Uganda People's Congress

The Uganda People's Congress is a political party in Uganda.

The UPC was founded in 1955 by Dr. Milton Obote, who later served two presidential terms under the party's banner. Obote was still party leader at the time of his death in October 2005, although he had previously announced his intention to step down.[1]

On November 28, 2005, Obote's widow Miria was elected party president. Miria Obote was UPC's presidential candidate in the 2006 general election.[2] The party won 9 out of 289 elected seats. In the presidential election of the same date Miria Obote won 0.8 % of the vote.

External links

*UPC website - www.upcparty.net

The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) dominated Ugandan politics from Independence till 1971 when Milton Obote was overthrown by Idi Amin. The party returned to power under Obote in 1980 until he was overthrown again in 1985 by Tito Okello. The history of the UPC is intertwined with the ethnic divide that has plagued Uganda since it was created by the British. The country is made up of 2 key ethnic groupings - the Bantu-Speaking people in the South, West and East and the Nilotic/Luo people in the North. Within the Bantu speaking South the most dominant are the Baganda.

As Independence approached in the 1940s-1950s, it was clear that the Baganda wanted extensive autonomy in Uganda, and the Buganda King's party Kabaka Yekka ("The King Only") emphasised this desire. However this was not favoured by most Ugandans of other tribes (North and South) and amongst the Buganda educated elite who formed an alternative party, the Democratic Party to aspire for national unity. Although unpopular in Buganda, the Democratic Party had wide spread support in the rest of the Bantu speaking South. However the Democratic Party was also hampered by it's Catholic leanings - most non-muslim Southerners are Protestants.

Into this void, there emerged an alternative - the Uganda National Congress (UNC). Although led by a Northerner (Milton Obote), the UNC appeared more mordernist and accomodating and attracted many Southerners particularly in the East. The UNC formed a number of alliances with other parties and emerged as the Uganda People's Congress (UPC). The 3 parties (Kabaka Yekka, UPC and the Democratic Party) contested the first pre-Independence election.

As expected Kabaka Yekka won most of the seats in Buganda and the UPC won most seats in the North and East. However the Democratic Party (DP) led by Bendicto Kiwanuka emerged as the largest single party. Kiwanuka was on the verge of becoming the first Prime Minister of an Independent Uganda when he was thwarted by a suprising alliance between the UPC and Kabaka Yekka.

With hindsight this alliance makes sense. The Kabaka was afriad that DP would remove the Monarchy in favour of a more mordern looking Uganda. As for the UPC, Milton Obote realising he had lost the election saw the alliance as the way to power. In return Obote offered the Kabaka a ceromonial role in the new administration and a retention of all royal powers. The UPC/KY alliance thus formed Uganda's first government with Milton Obote as Prime Minister.

The alliance between the UPC and Kabaka Yekka did not last long. After 4 years in power, Milton Obote ordered a miltary attack on the Kabaka's palace in 1966. The attack was led my an army officer called Idi Amin. The Kabaka escaped to London and Obote declared himself President of Uganda. This action more than anything else began the decline of the UPC as a popular party in Uganda. As his unpopularity grew Obote increasingly turned to his Northern home support rather than trying to strengthen the party in the South. The 1969 elections were cancelled and Obote became dictatorial. His government was overthrown in 1971 by Idi Amin.

The UPC returned in 1979 after Idi Amin was overthrown. Obote as leader of the UPC was closely aligned to the Miltary Junta that had replaced Idi Amin and rather than strengthen the support of the party in the South of Uganda took up a more miltarilist approach. The army (traditionally dominated by Northerners) was a brutal machine that carried out numerous attrocities particularly in the South. This polarised the North/South divide with the UPC being percieved more as a Northern party than ever before. Southerners turned to the Democratic Party and a smaller party called the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) led by a former UPC member Yoweri Museveni

In the elections of 1980, there was overwhelming suspiscion that the UPC had rigged the result with the help of the Miltary Junta. This perception was further enhanced when Obote appointed the head of the Miltary Junta, Paulo Muwanga as his Vice President when the UPC was declared the winner of the elections. A civil war broke out in Uganda when Yoweri Museveni rejected the result and went to the bush to fight the government.