UGANDA TOWARDS A NEW MONARCHISED MILITARY: SOLDIER KING IN THE MAKING?

UGANDA TOWARDS A NEW MONARCHISED MILITARY: SOLDIER KING IN THE MAKING?
By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis

Uganda is a country ever in transition just like all systems that are dynamic should be. There was a time when the country we now call Uganda was just a conglomeration of self-governing traditional-cultural nations, namely Acholi, Ankole, Buganda, Bugisu, Bukedi, Bunyoro, Busoga, Karamoja, Kigezi, Lango, Moyo, Sebei, Teso, Toro, Rwenzururu and West Nile. They traded with each other through barter trade. There was nothing called tribalism then. This came with the British colonialists, who simply transplanted it for use as a colonial tool of divide and rule for their political gain.

The colonialists strategised to bring all of them under one political entity they called British Uganda Protectorate, which persisted for 70 years. This was in 1962, the year the colonialists gave us political independence, converted to the Commonwealth Realm of Uganda (CWRU), a recognition that what they were leaving behind as a multi-nation country, or mega-country, was many different traditional nationalities; not one. A British Governor-General ruled CWRU on behalf of the Monarchy of England. Its military, called Kings African Rifles (KAR) was, therefore, a monarchized military. It belonged to the Monarchy of England.

In the independence constitution they conceived for their creation (CWRU) – the Uganda Constitution 1962 – recognised the traditional kingdoms of Ankole (Obugabe), Buganda (Obwakabaka), Bunyoro (Obukama) and Toro (Obukama). These were like subkingdoms of the Monarchy of England, not unlike those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

The independence constitution also created the Territory of Busoga (Obwakyabazinga), which was a quasi-kingdom. Initially, the British colonialists reduced Busoga to district status, although the authority that welcomed them at Nnenda Hill in 1894 was a Chwezi King of Busoga. The rest of the traditional nation states (except Rwenzururu, which was enforced into the Kingdom of Toro) were reduced to District status.

This was the political status quo on October 9 1963, when CWRU was renamed Uganda, and its governance placed in the hands of an Executive Prime Minister, Apollo Milton Obote, and a ceremonial President, Sir Edward Muteesa II, and ceremonial Vice-President, Sir William Wilberforce Kadhumbula Gabula Nadiope II.

Unfortunately, the Uganda Constitution 1962 was internally destabilising as it created power tensions and stresses between the centre and the peripheral power units, particularly the Kingdoms. It was a matter of time before the stresses and strains, especially between the centre and Buganda, resulted into a rather bloody transition in Kampala. Historical accounts indicate that the President of Uganda enlisted 5 of the Kabaka Yekka/Uganda Peoples Congress (KY/UPC) and his own Vice-President to overthrow the nascent government – which was of course treasonable. A governance-leadership crisis developed in early 1966.

The Ministers were arrested, the President run off to exile and the Vice-President also fled the country. So, Obote remained alone to govern the country with his small number of Minister. He quickly organised to make a new Constitution – Uganda Constitution 1966. This did not abolish Kingdoms nor constitutionalise the Republic of Uganda. The Uganda Constitution that abolished kingdoms was the Uganda Constitution 1967, which formally abolished the traditional kingdoms and the Kyabazingaship of Busoga, and declared Uganda a republic. This move abolished the office of Prime Minister, consolidated Obote’s power and transitioned Uganda towards a more centralized system of government, with an all-powerful President.

Obote has been accused of introducing the military in the political governance of Uganda, but this is not true. He inherited a system at independence, which was militarised. Most of the governors of Uganda had a military background. This was also true of the Provincial commissioners, District Commissioners and Police Commanders. Political militarism was what drove colonial rule in Uganda. The mistake Obote committed was to resuscitate the colonial methods of governance in the time of political crisis and retain it up to 25 January 1971 when his Army Commander, Idi Amin Dada removed him from power, thereby ushering in the era of military rule with civilians playing second fiddle to the military as soldiers dominated civilian spaces.

This status quo obtained until 1979 when militarised groups of Obote (Kikosi Maalum) and Museveni (Front for National Salvation) together with the Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces (TPDF) removed Idi Amin from power under the aegis of Uganda National Liberation Front/Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLF/UNLA). UNLA was essentially a loose association of Kikosi Maalum and Front for National Salvation. Deceptively, civilian rule was restored, with Yusuf Lule as President for 3 months and Binaisa as President for 11 months. However, the real power of decision-making lay with UNLA’s Military Council chaired by Paul Muwanga with Yoweri Museveni (now Tibuhaburwa Museveni) as vice-chairman. Yoweri Museveni had another power centre within the UNLF/UNLA set up as the Minister of Defense. As Minister of Defense, he was the political head of the Ministry of Defence and also of UNLA’s Military Council, which also included Tito Okello and Oyite Ojok.

Civilian rule was continued under Obote II regime, backed by UNLA but the former Minister of Defense, who stood for the post of President (as Uganda Patriotic Movement), alongside Mayanja Nkangi (Conservative Party), Obote (Uganda Peoples Congress), Paulo Sssemogerere (Democratic Party), immediately militarily challenged the civilian of Obote who had been declared winner of the 1980 elections by the Uganda Electoral Commission. He claimed the Electoral Commission had rigged the elections in favour of Obote, yet in his view, Ssemogerere Democratic Party had won those elections. He withdrew his FRONASA contingent from the UNLA soon after the elections, formed it into Popular Army (PRA). He started fighting UNLA, of which he was a member, but now a deserter. He linked his PRA with Yusuf Lule’s Uganda Freedom Fighter (UFF) to form National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its military wing (National Resistance Army or NRA).

The military strategy was to ensure that the Obote regime did not settle in leadership to deliver goods and services to Ugandans. The strategy lasted five years. It was helped by internal conflicts between the Acholi and Langi in the UNLA and the eventual overthrow of the Obote regime by the Acholi led by Tito Okello and Basilio Okello on 27 July 1985. That effectively marked the end of civilian rule in Uganda and the beginning of military hegemony again, which has lasted for more than 40 years, under Musevenism.

The Tito Okello Military Junta was overthrown by the NRM/A on 25 January, 1986 following the collapse of the arap Moi brokered Nairobi Peace Talks between the Tito Okello Military regime and the Yoweri Museveni rebel NRM/A. Yoweri Museveni did not honour the agreement between Tito Okello and himself and continued to fight the forces of Tito Okello in the Luwero Triangle of Buganda. When he was sworn in on 26 January 1986 as the new President of Uganda, he declared that his was not just a mere change of guards but a fundamental change.

Forty years on President Tibuhaburwa Museveni has shown that he did not lie when he said his was a fundamental change, not just a mere change of guards. He has been able to reduce civilians to subordinates of the NRA, which he constitutionalised as Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) in the new Uganda Constitution 1995 whose making he was the main architect of. He has effectively presided over the military capture of all the civic spaces and their militarisation. That constitution reduces former kingdoms and the Kyabazingaship of Busoga to mere cultural institutions without political power, and does not mention the words King and Kingdom.

Environmental militarism, hereditary militarism, political militarism and electoral authoritarianism have been interwoven in one web of military superiority over civilians, completely excluding the civilians from effective leadership and governance of the country. Civilians are given positions that carry no power and authority but render them just labouring slaves of the military autocracy that has been growing and mushrooming in Uganda to the detriment of institutional survival under specific policy and legal regimes.

Military autocracy, also known as a military dictatorship, is a form of government where power is held by the military, either by a single leader (a strongman) or a group (a junta). These regimes are characterised by strongarm tactics, censorship, and a lack of democratic processes. In the current Uganda everything begins with President Tibuhaburwa Museveni and ends with President Tibuhaburwa Museveni. The military’s control over the government and civilian population is a key feature that is evident from top to bottom. To ensure that this is the case well in future, the unity of the NRM and UPDF (formally NRA) has persisted and become consolidated, lacking no resources because the NRM caucus in Parliament ensures that public funds sustain that unity at the expense of public goods and services. This explains why everyone prefers to quit everything else and get absorbed in the NRM/UPDF structure: Money, goods and services that would otherwise be for the common good go to them.

One flourishing school of thought thinks, believes and is convinced that what NRM/UPDF is doing everything possible to carry Uganda forward to a new monarchized military rule in Uganda with a soldier King not unlike what was the case in France during the reign of self-made Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte; Central African Republic during the reign of self-made Emperor Babtiste Bokassa; and what obtains in the Kingdom of Thailand.

A monarchised military refers to the close, mutually beneficial relationship between the monarchy and the military in certain countries, particularly Thailand. This relationship often results in the military being heavily influenced by the palace and using its influence to maintain the political status quo. Where the leadership and governance of a country is in the hands of a family it is much easier for a monarchised military to evolve.

The term monarchised military was introduced by scholar Paul Chambers, using the Thailand model. Chambers has recently explained the nexus between the monarchy and the military. Together they have dominated the Thai political landscape. Chambers also talks about the impact of the monarchised military on the lèse-majesté. Lèse-majesté, often translated as “insulting the monarchy,” is a crime against the dignity of a ruling head of state or the state itself. It’s a concept that’s been a part of legal systems in various countries, particularly those with monarchies or strong symbolism attached to the head of state, such as Uganda. Lèse-majesté laws can be enacted and evoked to detain and imprison activists and human rights defenders that may challenge the Monarchised military.

Although the school of thought mentioned in this article thinks, believes and is convinced Uganda is steadily moving towards a monarchised military with a soldier king, it is time which will tell. The school of thought argues that the recently enacted UPDF Act 2025 is a step in the journey towards a monarchised military and soldier king in Uganda. According to the school of thought, there is a cartel of repressive laws and others can be enacted to ensure that protests against such an eventuality are resisted by the regime, which retains the term resistance to itself and will fiercely move to militarily control civilians who may resist the eventuality.

The Ten Billion Dollar question is: If the NRM regime succeeds in converting the UPDF into a monarchised military in our lifetime, will it be a resilient monarchised military and can it evolve beyond domestic interference, institutional corruption and personal gain all of which bog our military currently?

Just like is the case with the Thai military, the UPDF maintains a close interdependence with the First Family and a history of recurrent extra-constitutional interventions in domestic politics, particularly in elections wherein electoral authoritarianism is the rule rather than the exception. A culture of greed, corruption, and self-enrichment pervades the armed services, often sidelining professionalism and institutional integrity in favor of personal ambitions. Again, like is the case in Thailand’s military, Uganda’s military faces continuous and unaddressed challenges, with security-sector reform and modernisation efforts frequently disrupted by influential military elites, especially the President who is the Commander-in-Chief, and Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), seeking to assert control. We have seen high-ranking military officers exceeding their authority, engaging in activities that are ostensibly exploitative and detrimental to the country’s external relations. Some are reportedly engaged human and organ trafficking on the globe for personal gain.

For God and My Country

Further Reading
Paul Chambers, Napisa Waitoolkiat. The Resilience of Monarchised Military in Thailand. In: Kevin Hewison, Veerayooth Kanchoochat (Eds). Military, Monarchy and Repression: Assessing Thailand’s Authoritarian Turn. Routledge. Visited on 07 June 2025 at 15:37 pm EAT

Chambers Paul. Explaining the Monarchised Military. 112Watch, May 3 2024 https://112watch.org/explaining-the-monarchised-military-2/ Visited on 07 June 2025 at 15:19 pm EAT
Mark S. Cogan. Can Thailand’s Military Evolve? Moving Beyond Domestic Interference, Institutional Corruption, and Personal Gain. Journal of Indo-Pacific, published Dec 11 2023, visited on 07 June 2025 at 15:42 EAT

Mathias JD, Anderies JM, Baggio J, et al. Exploring non-linear transition pathways in social-ecological systems. Scientific Reports 10, 4136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59713-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59713-w Visited on 07 June 2025 at 12:05 EAT