Adoption (date): (161)

Comment (161):

Legislative: (163A)

Executive: (163B)

Judicial: (163C)

GUganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, took power in 1986, following a protracted armed struggle. He won the presidential election in 1996 by an overwhelming margin, and the next election is scheduled for 2001. In 2000 a national referendum on multipartyism will be held, which will decide the future of Ugandan democracy.

However, since independence Uganda has had a very unsettled political history. There have been eight changes of government in 37 years, four of them achieved by armed force, and a degree of violence against the civilian population that is almost without parallel in Africa.

British efforts to prevent the country splitting into smaller units after independence led to the imposition of a complex federal constitution. The first government of independent Uganda was formed by an alliance of southern and northern political parties. This alliance secured the election of the traditional kabaka (king) of Buganda as president and of Milton Obote as prime minister. Mr Obote's aim of forming a one-party state brought about an acute conflict with the Baganda. In 1966, with the support of the army, he suspended the constitution and declared himself executive president. The federal constitution, which allowed the various kingdoms and districts considerable autonomy, was thus destroyed. The violence that broke out in Buganda following this development was put down by the army under the control of the chief-of-staff, General Idi Amin.

Mr Obote had become a dictator, dependent on the army. In an attempt to achieve political legitimacy, he announced a move to the left in a scheme modelled on the Tanzanian system, which sought to eliminate ethnic divisions in a one-party state. His efforts to secure popular support were not successful, and he was deposed in 1971 in an army coup led by General Amin. General Amin's government was popular at first, and his mass deportation of Asians was widely welcomed by the African population, but he soon began to lose support. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in a succession of purges lasting seven years. General Amin's fall in 1979 came about as a result of conflict with Tanzania, which had given shelter to Mr Obote and had never recognised the new regime in Kampala. Tanzanian forces, backed by an army of Ugandan emigres, invaded Uganda following a territorial dispute, and General Amin fled abroad.

The Tanzanians installed a new government, the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), made up of previously exiled Ugandan politicians under the leadership of a former academic, Yusufu Lule. The main influence on events, however, was the north's leadership of the new Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), which was determined to remain in control and to arrange Mr Obote's return to power. A military commission then assumed power under the leadership of Paulo Muwanga, a staunch ally of Mr Obote. An election was held in December 1980 and Mr Obote was duly returned to power. The election was declared satisfactory by a British Commonwealth monitoring team. The Democratic Party (DP) decided to fight on as a parliamentary opposition, but, in a move which proved to be of great significance, one of the other losing parties, the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), which later became the National Resistance Army (NRA), chose to go into the bush and operate as a guerrilla opposition under its leader, Yoweri Museveni.

Mr Obote's second presidency, like his first, depended ultimately on the support of the army (now the UNLA). In July 1985 the Acholi, dissatisfied with Mr Obote's leadership and resentful of the level of their exposure to the guerrilla war, marched on Kampala and seized power. Mr Obote fled to Zambia, where he still lives.

Mr Obote's government was replaced by a Military Council under the leadership of General Tito Okello (an Acholi), who also became head of state. During the second half of 1985 a series of meetings was held in Nairobi, under the chairmanship of Kenya's president, Daniel arap Moi, between representatives of the Military Council and the NRA. In January 1986 the NRA marched on Kampala, which was taken after fierce fighting, and Mr Museveni was sworn in as president. Within two months the NRA was in effective control of most regions of the country. The Military Council was dissolved and a National Resistance Council (NRC) was formed to take charge of government, consisting mainly of senior members of the NRA and its political wing, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The goal of the CPI is to provide data on extensive perceptions of corruption within countries. This is a means of enhancing understanding of levels of corruption from one country to another. It does not attempt to assess the degree of corruption practiced by nationals outside their own countries. This is a separate phenomenon and a separate instrument, the Bribe Payers Propensity Index (BPI), is published this year for the first time.