When Mutebile shook the country as a guild presidential candidate

Famed lawyer and businessman Elly Karuhanga has recalled how he went toe to toe with deceased Bank of Uganda governor Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile for the guild presidency of Makerere University in 1972.

Karuhanga, who would later go on to found Kampala Associated Advocates,  one of Uganda’s biggest law firms, says the contestation to be Makerere’s top student leader was so fierce it attracted even the attention of government leaders. 

He says, “He, I and others were running for Guild President. Our campaigns got the attention of the whole country and beyond. It was a campaign of two students that startled, galvanized and thrilled the nation. At the time, it was a campaign like none other. It was a two man horse race. It excited the country.” 

The two student politicians from humble backgrounds found themselves being offered all sorts of perks. He recalls, “We were offered open roof cars in motorcades to drive around the Campus and Kampala city.”  

Uganda was on edge at the time of this guild race with President Idi Amin newly in power after overthrowing Dr Milton Obote in 1971. Karuhanga could understand why Amin’s government was interested in the two antagonists, “At that  time, Amin had come to power and banned political activities in the country except at Makerere University.” 

Karuhanga found himself typecast almost from the start, “I was branded a Monarchist/Capitalist agitating for the return of the Kabaka and the restoration of kingdoms,” while Tumusiime-Mutebile was viewed as, “a Socialist and Pro-Obote.” 

Quite quickly the race began to look like a vote on the emergent Amin government and the regime it had just replaced which had been moving gradually towards a socialist ideology. 

Events on the national scale often affected how this race went day to day, Karuhanga remembers. For example, “Amin on the day of elections (August 4, 1972) he expelled Asians. I lost all my Capitalist Asian supporters. We were hosted on TV in live presidential style debates. We were front page headlines in the Kenya, Tanzania and Ugandan newspapers.” 

A world trying to decipher what this new Ugandan President Amin might be like was watching to try and read signals from the leading academic institution in Africa at the time, which happened to sit smack dab in the country’s capital of Kampala. 

To run his campaign, Karuhanga had assembled an arsenal of talent that would play important roles in the governance of East Africa. Among Karuhanga’s campaign team were later Professor Ali Mazurui, later foreign affairs minister Sam Kuteesa, future ministers Abu Mayanja and Tim Lwanga and the future first black Anglican Archbishop Rt. Rev. & Rt. Hon. Baron John Sentamu. 

The talent at Mutebile’s disposal for the race was no less impressive. Two future prime ministers Dr Ruhakana Rugunda and Amama Mbabazi were part of Mutebile’s team and would remain lifelong friends. There was future ambassador Moses Sebunya and KAA lawyer Peter Kabatsi.  

Many of the names mentioned here would later play vital roles in the ascension of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) led by current President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to power in January 1986. Their involvement in the struggle “against bad governance” beginning in their student days in secondary and university years and continuing on into their working years in the 1970s and 1980s.

After a hard fight, Mutebile prevailed and won the guild election with Peter Kabatsi supposed to be his deputy. Karuhanga says, “ ETM narrowly won the race and I conceded and pledged to support him.” 

But alas, Karuhanga says, “ETM could not finish his term ,he had to flee the country because Amin was on mad rampage.” 

Mutebile would flee into exile to complete his education at Durham University in England where he acquitted himself with an Upper Second degree in Economics and Politics. Mutebile would not have a chance to step foot in Uganda until 1979 when the Idi Amin government was toppled by a concerted effort of the Tanzanian forces and Ugandan rebel groups based there. 

Looking back at his career, Karuhanga complimented his one time adversary and friend Mutebile, “He returned back to Uganda after the  fall of Amin and has served ever since. He was responsible for arresting inflation which was at one point in triple digits and was one of the highest, if not the highest in the world. He was a key mind in formulating our Liberal  Economic Policy that has stabilized our Economy under the guidance and leadership of Yoweri Museveni.” 

In words that would mean a lot to Mutebile, Karuhanga eulogises him as, “An icon. A friend. A dedicated Rotarian in my club. Strong. Direct. Open. Friendly and Dignified. He exhibited a sense of Duty, Honor & Integrity. We worked closely together when I was chairman of committees in parliament.He had a Great Sense of Humor and was always wonderful company. He was the personification of a true patriot. I salute you in Reverence my brother.”