Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor

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Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor
Apollo Milton Obote
ConstituencyTeso
Member of the Teso District Council
In office
1952 – Tuesday 9 October 1962
Personal details
Born1 November 1920
Kiiya, Omasia Parish, Magoro Sub-County, Katakwi District, Uganda
Died19 May 2012
Omodoi, Soroti, Uganda
Political partyKenya African National Union 1947 until 1951

Uganda National Congress 1954 until 1960

Apollo Milton Obote
imprisoned him between 1969 and 1971, although he rejoined the party upon his release)

Democratic Party (Uganda) 1982 until 1984

Nationalist Liberal Party 1984 until 1986

National Resistance Movement 1986 until 2001

City College Coventry
OccupationPolitician, minister
ProfessionMinister, politician
CabinetCabinet of Uganda

Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor (1 November 1920 – 19 May 2012) was a longtime Ugandan minister and legislator. He was a minister and a political prisoner for the Apollo Milton Obote regime after he opposed Obote's extension of power while Obwangor was a minister.[1]

Early life

Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor was born in Kiiya Village, Omasia Parish, Katakwi District, Eastern Region, Uganda on 1 November 1920.[2] He is a member of the Iteso ethnic group.[3]

Education

He attended

City College Coventry and the Railway Traffic School in Nairobi, Kenya from 1942 to 1946.[4]

Career

Business

After graduating from the Railway Traffic School, Obwangor worked in Kenya at the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation before returning to Uganda in 1951.[5] He first entered politics in Kenya, when he worked for Jomo Kenyatta and the Kenya African National Union executive council.[1] Upon his return to Teso sub-region, he became a prominent businessperson in Magoro within the Magoro market where he built and ran a restaurant.[4][6]

Political career

Pre-Independence

In 1952, Obwangor entered

Uganda Protectorate.[2] He was a founding member of the Uganda National Congress, the first legal political party in Uganda that later merged into the Uganda People's Congress in 1960.[7]

Obote Government

After the

Republic of Uganda.[8] Obwangor represented Teso again in the Parliament of Uganda. Ethnic conflict threatened to spry up after the independence of Uganda, and ethnic groups were naming kings to fight for their respective ethnic groups, and the traditionally kingless ITeso people attempted to name Obwangor as Iteso king, but Obwangor refused as he was dedicated to a multi-ethnic unified Uganda.[9]

Obwangor was a committed member of the Uganda People's Congress, the party of President Apollo Milton Obote that emerged from the pre-independence Uganda National Congress political party.[7] Obwangor served as the treasurer of the Uganda People's Congress from the party's creation in 1960 until 1967, during which he oversaw the finances of the construction of the Uganda House.[1]

During the

Ministry of Internal Affairs. Bataringaya assumed the role after he flipped parties and joined the Obote administration.[12]

After he left the

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in 1964, succeeding Grace Ibingira.[13][14][15] He also assumed the role of Minister of Housing and Labour in February 1966, serving in that role concurrently with being the Ugandan Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.[5] He remained as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Minister of Housing and Labour until May 1966, when he became Minister of Commerce and Industry of Uganda.[4]

Imprisonment

Obwangor, then minister of Commerce and Industry in Uganda, began to fall out of favor of President

Apollo Milton Obote when he spoke out in favor of restraints on the presidential power in Uganda,[16] with the following an excerpt from the journal of the Parliament of Uganda with his speech on 11 July 1967:

'I love the present President. He knows me thoroughly and I know him intimately.' He was not a machine, but even in machines there were limitations. Mr. Obwangor said that in his opinion it would be unfair to impose all the powers of the State on him. The essential factor in a modem state was the balance of power. It would be ridiculous if the Constituent Assembly vested all the powers in one man. He strongly felt that the office of Prime Minister should be created. He should be the head of government to assist the President. The creation of such an office would relieve the President and would leave him with the work pertaining to such an important office. Mr. Obwangor suggested that the principle of collective responsibility between the Cabinet Ministers and the President should be held to.[17]

— Nelson Kasfir, The 1967 Uganda Constituent Assembly Debate: Increasing Presidential Powers, Transition, No. 33 (Oct. - Nov. 1967), pp. 52-56 (Oct. - Nov. 1967)

After this disagreement and pushback upon

Apollo Milton Obote's life, wounding him.[18] The assassination attempt was allegedly led by Baganda civilians.[19] Despite this, Obwangor along with Benedicto Kiwanuka, Paul Ssemogerere, Mathias Ngobi, and others were arrested, allegedly on the orders of Basil Kiiza Bataringaya and Felix Kenyi Onama.[1] Obwangor was arrested at his home in Soroti while he was his with his children.[1] He was taken to Luzira Maximum Security Prison by way of Mbale, and he was imprisoned at the Luzira Maximum Security Prison. In a 2012 interview, Obwangor alleged that because he was a political prisoner, "there was no mistreatment" while he was imprisoned in Luzira Maximum Security Prison.[1]

On 2 February 1971, the new

head of state of Uganda Idi Amin released Obwangor, along with all other political prisoners in Uganda.[20]

Post Imprisonment career

Obwangor reentered the political arena following his release, rejoining the

Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere for the leadership of the Democratic Party (Uganda).[21]

In 1986, Obwangor left the Nationalist Liberal Party, joining the National Resistance Movement party led by the new Head of State of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.[1] He was appointed by Yoweri Museveni in 1989 to serve as a member of the Justice Benjamin Josses Odoki led Uganda Constitutional Commission, which was tasked with reforming the Constitution of Uganda.[23]

In 1997, Obwangor left the National Resistance Movement, rejoining his original political party the Uganda People's Congress, although he left them after four years becoming a political independent which he remained until his death, stating in a 2007 interview that "politics is like wind, you move with the current affairs and temperature of the time".[1]

Obwangor was also committed to improving educational services for the poor of Uganda. Between 1986 and 1990 during the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, many members of the afflicted areas fled to the more stable town of Soroti, Obwangor's hometown. This led Obwangor to help establish a school for displaced children at Moru Apesur in Soroti Town.[24]

Death

Obwangor passed away on 18 May 2012 at 93 years old. He died at his daughter's, Angela Margaret Itinot's home, in Omodoi, Soroti, Uganda.[1] Obwangor had a large state funeral that turned into a political affair. Members of the Uganda People's Congress fought with members of the National Resistance Movement at the funeral in Katakwi over who should speak, with the National Resistance Movement claiming the Uganda People's Congress neglected Obwangor in his time of need and therefore MP Olara Otunnu, a leader of the Uganda People's Congress, should be forbidden from speaking, something that resulted in brawls at the funeral until Otunnu was allowed to address the funeral.[25]

Legacy

Obwangor House at Teso College Aloet was named in honor of Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor.[26] The website for the school says that:

Obwangor House was named in honour of the political boss of First Teso District at the time, Cuthbert Joseph Obwangor, for his immense contribution to the development of Teso. Obwangor was the first Itesot to represent Teso district in Uganda's parliament. Obwangor House has a capacity of 128 students, and is closest to the dining hall. It has generally performed the best in sports and during inspections.

— Teso College Aloet, O-LEVEL Dormitories, Teso College Aloet: Our Infrastructure (2019)

Personal life

He built his home, the Alakara House on Obwangor Road Soroti, Uganda in 1968. He lived there with his eight children and his wife, Anna Maria Abura.[1]

Obwangor is a Catholic.[27]

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mubangizi, Michael (22 May 2012). "Feature: The life and times of Cuthbert Obwangor". The Observer. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b Who's Who in East Africa 1967–68 (First ed.). Nairobi: Marco Publishing Ltd, Nairobi. 1968. p. 238.
  3. ^ Odongtho, Charles. "Museveni Mourns Former Minister Obwangor". Uganda Radio Network. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Wilson, E. G. (1966). Who's Who in East Africa 1965 – 1966. Nairobi, Kenya: Marco Publishers (Africa) Limited. p. 390.
  5. ^ a b Deutsche Afrika-Gesellschaft (1965). Afrikanische Köpfe 1962–1965. 27 Lieferungen, Bonn.
  6. ISBN 9781786390769
    .
  7. ^ a b Apter, D E (1961). The Political Kingdom in Uganda. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 334.
  8. ^ "History of Parliament". Parliament of the Republic of Uganda. 2016. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  9. ISBN 9789987160358
    .
  10. ^ "Uganda's first cabinet ministers in 1962". Daily Monitor. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  11. ^ Taylor, Sidney (1967). The New Africans: A Guide to the Contemporary History of Emergent Africa and Its Leaders. Putnam.
  12. ISBN 9780958384667. Archived from the original
    on 12 January 2019.
  13. ^ Bulletin. International Commission of Jurists. 1964.
  14. ^ The Constitution of Uganda, 15th April, 1966. Govt. printer (Uganda). 1966.
  15. ^ Official Report. 1965.
  16. JSTOR 2934118
    .
  17. JSTOR 2934118
    .
  18. JSTOR 40394478
    .
  19. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  20. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  21. ^ a b Aber, Patience; Langalanga, Tony (14 October 2012). "Uganda: Veteran Democratic Party VP Dies, Aged 87". New Vision. Retrieved 26 November 2018.[dead link]
  22. ISBN 9781474292870
    .
  23. S2CID 154815713
    .
  24. ^ Otim, Richard; Otage, Stephen (21 April 2012). "Obwangor: The Teso Icon dies". The Daily Monitor. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  25. ^ Emwamu, Simon Peter; Otim, Richard (6 January 2012). "Opposition, NRM clash at Obwangor's funeral rites". Daily Monitor. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  26. ^ "Teso College Aloet: Our Campus Infrastructure". Teso College Aloet. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  27. ^ Otim, Richard; Naulele, Simon (13 October 2005). "Uganda: Teso Mourns 'Father of Nation'". All Africa. New Vision. Retrieved 16 April 2019.[dead link]
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