Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda, 1890 to 1979

AFRICAN HISTORIES AND MODERNITIES CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN UGANDA, 1890 TO 1979 Ogenga Otunnu African Histories and Modernities Series Editors Toyin Falola The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas, USA Matthew M. Heaton Virginia Tech Blacksburg, USA This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to and negotiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a partic- ular emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to refute the hegemonic conception of a singular modernity, Western in origin, spread- ing out to encompass the globe over the last several decades. Indeed, rather than reinforcing conceptual boundaries or parameters, the series instead looks to receive and respond to changing perspectives on an important but inherently nebulous idea, deliberately creating a space in which multiple modernities can interact, overlap, and conflict. While privileging works that emphasize historical change over time, the series will also feature scholar- ship that blurs the lines between the historical and the contemporary, rec- ognizing the ways in which our changing understandings of modernity in the present have the capacity to affect the way we think about African and global histories. Editorial Board Aderonke Adesanya, Art History, James Madison University Kwabena Akurang-Parry, History, Shippensburg University Samuel O. Oloruntoba, History, University of North Carolina, Wilmington Tyler Fleming, History, University of Louisville Barbara Harlow, English and Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin Emmanuel Mbah, History, College of Staten Island Akin Ogundiran, Africana Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14758 Ogenga Otunnu Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda, 1890 to 1979 Ogenga Otunnu DePaul University Chicago, USA African Histories and Modernities ISBN 978-3-319-33155-3 ISBN 978-3-319-33156-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-33156-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016960039 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image © Imagestate Media Partners Limited - Impact Photos / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to my best teachers, my inspiration and best friends, Baba Evangelist Dr. Yusto Otunnu and Mama Amato Otunnu, for their unwavering and selfless commitment to social justice and inclusive rights- based human development. You will not be forgotten. PREFACE TO BOOK 1 Historical and political examinations of the development of Uganda abound. Many scholars have conducted book-length analyses of the political situation in the country. Ogenga Otunnu’s book offers a different per- spective. It brings to the analysis of Uganda a depth of investigation that offers new conceptual frameworks and fresh intellectual insights. In high- lighting the phenomenon of political violence, Otunnu is not necessarily offering much that is radically new. However, the analysis in the book critically interrogates many of the quite settled ideas of how the phenomenon of political violence in Uganda has been manifested. Taking on those who offer only partial or erroneous explanations for the phenomenon, Otunnu’s analysis compels a second look at accepted historical interpre- tations that should also be cause for pause and serious introspection as we examine the contemporary situation. Not only does the book make the point that we need to revisit the dominant narratives about Uganda’s accepted history, it argues that to understand “Uganda” we need to reach back much further than has hitherto been the case. Few countries have simultaneously experienced as much hope and despair as the colloquially named “Pearl of Africa.” Travelling through the continent at the turn of the twentieth century, British jingoist and then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Winston Churchill, counseled his countrymen to “concentrate on Uganda.” Huge returns would come from small investments, he prophesied. While to Churchill the country he so admired (or coveted) presented a façade of tranquil- ity and pacific harmony, as a matter of fact the onslaught of imperialism had already stained the empire’s African gem. Indeed, political violence vii viii PREFACE TO BOOK 1 marked the very establishment of Uganda, given the inter-religious wars and numerous coups d’etat that heralded the arrival of empire in this part of the continent. The struggle for control of the nascent protectorate between the Ba-Faransa (the followers of French Catholicism) and the Ba-Ingeleza who were aligned to the English Protestant/Anglican faith was decisively concluded in favor of the latter. Lord Frederick Lugard’s cannon fire and Sudanese corps of soldiers on which he mainly relied did much to settle the battle in this manner. Regardless of the often paternalis- tic Churchillian way in which the establishment of imperialism in Uganda is often portrayed, the fact is that the very creation of the protectorate in 1894 was marked by a heavy dose of political violence. This book is important not simply because it seeks to unsettle accepted historical truths. It is important because it is not content to consider only the colonial experience and its impact on the Ugandan body politic. Instead, it begins with an analysis of a number of the prominent pre- colonial structures that existed in the country that eventually became Uganda. Taking us back to the pre-colonial allows for an appreciation of the continuities and the disruptions that imperialism wreaked on the country and which still manifest in the contemporary political economy. It challenges the idea that history begins with colonialism, while accepting that colonialism left a significant imprint on Ugandan political history. As much as this is a lesson in history, it is much more compelling as an argu- ment of contemporary political significance. Makerere University J. Oloka-Onyango ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One of the results of completing this study is that I have acquired and can now discharge the obligations to express my appreciation to many people, institutions and organizations that contributed directly to this study. First of all, I am indebted to many Ugandans, including those I met in concentration-like camps in the Luwero Triangle and West Nile in the early 1980s, in Acholi, Lango, Teso and West Nile in the late 1980s and late 1990s, who patiently, generously and candidly shared with me their time, lived experiences, imaginations and views on political violence in the country. Some Baganda who were violently uprooted from their stations by harrowing political violence in the 1960s and Ugandan refugees in Kenya, Sudan, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and Canada also shared their experiences with me. I am humbled by their insights, traumatic experiences and courage. In the 1980s, colleagues at Makerere University enriched my under- standing of the history of political violence in the country by sharing with me their lived experiences of being “outsiders,” the risk of being declared “bandits,” the terror of being declared stateless “Rwandese” or “Sudanese,” and the degradation and fragmentation of being violently uprooted and internally displaced. Seventeen colleagues from the Makerere University Guild accompanied me on a very risky but noble fact-finding tour to every district and subdistrict in the country in 1984. In February 1985, thousands of my colleagues demonstrated their collec- tive opposition to terror, intimidation, dictatorship and corruption in the government and at Makerere University. I thank them for their patience, resistance, solidarity and activism. ix x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My fellow political detainees at the Central Police Station in Kampala in 1985 shared with me their tragic stories. Their humor, friendship and strength, in the face of protracted inhumane and degrading treatment, taught me how the country has maintained a semblance of sanity under intense and prolonged political terror and violence. Life in the prison of torture, humiliation and social death would have been unbearably traumatic without the prayers, love and encouragement of my wonderful par- ents, sisters,

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