Felix Kenyi Onama (born ; died before 2002) was a

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n politician, who served as a minister in the government of

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, ...

(1962–71).

Biography

A Madi, Onama was born in the West Nile District. He was educated at St Mary's College, Kisubi, and

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

. He served as leader of the Ugandan People's Congress (UPC) in the neglected West Nile District, holding political views described as "near reactionary", compared with radical parts of the party. He also served as general manager for the West Nile Co-operative Union, handling

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

ning, from 1960 until 1962. He served as Minister of Works and Labour (1962–63), Minister of Internal Affairs (1963–65) and then as Defence Minister from 1966, giving him responsibility for both the police and the military. Onama believed he had close ties with the military, so when in January 1964, there was a mutiny at the military barracks at Jinja, Uganda's second city and home to a burgeoning military, he was sent by Obote to Jinja to negotiate with the mutineers. Onama was held hostage, beaten and had his shirt torn. Under duress, he agreed to many of their demands, including significant pay increases for the army, and the rapid promotion of many officers. In 1965–66, Onama was embroiled in the " Gold Scandal" that hit Uganda. Daudi Ochieng, from the Kabaka Yekka party, alleged that some members of the government including Felix Onama, the Prime Minister Obote and Idi Amin, had benefited financially from the sale of gold and elephant tusks from the Congo due to Uganda Army's operations in that country, all of which was contested by Onama. Following the tightening of party discipline which followed the gold crisis, Onama emerged as the leader of the 'conservative' faction of the UPC, favouring state support for existing businessmen, rather than the

state capitalism State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital accumulation, ...

increasingly espoused by Obote. In 1968, he was elected secretary-general of the Ugandan People's Congress for a seven-year term, although this was ultimately curtailed by the coup of 1971. By 1970 he was a large scale landowner, and owned a bus line, which was nationalised alongside foreign businesses under the terms of the Nakivubo Pronouncement. Amin, who had taken power in the coup, did not trust Onama and briefly placed him under house arrest in 1972. Onama would later be one of the leaders of the Uganda National Rescue Front.

Personal life

Onama married Semmy, sister of Milton Obote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onama, Kenyi Felix 1920s births Defense ministers of Uganda Government ministers of Uganda People of the Ugandan Bush War Ugandan people taken hostage Year of death missing