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When Amin outdid self at Mutesa state funeral
Then president Idi Amin salutes the body of Kabaka Edward Mutesa at Kasubi Royal Tombs in Kampala in April 1971. PHOTO / FILE
What you need to know:
- It was on a Wednesday morning back on March 31, 1971 when a plane carrying his casket taxied to a halt at Entebbe airport. This kicked off a week-long series of events that climaxed with the King’s burial at Kasubi Royal Tombs.
Fifty-one years ago, the remains of Sir Edward Mutesa were brought back home where a State funeral was organised for the departed former President of Uganda and Kabaka of Buganda.
It was on a Wednesday morning back on March 31, 1971 when a plane carrying his casket taxied to a halt at Entebbe airport. This kicked off a week-long series of events that climaxed with the King’s burial at Kasubi Royal Tombs.
The 35th King of Buganda, who was also President of Uganda between October 1963 and April 1966, had died suddenly while exiled in the United Kingdom (UK) on November 21, 1969. The abrupt finality of his death came two days after he had turned 45.
At the peak of a power struggle with Milton Obote, a friend-turned-foe, Sir Mutesa was exiled in May 1966. General Idi Amin Dada—the man Obote had ordered to attack Mutesa’s palace, sending the king fleeing into exile—however turned against his master in January 1971.
After the putsch forced Obote into exile, Amin made returning Mutesa’s remains a top priority. On February 22, 1971, just weeks after forming his Cabinet, the putschist appointed a ministerial committee to organise the return of the Kabaka’s remains and a State funeral for good measure. The State funeral would be only the second of its kind in post-independence Uganda. The first took place following the passing of Sir George Kamurasi Rukidi III in December of 1965. Rukidi III served as the King of Tooro from 1928 until the time of his death.
The ministerial committee was headed by Abu Mayanja, a prominent lawyer and politician who had just been appointed Education minister after the putsch. The other members of the committee were: Internal Affairs minister, Lt Col Obitre Gama; Works minister James Zikusooka; Health minister, Dr JH Gesa; Foreign Affairs minister Wanume Kibedi and Charles Oboth Ofumbi, the junior Defence minister.
The choice of this particular date—February 22—may have been coincidental, but it has its own significance in the history of Uganda. It was on this day—in 1966—that five ministers were picked up from a Cabinet meeting and taken to Luzira Prisons where they would spend almost five years without trial. These high profile arrests set in motion a series of events whose climax was the attack on Mutesa’s palace on May 24, 1966.
‘Great pomp, splendour’
Fast forward to March 31, 1971. Weeklong events described by the Uganda Argus newspaper as “ceremonies of great pomp and splendour” began. Almost five years after fleeing his besieged palace, Sir Mutesa was returning home to rest. The government had declared March 29, 1971 (a Monday) to April 4, 1971 (a Sunday) public holidays. The nation mourned its first president. Buganda mourned her beloved 35th monarch—one of a long line of rulers dating back to the 14th century.
A powerful government delegation—led by Foreign Affairs minister Wanume Kibedi—was sent to London to receive and return the body of Sir Mutesa. Other members of the delegation were Paulo Muwanga, then working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Prince Henry Kimera, a young brother of the fallen Kabaka; and Prince John Barigye of Ankole.
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The government chartered a Boeing 707 plane to fly the body from the UK to Uganda. As soon as the flight entered Ugandan airspace, four Uganda Air Force fighter jets escorted the former commander-in-chief all the way to Entebbe International Airport.
At Entebbe International Airport, people gathered in their tens of thousands to receive the body. President Idi Amin Dada was one of them. He received the body with a presidential salute. The casket containing Mutesa’s remains was draped in Uganda’s tri-coloured Flag. It was an all-military affair. A 73-gun salute greeted Sir Mutesa as Amin stood stolidly to attention.
From Entebbe, General Amin sat in the same plane with Sir Mutesa’s body for a short flight to Kololo Grounds. At Kololo, Mutesa had witnessed the handover of the instruments of power from the British to Obote on October 9, 1962. Now, nine years later, his body was being returned to Kololo.
President Amin was quick to emphasise the significance of Kololo. “This is a place of history,” he said, adding, “We therefore felt it right and fitting that the late Sir Edward Mutesa should come to this place for one more event of history.”
He went on: “This president was an elected president. If he was a bad president the blame for this falls partly on those who elected him. All men are both good and bad. And presidents are also men...”
To further drive the point home, Amin said: “We must not, therefore, treat a man as all bad because he has made mistakes. Sir Edward may have made some mistakes, but he also did many good things and we must remember him for those and respect him as the first president, as a man of dignity who did no shame to his high office.”
Non-functional Parliament
Because it was a State ceremony, the body of Sir Mutesa lay in state in Parliament. The National Assembly had been suspended in 1971, so there was no activity. The body of the departed former president was nevertheless to be taken there—to a non-functional Parliament.
This was hardly the only oddity. It was hard to overlook the fact that while Amin was breaking the bank to accord Mutesa a State funeral, the army was still occupying his palace in Mengo, Kampala. In fact, they had been doing so since 1966. To compound matters, the Kabaka’s personal assets—including bank accounts—were still frozen.
Undeterred, Amin gave a speech in the non-functional Parliament. Foreign Affairs minister Wanume Kibedi and Henry Kyemba, who was the principal private secretary to President Amin, escorted the casket to Parliament. Days before the return of Mutesa’s remains, Amin had had the Parliament chambers tidied up for the big event.
From Parliament, the body was taken to St Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe. People queued for miles, having walked for hours to have a final glimpse of Sir Mutesa. Namirembe held a special place in Mutesa’s heart. First it was viewed, among the Baganda as the Kabaka’s church. In the early stages of the construction of this cathedral, Kabaka Daudi Cwa laid a foundation stone. It was in the new Namirembe Cathedral, on September 19, 1914 that Kabaka Daudi Cwa wed Irene Drucilla Namaganda. This was the first recorded royal wedding in a Christian set-up in Buganda. While Kabaka Cwa fathered 36 children, he and Lady Namaganda had only one child together—Sir Mutesa. On November 19, 1948, Kabaka Mutesa and Lady Damali Nakawombe Kisosonkole were wed in Namirembe Cathedral.
As Mutesa’s remains lay in the cathedral, there was a sea of human traffic. George Jones, a foreign worker in Uganda at the time, said thus: “Starting at the cathedral, we drove almost three miles in pursuit of the end of the people before we halted. It was then one o’clock in the afternoon...”
Kabaka Mutesa’s body was later flown to one of his palaces—in Bamunanika—for those who could not make it to Kampala to pay their last respects. The remains were returned to Namirembe Cathedral for the final day of events on April 4, 1971 when he was laid to rest at Kasubi Royal Tombs.
In a 1967 book titled The Desecration of my Kingdom, Sir Mutesa had vowed to “return to the land of my fathers and to my people.” He did, eventually resting in the same place with his father, Sir Daudi Cwa II; grandfather Daneri Basamula Ekkere Mwanga II; and great-grandfather Mukaabya Walugembe Kayiira Mutesa I.
