[h=1]MY STORY: How Nyerere embarrassed President Lule in Tanzania[/h]
News
MONDAY, 10 AUGUST 2009 11:26
WRITTEN BY SSEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA12 COMMENTS
Kenyans nearly handed me to Amin, Obote was to return as VP in 1980
In the second part of his story, retiring Supreme Court judge Justice Prof. GEORGE Wilson KANYEIHAMBA tellsSSEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA how former Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, dramatically brought down President Yusuf Lules government that he served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
Before flying to Moshi for the conference, I had made sure that I had letters to show that I had been invited to Nairobi University as external examiner.
Lutakome Kayiira also had papers introducing him as an external examiner; remember he was a professor of Criminology.
So, we decided to travel to Nairobi by road, and then fly to our various destinations. The three of us; Prof. [Yash] Tandon, Kayiira and I, hired a taxi from Moshi to cross the border.
When we got to the border, we were stopped. We were actually arrested. Tandon was later on released because he had an Indian passport. During that struggle, many Ugandans acquired different nationalities. Kayiira and I had Ugandan passports, so we were detained at the border.
The man [at the border] said; you people, we have known that you were in Moshi planning to overthrow a government of a friendly country, Uganda. The instructions we have are that we should arrest you and hand you over to the Ugandan authorities.
So, I produced my papers and told the man that I was an external examiner at Nairobi University. The man said; no, that will not work. Then I told him that; by the way, your boss James Mutua [who was the chief immigration officer], is a friend of mine.
I had taught his daughter in the UK. If you ask him, he will tell you that I am his visitor, because I am going to stay with him at his house while external examining in Nairobi.
The man said; excuse me. Even the Vice President cannot override this order, it came from the top, dont waste our time.
We sat there. Then after about half an hour, another gentleman came, very tall gentleman and said; so you are the people who want to overthrow Id Amin?
We said we were only meeting in Moshi to discuss our problems in Uganda. He said; well, I think you are going to face him.
Then he said; anyway, none of us senior officers of the immigration department likes Amin either.
He is really an embarrassment to Africa. We have decided to disobey the orders from Nairobi and instead we have decided to deport you back to Tanzania. We clapped [our hands] because our lives had been saved. And as I told you, I have my old passport with those words; You are a prohibited immigrant, please leave Kenya at the earliest opportunity by whatever direct means you can.
(He dashes probably to his bedroom to bring the old passport but returns with Zimbabwe dollars and narrates how he bought a Tusker at 1.8 million Zimbabwe dollars).
When we disembarked at the immigration building that was being constructed at Namanga, our taxi was still waiting. Obviously they had told him to wait (laughter). They took us back to Tanzania. Eventually we flew from Dar es Salaam direct to our destinations.
Attorney General
I told people [at the Moshi Conference] that; I have drafted your constitution and that is all I am going to do. I said I dont want to disrupt my teaching career at the University of Wales in Cardiff; I wont be joining you.
But I was at a conference at Midland, Conventry, when my wife called me and said that I had a call from the new President of Uganda. She said; you are wanted in Uganda, apparently you have been appointed the new Attorney General.
I went home immediately and called the President. I said; Mr. President remember I declined any office, even being a member of the Consultative Council (Parliament) because I didnt want to serve in this interim government of two years.
He said; no, no, after consulting all our colleagues in the UNLF and all lawyers, they say you would be the best man to be Attorney General; to get us out of the mess this regime has left us in. I said; Mr. President, I dont want to look like liar, I would rather not come. He said; anyway, you come now; we shall discuss it in Entebbe. You come and see whether your family is still alive. We have liberated the country.
It was on that basis that I returned to Uganda on April 1979. When I came here, I found the press corps at Entebbe waiting for me. They asked; The new Attorney General, what are you going to do with the law?
What do you think is wrong? I started answering the questions. I was really pulled in like a thing being pulled in water I became Attorney General.
Rejecting Nabudere
However, I discovered that my friend Dani Wadada Nabudere who was a political activist was the Minister of Justice and I was the Attorney General.
And yet our roles seemed to fuse. So I said; how am I going to work with Nabudere? For me I am at best a liberal democrat, he is a communist more or less, very left wing.
And the matter started when I went to office. He introduced me to the staff there. He said; I want to introduce to you my Attorney General. I thought I was a national Attorney General, not the ministers Attorney General. I saw a problem. He was going to see me as his subordinate. So, I refused. I said; I will not be sworn in since Nabudere has been sworn in as Minister of Justice; let him hold the two portfolios because there is going to be a conflict between the two offices.
I remember at one time, a minister and the Attorney General nearly fought at a conference in New York. I think it was under Obote when the two positions were still separate.
I remember it was Obwangor Cuthbert and Grace Ibingira with each claiming to represent the legal position of Uganda on a certain matter. So, bearing that in mind, I refused [to be Attorney General].
I remember Tarsis Kabwegyere advising me to accept the post because after all, I would be a cabinet minister. I said; no. I told Lule I am going back to my teaching career in the UK. So the President said; no, since I want a lawyer to be advising me on law and you are much more acknowledged as a lawyer as opposed to Nabudere who is much more of a philosopher and political scientist, you become both the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
He said Nabudere would be a minister of something else. I think he became Minister of National Guidance, something similar to political education.
And that is how I combined the two [roles], but of course we didnt last long for me to really make an impact in the ministry.
My view was that we needed to reform our laws, improve enforcement of the Constitution and so forth. Most of the time, I was in the Attorney Generals chambers drafting rules and laws, while these others remained in the Consultative Council (Parliament).
Lule ousted
When the move to oust Lule came and that is another dramatic thing that happened, the Gang of Four (Profs. Edward Rugumayo, Nabudere, Tandon, and Omwony Ojwok) didnt want me to serve in the new government, although I was invited.
So I was dropped when that happened. But before that, there were dramatic events at Mwanza. I was in cabinet when Lule called me and said that the Tanzanian government wants us to meet thema few of them at Mwanza for consultations. I traveled with the President and a few other ministers in the presidential jet. Others chartered a plane. I will never forget the events of that day.
The whole of the Tanzanian establishment was there; the President, Vice President, Army Commander, Inspector General of Police and cabinet ministers, all regional commanders and commissioners.
It was a wonderful reception. After charming dancers and everybody welcomed us, they took us to the hotel at Mwanza and said the president (Julius Nyerere) would meet us later on that day.
So we went to the High School Mwanza, to meet the President (Nyerere). We waited for an hour before he could come. We were sitting with our President (Lule). Eventually he came, we all stood up for him, he took the platform at about 4 oclock.
He said, we have come here to discuss three important issues: One, now that we have overthrown Id Amin, we want to know our new relationshipthat is between TPDF (Tanzanian Defence Forces) and your people.
Two, we want compensation. By the way, it (compensation) featured recently and I dont know how the money came to that. By the time we were there it was supposed to be $11 million but the recent figure may be because of interest, it is a huge amount.
We were to pay them compensation for the support they gave us. The third most important issue he said was, what do we do with your most important exile, Milton Obote? We shall have to discuss that.
He said we would meet again after supper, in the evening. That meant that we were going to spend a night in Mwanza, which we had not planned for. But there had been indication that things were not as they appeared to be.
When we finished lunch, we were each taken to our respective bedrooms at the hotel and we discovered that there was a towel, toothpaste, a brush and soap.
So we wondered that if we were staying for a couple of hours, why are these people so generous to give us all those things? They were aware we were not going to leave (laughter)!
When it came to 8 Oclock, we all met at the State Lodge at Mwanza. Drama! If you look at State House, there is a platform in the meeting room for definitely big guests and the rest sit down.
We sat down with our President Lule and suddenly after five minutes, Nyerere comes in accompanied by Obote and they sit up. Now, let me tell you an incident, which had happened before that.
Before we went to Tanzania, I am told that Nyerere said he wanted the following ministers to accompany Lule to Mwanza: The minister of justice, minister of information, and minister of foreign affairs. He named portfolios, not individuals. That cabinet had been made in consultation with Nyerere and Obote, we didnt know.
Remember, the minister information, minister of foreign affairs and army commander were all hand-picked by UPC and we didnt know. Lule didnt tell us. When they called portfolios, Nyerere and Obote knew who would go.
Lule without consulting us, anybody, suddenly announced a reshuffle of the cabinet, before we went to Tanzania. That is when I became minister of justice and Attorney General. Nabudere became the minister of national guidance. Ateker Ejalu was dropped and Grace Ibingira became minister of information.
Paulo Muwanga had been minister of internal affairs; he was reshuffled and became minister of labour. I think Kayiira became minister of internal affairs. As for foreign affairs, Lule knew that Otema Alimadi was sympathetic to Nyerere but he retained him.
When he called us, it was Lules new reshuffled cabinet. When Nyerere heard, because the reshuffle was on the news, he was annoyed and so was Obote. He said, notwithstanding, even those that you have replaced should also come (laughter). So we ended up there with those people plus Rugumayo, Nabudere, Muwanga.
Muwanga had begged that he was sick, that he should be given a little job. That is why Lule made him minister of labour. When we got there, it was like drama.
Nyerere comes with Obote and they sit at the podium and we are down there with Lule. And as they talked, I felt it was the headmaster and his deputy who had called these naughty boys from Uganda to be told off.
The first thing which surprised us was that Nyerere switched on a transistor radio and said; let us first listen to the news. It was the first item on BBC: This is BBC world news there is a crisis in the Ugandan government. As we speak now they are meeting Nyerere in Mwanza to discuss how they can resolve the differences.
For us we didnt know there were any differences! (laughter).
As you can hear gentlemen, we were all gentlemen, there is a crisis in your country and the reason I have called you is to resolve it. Anyone who wants to speak?
Everything was pre-arranged. Paulo Muwanga put up his hand. He said; Mr. President, as BBC has said, yes we are in a crisis. We cannot agree, the president is dictatorial and he has refused to acknowledge that we should govern by the UNLF Constitutionhe insists on the Ugandan Constitution. Blah, blah, blah; he went on accusing Lule of all sorts of things, abusing him. Remember the night before, he had knelt before him begging that ndi mulwadde, mpa akalimo, (I am sick, give me a job) (Laughter). After he finished, the next one to speak was the late Ateker Ejalu.
He more or less repeated what Muwanga said; yes, we have a problem; the President is not listening to us. Then he said, Mr. President, there are three presidents that the people of Uganda are awaiting for. You, Mr. President (Nyerere) who has liberated us, Obote is the second one, and Lule.
In that order (laughter). Then he made a mistake because of which he was never given a portfolio after the second return of Obote. He said that; sir, Obote also should behave himself.
I understand that he is trying to kill some of us. Indeed there was a boat that was sent into L. Kyoga and it aimed at me. If we are to work with him when he comes back, he must act constitutionally.
That annoyed Obote and he never gave Ejalu a job in his second government.Then everybody spoke. No Tanzanian talked except Nyerere.
It was my time to speak. I said; Mr. President, it is not true that there is a difference. The difference is that some people want us to be governed by the UNLF Constitution which we adopted as a guerrilla movement and the President and his supporters want to govern by the Uganda Constitution which was enacted by the people and that is the programme that we have. People nodded. Nyerere realised that I was diverting him from his mission.
Half way the sentence he said; you are a lawyer, arent you? I said yes, I am a lawyer. I am the Attorney General. He said these problems are not legal; they are political, next (laughter).
He just cut me short and the next one talked, talked and talked. In the end, we couldnt resolve anything. First of all, they claimed we owed them $11 million for the operation to remove Id Amin.
Then Lule said, quite rightly, that; let our Ministry of Finance and yours meet and work out exactly what we owe you and of course, we shall pay.
Then he said, the next question is Obote. What do we do with Obote? Many people are saying that we have liberated your country but your president, former president, is still here with us. This is a matter that we should resolve. But time has gone, we shall resume tomorrow, go back to your hotel.
We couldnt believe it. We went for only two hours, we have spent a night and now we shall resume tomorrow at 2 oclock! We met together and said; let us stay but since we are a puppet government, let them arrest us tomorrow; we must go home come what may.
We never said goodbye to our people, our offices were unlocked. So we met the following day and they brought back these issues of Obote. Even Rugumayo was incensed.
He said; we cannot have Obote until after elections, two years down. So, Nyerere said; you must take him back. You could take him as Vice President or minister of foreign affairs. Obote said, I will not accept.
The first person to object was Otema Alimadi. He said; no, for me I am not relinquishing my office. We agreed that this government runs for two years and I am going to remain foreign minister, I am not accepting.
Obote said, no problem, I wasnt going to accept to be foreign minister. You cannot have been president and then you accept to become foreign minister. I wasnt going to accept anyway. But I dont mind being Vice President.
We all saw what could have happened if we had accepted him to come as vice president. Amin remember was still on the outskirts, many of the UNLA soldiers were still around the country.
What we visualized was that within a short time, less than a month, Lule would be shot by the rebels and Obote would assume the presidency. That is what we could see.
We refused. Our agreement was that there would be no change of government formed by the UNLF until after two years. Obote needed to wait until after two years so that he would stand and may be get elected.
So Nyerere was not happy. Lule said; by the way, we were supposed to be here for only two hours. Now this is the second day and we feel that we must go home to report to our people. Tonight we are going back when we finish this meeting.
Nyerere and Obote were very annoyed. They said, you cannot go until we have resolved these matters. Lule said; well you can arrest us, but we are going.
Then Nyerere said; you go and consult. He had been addressing him as President but when he got annoyed he said; Lule, go back and consult with your people and I must know by next Saturday what decision you have reached about Obote. Come and report to me this time not at Mwanza but in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting ended there. These people were very cool, they accompanied us to the airport and we came back.
Of course the following Saturday Lule went to Dar es Salaam and reported that the Ugandan population, all the leading personalities, had said that there is no way Obote could come through the backdoor. He has to face elections.
That is when Nyerere, the Gang of Four and others who were anti-Lule, planned to remove him from office. I had gone to Kabale. But we had agreed that we would meet, I think on a Tuesday.
I came back on a Monday and Tuesday morning I was told that the meeting had been postponed because a few members of the Consultative Council (Parliament) were going to consult the President (Lule) on some very important matters before we have that cabinet meeting.
So what happened? They go there; the Rugumayos, Muwangas, Luwuliza Kirunda who were in the Consultative Council but were UPC, and the Gang of Four.
They had consulted with Nyerere and Nyerere said, if you pass a resolution of no confidence in him (Lule), we shall support you. That is exactly what happened.
Lule, thinking that they were going to discuss other matters, agreed to sit in the meeting [of about 28 members], most of them anti-Lule.
And to show that they were democratic, they selected about three people who were for Lule, knowing that they would defeat them. So, they sat in the Consultative Council.
Wangola produced dramatically a draft resolution to say, Mr. Chairman, we are passing a vote of no confidence in you, you cease to be chairman of UNLF.
The Gang of Four and Wangola were supported by others. They proposed that they pass a vote of no confidence in him. Lule immediately sent a note to me as Attorney General and minister of justice saying; these people have proposed to debate and also pass a vote of no confidence in me, what do I do?
The late James Senabulya, his personal assistant, rang me and told me. Our UNLA Constitution said there would be no vote of confidence, no change until after two years. I consulted the Chief Justice (Wako Wambuzi); we said that the motion is unconstitutional. Lule should not sit in the meeting. He should ignore it and say this is unconstitutional and shouldnt participate in the meeting.
Secondly, should they pass it, he will remain President, let them challenge him in courts of law. The Chief Justice Wambuzi and I were sure no court would ever uphold that resolution because it was unconstitutional.
Later in the day, Senabulya rang me again and said they had continued to debate the resolution. He said that; from what I see, it is going to pass. The President would like you to come immediately to State House, Entebbe, and advise him on this matter. Lule had disobeyed my instructions not to attend that meeting. He stayed there and when people were attacking government, he said nothing.
So I decided to go to Entebbe. By the way I had discussed this development with Yoweri Museveni and we had agreed that in order to resolve this conflict, he and Ihim as deputy chairman of the Military Commission and me as Attorney General charter a plane and go to Tanzania and ask Nyerere to resolve the matter.
I think he (Museveni) went away, chartered a plane but I never saw him again (laughter). So, many dramatic things happened during that night. So, I prepared to go to State House in my car with my bodyguard who was an army man but sympathetic to Lule.
When we got to the gate, it was manned by the TDF. They refused me to go in. I said; I am the Attorney General; the President has called me, he needs to consult with me.
They said; our instructions are that nobody comes in or leaves this place except specified individuals, and you are not one of them. So we cannot allow you to go in.
But I managed to use a private phone and told James Senabulya to tell the President not to attend that meeting, and if he were already there, he should say it is an illegal meeting and he should leave.
I said, Tell him that I am a prisoner here, they are not allowing me to go but somehow he must get hold of me or the Chief Justice. I left.
Lule stayed there and participated in the meeting. They passed the resolution; they said they were replacing him as chairman but the Chairman was automatically the President, so they were removing him as President.
When they passed it, apparently Lule never said anything. So they proceeded to elect his replacement. Candidates were Paulo Muwanga, Rugumayo, Binaisa. I am told that Rugumayo got more votes, then Muwanga may have been next but they adjourned.
They feared that if they got a non-Muganda or the one who is UPC, there would be riots in the country. So they had to get a Muganda.
That is how they elected Binaisa, the new chairman and President. I got in touch with Lule and asked him; why did you stay in the meeting when I advised you not to?
He said he had talked to Nyerere and Nyerere said you stay there but say nothing because he would not allow those boys to disturb the government (laughter). That Nyerere said; We shall ignore whatever they are going to pass. He also said that he didnt want to show or allow them to say the President had refused to co-operate.
Next week, Kanyeihamba emotionally tells of how Wambuzi swore in an illegal President and his torturous journey back to exile.
News
MONDAY, 10 AUGUST 2009 11:26
WRITTEN BY SSEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA12 COMMENTS
Kenyans nearly handed me to Amin, Obote was to return as VP in 1980
In the second part of his story, retiring Supreme Court judge Justice Prof. GEORGE Wilson KANYEIHAMBA tellsSSEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA how former Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, dramatically brought down President Yusuf Lules government that he served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
Before flying to Moshi for the conference, I had made sure that I had letters to show that I had been invited to Nairobi University as external examiner.
Lutakome Kayiira also had papers introducing him as an external examiner; remember he was a professor of Criminology.
So, we decided to travel to Nairobi by road, and then fly to our various destinations. The three of us; Prof. [Yash] Tandon, Kayiira and I, hired a taxi from Moshi to cross the border.
When we got to the border, we were stopped. We were actually arrested. Tandon was later on released because he had an Indian passport. During that struggle, many Ugandans acquired different nationalities. Kayiira and I had Ugandan passports, so we were detained at the border.
The man [at the border] said; you people, we have known that you were in Moshi planning to overthrow a government of a friendly country, Uganda. The instructions we have are that we should arrest you and hand you over to the Ugandan authorities.
So, I produced my papers and told the man that I was an external examiner at Nairobi University. The man said; no, that will not work. Then I told him that; by the way, your boss James Mutua [who was the chief immigration officer], is a friend of mine.
I had taught his daughter in the UK. If you ask him, he will tell you that I am his visitor, because I am going to stay with him at his house while external examining in Nairobi.
The man said; excuse me. Even the Vice President cannot override this order, it came from the top, dont waste our time.
We sat there. Then after about half an hour, another gentleman came, very tall gentleman and said; so you are the people who want to overthrow Id Amin?
We said we were only meeting in Moshi to discuss our problems in Uganda. He said; well, I think you are going to face him.
Then he said; anyway, none of us senior officers of the immigration department likes Amin either.
He is really an embarrassment to Africa. We have decided to disobey the orders from Nairobi and instead we have decided to deport you back to Tanzania. We clapped [our hands] because our lives had been saved. And as I told you, I have my old passport with those words; You are a prohibited immigrant, please leave Kenya at the earliest opportunity by whatever direct means you can.
(He dashes probably to his bedroom to bring the old passport but returns with Zimbabwe dollars and narrates how he bought a Tusker at 1.8 million Zimbabwe dollars).
When we disembarked at the immigration building that was being constructed at Namanga, our taxi was still waiting. Obviously they had told him to wait (laughter). They took us back to Tanzania. Eventually we flew from Dar es Salaam direct to our destinations.
Attorney General
I told people [at the Moshi Conference] that; I have drafted your constitution and that is all I am going to do. I said I dont want to disrupt my teaching career at the University of Wales in Cardiff; I wont be joining you.
But I was at a conference at Midland, Conventry, when my wife called me and said that I had a call from the new President of Uganda. She said; you are wanted in Uganda, apparently you have been appointed the new Attorney General.
I went home immediately and called the President. I said; Mr. President remember I declined any office, even being a member of the Consultative Council (Parliament) because I didnt want to serve in this interim government of two years.
He said; no, no, after consulting all our colleagues in the UNLF and all lawyers, they say you would be the best man to be Attorney General; to get us out of the mess this regime has left us in. I said; Mr. President, I dont want to look like liar, I would rather not come. He said; anyway, you come now; we shall discuss it in Entebbe. You come and see whether your family is still alive. We have liberated the country.
It was on that basis that I returned to Uganda on April 1979. When I came here, I found the press corps at Entebbe waiting for me. They asked; The new Attorney General, what are you going to do with the law?
What do you think is wrong? I started answering the questions. I was really pulled in like a thing being pulled in water I became Attorney General.
Rejecting Nabudere
However, I discovered that my friend Dani Wadada Nabudere who was a political activist was the Minister of Justice and I was the Attorney General.
And yet our roles seemed to fuse. So I said; how am I going to work with Nabudere? For me I am at best a liberal democrat, he is a communist more or less, very left wing.
And the matter started when I went to office. He introduced me to the staff there. He said; I want to introduce to you my Attorney General. I thought I was a national Attorney General, not the ministers Attorney General. I saw a problem. He was going to see me as his subordinate. So, I refused. I said; I will not be sworn in since Nabudere has been sworn in as Minister of Justice; let him hold the two portfolios because there is going to be a conflict between the two offices.
I remember at one time, a minister and the Attorney General nearly fought at a conference in New York. I think it was under Obote when the two positions were still separate.
I remember it was Obwangor Cuthbert and Grace Ibingira with each claiming to represent the legal position of Uganda on a certain matter. So, bearing that in mind, I refused [to be Attorney General].
I remember Tarsis Kabwegyere advising me to accept the post because after all, I would be a cabinet minister. I said; no. I told Lule I am going back to my teaching career in the UK. So the President said; no, since I want a lawyer to be advising me on law and you are much more acknowledged as a lawyer as opposed to Nabudere who is much more of a philosopher and political scientist, you become both the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
He said Nabudere would be a minister of something else. I think he became Minister of National Guidance, something similar to political education.
And that is how I combined the two [roles], but of course we didnt last long for me to really make an impact in the ministry.
My view was that we needed to reform our laws, improve enforcement of the Constitution and so forth. Most of the time, I was in the Attorney Generals chambers drafting rules and laws, while these others remained in the Consultative Council (Parliament).
Lule ousted
When the move to oust Lule came and that is another dramatic thing that happened, the Gang of Four (Profs. Edward Rugumayo, Nabudere, Tandon, and Omwony Ojwok) didnt want me to serve in the new government, although I was invited.
So I was dropped when that happened. But before that, there were dramatic events at Mwanza. I was in cabinet when Lule called me and said that the Tanzanian government wants us to meet thema few of them at Mwanza for consultations. I traveled with the President and a few other ministers in the presidential jet. Others chartered a plane. I will never forget the events of that day.
The whole of the Tanzanian establishment was there; the President, Vice President, Army Commander, Inspector General of Police and cabinet ministers, all regional commanders and commissioners.
It was a wonderful reception. After charming dancers and everybody welcomed us, they took us to the hotel at Mwanza and said the president (Julius Nyerere) would meet us later on that day.
So we went to the High School Mwanza, to meet the President (Nyerere). We waited for an hour before he could come. We were sitting with our President (Lule). Eventually he came, we all stood up for him, he took the platform at about 4 oclock.
He said, we have come here to discuss three important issues: One, now that we have overthrown Id Amin, we want to know our new relationshipthat is between TPDF (Tanzanian Defence Forces) and your people.
Two, we want compensation. By the way, it (compensation) featured recently and I dont know how the money came to that. By the time we were there it was supposed to be $11 million but the recent figure may be because of interest, it is a huge amount.
We were to pay them compensation for the support they gave us. The third most important issue he said was, what do we do with your most important exile, Milton Obote? We shall have to discuss that.
He said we would meet again after supper, in the evening. That meant that we were going to spend a night in Mwanza, which we had not planned for. But there had been indication that things were not as they appeared to be.
When we finished lunch, we were each taken to our respective bedrooms at the hotel and we discovered that there was a towel, toothpaste, a brush and soap.
So we wondered that if we were staying for a couple of hours, why are these people so generous to give us all those things? They were aware we were not going to leave (laughter)!
When it came to 8 Oclock, we all met at the State Lodge at Mwanza. Drama! If you look at State House, there is a platform in the meeting room for definitely big guests and the rest sit down.
We sat down with our President Lule and suddenly after five minutes, Nyerere comes in accompanied by Obote and they sit up. Now, let me tell you an incident, which had happened before that.
Before we went to Tanzania, I am told that Nyerere said he wanted the following ministers to accompany Lule to Mwanza: The minister of justice, minister of information, and minister of foreign affairs. He named portfolios, not individuals. That cabinet had been made in consultation with Nyerere and Obote, we didnt know.
Remember, the minister information, minister of foreign affairs and army commander were all hand-picked by UPC and we didnt know. Lule didnt tell us. When they called portfolios, Nyerere and Obote knew who would go.
Lule without consulting us, anybody, suddenly announced a reshuffle of the cabinet, before we went to Tanzania. That is when I became minister of justice and Attorney General. Nabudere became the minister of national guidance. Ateker Ejalu was dropped and Grace Ibingira became minister of information.
Paulo Muwanga had been minister of internal affairs; he was reshuffled and became minister of labour. I think Kayiira became minister of internal affairs. As for foreign affairs, Lule knew that Otema Alimadi was sympathetic to Nyerere but he retained him.
When he called us, it was Lules new reshuffled cabinet. When Nyerere heard, because the reshuffle was on the news, he was annoyed and so was Obote. He said, notwithstanding, even those that you have replaced should also come (laughter). So we ended up there with those people plus Rugumayo, Nabudere, Muwanga.
Muwanga had begged that he was sick, that he should be given a little job. That is why Lule made him minister of labour. When we got there, it was like drama.
Nyerere comes with Obote and they sit at the podium and we are down there with Lule. And as they talked, I felt it was the headmaster and his deputy who had called these naughty boys from Uganda to be told off.
The first thing which surprised us was that Nyerere switched on a transistor radio and said; let us first listen to the news. It was the first item on BBC: This is BBC world news there is a crisis in the Ugandan government. As we speak now they are meeting Nyerere in Mwanza to discuss how they can resolve the differences.
For us we didnt know there were any differences! (laughter).
As you can hear gentlemen, we were all gentlemen, there is a crisis in your country and the reason I have called you is to resolve it. Anyone who wants to speak?
Everything was pre-arranged. Paulo Muwanga put up his hand. He said; Mr. President, as BBC has said, yes we are in a crisis. We cannot agree, the president is dictatorial and he has refused to acknowledge that we should govern by the UNLF Constitutionhe insists on the Ugandan Constitution. Blah, blah, blah; he went on accusing Lule of all sorts of things, abusing him. Remember the night before, he had knelt before him begging that ndi mulwadde, mpa akalimo, (I am sick, give me a job) (Laughter). After he finished, the next one to speak was the late Ateker Ejalu.
He more or less repeated what Muwanga said; yes, we have a problem; the President is not listening to us. Then he said, Mr. President, there are three presidents that the people of Uganda are awaiting for. You, Mr. President (Nyerere) who has liberated us, Obote is the second one, and Lule.
In that order (laughter). Then he made a mistake because of which he was never given a portfolio after the second return of Obote. He said that; sir, Obote also should behave himself.
I understand that he is trying to kill some of us. Indeed there was a boat that was sent into L. Kyoga and it aimed at me. If we are to work with him when he comes back, he must act constitutionally.
That annoyed Obote and he never gave Ejalu a job in his second government.Then everybody spoke. No Tanzanian talked except Nyerere.
It was my time to speak. I said; Mr. President, it is not true that there is a difference. The difference is that some people want us to be governed by the UNLF Constitution which we adopted as a guerrilla movement and the President and his supporters want to govern by the Uganda Constitution which was enacted by the people and that is the programme that we have. People nodded. Nyerere realised that I was diverting him from his mission.
Half way the sentence he said; you are a lawyer, arent you? I said yes, I am a lawyer. I am the Attorney General. He said these problems are not legal; they are political, next (laughter).
He just cut me short and the next one talked, talked and talked. In the end, we couldnt resolve anything. First of all, they claimed we owed them $11 million for the operation to remove Id Amin.
Then Lule said, quite rightly, that; let our Ministry of Finance and yours meet and work out exactly what we owe you and of course, we shall pay.
Then he said, the next question is Obote. What do we do with Obote? Many people are saying that we have liberated your country but your president, former president, is still here with us. This is a matter that we should resolve. But time has gone, we shall resume tomorrow, go back to your hotel.
We couldnt believe it. We went for only two hours, we have spent a night and now we shall resume tomorrow at 2 oclock! We met together and said; let us stay but since we are a puppet government, let them arrest us tomorrow; we must go home come what may.
We never said goodbye to our people, our offices were unlocked. So we met the following day and they brought back these issues of Obote. Even Rugumayo was incensed.
He said; we cannot have Obote until after elections, two years down. So, Nyerere said; you must take him back. You could take him as Vice President or minister of foreign affairs. Obote said, I will not accept.
The first person to object was Otema Alimadi. He said; no, for me I am not relinquishing my office. We agreed that this government runs for two years and I am going to remain foreign minister, I am not accepting.
Obote said, no problem, I wasnt going to accept to be foreign minister. You cannot have been president and then you accept to become foreign minister. I wasnt going to accept anyway. But I dont mind being Vice President.
We all saw what could have happened if we had accepted him to come as vice president. Amin remember was still on the outskirts, many of the UNLA soldiers were still around the country.
What we visualized was that within a short time, less than a month, Lule would be shot by the rebels and Obote would assume the presidency. That is what we could see.
We refused. Our agreement was that there would be no change of government formed by the UNLF until after two years. Obote needed to wait until after two years so that he would stand and may be get elected.
So Nyerere was not happy. Lule said; by the way, we were supposed to be here for only two hours. Now this is the second day and we feel that we must go home to report to our people. Tonight we are going back when we finish this meeting.
Nyerere and Obote were very annoyed. They said, you cannot go until we have resolved these matters. Lule said; well you can arrest us, but we are going.
Then Nyerere said; you go and consult. He had been addressing him as President but when he got annoyed he said; Lule, go back and consult with your people and I must know by next Saturday what decision you have reached about Obote. Come and report to me this time not at Mwanza but in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting ended there. These people were very cool, they accompanied us to the airport and we came back.
Of course the following Saturday Lule went to Dar es Salaam and reported that the Ugandan population, all the leading personalities, had said that there is no way Obote could come through the backdoor. He has to face elections.
That is when Nyerere, the Gang of Four and others who were anti-Lule, planned to remove him from office. I had gone to Kabale. But we had agreed that we would meet, I think on a Tuesday.
I came back on a Monday and Tuesday morning I was told that the meeting had been postponed because a few members of the Consultative Council (Parliament) were going to consult the President (Lule) on some very important matters before we have that cabinet meeting.
So what happened? They go there; the Rugumayos, Muwangas, Luwuliza Kirunda who were in the Consultative Council but were UPC, and the Gang of Four.
They had consulted with Nyerere and Nyerere said, if you pass a resolution of no confidence in him (Lule), we shall support you. That is exactly what happened.
Lule, thinking that they were going to discuss other matters, agreed to sit in the meeting [of about 28 members], most of them anti-Lule.
And to show that they were democratic, they selected about three people who were for Lule, knowing that they would defeat them. So, they sat in the Consultative Council.
Wangola produced dramatically a draft resolution to say, Mr. Chairman, we are passing a vote of no confidence in you, you cease to be chairman of UNLF.
The Gang of Four and Wangola were supported by others. They proposed that they pass a vote of no confidence in him. Lule immediately sent a note to me as Attorney General and minister of justice saying; these people have proposed to debate and also pass a vote of no confidence in me, what do I do?
The late James Senabulya, his personal assistant, rang me and told me. Our UNLA Constitution said there would be no vote of confidence, no change until after two years. I consulted the Chief Justice (Wako Wambuzi); we said that the motion is unconstitutional. Lule should not sit in the meeting. He should ignore it and say this is unconstitutional and shouldnt participate in the meeting.
Secondly, should they pass it, he will remain President, let them challenge him in courts of law. The Chief Justice Wambuzi and I were sure no court would ever uphold that resolution because it was unconstitutional.
Later in the day, Senabulya rang me again and said they had continued to debate the resolution. He said that; from what I see, it is going to pass. The President would like you to come immediately to State House, Entebbe, and advise him on this matter. Lule had disobeyed my instructions not to attend that meeting. He stayed there and when people were attacking government, he said nothing.
So I decided to go to Entebbe. By the way I had discussed this development with Yoweri Museveni and we had agreed that in order to resolve this conflict, he and Ihim as deputy chairman of the Military Commission and me as Attorney General charter a plane and go to Tanzania and ask Nyerere to resolve the matter.
I think he (Museveni) went away, chartered a plane but I never saw him again (laughter). So, many dramatic things happened during that night. So, I prepared to go to State House in my car with my bodyguard who was an army man but sympathetic to Lule.
When we got to the gate, it was manned by the TDF. They refused me to go in. I said; I am the Attorney General; the President has called me, he needs to consult with me.
They said; our instructions are that nobody comes in or leaves this place except specified individuals, and you are not one of them. So we cannot allow you to go in.
But I managed to use a private phone and told James Senabulya to tell the President not to attend that meeting, and if he were already there, he should say it is an illegal meeting and he should leave.
I said, Tell him that I am a prisoner here, they are not allowing me to go but somehow he must get hold of me or the Chief Justice. I left.
Lule stayed there and participated in the meeting. They passed the resolution; they said they were replacing him as chairman but the Chairman was automatically the President, so they were removing him as President.
When they passed it, apparently Lule never said anything. So they proceeded to elect his replacement. Candidates were Paulo Muwanga, Rugumayo, Binaisa. I am told that Rugumayo got more votes, then Muwanga may have been next but they adjourned.
They feared that if they got a non-Muganda or the one who is UPC, there would be riots in the country. So they had to get a Muganda.
That is how they elected Binaisa, the new chairman and President. I got in touch with Lule and asked him; why did you stay in the meeting when I advised you not to?
He said he had talked to Nyerere and Nyerere said you stay there but say nothing because he would not allow those boys to disturb the government (laughter). That Nyerere said; We shall ignore whatever they are going to pass. He also said that he didnt want to show or allow them to say the President had refused to co-operate.
Next week, Kanyeihamba emotionally tells of how Wambuzi swore in an illegal President and his torturous journey back to exile.
