President Yoweri Museveni said Mengo and Uganda’s former president, Idi Amin, are responsible for Ben Kiwanuka’s troubles and demise.
Museveni who was speaking at Benedicto Kiwanuka’s Memorial on Monday at High Court in Kampala, said Mengo is the first to blame for “mistreating” Ben Kiwanuka by allying with Milton Obote, leading to political upheavals which Uganda and Kiwanuka himself had to consequently deal with later.
Benedicto Kiwanuka, was appointed Uganda’s first Chief Justice in 1971, and was on 21 September, 1972 dragged out of his chambers by Amin’s soldiers never to be seen again. Since 2018, an annual memorial lecture is organized to commemorate his life and his resilience for social justice in Uganda.
At the occasion, Museveni described Kiwanuka as a forthright person and who stood for the truth.
Citing events of 1960 -towards and after Uganda’s independence, Museveni praised Kiwanuka for opposing Mengo’s unreasonable demands for Federo which he says were “impossible,” but Mengo outlawed Kiwanuka as a traitor and sided with Milton Obote, leading to sad political events that later befell the country.
“So, Kiwanuka was mistreated by; first and foremost Mengo. I was there and I have had the rare opportunity of being so active for so long and seeing everything that was happening. Then, comes Idi Amin..” Museveni said.
The president, then, blamed Kiwanuka and the Democratic Party too, for agreeing to take up the appointment for the Chief Justice and work under Idi Amin which he says was a mistake.
“Why did you agree to become Chief Justice of Amin? Why? I think this was a big mistake. They should have left Idi Amin!” He said it was not correct for anyone to think they would do anything positive within Amin’s regime.
He said unlike Obote whom they (Museveni and his group) would engage on some issues like East African Community, Amin didn’t understand anything, or value anything and no one would have wasted time hoping to work with him.
“In terms of analysis, Ben Kiwanuka and Uganda, suffered because of two players; Mengo and Idi Amin. And Idi Amin is Obote beause he is the one who put Amin in power as army commander” he stated.
Museveni said if Obote had followed Ben Kiwanuka’s example of being forthright on demands of Mengo at that time, the crisis of 1964-66 would never had happened. He said, the upheavals of the 1960’s and the advent of Idi Amin were caused by lack of straightforwardness in both the leadership of Mengo and Milton Obote.
Museveni said the NRM are in a tradition of Ben Kiwanuka by opposing the bad policies even when some elements are vehemently pushing for them. He cited incidents during the Constitutional Assembly when traditionalists demanded for Federo, administrative and legislative powers, but NRM opposed them.
Quoting from the bible, Museveni said ‘whatever one sows, he or she reaps’ and therefore whoever killed Kiwanuka miscalculated thinking they were very smart, but 49 years later, Kiwanuka is being celebrated while his killers are condemned.
He said the death of Ben Kiwanuka should be a good lesson to those who may have authority to know that soon or later, they will be held accountable for the bad and good things they do because NRM revenged the death of Kiwanuka.
