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Derek R Peterson Profile picture
@Unseen_Archive
Jun 23, 2021 • 6 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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Today @RuhakanaR--Uganda's PM--handed over his office.

Dr. Rugunda has been a constant presence in public life. He first appears in the archival record in 1969, when--as VP of the Nat Union of Students @Makerere--he visited the US ambassador.

Here's the diplomat's report. 1/
2/
 Rugunda was a high school student, about to enter university. The subjects of their discussion: the US's dismal treatment of black Americans & the ongoing war in Vietnam.

Two weeks later Rugunda was back at the US embassy with further criticism of the US war in Vietnam.
3/
 After Idi Amin came to power many NUSU leaders went into exile. Rugunda went to @UCBerkeley, where he did an MA in Public Health. Photo below from 1978.
4/
 After @NRMOnline came to power in 1986 Dr. Rugunda became Minister of Health. Uganda's health system--formerly the best in Africa--was in a shambles. Dr. Rugunda played a key role in rebuilding infrastructure & confronting AIDS, a mortal challenge to many people.
5/
 In later years Dr. Rugunda served as Transport Minister, Uganda representative to the UN, Minister of Foreign Affairs & in other roles.

Here he is as Minister of Internal Affairs in 2006, discussing his ongoing efforts to bring an end to the war with Joseph Kony's LRA.
6/
 Good wishes to @RuhakanaR as he moves into a new role as advisor to Uganda's president. I very much hope that--in due course--we'll have an autobiography to read!

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More from @Unseen_Archive

Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Oct 9, 2024
Happy Independence Day to colleagues & friends in Uganda.

Here's the original version of the anthem by George Kakoma. The 1st phrase was 'Oh Uganda, thy people praise thee'. A week before independence, tho, the Church of Uganda bishop protested that God was nowhere mentioned. 1/ Image
2/
 Milton Obote hastily agreed to change the phrase to 'May God uphold thee'. The new version had to be printed in great haste. It is the latter phrase that Ugandans will be singing today.

Here's a photo of the independence celebrations, October 1962. Image
3/
 In 2022 colleagues @ugandamuseums and I put together an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of independence.

Here's the documentary film we made for 'Uganda at 60', featuring interviews with Miria Obote, late Joyce Mpanga, Rhoda Kalema & others.

Read 7 tweets
Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Mar 5, 2023
Like many others, I am sorry to hear of the passing of journalist and public intellectual John Nagenda.

His was an extraordinary life. Here's a short thread. 1/

(Below: Nagenda in 1989, courtesy @GettyImages).
@GettyImages 2/
Late Nagenda's parents were William and Sala Nagenda, who were--with Simeon Nsibambi--the central figures in the early history of the East African Revival.

Here's William Nagenda with colleague Yosiya Kinuka in 1936.
@GettyImages 3/
John Nagenda studied at King's College, Budo--his marks are detailed below. Thereafter he went to Makerere, where he read English literature.
Read 12 tweets
Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Oct 24, 2022
The father of new British PM--Rishi Sunak--was born in Kenya & emigrated to London in the 1960s. He was one of several thousand Asians who fled in the years after independence, seeking financial security. Short thread.

Here's Tom Mboya, Minister for Economic Planning, 1968. 1/
Mboya: while some Asians have left, 'I wld rather have that than have disloyal, disaffected people...who are not prepared to cooperate in promoting nation-building'.

In 1969 the Trade Licensing Act barred Asians from owning important businesses in & outside Nairobi.
3/
 As a result of the Act, some 3,000 Asian businessmen were put out of work. Many sought to emigrate to Britain--but strict quotas made it hard for them to relocate.

Here Asians demonstrate outside the British High Commission in Nairobi, demanding support from the British govt.
Read 7 tweets
Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Aug 8, 2022
Kenyans go to the polls on Tuesday. Here's a thread about one of the contenders for the presidency, @RailaOdinga. In the 1980s & 90s he played a key role in bringing down the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi.

Below: Raila speaks at a convention of opposition leaders, 1992. 1/
@RailaOdinga 2/
Raila married Ida Betty Akoth Oyoo in September 1973. She was to play a key role in his political career: as an advocate, a defender of his liberty, a spokesperson, and a public face--at a time when Raila himself was in detention & out of view.
@RailaOdinga 3/
Raila studied engineering in Germany; by 1975 he was a manager at the Kenya Bureau of Standards. Below: a thought piece from the Nation about 'Standardisation'.
Read 15 tweets
Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Aug 4, 2022
Fifty years ago, on 4 August 1972, Idi Amin announced that Uganda's Asian community--over 50,000 people--had 90 days to leave the country.

Here he is at 'Command Post' in Kololo on 6 August, explaining the policy to the diplomatic corps.

Short thread. 1/
2/
 'One’s mind boggles at the thought of the effects of the sudden withdrawal of all Asians from Ugandan life', wrote a British diplomat a few days after the announcement. 'Practically everything one can think of has Asian somewhere in the system'.

Here's a @GettyImages report.
@GettyImages 3/
The Uganda government argued that the expulsion was an orderly and logical. Here's a remarkable clip: Grace Ibingira, UN representative for Uganda, defending the expulsion of the Asians at the United Nations.

As far as I know, this is the only place where Ibingira is on film.
Read 8 tweets
Derek R Peterson Profile picture
Feb 28, 2022
On 20 Aug. 1968 250,000 soldiers from the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the 'Prague Spring'.

The invasion caused outrage in eastern Africa. Here students in Tanzania lob rotten eggs at the Soviet embassy--& express sympathy to the Czech ambassador. 1/
2/
 In Kenya students marched to the Soviet embassy, carrying signs calling the invasion 'An Act of Imperialism of the Vilest Decree'. Other signs: 'Russians Go Home' & 'New Hitlerism'.
3/
 For months the Czech Spring--and its violent end--were front page news on @NationAfrica.

Here's the front page from 22 August 1968.
Read 4 tweets

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