A LIFE LIVED IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY
AUTHOR: FRANCIS BUTAGIRA
PAGES: 136 PP
Available at all major bookshops
Francis Butagira has lived through the major inflection
points of this country since Independence. It is always a pleasure to read the
accounts of such people’s lives in their own words. In some ways their story
pace second fiddle to the context in which the lived and their hand in forging
our nation.
There is a lot that has been lost or is being lost, because a
few good men refused or were unwilling to tell their story. This is important
because one day these disparate accounts will be the source material for a
proper telling of recent history.
In as far as Butagira contributes to this quest he cannot be
faulted, his story will be a useful addition to the telling of this country’s
history.
Butagira it will be remembered was the speaker of parliament
between 1981 and 1985, during the second Obote regime. He came to the position
by way of being MP for Mbarara West, which he contested under the Uganda People’s
Congress (UPC) badge. He defeated current trade minister Francis Mwebesa in the
1980 elections.
But before that like many of his generation he graduates
from a rural background to an urban, even cosmopolitan one – he served as
Ugandan Ambassador to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)UN and Germany before
his retirement.
Looking at these elders accounts’, it’s clear that the tools for poverty eradication are within our grasp. While one can argue there was less competition in their time, the high percentage play remains stay healthy and go to school as as the surest means to social climbing...
The child of a parish chief, one may argue he was literally
born with a silver spoon in his mouth, compared to the people around him, but
you have to give him credit for taking full advantage of it unlike his other
siblings.
He studied law In Dar es Salaam before doing his post grad
in Harvard, was a judge of the high court before the allure of politics came
calling.
Interestingly he became ambassador during the NRM era
despite his roots being in UPC. He leaves us hanging on how he crossed to the Movement
despite the hysterical protests of his leader, then exiled in Lusaka, Zambia. There
must have been some moral dilemma there in breaking away from UPC, especially since
he too maintains that charges of election rigging in 1980 were not true. He leaves
us none the wiser.
The allegation of election rigging by UPC in 1980 served as
the public basis for President Yoweri Museveni and his band of men going to the
bush in 1981 and therefore a major sticking point between UPC and NRM.
The book sprints through his diplomatic career, which begun at
the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) headquarters in Addis Ababa. There are interesting
tit bits about negotiations with spirit medium Alice Lakwena, while he was high
commissioner to Kenya. Lakwena was then a refugee in Kenya and wanted to return.
Lakwena was the predecessor of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) chief Jospeh Kony,
she led the rebel Holy Spirit Movement, brainwashing her followers to believe
that by smearing special oils on themselves, would make them immune to government
fire, an adventure that did not end well for scores of Acholi youth.
Maybe bound to secrecy, but during his time as a ambassador were some of the most hectic times for the country. One imagines our involvements in the Democratic Republic of Congo must have had him working overtime at the UN, our transition to multi-party democracy and other questions about governance in Uganda must have exercised him as a diplomat...
Nevertheless, he is understandably proud of his work as diplomat,
that being the biggest chapter in the book, given his longevity in the foreign
service he must have served his country well.
Though short on detail, the book is competent record of a
period of much interest in our country through one man’s eyes. It is a quick
read, a broad-brush stroke through the life and times of the author. It would
be served well by an update, where the author fleshes out more about his role,
thoughts and perceptions about the key events in our history to which he was
privy.
The book is to be launched on Thursday, 20th July
at Protea in Kololo and along with it “International Diplomacy” a compilation of
his speeches and interventions at the UN.
