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In this second last review of his book, Trapped in his own prison of Nile Mansions for five years (Obote 2), the author, Rutarindwa Mwene Barizeni offers unrivalled insights into the inner-circle drama of the Paul Muwanga vice presidency (1980-85) and his earlier chairmanship of the Military Council (head of State).
Muwanga had come a long way. For some Nile Mansions staff, the former vice president of Apollo Milton Obote was no stranger. He had been with most of them right from liberation day, April 11, 1979. Other staff members knew him from the early years of Idi Amin when he was Uganda’s ambassador to France before he disappeared following allegations that he sold embassy property.
A journalist who insisted on writing about the “Embassy scandal” died mysteriously. It was highly believed Paul Muwanga was behind his death. A highly positioned civil servant who defended Muwanga in this “Embassy sale scandal” got a magnificent house in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb.
When former President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa was toppled nobody dared demonstrate or raised any query after finding out who had replaced him. They knew what would happen if they dared demonstrate. With Muwanga now in charge, most Ugandans who had been following the country’s politics knew that Obote was very much behind the gate, if not at the door.
Muwanga was a man of unpredictable character; he was egotistical and hypocritical. He was brought up in the most rundown areas around Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Muwanga did not feel any embarrassment whatsoever to pave way for the now totally unwanted ex-president Milton Obote.
He was such a friend that at one time Muwanga was appointed an ambassador not because he had any diplomatic protocol qualities but because he was personally friends with Obote. One evening, at the reception desk in the Nile Mansions, while seemingly discussing with Mr Otema Alimadi, the minister of Foreign Affairs who later became Prime Minister, hotel guests and workers were stunned when they unbelievably watched Muwanga stretch his hand out and slap Alimadi very sharply on the cheek.
A smoking pipe dropped from Alimadi’s mouth and Muwanga went ahead to kick it further. Alimadi stood amazed and simply murmured, “Look at this silly fool”, as Muwanga muttered more abusive words.
As political parties were organising in preparation for the 1980 elections, Muwanga came to the International Conference Centre to address a UPC delegates’ conference, which everybody expected to last long. In the total silence that followed when he sauntered and took the chairman’s seat, he summarised everything in a few phrases. To him, the delegates had been wasting time.
“You do not need to take a long time here. You should have known what to do. Go and just open branch offices in your areas and keep me informed. Have trust in me. Any donkey or hyena that tries to flex muscles shall be crushed.” Muwanga had spoken. The meeting was adjourned.
In his Presidential suite 120, Paul Muwanga was a generous man. He offered drinks and food to his guests. Among his regular guests was Dr Kawanga Ssemogerere, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party at that time. On his many visits, before the 1980 elections, on the pretext of discussing the infamous “ballot boxes” issue, Kawanga would succumb to Muwanga’s entertainments of beverages like beer and bites of fried chicken so much that he became a regular visitor.
One day at the bar counter in the Nile Mansions, Muwanga’s deputy Principal Private Secretary, Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile alerted him about the presence of Mr Banturaki, a former deputy Inspector General of Police, and reminded him (Muwanga) of a pickup truck he had promised the gentleman.
On hearing this, Muwanga turned around and looking at both Mutebile and Banturaki, he simply said, “Give him.” I looked on in disbelief! So, this is what power means! I should have asked for a free valuable thing too, maybe a motorbike but there weren’t any in Uganda at the time.
When the General Manager of the Nile Mansions, Mr. Tom Mboijana, expressed his desire to own a Mercedes Benz, Paul Muwanga told him to go to Spear Motors and acquire one. The manager went to the car dealership and the only car they had was an army green coloured Benz, which they refused to release. When the manager reported the matter to Muwanga, he gave a directive to the chief executive of Spear Motors to release it.
He ordered, “Army green, green grass, green green, whatever green, that green Benz must be given to Mr. Mboijana.” The Benz was immediately released.
Muwanga however, later regretted his generous offer. After the 1980 elections, he found out he had been duped by the manager. All along he thought the manager was a UPC sympathiser, only to learn that the man was a staunch supporter of the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) and he had ran into exile with the Benz. How he wished to lay his hands on him!
In a related incident, a close relative, one of the many Muwanga used to give free gifts by virtue of his post as head of state came around and asked Muwanga for help. He wanted to own a lorry and Muwanga directed ECTA Motors to give the man a Tata lorry. The government would meet the costs of course. After several months, the same man came to tell Muwanga he could not afford to buy new tyres for the Tata lorry. He wanted help to procure new ones. This man had become so boastful in the village and had misused the money he had made using the lorry.
Muwanga listened carefully as the relative narrated his story, obviously telling lies. He told the man to bring the lorry to Nakasero State Lodge and assured him that he would order for new tyres. The foolish man hurriedly went back and brought the lorry. And when Muwanga confirmed the lorry was parked, he told the beneficiary, “Go back and never come to see me again.”
As the man walked away, Muwanga turned to us “hotel staff” and said, “zino ze nte Zotwala kuluuzi ate nezagala ozinywese,” literally meaning “These are the cows you take to the well and they want you to pour water in their mouths.
In the month of February 1982, forces of the Uganda Freedom Movement led by the late Dr Andrew Lutakome Kayiira, a former minister in the short-lived Yusuf Lule regime, attacked Lubiri army barracks, near Kampala.
Their main base was Rubaga cathedral and its surroundings. In their efforts to dislodge government forces, the attackers bombed the army barracks but did not succeed. In the end they retreated close to daybreak. They ran towards Mityana road as government forces followed in hot pursuit. Many surrendered to government forces. Others hid in the city suburbs and in the bushes along Mityana road.
In the search operation, many innocent residents of Rubaga village and surrounding areas were killed and many more were wounded by gun shots fired directly at them by government soldiers. Relatives and friends of the injured took them to the nearest hospital of Nsambya, ignoring the nearby private hospitals of Rubaga and Namirembe. The medical staff of the nearby hospitals had fled in fear of government soldiers.
The intensive military operation that followed this attack brought in the big and small loyalists of Obote’s regime. Paul Muwanga came out to show what he was worth. His master Obote had made him the “General” of his Kikosi Maalum forces. He chose to set up his operation centre at Nsambya Hospital, among other areas.
At the hospital, the medical staff as well as relatives and friends of patients, local and foreign journalists who had gathered at the hospital following the attack watched in disbelief as the “General” went about his work.
His tactics were similar to the ones exiled “Field Marshal” Amin had applied to Israel prisoners of war in Damascus during the October war of 1973 between Egypt/Syria and Israel. During that war, Amin is said to have pulled wounded Israel prisoners of war off their beds in Damascus and beaten them up to the amazement of everyone including the professional Syrian military officers.
At Nsambya Hospital in full view of all those around, “General” Muwanga pulled patients off their hospital beds, undressed them and kicked them savagely in search of bullet wounds. He commanded his troops to throw all those he had pinpointed onto military lorries. They were taken away to a destination nobody knew.
At the end of the exercise while addressing journalists that evening, a happy looking Muwanga said, when challenged about his savage act towards the otherwise innocent injured civilians, that, “The law is clear no person with a bullet wound should be admitted into a nonegovernment hospital”.
Journalists did not bother to ask him, which government hospital the injured had been transferred to. It was clear they had been taken for execution. Nobody was supposed to ask anything more about the attack or about the prisoners of war or civilians who had been picked from Rubaga and the surrounding areas. The total number of people Paul Muwanga pulled from hospital beds could have been over fifty. None of these was ever produced in any courts of law and none was ever seen alive after this incident.
During his time as vice president to Obote, Paul Muwanga’s sister owned a bar in Busega on the outskirts of Kampala city. Security operatives were tipped off that some ‘rebels’ were frequenting this bar. She was picked and later found dead. It was alleged that the lady was executed on her brother’s orders. After the fall of Obote’s regime, a Human Rights Commission asked him whether he had any information that would point to the truth about his sister’s death. Muwanga arrogantly answered, “She could have been killed because of her bad deed. Why don’t you carry out your own investigations?”
When the voting of 1980 ended and everybody was anxiously waiting for results, foreign media houses started announcing results before the official announcement by the electoral commission. Muwanga became worried and exasperated. The cat was being let out of the bag. He couldn’t let this go on; so, he kept in his suite in the Nile Mansions in his endeavour to rig the results. Obote joined him briefly later before proceeding to another suite.
Democratic Party leader Ssemogerere, in the company of his party members, came to ask him to order for the announcement of the election results. He requested them to leave and listen to his official announcement.
Soon after the departure of Ssemogerere’s delegation from the Nile Mansions, Muwanga called his waiter Musisi, this time not for service but for some consultation. He asked, “Musisi do you believe that this much-talked-about Bible fire exists?” It was an unusual question indeed for a simple waiter. To this Musisi, answered, “Your Excellency Sir, I cannot tell but you never know. Maybe it really exists.”
In reply Muwanga said, “Kankole byenkola gulyokeleeyo.” Literally meaning let me do what I have to do, I will burn in death.” From that moment onwards hotel workers nicknamed Muwanga Gulyokeleeyo.
During the armed struggle against Obote, some fighting took place in Namugongo near the Muslim mosque and the Anglican shrine….when the government reinforcement troops came to this area they started beating and killing everything alive. “This scorched earth” policy operation order came from Muwanga. Among the living things killed was a pig, which was slaughtered in the nearby mosque.
At the Anglican Shrine, they killed Reverend Godfrey Mbazira, the rector of the seminary, on Muwanga’s command and order. Years later, when Paul Muwanga passed away, his body was taken to Namirembe cathedral for prayers. In what he called a “few words” while praying for the late Muwanga, Bishop Livingstone Nkoyoyo, who was also Muwanga’s family friend, had this to say:
“Dear mourners. When we lost Rev. Mbazira, the gentleman whose body is laying here, Mr Muwanga, was the minister of defence and the vice president of this country too. He was very powerful as you all know. You remember what it took us to get to him to release Mbazira’s body to us, the church”.
“When we finally got it, we rested it here exactly where Muwanga’s body is rested now. I can remember very well Rev. Mbazira did not have any thing on him to go with while leaving this world. One would have expected the powerful Muwanga to have something to go with unlike Mbazira because he was more powerful than him, but alas! Muwanga too is leaving this world like Rev. Mbazira without a thing!”
Relatives of Muwanga looked on in disbelief! It was too late, though. Nkoyoyo had spoken exactly what everyone else secretly harboured. From Uganda House, Muwanga’s body was taken forty miles away from Kampala, to his ancestral place for burial and soon after, neighbours and relatives started complaining that they were being disturbed in the night by some evil spirits, which probably belonged to the people Muwanga had wronged and were now trending over his body.
Rutarindwa Mwene Bazireni
0758463955
