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KAMPALA
AS the Uganda Peoples Congress marks one year of the
demise of its founding president Milton Obote, the party wants him to be
accorded a heros status.
Addressing a press conference at the party
headquarters at Uganda House on Friday, the UPC National Chairman, Prof.
Patrick Rubaihayo, said Obote deserves a heros status because of his
achievements for the country.
"UPC regards him (Obote) a national hero and we ask the government to
put his name among the heroes of the country. We shall work on that
because it's a process which has to go through Parliament,'' he said.
However, the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Dr James Nsaba
Buturo, said UPC's demands could only be considered if the party made a
formal submission to the government which it has not.
"UPC should know that it's the government which can make such a
consideration, Buturo said. Obote is a former head of state and things
should be done in a formal way.''
Obote was the country's first prime minister and two-time president. He
died of kidney failure on October 10, 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa,
where he had been admitted.
He had lived in exile in Zambia for 20 years after his second ouster in
July 1985. He was buried at his ancestral home in Akokoro in Apac
district.
Next month on October 10, will be one year since Obote
passed away.
In his opening address to journalists, the principal
special advisor to the UPC president on Foreign Affairs, Dr Moses Apiliga,
said Obote had laid a strong foundation and set a framework for national,
political, economic and social developments during his two-time tenure as
president of Uganda.
"Let us remember Obote in every corner of our country with the dignity
and respect befitting his heroism and dedication, he said. He was the
country's first prime minister after independence in 1962 to 1966. We
continue to draw strength and inspiration from his heroism.''
"He made great contributions to the setting up of the East African
Community and the Organisation of the African Union. He was a Pan
Africanist who was committed and contributed much to the struggle for
independence in other African countries. He faught against apartheid in
South Africa," he added.
Apiliga, a former minister for supplies in
the Obote II government, is MP for Moyo West in Moyo district.
He said the commemoration of Obote's death will take place at Kololo
Airstrip, the venue where the former president received instruments of
Uganda's independence 44 years ago.
Born on December 28, 1924 in Akokoro in Apac district in Lango, Dr
Obote was President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985. He
founded the Ugandan National Congress (UNC) in 1955, which later became
UPC in 1960. | 
