Obote: A Political Biography Hardcover - 1994

For more than a decade, this theme has been gradually developed by Obote's opponents.

In Obote: a political biography, Kenneth Ingham considers the contribution of one of Africa's most controversial leaders towards establishing a united and democratic Uganda. Ingham argues that many of Obote's aims have been misrepresented by his political opponents. He has been criticized as a tyrant and a dictator - no better than Amin himself. Ingham reveals that in fact he suffered because he lacked a strong ethnic power base, which left him vulnerable to attack from the powerful kingdom of Buganda. He was eventually betrayed by his hitherto loyal military commander, Idi Amin. The second half of the story details Obote's return to power. His subsequent second overthrow resulted from organized sustained terrorism by opponents who believed that Uganda could only be united by military force and who blamed Obote for all of the country's ills. It emerges that although Uganda was one of the best endowed African countries in terms of climate and natural resources, it suffered grievously because of the profound cultural and constitutional differences between the ethnic groups which made up the population of the country. This book will be of great value to anyone interested in recent developments in Africa and will be especially useful to undergraduates studying African history and politics.