Ugandan Prime Minister
Benedicto Kagimu Mugumba Kiwanuka
(8 May 1922
[1]
? 22 September 1972) was the first
prime minister of Uganda
, a leader of the
Democratic Party
, and one of the persons that led the country in the transition between colonial British rule and independence.
[2]
He was murdered by
Idi Amin
's regime in 1972.
Biography
[
edit
]
A member of the
Baganda
ethnic group, Kiwanuka was born in Kisabwa to Kaketo-Namugera (father) and was a member of the
Roman Catholic Church
.
[3]
Following a law course in Lesotho in 1960?62, he travelled to London to study for the Bar at
University College London
.
[4]
He was
called to the Bar
by
Gray's Inn
in February 1956.
[3]
As a result of the September 1961 Uganda Constitutional Conference held in London, Uganda achieved internal self-government on 1 March 1962. Kiwanuka became Uganda's first Chief Minister in the new
National Assembly
.
[4]
New elections, however, were held in April 1962, with Kiwanuka's party losing to the alliance of
Milton Obote
's
Uganda People's Congress
and the Buganda traditionalist party,
Kabaka Yekka
. In addition, Kiwanuka's Catholicism made him unpopular with his fellow Buganda, a mainly
Protestant
people.
[5]
Uganda achieved independence on 9 October 1962, with Obote as the first prime minister of a fully independent Uganda.
[6]
Kiwanuka was imprisoned in 1969 by Obote's government, but was one of 55 political detainees released by Idi Amin immediately after the coup that brought Amin to power.
[7]
Amin appointed him as
chief justice of Uganda
on 27 June 1971.
[3]
Kiwanuka soon came into confrontation with Amin's disregard for the rule of law. In the immediate aftermath of Obote's
1972 invasion of Uganda
, Kiwanuka was arrested at gunpoint by Amin's men as he presided over a session of the High Court.
[3]
As well as countermanding from the bench some of Amin's more draconian orders, Kiwanuka had also secretly agreed to support Obote's return to power, with the proviso that Kiwanuka would be involved in constitutional reform.
[5]
Death
[
edit
]
Kiwanuka was killed on 22 September at Makindye Military Prison. Western accounts described a prolonged execution which, according to eyewitnesses, involved Kiwanuka's ears, nose, lips, and arms being severed, a disembowelling, and castration before he was finally immolated.
[5]
Other sources claimed that, rather than being tortured, Kiwanuka was personally shot by Amin.
[8]
Kiwanuka's death was not acknowledged as an execution, with Amin instead publicly blaming it on Obote's supporters and even launching a police investigation.
[3]
Kiwanuka's killing was the first of a series directed against leading figures in the Baganda and
Ankole
tribes, aimed at curbing their power.
[9]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Kiwanuka's grandson,
Mathias Kiwanuka
, played defensive end for
Boston College
's
American football
team, and was the
New York Giants
' first round pick in the
2006 NFL Draft
, eventually winning two championships with the team.
[10]
In 2018, a monument was dedicated to him at the request of Ugandan president
Yoweri Museveni
.
[11]
[
better source needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bade, Albert (1996).
Benedicto Kiwanuka: the man and his politics - Albert Bade - Google Books
.
ISBN
9789970020089
. Retrieved
10 January
2012
– via
Google Books
.
- ^
Earle, Jonathon L.; Carney, J. J. (2021).
Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda
. James Currey.
ISBN
978-1-84701-240-1
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
David Martin,
General Amin
, London: Faber and Faber, 1974, p. 211
- ^
a
b
"Benedicto Kiwanuka: His life & times"
(PDF)
.
Judiciary Insider
. No. 11. September 2018. pp. 4?5.
- ^
a
b
c
Martin,
General Amin
, p. 212
- ^
Daily Monitor (8 October 2013).
"Prime Minister Milton Obote's inaugural Independence speech at Kololo Airstrip on October 9, 1962"
.
Daily Monitor
. Retrieved
25 May
2024
.
- ^
Martin,
General Amin
, p. 140
- ^
"How Idi Amin killed Kiwanuka"
.
Daily Monitor
. 20 September 2014
. Retrieved
11 June
2022
.
- ^
Martin,
General Amin
, p. 213
- ^
Kiwanuka Goes Home, but His Heart Is Far Away
- ^
@mjilesen (1 November 2018).
"Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka was the first Chief Justice of Uganda. ..."
(
Tweet
) – via
Twitter
.