Uganda’s 59th Independence Day Celebrations, what the post independence babies and senior citizens should be told about the colonial regime and the post independence governments. A brief insight of the history that is rarely told.
We are today marking 59 years of independence, We have some of the Ugandans who were teenagers at the time of our independence. These are sometimes called baby boomers. They are senior citizens now. But they have no first-hand experience of what it was like to live under colonialism.
On a day like this, we need to remind ourselves of what our independence really means. The founding fathers of our nation, the likes of Sir Edward Muteesa II, Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, Ignatius Musaazi Kangave , William Wilberforce Rwetsiba, Sir William Nadiope, Benedict Kiwanuka and others must be celebrating wherever they are because their resilient efforts to give us independence were not in vain.
When the British handed Uganda independence on 9th October, 1962, at the then Kololo Independence square, the Queen’s Representative, the Duke of Kent, handed over the Constitutional instruments of independence to the Executive Prime Minister, Milton Obote. Sir Edward Muteesa II, then- kabaka of Buganda kingdom and who, in 1963 was elected by the Parliament to be the first President of Uganda, stood next to Milton Obote during the ceremony.
Since then, Uganda has travelled a journey full of challenging economic and political changes. These changes made Uganda a unique country in Africa compared to other African countries.
Indeed, Uganda is the only country in East Africa that has had nine(9) Presidents since independence, compared to other African countries in the same region, which have had three(3) or four(4) Presidents since independence, even when most of them achieved it almost at the same time in 1960s.
Notably, colonialism embodies the indignity of being governed without your consent; consent that could only be expressed through democratic means. But to be colonised is more than being subjected to an unjust system of government, it is also an ugly infringement on all aspects of human life.
It is an arrogant denial of the colonised person’s physical and mental freedom. It is an affront to a person’s dignity and humanity, a brazen disrespect for his customs and his way of life; and all callous disregard of his development needs.
“Independence For All”
By Annet Nakanwagi,
