Retire peacefully from State House or die there? God forbid, not here
The other day retired Tanzanian president Ali Hassan Mwinyi was invited to preside over the graduation ceremony of Kampala International University.
A few years ago, retired Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi was performing a similar function at another religious founded university near Kampala.
After this year, President Mwai Kibaki will certainly be on demand to perform in a similar capacity in Uganda where, after all, he is a former student and lecturer.
Before he passed on, retired Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere used to drop by in Uganda at important functions.
And we expect the still-energetic Benjamin Mkapa, another retired Tanzania president, to be invited for important occasions.
Actually, the Ugandans were recently courting Mkapa to head the delicate and extremely important operation – the reconciliation of the country’s two strongest men, incumbent Yoweri Museveni and his arch-rival, Dr Kizza Besigye.
Since independence, Kenya has had three presidents, two of whom are still alive.
Tanzania has had four presidents, three of whom are still alive. Uganda has had eight presidents and seven are dead.
The only one still living is the one in office. So Uganda cannot send a former president to grace an occasion in a partner state – they are all dead.
Statistically then, being a Ugandan president has an ominous fate hanging around it; you are either in office or on your way to the grave – shortly.
The consolation to the current and future holders of that office is that no president of Uganda has ever died in office.
They are forcefully removed from State House and die in exile. Two of our seven former heads of state were lucky and died after being allowed to return home.
The first head of state and king of Buganda Sir Edward Mutesa died poor in London, after having been maliciously denied access to his personal accounts in Kampala, and his private land in the city was stolen by some of his own subjects.
The second to die was Prof Yusuf Lule. He had been overthrown and after some complicated process that saw him exit via Tanzania, died also in London.
The third to die, Gen Paulo Muwanga, spent two years in a Kampala prison and on his death bed, was allowed to be taken to Nairobi for treatment.
The fourth to expire was Field Marshal Idi Amin, who was lucky to die in Saudi Arabia and was buried there.
Fifth to go was Dr Milton Obote, who died in a South African hospital after living in exile in Zambia.
The fifth to die was Gen Tito Okello, who after some year in exile following his overthrow had also been allowed back home.
The seventh and last Ugandan president to die was QC Godfrey Binaisa, who had been allowed to return after years of difficult exile and doing odd jobs and some occasional legal work at an advanced age after being overthrown.
There seems to be a jinx, a kind of curse in Uganda’s State House which makes peaceful retirement difficult and apparently there is no life after being president of Uganda. It is a fate beyond their control.
Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International fellow for development journalism. E-mail: [email protected]
