UCLA Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies

Transcription

1 UCLA Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studis Titl Obot: Scond Libration by Bijay Gupta; From Obot to Obot by Akna Adoko Prmalink Journal Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studis, 15(3) ISSN Author Okoth, P. Godfry Publication Dat 1987 Pr rviwd Scholarship.org Powrd by th California Digital Library Univrsity of California

2 II II 214 Book Rviws prsonalitis and political actors in th cours of hr lif until othr mrit lis in th rorganization of facts containd in arlir wor than in adding nw idas. In this book, on will gt clos undrstanding th author. On th othr hand, in situations whr on xpcts hr to 1 playing a national rol, sh is tmptd to attribut crdit to Toro inst. of Uganda. If th author's targtd audinc was supposd to I Ugandan or African, th vidnc suggsts that that task may not ha bn accomplishd Instad th book sms to hav bn writtn for tl English and prhaps broadly, th wstrn audinc. Sh must fl 8.J bliv that sh is an African nationalist who is both a bnficiary and th sam tim a victim of British colonialism and no-colonialism. C th whol, this book srvs as a usful guid to undrstanding tl author and th workings of colonial and no-colonial ducation. It also usful for th gnral radr. Alic Nnaabalamba African Studis Graduat Studnt Univrsity of California, Los Angls, California Gupta, Vijay, Obot: Scond Libration. Nw Dlhi: Vila Publishing Hous, pp Indx, Cloth, (No pric givn). Adoko, Akna, From Obot to Obot. Nw Dlhi: Viks Publishing Hous, pp.336. Cloth, (no pric givn). Both books provid a forum for th study of instability i Uganda. Sinc its indpndnc in Octobr 1962, this East Africa nation has xprincd svral uphavals causd by armd group sking short cuts to powr. Each tim, at th nd of th day, immns suffring and loss of conomic rsourcs hav bn rcordd. At th cntr of th abov post-indpndnc stat of affairs, has bn th constitutionalist, Apollo Milton Obot, th first Prim Ministr o indpndnt Uganda, th first Prsidnt of rpublican Uganda, and th first Prsidnt to rul that country twic. Dr. Gupta's Obot: Scond Libration is an vntful story o Obot's rturn to Uganda aftr a nin-yar xil ( ) i1 nighboring Tanzania. Containing svn chaptrs, th book sts of

3 UJFAIHIAMU 215 Its ks to b ad b v h ld at )n 'l is ls ls n.n IS f tf n 1 with a brif introduction to Uganda's political history. Th author thn focuss on Obot's lif and prsonality, and how thy shapd his political idology. Vividly dscribd ar his social and political activitis bfor and aftr indpndnc, and his struggls against his advrsaris both bfor and aftr his first ovrthrow i.n January Of spcial intrst is th author's analysis of how Obot mobilizd th mass of th Ugandan popl in fighting divisiv nationalism, in fighting th Idi Amin dictatorship, and aftr his (Obot's) rturn to powr, in combating rightist and ultra-lftist lmnts. In his conclusion, th author discusss Obot's multi-prongd proposal for lading an opprssd popl and a country bst by political trauma and social and conomic uphavals. In his opinion, Obot's strngth lay in his policy of mixd conomy for th "dvlopmnt" of Uganda. I.n writing this book, Dr. Gupta havily rlid on Obot's own spchs which h dlivrd on svral occasions vr-sinc his rturn to th prsidncy in No doubt, Dr. Gupta's survy of Uganda's political history sinc indpndnc fills an important gap, particularly th priod lading up to th 'scond coming' of Obot to th prsidncy. Th author writs as an ardnt admirr of Obot. Though not a dfinit biography of Obot th statsman, th author has prsntd a favorabl pictur of Obot, who has bn unpopular in Wstrn consrvativ circls. His unpopularity i.n imprialist circls is not hard to undrstand; h was on of th ftrst post-colonial African ladrs to try to stablish a dmocratic socialist stat. Obot also gnuinly spousd nonalignmnt and pan-africanism spcially during his first administration. During Obot's scond administration, Dr. Gupta acknowldgs that Obot pragmatically workd in tandm with th Intrnational Montary Fund (IMF) and th World Bank, and changd his position of favoring th singl party stat of his first administration, to on of multiparty dmocracy of his scond administration. Dspit th about-turns, Dr. Gupta contnds that U.S.-ld imprialism nvr wholly forgav Obot, and instad it introducd a nw lmnt of anti-obotism - th prsidnt's supposd lack of concrn for human rights. Dr. Gupta also obsrvs that Obot was not only unpopular in th Wst; that indd h had numrous dtractors in Africa, too. Th author nots that Obot's critics rangd from ractionary lmnts (som in Knya) who wr sympathtic to th Baganda traditionalists, to th divrs shads of rvolutionaris (in and outsid Uganda) who accusd th Prsidnt of 'slling out th lft' by his dcision during his scond administration to chrish th fr markt forcs rathr than stat controls to rbuild th Ugandan conomy impovrishd by th Ami.n rgim and

4 II Ill 216 Book Rviws th short-livd rgims of Yusuf Lul and Godfry Binaisa. On th whol, Dr. Gupta's analysis is commndabl. Howv th author's book has svral shortcomings. For instanc, acknowldging th contribution of crtain individuals to his study, 1 author misladingly prsnts som of thm. H writs: "Thr 1 frinds and political workrs in Uganda and in particular... Profs: Dnt Ocaya Lakidi, U.P.C. Hadquartrs,... Profssor Kagnc Atwoki...". It must b notd, howvr, that both Ocaya Lakidi a Kagnda Atwoki ar not profssors. Ocaya Lakidi, M.A. (Manitob lft Makrr Univrsity to bcom Dputy Mayor of Kampala C whn h was a Snior Lcturr in Political Scinc. Kagnda-Atwo M.Sc. (McGill), joind th Uganda Popls Congrss (U.P.( scrtariat whn h was a lcturr in Gography at th Univrsity Nairobi, Knya. It is tru that Uganda has som of th bst wst ducatd popl in Africa. Howvr, suffic it to not that aftr t dmis of Amin in 1979, many Ugandan xils rturnd to thir count masqurading as Ph.Ds and profssors. Thir major purpos was win political favor and top positions in th post-amin govrnmnts. In his introduction, Dr. Gupta's languag bcoms skimpy ru rathr arrogant. H rsorts to motional journalistic styl in dscribij Amin and his govrnmnt. For instanc, h calls th Amin rgi11 "gnocid rgim of Amin", and h calls Amin "dvil of Humanit) and rfrs to Amin's bhavior as "His idiotic, whimsical and haphaza actions," (p.3). Th author maintains this abusiv languag througho th book whn h rfrs to Amin or his bhavior. H calls Am "clown of a circus" (p. 88). By using such drogatory and unscholar languag, th author plays into th hands of imprialist journalist anthropologists and politicians who apply such trms to discrdit th opponnts in Africa. This is far from suggsting that this rviw condons Amin's xcsss; rathr, th contntion hr is that at th tim, thr wr both intrnal and xtrnal forcs that influncd vn in Uganda, and thy must b invstigatd thoroughly and objctivly. Th author claims that Amin's 1972 xpulsion of Asians fro Uganda was a racist act. It is impropr to infr so without con r vidnc. Th dcision by Amin to xpl th Asians nds to b put historical contxt and thoroughly studid. Th Asian qustion was political hot potato which Obot himslf grappld with bfor h ovrthrow. In sktching Obot's biography in chaptr two, th author sn to giv th imprssion that th Prsidnt graduatd at Makr1 Univrsity with a Bachlor of Arts dgr: "At Makrr h took an ar dgr" (p.ll). This is rathr mislading bcaus for rasons th

5 UfAlHIAMU 217 r, in th u ;or land a), ity li, ~.) of :m h ry to nd ng n,.., rd IUt in ly ts, :ir r.at lts m t in a is ls r ts at rmain unclar to th rsarchr, Obot did not complt his cours at th Univrsity. In his discussion of "Ethnic Harmony-Pac and Scurity", th titl of chaptr thr of th book, th author contradicts himslf on many occasions. For instanc, h claims that "rligion should not b mixd with politics" (p.47). Almost immdiatly, th author admits that "...indpndnt rligious groups hav playd a vry important rol in th political lif of Uganda" (p. 47). On would xpct that th author who has bn ditor of th wll-known journal, Africa Quartrly, and th author of Knya: Politics of Indpndnc and India and Non-Alignmnt- thrfor a scholar with a long and clos intrst in political dvlopmnts in East Africa - would hav bn mor carful in corrctly splling th nams of crtain Ugandan individuals and placs. Such splling rrors as "Kkyon", instad of Nkyon (p. 63); "Oboya", instad of Okoya (p. 94); "Kbdi", instad of Kibdi (p. 99); "Busibma", instad of Busitma (p. 139); "Bushini", instad of Bushnyi (p. 180); and many othrs, cannot b takn lightly. It dos not only show th author's carlssnss, it also indicats that prhaps th book was hurridly producd, probably for political rasons. Akna Adoko's From Obot 10 Obot is in many rspcts rlatd to Dr. Gupta's Obot: Scond Libration. Akna Adoko, Obot's cousin is a social anthropologist and a lawyr. During Obot I, h was th had of th Gnral Srvic Unit, (Uganda's 'FBI'). H was thrfor at th nrv cntr of Obot's ftrst prsidncy. H, howvr, playd a priphral rol during Obot 11 Whil in xil in Tanzania, Akna rcordd Uganda's post-indpndnc history in his favorit styl-idiosyncratic blank vrs. This uniqu styl of writing political litratur has its own mrits; for many, it facilitats th grasping of th complxitis and intricacis of th Uganda political arna. Blow is a fair sampl of th author's writing: Th story of Uganda ~trindpndnc Is on of th most touching In th annals of Africa It is a story That inflams Passions. It is a story Of conflicts and battls Of monarchis swpt away, Of xprimntation in socialism, Of military tyranny,

6 II Book Rviws Of trror and dspair, Of rsistanc against dsprat odds, Of two prsidnts lctd ovrnight By a handful of popl And ach of thm toppld Bfor ruling for twlv months. In sum, it can b obsrvd that both books propound 'scond libration' thsis in contmporary Ugandan history. Th cn thsis is that, th act of 'fring' Uganda from th Amin dictatorshij 1979, was in itslf th 'scond libration' of th country, th 'first' 1 having bn from British colonialism at th tim of indpndnc Howvr, th so calld "scond libration" thory propoun~ by th authors and by Obot himslf is controvrsial. Th 'fring Uganda from th Amin dictatorship was not an act of libration; it, an armd war btwn th armis of two nighboring countric Uganda and Tanzania. Th rsult of this war was th dfat of Uganda army and th gross violation of Uganda's trritorial intgj and indpndnc - a violation of intrnational law, which is by< dscription in such a short rviw. Tanzania's intrst in rmov Arnin from powr lay in gopolitics rathr than in humanitarianism. bad hardly anything to do with stopping th violation of human ~ proprty rights in Uganda. Th war was a Tanzanian solution rmov th Amin rgim- a rgim which was prcivd to b hostih Tanzania, and to rstor Obot (by thn Prsidnt Julius Nyr1 frind) to th Ugandan prsidncy. Dspit som tchnical problms spcially in Dr. Gupta's pi both books ar valuabl studis that add to th historiography contmporary Uganda. Thy provid usful avnus for a mor dtai rsarch in th continuing "Uganda Crisis". P. Godfry Okoth Dpartmnt of History Univrsity of California, Los Angls, California.