A biography Abu Mayanja never lived to read
OBITUARY
By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda
WEEKLY OBSERVER
About two years ago, Abu Baker Kakyama Mayanja approached me to write his
biography. I met him several times at his Lungujja home and Lumweno law firm at King
Fahd Plaza. He passed away last week, before seeing the final draft. My busy schedule at
The Weekly Observer is mainly to blame. Below, I sumarise the life of Abu, as he
narrated it to me:
He took Obote to Kabaka
Abu Mayanja said it was him who took late former president Apollo Milton Obote to the
Kabaka of Buganda in 1959, to start on negotiations that led to the formation of Kabaka
Yekka/ Uganda People’s Congress (UPC/KY) alliance.
The UPC/KY received instruments of power when Uganda got independence on October
9, 1962, with Kabaka Sir Edward Mutesa as president and Dr. Obote as executive prime
minister.
Obote however claims in a book written by Kenneth Ingham (a Bristol University
professor) titled Obote: A political biography, that it is Pumula Kisosonkore, a Senior
One teacher who had been appointed by the governor to the Legislative Council
(LEGCO) that took him to the Kabaka.
“I drove him (Obote) at night to Bamunanika in a Peugeot 203 station wagon. The
Kabaka met us at the staircases. I knelt and Obote followed suit. Kabaka told him to rise
up,” Abu Mayanja recalled, during one of the interviews.
Both Abu and Obote were members of the Uganda National Congress (UNC) formed by
Eldard Ignatius Musaazi in 1951.
Abu joined the UNC when he sought vocational employment at Musaazi’s Federation of
Partnership of Uganda African Farmers at Katwe. He was at Makerere. The late Paulo
Muwanga also worked at Musaazi’s Federation in the accounts department.
Musaazi later formed Congress Against Imperialism to struggle for independence after
watching India become independent in 1947. The Congress Party was at the forefront of
the struggle. As a result of its successful struggle, most political parties and movements
clamouring for independence all over the world adopted the word congress.
Musaazi was advised to form a fully-fledged political party if he wanted to pursue
independence.
“I helped him (Musaazi) to draft the Constitution, I used my experience as a Makerere
Guild Council secretary where I used to take minutes. Apollo Kironde, my teacher at
King’s College Budo, had taught me some politics,” Abu recalled.
Abu further said that on March 6, 1952, the Uganda National Congress was launched
during a meeting at Kabaka’s Lake near Ndeeba. Musaazi was elected president.
According to Abu, the launch of the party was meant to coincide with the Boer Day in
South Africa to express solidarity with the struggle of the South African people against
apartheid.
When everybody feared to be secretary general, the youthful Abu, still a Makerere
student volunteered. “We were using the Federation address P.O Box 7,” he said.
Abu recalled that after the formation of the party, Governor Andrew Cohen summoned
the leaders. The late E.M.K Mulira feared. Abu who had gone back to Makerere was
invited to join a five-man delegation that met Cohen. Others were; Musaazi, Steven
Obwongot (Kumi), Stanley Waswa and Samson Kalemba (Toro). Most members of the
Congress were not educated.
Abu was later (June-August) to be expelled from Makerere with six other students for
clashing with the Dean of Students during a better diet strike. They included Josephat
Karanja (ex- Nairobi University chancellor).
The striking students had also been angered by the university decision to stop them from
“importing” girls the university administration considered riffraff (bayaye) to join
Makerere students in an annual dance. By the time he was dismissed, there were only 12
girl students at the college.
Upon expulsion, Abu went back to Musaazi to concentrate on UNC political activities.
Latima Mpagi, an official of Mengo, discussed Abu’s fate with other Buganda leaders.
Mpagi later told him that the Kabaka was sympathetic but since the colonial government
had expelled him [from the university], there was little he could do to assist him.
But a determined Abu solicited six recommendations from colonial lecturers at Makerere,
including Bernard Debansin, Dr. Kenneth Ingham and Prof. A.G. Warner. They all said it
would be a great loss to the country if Abu dropped out of school. “I took the
recommendations to Latima and the Kabaka was surprised when he saw them,” he
recalled.
The Kabaka consulted Sir Governor Andrew Benjamin Cohen who was leaving the
country for a holiday in London.
The result was marvellous:
“Dear Mr. Mayanja, as you may be aware, Sir Andrew Cohen was here a few days ago.
As a result, we are looking forward to receive you as a member,” read a letter admitting
Abu to King’s College Cambridge in the UK. It was Cohen who got him the vacancy at
Cambridge with the help of Kabaka Mutesa.
Abu flew out to UK for studies earlier than planned because he faced arrest due to his
political activities. He stayed in the UK from 1953 to 1959. This is the time Obote
returned from Kenya where he might have participated in the Mau Mau uprising to
become a member of the Legislative Council and also a member of Abu’s party, UNC,
that later split. According to Abu, Obote must have joined UNC late 1958 or early 1959.
Obote later became president of UNC (splinter group) and J.J Kiwanuka its chairman.
“Had Obote been the president of UNC in 1958, he would have attended the Ghana First
all African People Conference,” recalled Abu. Although Abu was a student in London, he
attended the conference.
When Abu returned home after his studies, he found a split UNC. People like Babiiha,
Magezi, Rwesiba, Katiti, Mugana had formed the Uganda Peoples Union (UPU)
exclusively for members of the LEGCO. Obote and his UNC wing joined them to form
Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC).
“I was no longer attending party meetings because I was a minister [in Kabaka’s
government],” Abu recalled.
Independence activities
The years 1957 - 1962 were of heightened political temperature in Uganda. Buganda
refused to send representatives to the expanded LEGCO and sued the protectorate
government for forcing it to do so. Buganda lost the case but it demanded a federal
government.
Andrew Cohen declared that the Uganda protectorate had been developed and would
continue to be developed as a unitary state.
Abu recalls that he used to meet Obote who was then residing at Metropal Hotel (White
Nile) in Katwe. Obote apparently accepted a federal arrangement for Buganda and that is
why Abu took him to the Kabaka.
In 1961, Buganda refused to participate in voter registration and the subsequent elections
won by the Democratic Party’s Ben Kiwanuka.
During the London Uganda Constitutional Conference in 1961, UPC maintained contact
with Buganda through [Balaki] Kirya and [Grace] Ibingira. The people of Buganda had
vowed that “Kabaka Yekka” (Kabaka only) would govern the kingdom, not political
parties, although ironically the KY slogan eventually evolved into a political party.
Abu was part of the Buganda delegation to the Uganda Independence Conference in
1962. Michael Kintu led the Buganda team. Others included Eddi Lubowa and Nkalubo
Sebugwawo.
“Buganda was granted a federal status, Busoga territory and other kingdoms semifederal,” recalled Abu.
Abu was given the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the 1962
Constitution in Buganda. A schedule, which served as the Constitution of Buganda, was
attached to the main independence Constitution. Among other things it listed things over
which the kingdom had powers of legislation.
Abu at Cambridge
Bishop Stuart, a Briton who had been Bishop for the whole of Uganda, sent one Peter
Wright to receive Abu at the airport. Before reporting to Cambridge, Peter Wright helped
Abu meet a number of Africans in London who were involved in independence struggles
in their countries.
He met people like Mbiyu Koinange of Kenya, Josua Nkomo of Southern Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Kanyama Cliyume and Hastings Kamuzu
Banda of Nyasaland (Malawi), Seretse Khama (Botswana) and George Padmore, a great
Pan-African intellectual and journalist. “I wrote so many articles in The Tribune and that
introduced me to British journalism,” Abu recalled.
Abu did modern European History, English Economic History, English Constitutional
History, History of Political Thought and American History for part one (1953-55) of his
studies.
He then studied law and qualified as a barrister (October 1955 –June 1957). He passed
with an upper second degree.
“I used to go to London to meet Sir Edward Mutesa,” Abu recalled. Sir Edward Mutesa
indeed signed on Abu’s document, recommending him to study law at Lincoln’s Inn
College.
In April 1959, Abu worked in the chambers of Roland Brown, a Briton who came to
Uganda to represent Joseph Nambale, editor of Munansi, who was facing some charges
by the colonial government.
Earlier in 1957/8, a committee of African organisations in London was formed. The
committee once raised money to hire lawyers to represent various African MPs who had
been arrested. Mwai Kibaki (Kenyan president) was the secretary and Abu Mayanja the
chairman.
Becomes Mutesa minister
Abu returned from his studies on May 30, 1959 and then travelled to the United States in
December that year on a leadership grant to learn about governance. He returned in
February 1960.
But before flying, Abu mobilised Ugandans to boycott goods imported from South Africa
to express solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle there. He led Makerere University
students in a demonstration at the Legislative Council near Kampala City Council Hall. A
disturbed Clerk to the Assembly, A.L. Perington, warned Abu and the demonstrating
students: “Anybody who makes disturbances likely to disrupt the proceedings of the
Council commits an offence.”
Consequently, a white policeman arrested Abu and removed “my Congress T-shirt”. Abu
was charged and convicted. He was fined 50 pounds, equivalent of Shs 3,800.
Julius Nyerere, who had founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) to
struggle for independence and had studied with Yusufu Lule, paid Shs 1,000 towards
Abu’s fine settlement in solidarity with the struggle.
When he returned from America, Abu was appointed minister of education in the Kabaka
government to replace a fellow Muslim Kasim Male who had passed away. Abu says his
credentials and profile were good. He had participated in the struggle for freedom and
escorted Sir Edward Mutesa from his London exile in 1955.
The colonial government had exiled the Kabaka for opposing the East African federation.
“While in the U.S., I received a telegram to inform me that the Kabaka had appointed me
minister. I was undecided because I was a leader in a national party but Buganda was also
my base. So I accepted to serve,” Abu recalled.
On arrival from the U.S., Kabaka government officials waited for Abu at the airport,
including celebrated Muslim leader Prince Badru Kakungulu.
Abu resigns
Around April 1964, a member of the Buganda Lukiiko Eriasafi Kalule told Abu: “Gwe
omulenz,i sirika”, which means “you boy, keep quiet”, during a session. Abu who was
minister of education and economic planning got up and stormed out. “I went to my
office and wrote to the Kabaka, resigning,” he recalled.
However, in September, an Asian representing Buganda in the LEGCO Jimmy Simpson
(Kyaggwe North) resigned and Abu was elected by the Lukiiko to replace him.
Abu blames Obote for the 1966 crisis. He said Obote weakened KY deliberately when he
converted some of its 21 MPs in the LEGCO to his UPC in 1965. Obote also opened
UPC branches in Buganda, contrary to the unwritten agreement he had with KY.
“Obote would tell Baganda, ‘if you accept DP, why not UPC with whom you formed an
alliance?’” Abu recalled.
Obote arrests Abu
In 1968, Abu wrote an article in The Transition which was edited by Neogy Rajat, an
Asian, in which he accused Obote of tribalism.
“I don’t believe the rumour that is circulating in the legal circle that the judicial
commission has recommended names, but [they] are being help up on tribal grounds,” the
article read in part. Obote had the powers to appoint judges to the High Court.
This article infuriated Obote who ordered for Abu’s arrest.
He was charged with sedition. The editor was also arrested. Godfrey Binaisa (Attorney
General) represented government. George Masika (who later became Chief Justice under
Obote II) was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). “We were acquitted but rearrested in the court. I had just married my wife Hadijah,” Abu recalls. He spent two
years in jail and Amnesty International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. Obote
released him in November 1970.
Amin appoints, sacks Abu
When Amin captured power in January 1971, he appointed Abu minister of education.
Amin however sacked Abu (by now Minister of Labour) on November 30, 1972, together
with Apollo Kironde, Prof. W.B. Banage William and Yekosefati Engur. Abu and his
cabinet colleagues were summoned to the Command Post (Prince Charles Drive in
Kololo) at 7 a.m. by Amin who told them: “I have nothing against you completely, but
you will not manage the supersonic speed at which my government is running.”
Kironde spoke on behalf of the ministers, admitting that it is true, “all of us can’t run like
Aki Bua.” Amin later ordered the three out of government houses. The Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Levy Katajira, sent Abu a lorry at 7 a.m. in the
morning, to transport his belongings out of the government house.
Abu joins DP
During the 1980 elections, Abu contested on the DP ticket and was elected Mubende
South MP. His results were not announced until four months later. However, soon after
the elections, he fled to Kenya but later returned to take up his seat and was DP’s
information and broadcasting shadow minister. When Andrew Kayira attacked Lubiri in
1982, Abu again fled and got in contact with Museveni’s National Resistance Army
(NRA) in Luwero.
“I went to Pakistan to look for guns and bullets for NRA,” he recalled.
The Museveni group had a few experienced lawyers and Abu was part of the NRA team
that negotiated with the Tito Okello government after Obote had been ousted Obote in a
1985 coup d’etat. The talks took place in Nairobi.
When Museveni captured power, Abu was appointed in several cabinet positions
including that of Attorney General and deputy prime minister. He was sacked in 1995
reportedly for supporting Buganda’s federo demands.
His life
Abu did not know when he was born. He suspected it was around 1929. His children
adopted August as the month in which he was born.
His father was called Abdallah Waswa Kambugu Kakyama of Buga village, Zziba, near
Ngogwe in Mukono district.
His mother came from Buvuma Island and she was called Mariantonia Kayaga, born
around 1908.
Abu liked to stay in the company of his mother who would come to his rescue in case he
provoked his elders.
His father was a subsistence farmer who also sold pots. The mother came from a
Christian background and therefore knew how to write and read.
She used old newspapers that wrapped kabalagala to teach Abu how to read and write.
This helped him to skip primary one.
In 1939, Abu joined Ngogwe for his primary education.
In 1944, he sat his PLE while in P.6 at Bishop School Mukono.
He scored 256 out of 300 marks.
He joined King’s College Budo the following year.
The headmaster, D.G.R. Herbert, interviewed him and he was admitted to England
House. At Budo, Abu was made to skip S.3 (junior secondary) because he was
exceptionally bright. He therefore sat for junior secondary (S.3) while in S.4. However,
Budo by then did not have an S.6 centre, so Abu sat for his A-level at Old Kampala in
1949.
“I registered the highest marks ever recorded at that time in the final exams,” he boasted.
He was admitted to Makerere in 1950. The university had 145 resident and 27 nonresident students at the time.
At Makerere, before he was expelled, Abu studied English Literature, History and
Mathematics. He was editor of The Makerere Current News.
He was the first Muslim in Uganda to get a degree.