Grace Ibingira
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Grace Stuart Katebariirwe Ibingira (23 May 1932 – December 1995) was a Ugandan lawyer and politician.


Early life

Grace Ibingira was born on 23 May 1932 in Ibanda County, Ankore District,
Uganda Protectorate The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Br ...
. His father, Alfred Katebarirwe, was a Gombolola chief. From 1942 until 1950 he attended Mbarara High School. The following year he enrolled in
King's College Budo King’s College Budo is a mixed, residential, secondary school in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda (Buganda). Location The school is located on Budo hill, Naggalabi Hill, in southern Wakiso District, off the Kampala-Masaka Road. This loc ...
. He graduated in 1953 with a grade one Cambridge School Certificate. Subsequently taking up the study of law, he graduated in 1958 ''magna cum laude'' from the University College Wales, Aberystwyth. Ibingira finished his studies in 1959 with a year of postgraduate work at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. He was then
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
by
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...
, being listed as a barrister of the Supreme Court of England. That same year he went to
Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
to serve as an advocate for the Uganda High Court.


Political career


Entry into politics

In 1960, Ibingira cofounded the
Uganda People's Congress The Uganda People's Congress (UPC; ) is a political party in Uganda. UPC was founded in 1960 by Milton Obote, who led the country to independence alongside UPC member of parliament A.G. Mehta. Obote later served two presidential terms un ...
(UPC) political party with
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, ...
and Abu Mayanja. Obote became the leader of the party while Ibingira became its legal adviser. His political support derived from four areas: the UPC
political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership c ...
based in Ankore, southern municipal and district politicians who felt threatened by Obote's populist appeal, conservative intellectuals who found Obote's image drab and unimpressive, and Edward Mutesa, the Kabaka (king) of Buganda.


Ugandan independence

Ibingira was elected to the Uganda Legislative Council in 1960 by the Ankore Eishengyero (district council). The Democratic Party (DP) won a majority in Uganda's first free national elections in 1961, and formed a government. The UPC members and traditionalist Baganda disliked the
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
orientation of the DP, but were diametrically opposed to each others' ideals. Despite this, Ibingira was given the responsibility of making contact with the Baganda to establish an alliance. The UPC chose him for the role because he was personally acquainted with Mutesa. After several rounds of negotiation, the UPC and Baganda leaders held a conference whereupon an agreement was reached. Soon afterwards the Baganda created the
Kabaka Yekka Kabaka Yekka, commonly abbreviated as KY, was a monarchist political movement and party in Uganda. ''Kabaka Yekka'' means 'king only' in the Ganda language, Kabaka being the title of the King in the kingdom of Buganda. History Formation ...
(KY), a traditionalist party that entered into an alliance with the UPC. Following the UPC's victory in the April 1962 general elections, Obote was tasked with forming a government. He chose Ibingira to serve as Minister of Justice. Ibingira also played an influential role in determining the look of the
Flag of Uganda The national flag of Uganda () was adopted on 9 October 1962, the day that the nation became independent from the British Empire. It consists of six equal horizontal bands of black, yellow, and red from top to bottom. A white disc is superimpose ...
, chairing a committee charged with drafting a design and suggesting that the standard be modeled off of the West German Flag. Uganda became independent on 9 October 1962.


Rivalry with Obote

Ibingira felt that Obote was not educated enough to serve as Prime Minister of Uganda and believed that he had been given the position solely because of his anti-colonial rhetoric. In 1964 Ibingira initiated a struggle to gain control of the UPC with the ultimate goal of deposing Obote from the party presidency. At a party conference in April he challenged John Kakonge for the secretariat-general of the UPC. He convinced Obote that Kakonge posed a threat to his leadership of the UPC. With Obote's support, Ibingira ousted Kakonge by two votes. He used his new position to purge the party of a number of leftists and endorsed the abolition of the UPC Youth League. Meanwhile, Mutesa increasingly feared that the UPC would deny his kingdom its traditional autonomy. He concluded that in order to retain power he would have to garner influence in national politics. Mutesa proceeded to instruct Baganda MPs to join the UPC with the goal of bolstering Ibingira's position and unseating Obote, thus allowing for a reorientation of the UPC-KY alliance that would be more favorable to Buganda. As his working relationship with Mutesa improved, Ibingira amassed a coalition of non-Baganda southerners, dubbed the "Bantu Group". In December 1964 he, under the cover of checking on his ranch in Ankore, traveled to the United States to raise funds to support anti-
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
causes. Upon his return, he successfully used the money to expand his following. The following year Ibingira played a key role in passing an amendment to the Police Ordinance through Parliament that allowed the police to disperse any public meeting or assembly. By then it was apparent that the UPC had divided into an Ibingira-led wing and an Obote-led wing. When Ibingira attempted to convene a UPC conference in his capacity as party secretary general, the police—acting under the authority of the new statute—shut it down. In early 1966 a banker leaked the financial records of
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
, a soldier in the Ugandan army who had close ties with Prime Minister Obote. The documents implicated Amin in illicit gold trafficking along the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
border. A motion tabled in Parliament charged Amin with corruption and accused Obote of being complicit in his actions. The UPC resolved to reject it. However, on 4 February, while Obote was away from
Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
, the capital, Ibingira convinced the cabinet to recognise the complaint. When Obote returned eleven days later, he was unable to dissuade his ministers from proceeding with an investigation. The cabinet attempted to convene on 22 February to appoint a commission of inquiry into the matter, but Obote had the police interrupt the meeting and place Ibingira and four other ministers under arrest. They were transferred to Karamoja as per a colonial law that allowed for the detention and removal of "undesirable" persons. Ibingira and the ministers petitioned the courts for a writ of ''
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
''. A Uganda High Court judge found the detention legal and denied the petition, but the East African Court of Appeal ruled that the relevant law violated a Ugandan citizen's constitutional right to freedom of movement and ordered a writ of ''habeas corpus'' to be granted. Ibingira and his colleagues were immediately rearrested outside the court in Baganda under the colonial Emergency Regulations and the government passed the Deportation Act to cover its actions. Ibingira and the other ministers filed a new suit, but in a hearing the court affirmed the legality of the new law.


Post-Obote career

On 25 January 1971 Amin launched a military coup, ousting Obote and seizing power. He released Ibingira along with 54 other political prisoners three days later and appointed him Uganda's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Ibingira later went into exile. When a Tanzanian invasion threatened the Ugandan regime, he promoted Yusuf Lule as a potential successor to Amin. Ibingira attended the Moshi Conference in March 1979 where Ugandan exiles elected Lule to succeed Amin once he was deposed. Lule appointed Ibingira Minister of Information on 7 June 1979. His addition to the cabinet particularly upset the National Consultative Committee. On 19 June Lule removed Ibingira from his cabinet and made him Ambassador to the UN. In 1980 Ibingira published a book, entitled, ''African Upheavals since Independence''. He died in December 1995.


Citations


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibingira, Grace 1932 births 1995 deaths Uganda People's Congress politicians Ministers of justice of Uganda Alumni of Aberystwyth University