Uganda: Tough Shepherd

As a herdboy on his father’s tribal lands in northern Uganda, young Apollo Milton Obote often pondered how it would be to govern people rather than sheep or goats. Speaking to his charges as if they were human and he their chief, he soon discovered that keeping them in order required him both to prod them along and win their cooperation. Now the President of Uganda, Obote is governing his country in much the same way. Last week, as Uganda’s 8,000,000 people prepared for this week’s celebration of the fifth anniversary of their independence from Britain, Obote seized the occasion to drive into oblivion Uganda’s four hereditary monarchs under the terms of a new constitution that gives him powers approaching those of a dictator.

The 90-page constitution that Obote shepherded through his compliant Parliament makes him the head of government, chief of state and commander in chief, provides that the President is “not bound to follow the advice of any person or authority.” It deposes the bespangled kings who since independence have had considerable powers to govern their own kingdoms in a federal system. For purposes of governing, it breaks the country up into 18 districts, slicing the largest and most recalcitrant of the kingdoms—Buganda—into four pieces.

Black Ostrich Feathers. The constitution is tougher in tone than the one that Obote presented last year. That one led to a revolt in Buganda and forced Obote to order his troops to storm the palace of King Freddie, the Kabaka of Buganda, who is now exiled in London. “One people, one destiny, one country, one Parliament and one government,” demands Obote, who feels that tribalism had hopelessly fragmented his country. But Obote has also tried to win the people over. As a conciliatory gesture, he let almost 3,000 criminals and political prisoners out of jail to join in the ühuni (freedom) anniversary fete. He has won over many former opponents, including Freddie’s brother, who now echoes that “tribal jealousy and friction have brought Uganda to a standstill.”

To make their transition to retire ment less harsh, Obote is arranging severance pay for the kings in amounts ranging from $25,000 for the ex-Queen of Buganda, who stayed behind when Freddie fled, to $70,500 for the Omukama of Bunyoro. Obote has confiscated, however, most of the splendid trappings of royalty. He sent a dump truck to cart off the Omugabe of Ankole’s throne, his velvet ceremonial robes, his gilt crowns and his fat royal drums of buckskin. Last week the aging, potbellied Omukama of Bunyoro watched sadly as his regalia of silken robes and black ostrich-feather headdresses were taken away to be mothballed in the basement of a government building. With baggage packed, he now waits to move out of his palace to quarters that will be provided by the government. As for King Freddie, Obote does not seem to have thrown a farthing his way. Freddie complains that he is broke, but he should get a bit of a boost from the publication in August of his book, Desecration of My Kingdom.

The Milton Hilton. Obote, who took two years in politics and economics at Makerere University College in Kampala, is cunning and tough. Five years of his rule have brought Uganda a modicum of stability, expanded trade and improved intertribal relations. In the capital of Kampala, Obote’s modern outlook is symbolized by the dozens of new office and apartment buildings that brace the skyline. Nearing completion is a skyscraper hotel bearing on its roof a six-foot neon sign with Obote’s first name. It has been nicknamed, naturally, “the Milton Hilton.”