Robert Serumaga
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Robert Bellarmino Serumaga (1939 – September 1980) was a
Ugandan Demographic features of the population of Uganda include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and others. Population According to the total population was in , comp ...
playwright. He was also an important political figure in Uganda during the late 1970s, being the leader and co-founder of the
Uganda Nationalist Organization The Uganda Nationalist Organization (abbreviated UNO) was a militant opposition group composed of politically conservative Ugandans who wanted to overthrow Idi Amin, President and dictator of Uganda in the 1970s. UNO operated from 1978 to 1980 ...
militant group and Minister of Commerce in the government of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Yusuf Lule Yusuf Kironde Lule (10 April 1912 – 21 January 1985) was a Ugandan professor and politician who served as the fourth president of Uganda between 13 April and 20 June 1979. Early life and career Yusuf Lule was born on 10 April 1912 in Kampala ...
.


Life

Born to a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
family in
Buganda Buganda is a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the List of current non-sovereign African monarchs, traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Ug ...
, Serumaga was raised by his mother, Geraldine Namotovu. He won scholarships to study at St Mary's College, Kisubi and St Henry's College, Kitovu. He studied economics at
Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...
, where he encountered
Irish theatre The history of Irish theatre begins in the Middle Ages and was for a long time confined to the courts of the Gaelic and "Old English" – descendants of 12th-century Norman invaders – inhabitants of Ireland. The first theatre building in Ir ...
and the Theatre of the Absurd. He returned to
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 ...
in 1966"Robert Serumaga", ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance''
Reprinted online
at answers.com.
or 1967. Initially employed as a government economist, he soon moved towards the theatre. He founded the
National Theatre Company The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...
in 1967, writing ''A Play'' (1967), ''The Elephants'' (1970) and ''Majangwa'' (1971) for it. These plays were all influenced by absurdism, the lack of narrative action mirroring the stagnation of Ugandan society under
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, ...
. In 1971, the year
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, ...
came to power, Serumaga founded a private theatre group made up of fourteen school leavers. Initially known as Theatre Limited, the group was later renamed the Abafumi ("Storyteller") Theatre Company. Serumaga drew on the theories of
Constantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( rus, Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj, links=yes; ; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Sovie ...
and
Jerzy Grotowski Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today. He is considered one ...
to train his company in the psychological identification of actor and character. More fundamentally, he created a new dramatic form for Abafumi. By means of an abstract drama of physical movement and dance, political criticism of Amin could be enacted without censorship: ''Amayrikitti'' was even performed at Amin's invitation at the 1974
Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...
Meeting in Kampala, with Amin describing it approvingly as "gymnastics". Becoming disillusioned with Amin, Serumaga left Uganda in 1977."Robert Serumaga", in Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy & Virginia Coulon (eds), ''A New Reader's Guide to African Literature'', Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, pp. 482-4. In exile in the late 1970s, he became a major figure among the Ugandan opposition. At the time, he became well known as a
monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...
, supporting
Mutesa II Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II (19 November 1924 – 21 November 1969) was a Ugandan royal and statesman who served as the first president of Uganda from 1962 to 1966, when he was overthrown by Milton O ...
, the deposed
Kabaka of Buganda Kabaka is the title of the monarch, king of the Buganda, Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda, they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual and the othe ...
. He became involved in militant opposition groups such as the
Save Uganda Movement The Save Uganda Movement (abbreviated SUM) was a militant Ugandan opposition group which fought against the Second Republic of Uganda, government of President of Uganda, President Idi Amin from 1973 to 1979. Described as "specialists in sabotage" ...
, and co-founded the
Uganda Nationalist Organization The Uganda Nationalist Organization (abbreviated UNO) was a militant opposition group composed of politically conservative Ugandans who wanted to overthrow Idi Amin, President and dictator of Uganda in the 1970s. UNO operated from 1978 to 1980 ...
(UNO) in 1978. In late 1978, the
Uganda–Tanzania War The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: ''Vita vya Kagera'') and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugand ...
, whereupon Serumaga helped to organize armed UNO fighters to assist the Tanzanians against Amin's regime. He trained as fighter at the
Tarime Tarime is a large town in northwestern Mara Region, Tanzania. The town is the location of the district capital of Tarime District. The main Tanzania-Kenyan border crossing in Sirari is less than 20km away from Tarime and can be reached by follo ...
rebel camp. However, two rebel raids into Uganda which Serumaga helped to organize ended in complete failure. Regardless, there were discussions among the opposition in March 1979 which included Serumaga as one of those who could be appointed as president once Amin was removed. Serumaga was ultimately part of the pro-Tanzanian
Uganda National Liberation Army The Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) was a political group formed by exiled Ugandans opposed to the rule of military dictator Idi Amin. The UNLF had an accompanying military wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). UNLA fought alo ...
that helped to oust Amin in April 1979. As supporter of newly installed Ugandan President Yusuf Lule, Serumaga initially served as assistant minister before being appointed Minister of Commerce. However, Lule's government was short-lived. When Lule was removed from office amid general political turmoil and replaced by
Godfrey Binaisa Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa QC (30 May 1920 – 5 August 2010) was a Ugandan lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of Uganda from June 1979 to May 1980. Earlier, he was Attorney General of Uganda from 1962 to 1968. At the time o ...
, Serumaga went back into exile and announced the reactivation of the Uganda Nationalist Organization. He was alleged to have seized a "missing arms depot", and journalist
Victoria Brittain Victoria Brittain (born 1942) is a British journalist and author who lived and worked for many years in Africa, the US, and Asia, including 20 years at ''The Guardian'', where she eventually became associate foreign editor. In the 1980s, she wor ...
judged at the time that Serumaga's group could "cause difficulties in Uganda". However, Serumaga died in mysterious circumstances in
Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
in 1980, reportedly of a brain haemorrhage. The Serumaga Organization, a
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
run by Serumaga's daughter, is named in his memory.Serumaga Organization
/ref>


Works


Plays

* ''A Play'' (produced 1967) * ''The Elephants'' (produced 1970). Published as ''The Elephants'', Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1971. * ''Majangwa'' (produced 1971). Published as ''Majangwa: A Promise of Rains and a Play'', Nairobi, East African Publishing House, 1974. * ''Renga Moi'' (produced 1972) * ''Amayirikitti'' (produced 1974)


Novels

* ''Return to the Shadows'', London: Heinemann, 1969.
African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...
No. 54. New York: Atheneum, 1970.


References


Works cited

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serumaga, Robert Ugandan dramatists and playwrights 1939 births 1980 deaths Uganda National Liberation Front politicians 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Save Uganda Movement