Brig. Opolot remembered
By Timothy Kalyegira
Mar 6, 2005
KAMPALA - He was one of the key figures to emerge on Uganda's military
scene
following independence in October 1962.
He was the first Ugandan commander of the national army and later became
chief of staff.
But unlike many of Uganda's pioneering army officers who died violently at
the hands of the state or during the infighting of various cliques in the
armed forces, Brig. Shaban Opolot died in Mbale on Friday after losing the
battle against prostate cancer. He was 86.
He died at 5 p.m., his son William Okuni said. He had been hospitalised at
Mbale regional hospital's Masaba Wing for two weeks.
Two army commanders, Idi Amin and Tito Okello, went on to become heads of
state. Opolot became the major army figure that would live in relative
obscurity.
Many people, on learning of his death, expressed surprise that he had been
alive all these years. Somehow, he seemed to be a national personality last
heard of in the 1960s. Such was the low profile he kept in the years
following the coup that brought Amin to power in 1971.
Trained in Israel before returning to be commissioned a second lieutenant,
Opolot, like many young men, looked forward to an honourable career in one
of the key pillars of the independent Ugandan state. He became the army
commander shortly after the 1964 army mutiny.
What he and his colleagues ran into instead was a nation that, from the
outset, was quickly degenerating into one torn between competing ethnic and
political factions.
Prime Minister Milton Obote became increasingly insecure and turned to the
army to buttress his power. In Amin, Obote found a loyal and unquestioning
supporter.
In Opolot, the Prime Minister encountered a man resolved to serve his
country and steer clear of political involvement.
Treating this as insubordination and even an early sign of a stubbornness
that could later turn mutinous, Obote dismissed Opolot in 1966 and named
Amin the army commander.
Opolot was one of a handful of men from eastern Uganda who rose to senior
ranks in the immediate post-independence army.
The others were Maj. Gen. Francis Nyangweso from Bukedi and Col. William
Omaria from Teso, like Opolot. "He was a very understanding boss and very
encouraging of young officers," Nyangweso said of his former boss for whom
he worked as platoon commander in 1963 shortly after training in the UK.
Opolot was a major at the time leading B Company in the 4 KAR in Jinja,
which was the nucleus of the post-independence army. That B Company had
figures such as Pierino Okoya, the second in command, who would be murdered
later at the rank of brigadier, and platoon sergeant Bazilio Okello, later
lieutenant general. Amin was a lieutenant while Nyangweso was a second
lieutenant.
"He was a professional who did not encourage favouritism, bickering and
rumours," Nyangweso said of Opolot.
Brig. Zed Maruru, another junior colleague from the 1960s, described Opolot
as a "brilliant officer of his time", adding: "He was upright, honest and
hardworking. He was very decisive."
In the conflict between Obote and the Kabaka Edward Muteesa of Buganda, who
was also ceremonial head of state, Opolot was cast as a supporter of the
Kabaka while Amin was clearly on Obote's side, thus waning his fortunes.
However, he served a stint in 1966, the year Obote attacked the Lubiri, as
army chief of staff.
That same year Opolot was detained along with five Cabinet ministers.
From 1973 to 1975, he was High Commissioner to Ghana.
Then into virtual retirement and obscurity he went, re-emerging in the
1990s
to work for the Uganda Veterans Assistance Board.
Additional reporting by Ahmed Wetaka & Frank Nyakairu
C 2005 The Monitor Publications.
_____
<http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/> East African | About Us
<http://www.monitor.co.ug/contact.php> | Feedback
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Site Map | License | Monitor
<http://81.199.23.86/exchange> Mail
