Mutesa II of Buganda

Edward Mutesa.

Sir Edward Mutesa II, KBE (November 19, 1924 - November 21, 1969) was the kabaka (king) of Buganda from 1939 until his death, and President of Uganda from 1963 to 1966.

His full name was Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa. He was often referred to as King Freddie in the foreign press, a nickname that was never widely used in Uganda. As king he was also leader of the Baganda people, the largest of the many ethnic groups in Uganda.

Mutesa was educated at King's College, Budo, a prestigious school in Uganda. He became the King of Buganda in 1939 upon the death of his father, King Daudi Cwa II. He attended Magdalene College, Cambridge in England where he joined an officer training corps and was commissioned as a captain in the Grenadier Guards. At that time, Buganda was part of the British protectorate of Uganda.

The years between 1945 and 1950 saw widespread protests against both the British Governor's and King Mutesa's governments. In the early 1950s the British Government floated the idea of uniting British East Africa (Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika) into a federation. Africans feared that this would lead to their coming under the control of Kenya's white settler community, as had happened in Rhodesia. The Baganda, fearing they would lose the limited autonomy they had under British rule, were particularly opposed. Mutesa opposed the proposal, and thus came into conflict with the British Governor, Sir Andrew Cohen. Cohen deposed and exiled the Kabaka in 1953, creating massive protest among the Baganda. After two years in exile Mutesa was allowed to return to the throne under a negotiated settlement which made him a constitutional monarch and gave the Baganda the right to elect representatives to the kingdom's parliament, the Lukiiko. Mutesa's standing up to the Governor greatly boosted his popularity in the kingdom.

Mutesa returned to Uganda and his throne in 1955. In 1962 Uganda became independent from Britain under the leadership of Milton Obote. Under the country's new constitution Buganda Kingdom was a semi-autonomous part of a federation. The federal Prime Minister was Obote, leader of the Uganda People's Congress, which was in a governing coalition with the dominant Buganda regional party, Kabaka Yekka. The post of Governor General was abolished in 1963 and replaced by a non-executive president, a post that Mutesa held.

The coalition between Mutesa and Obote's parties collapsed in 1964 over the matter of a referendum which transferred two counties from Buganda to Bunyoro.

In 1966 Mutesa's estrangement from Obote merged with another crisis. Obote faced a possible removal from office by factional infighting within his own party. He had the other four leading members of his party arrested and detained, and then suspended the constitution and declared himself President in February 1966, deposing Mutesa. The Buganda regional Parliament passed a resolution in May 1966 declaring that Buganda's incorporation into Uganda had de jure ended with the suspension of the constitution and asking the federal government to vacate the capital, which is in Buganda. Obote responded with an armed attack upon the King's palace, sending Mutesa into exile in Britain, and a new constitution in 1967 which abolished all of Uganda's kingdoms, including Buganda.

While in exile Mutesa wrote a published autobiography, "The Desecration of My Kingdom".

Death

Mutesa died of alcohol poisoning in his London flat in 1969. Identified by the British police as suicide, the death has been viewed as assassination by those who claim Mutesa may have been force-fed vodka by agents of the Obote regime. Mutesa was interviewed in his flat only a few hours before his death by the British journalist John Simpson, who found that he was sober and in good spirits. Simpson reported this to the police the following day on hearing of Mutesa's death, although this line of enquiry was not pursued.

Mutesa's body was returned to Uganda in 1971 after the overthrow of Obote and given a state funeral. Ironically, the new President who ordered the state funeral was Idi Amin, who as Army Commander had led the assault on Mutesa's palace in 1966.

See also

• Uganda
• President of Uganda
• Politics of Uganda
• History of Uganda
• Political parties of Uganda

Further reading

• Buganda - The Abalasangeye Dynasty - Genealogy