Kabaka Yekka

In 1960, Milton Obote helped to establish a political party in Uganda, known as the Uganda People's Congress (UPC). The UPC aimed to erode the power and influence of the "Mengo Establishment", a group of traditionalist Baganda that led the sub-national kingdom of Buganda.{{sfn|Kasozi|2013|p=41}} The Mengo Establishment was plagued by rivalries and infighting, but most of its members, as Protestant Christians, were united by their dislike of the Democratic Party (DP), which was dominated by Catholics.{{sfn|Mutibwa|1992|p=45}}

The DP won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly in Uganda's first free national elections in 1961, and formed a government. The UPC and the traditionalist Baganda both disliked the Catholic orientation of the DP, but were diametrically opposed to each other's ideals.{{sfn|Karugire|1980|pp=179–181}} Despite this, the UPC sounded out a political alliance with the Baganda leaders and the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, Mutesa II. After several negotiations, the UPC and Baganda leaders held a conference whereupon an agreement was reached. Soon afterwards the Baganda created the Kabaka Yekka and joined an alliance with the UPC.{{sfn|Karugire|1980|pp=182, 186}} Historian Ian Hancock attributes the formation of the KY to Sepiriya Kisawuzi Masembe-Kabali, with support from John Bakka, Latimer Mpagi and Antoni Tamale.{{Sfn|Hancock|1970b|p=422–423}}{{Cite web|title=Uganda - The Republic of Uganda|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Uganda|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}

In 1962 Kabaka Yekka allied with Uganda People's Congress. In the Lukiko elections of 22 February 1962, it won 65 of the 68 seats, with a vote share of more than 90%.{{sfn|Hancock|1970b|pp=431–432}} The Lukiko duly elected 21 KY members to the National Assembly.{{citation needed|date= November 2019}} The UPC won a majority in the April 1962 general elections for the National Assembly, so Obote was tasked with forming a government.{{sfn|Karugire|1980|p=188}} He became Prime Minister of a UPC-KY coalition government, with the KY holding mostly insignificant portfolios.{{sfn|Kasozi|2013|pp=43–44}}{{Cite web|title=Brief Political History of Uganda|url=https://ottawa.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-11-Political-History-of-Uganda.html|access-date=2021-06-01|website=ottawa.mofa.go.ug|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215439/https://ottawa.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-11-Political-History-of-Uganda.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite journal|last=Hancock|first=I.R.|date=1970|title=Patriotism and Neo-Traditionalism in Buganda: The Kabaka Yekka ('The King Alone') Movement, 1961-1962|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/180347|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=11 |issue=3|pages=419–434|doi=10.1017/S0021853700010239|jstor=180347|s2cid=159740752 }} Obote subsequently undermined the alliance with the KY by establishing UPC offices in Baganda in contravention of the inter-party agreement, and by encouraging KY members of the assembly to defect to his party through offers of patronage.{{Cite web|title=The Uganda Crisis, 1966|url=http://www.buganda.com/crisis66.htm|access-date=2021-06-01|website=www.buganda.com|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813102456/http://www.buganda.com/crisis66.htm|url-status=dead}}

In 1964 a conservative in the UPC, Grace Ibingira initiated a struggle to gain control of the party with the ultimate goal of deposing Obote.{{sfn|Kasozi|2013|p=46}} Meanwhile, Mutesa increasingly feared that the UPC would deny his kingdom its traditional autonomy and concluded that in order to retain power he would have to garner influence in national politics. He proceeded to instruct Baganda MPs to join the UPC with the goal of bolstering Ibingira's position and unseating Obote, thus allowing for a reorientation of the UPC-KY alliance that would be more favorable to Buganda.{{sfn|Kasozi|2013|p=47}} On 24 August, Obote, with the UPC having consolidated a majority in Parliament, declared that the coalition with KY was dissolved.{{Cite journal|last=Provizer|first=Norman W.|date=1977|title=The National Electoral Process and State Building: Proposals for New Methods of Election in Uganda|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/421321|journal=Comparative Politics |volume=9 |issue=3|pages=305–3126|doi=10.2307/421321|jstor=421321}}

In 1969, Kabaka Yekka was banned along with all other opposition parties when Obote declared the UPC Uganda's only official party.

In 1980 Mayanja Nkangi founded the Conservative Party,{{cite news|url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1447776/-minister-mayanja-nkangi-dies-aged-85 |title=Ex-minister Mayanja Nkangi dies aged 85| access-date=13 July 2017 |date=6 March 2017 |newspaper=New Vision | first= Andrew |last=Ssenyonga |location=Kampala}} which is considered to be a de facto successor of Kabaka Yekka.{{sfn|Otunnu|2016|p=62}}{{Cite web|title=How Kabaka Yekka, UPC marriage was hatched|url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/how-kabaka-yekka-upc-marriage-was-hatched-1629220|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Daily Monitor|date=9 January 2021 |language=en}}

Abu Mayanja, a leading spokesman for the KY-dominated government of Buganda, described how "we in Kabaka Yekka hold than only a government based on the institution of Kabakaship can be stable in Buganda... [we believe] that the first duty of government is to maintain and uphold the institution of monarchy as the foundation of order, security, unity and patriotism in Buganda".{{Sfn|Earle|2017|p=174}}{{Cite web |title=Brief Political History of Uganda |publisher=Uganda High Commission of Nairobi |url=https://nairobi.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-58-Political-History.html |access-date=2021-11-08}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://africanelections.tripod.com/ug.html African Elections Database - Uganda]
• {{Cite book|title=Colonial Buganda and the end of empire : political thought and historical imagination in Africa|last=Earle|first=Jonathon L.|isbn=9781108264723|location=New York, NY|oclc=1003595980|year=2017}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Gertzel|first=Cherry|date=1 October 1964|title=How Kabaka Yekka Came to Be|journal=Africa Report|location=New York|publisher=African-American Institute|volume=9|issue=9|pages=9–14|issn=0001-9836|id={{ProQuest|1304045490}}}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Hancock|first=Ian|date=1 April 1970|title=The Buganda Crisis of 1964|journal=African Affairs|language=en|volume=69|issue=275|pages=109–123|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a095989|issn=0001-9909}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Hancock|first=Ian|date=1970|title=Patriotism and Neo-Traditionalism in Buganda: The Kabaka Yekka ('The King Alone') Movement, 1961-1962|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=11|issue=3|pages=419–434|issn=0021-8537|ref=CITEREFHancock1970b|jstor=180347|doi=10.1017/S0021853700010239|s2cid=159740752 }}
• {{cite book| last = Kasozi| first = A.| title = The Bitter Bread of Exile. The Financial Problems of Sir Edward Mutesa II during his final exile, 1966 - 1969| publisher = Progressive Publishing House| edition = reprint| date = 2013| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u4CLAgAAQBAJ| isbn = 9789970464005}}
• {{cite book| last = Karugire| first = Samwiri Rubaraza| title = A Political History of Uganda| publisher = Heinemann Educational Books| date = 1980| location = Nairobi| isbn = 9780435945244}}
• {{Cite book|title=Desecration of my kingdom|last=Mutesa|first=Edward|date=1967|publisher=Constable|location=London|language=en|oclc=381718}}
• {{cite book| last = Mutibwa| first = Phares Mukasa| title = Uganda Since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes| publisher = Africa World Press| date = 1992| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EkSP9XUIAKsC| isbn = 9780865433571}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKZQAQAAIAAJ|title=The Political Development of Uganda, 1900-1985|last=Sathyamurthy|first=T. V.|date=1986|publisher=Gower|isbn=9780566052477|language=en}}
• {{cite book |last = Otunnu |first = Ogenga |title= Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda, 1890 to 1979 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aZDLDQAAQBAJ |date= 2016 |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |location= Chicago |isbn= 978-3-319-33155-3}}

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Category:Defunct political parties in Uganda

Category:Monarchist parties

Category:Political parties established in the 1960s

Category:1960s establishments in Uganda