority of Kingdoms. This created conflicts
between the political leaders and traditional kings who were not willing to let go of their
105 Based on research conducted in Mukono and Luwero Districts
106 Phares, M. (1992) Uganda since independence, a story of unfulfilled hopes. Kampala, Fountain Publishers
Ltd
107 Ibid
108 Research conducted in Soroti, Mubende and Gulu Districts
109 This incident marked the first time the state turned its weapons against its own citizens in the few years
that had passed since Independence. (Prior to Independence, however, the colonial administration had
done this several times.) It may be argued that the 1964 army mutiny (and the manner of its resolution)
is an important forewarning of the 1966 Kabaka crisis, as it was the first sign of militarized governance.
110 Research conducted in Luwero District
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