John Ssebaana Kizito
16 March 2008
opinion
When I was at Budo in 1953, the British government exiled the Kabaka of Buganda [Muteesa II]. We were greatly touched. All students of Budo from Buganda decided to boycott English or British things like watches. We threw them away, we went without shoes for the whole month, and I changed my name - Ssebaana
My father died when I was about six years old. It is my sister who took me in. We were three in our family and I was the youngest. I had a brother and a sister, and both are dead now. So in the early years I went to my sister's school - Bishop's School where she taught. Later on, I went to live with my uncle. He is the one who looked after me all those years my sister was being transferred from one school to the next.
FLASHBACK: Ssebaana (middle, standing) looks on as the Chairman of the National Insurance Corporation, Mr C. M. Wakiro (seated centre), and the Director of the Shamji Narji and Bros Construction Company (seated right), sign an agreement to construct a 10-storey second phase of the headquarters of the National Insurance Corporation in Kampala in the 1970s. Courtesy photo
My uncle had two sons and four daughters. Some of them were about the same age as I was, so it was a good encouragement for me to study with them. One of them is Prof. [Phares] Mutibwa, [an historian]. He is my brother because he is the son of my uncle who brought me up.
My uncle wanted me to be a farmer. He wanted me to study agriculture. He shaped me that way. I didn't have objections but at the same time I wanted business. My brain was good enough to carry me through. When I went to Makerere there was a choice of many courses.
I went into economics. I was attracted by that subject. It was a new subject at Makerere. I wanted to try out something new, which is the fascination of youth. When I was at Budo in 1953, the British government exiled the Kabaka of Buganda [Muteesa II].
We were greatly touched. All students of Budo from Buganda decided to boycott English or British things like watches. We threw them away, we went without shoes for the whole month, and I changed my name. Previously, I was writing John S. Kizito.
From that day I changed; it was the John that I abbreviated and then got out Ssebaana. Nsubuga Nsambu was one of them, Prince Karamagi of Tooro, John Walusimbi, and Norman Shalita who [later became] a permanent secretary.
Then I said, from now on I am going to join politics. I was not active at all. When I was in Makerere, I was a student leader. I was in Nkrumah Hall. We used to call it New Hall at the time. I was a leader of the hall. I was a member of the Guild Representative Council - the students' parliament. Later on I became acting guild president when the guild president, a man called Mawejje, was expelled from Makerere for political reasons. From there, I went to the United States.
In my last year at Makerere, the teaching staff was joined by Mwai Kibaki, who is now the President of Kenya. He taught for about six months and resigned to become the administrative secretary of the Kenya African National Union.
As a person who was fighting for the independence of Uganda, I was so impressed because to become a lecturer at Makerere you must have passed very well and that is what Kibaki was. And it was a top paying job. So when I went to the United States I was meant to come back after school and also to help my party.
At that time, I was not a member of the Democratic Party. We had a party called the Progressive Party and I was the chairman or president for three years in Makerere. The other members were Mawajje; there is a woman now in the United States called Mary Kironde, she was my secretary; we had Matia Lubega, who is now in the Kabaka's government, and several others.
When I came back in 1963, Uganda was already independent and the political scene was different from what I had left because my party had joined with Kabaka Yekka. When I looked around, I said I cannot join KY because it was for Buganda alone and I was looking at Uganda. So I joined DP in 1963 until now.
I didn't join full time because the party I wanted to work full time for was no longer there. I wasn't a believer in religion or tribe. I still don't. Although I am a strong Muganda [and] I support the Kabaka, I am also a strong Ugandan.
I will tell you a story. One day, after coming back, I think I was walking with Joseph Lwanga in Kampala and then we met Benedicto Kiwanuka. He invited me to tea. I was hesitant. He said: have you ever sat with Ssenkagale (president-general) before?
I said no, and then went. While drinking tea somewhere in a restaurant, we discussed political issues. I wasn't a member of any party. I did not want to join UPC. After that, I joined DP, just like that.
At the time of independence I was in the United States. I did very well when I got my MBA and I was asked to go on and do a doctorate. Money was there, they were going to give me a scholarship.
I told them: look, I think I am educated enough, and my country has just gained independence. I must go back and help build my country. That is why I abandoned further studies because I was to do a course of 2-3 years and I was eager to come back and serve my country.
I was the first Ugandan at the University of Oregon. But two others came later. One was Prof. Eluko. He came to study physics. He got a PhD in physics. He came back and he was a professor of physics. The other was Kayondo Ssendi. He came one year [after me].
He became my roommate. We stayed together in the same students' hostel. Later on he studied the same course with me and he joined the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He worked there all his life and retired only recently.
When I joined DP, it didn't take long before DP was banned by the Obote I government. We stayed dormant, then Amin came, and the country was liberated. Before Lule came, [a few of us] formed ourselves into an active group and from there we built the party until the 1980 elections. When we built the party, my first office was treasurer of Kampala District.
After the elections we went to Parliament. While there, I was given the duty of shadow minister for foreign affairs. So it was my job to tell the world what actually was happening.
You remember those were the days when [Yoweri] Museveni was in the bush and a lot of atrocities were being carried out by the government of Obote. It was my duty to tell the world that this is happening. I had a lot of contacts with foreign embassies.
I used to visit them, they used to visit me. They used to visit all sorts of places I could not go to. They were there because of diplomatic immunity. It was a very tough job. One time while in London, I appeared on BBC's Focus on Africa programme, and I told them about the atrocities - people who had been imprisoned without any charges, people who had been killed. I had a long list. I enumerated all this on BBC.
I didn't know that at that time this fellow was in contact with Luwuliza Kirunda who was the minister of internal affairs and responsible for all this. So after my interview he got on air, Kirunda said: no that is a lie, we are going to deal with him when he comes. I got scared but I came back, I carried on.
While in the UK, I visited Amnesty International using my own money and risking my own life. You know Amnesty International is a very secretive thing that if you are going there, they will ask you to come off the bus at [a farther off] point.
And then they will explain to you that there is somebody in a blue suit expecting you. When he meets you, he doesn't take you the whole length of the journey. He delivers you to another one, who then delivers you to a third one.
That is all to kill any trace of your movement. And when you reach their offices, they close the door immediately and there was no open office. When you enter the office, there is another one inside which has no window at all. It was very dangerous.
That is why sometimes I get so annoyed when people say that those who fought are those who were in the bush. We were fighting the government of Obote II in Parliament itself and through these activities which I am talking about, through telling the world the truth about atrocities and I am sure that those people who were in the jungle fighting found their job easier when we convinced the international community.
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