Thread by @GodwinTOKO

Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, is Uganda’s most interesting President - ever.

At 13 years old, he was making enough money for all his family needs & Sch fees; in primary he skipped 3 classes, at Makerere he was expelled & in 1996 he single-handedly wrote a Constitution in one night…

Here are some fun facts about his early life & education.

1. He was born in Bukoba district in Tanzania where his father, Anania Jjuuko Binaisa, had fled to escape the religious wars in Buganda.
Later as president, he was repeatedly accused of being a “foreigner” - a Tanzanian…

2. His father, a missionary, was poor, so at 8 years the future president joined his mother in farming cash crops.
This marked his journey into business success & by 13 he was making enough to cater for all family needs & fees.

3. One such business involved buying Indian…

…sold products like kerosene & reselling it to Africans, at the same time, he bought African products like cotton from the Africans on behalf of Indians.

4. His missionary father, upon learning that Godfrey earned profits in his dealings was enraged & called it a “sin”…

…still, his son didn't bulge to the demand that he offer his services for free as a “good Samaritan”.

5. In his O’level, Binaisa used natives & migrant labourers to catch rare birds & animals that he sold to Europeans & earned more money.
This way, he bought a lot of shoes…

…shorts & a bicycle among others - pure luxuries for most Ugandans at the time.

6. At Makerere, he angered his father more by joining the “Radical Scientific Society”, not only an atheist organisation, but one that challenged religion & advocated for secularism.

7. In Makerere, where he joined to study medicine, he shared a room with Jaramogi Oginga-Odinga - Kenya’s future Vice President. The two were called “ideological factories”, Odinga a champion of “liberal arts” & Binaisa “radical science”.

8. In 1938 he won the “Research Cup”…

…for his advances in scientific research. In 1939 he won the “Forster Prize” for his scientific findings on swamp worms when he discovered a spice outside the then-existing entomological taxonomy.
For his research, he was “supposed” to earn a doctorate. He didn’t. Despite his…

…”thesis” being submitted to Cambridge University, the colonial law didn't allow Uganda natives to be awarded university degrees.

9. The rare animals (& their skins) & birds he sold made him one of the richest students at Makerere. In 1938 the colonial authority confiscated…

…his big collection of animal skins, skeletons, & rare animals for “operating without a license”. They were given to Makerere College Science Department for teaching & exhibition. The said collection became the basis of what is today known as the Ugands Museum.

10. When World War II broke out in 1939, the British tactic in colonies involved control of information. To this end, the War Public Information office was set up at Makerere University. Students at Makerere were given radios that broadcast British War Propaganda. The students…

…didn't like the arrangement.
As such, Binaisa & other students tempered with the radio signal & secretly received German war information deep in the night as the war raged on.
Armed with information from Germany, Binaisa started counteracting official British war propaganda…

…against British officials with the TRUTH.
He was dismissed from Makerere for “supporting Germany in the war”. He was also rusticated from Buganda to Kigezi after the church intervention saved him from prison. Part of the order was that he says nothing about the war in Kigezi.

11. Realising the British desperation for minerals to be used in making equipment for war, Binaisa - then aged 20 - requested a mining license to prospect minerals in Kigezi. He was granted a “special license” by the govt that had hitherto restricted such licenses to Europeans…

…using his license, he became the first native Ugandan to get a commercial loan.
However, Binaisa had manipulated the first & second findings of his mineral tests that led to a license & loan. The third & fourth tests failed. Binaisa filed for bankruptcy twice in 1942 & 1945…

…using the money he got from a loan, he got a license & went on to organise a Western-style wedding. Since the wedding was in a hotel, the license was an exception allowing natives to the reception since hotels had “Dogs & Africans” not allowed at the time. Guests were served…

…beer, whiskey, wine, brandy etc - things Africans were not allowed to consume at the time. Binaisa became the second Uganda - After Kabaka Muteesa - to organise a Western-style wedding of that kind. So, the idea of Ugandans getting loans to throw lavish weddings isn't NEW…

What's more, Binaisa’s bride - Ruth Namakula - was reputed as the “most beautiful girl in Buganda” at the time.

To be continued:

Source. 👇🏾

I meant the 1966 Constitution in the first tweet, NOT 1996. Thanks for the correction @GenKatusiime ✌️🏾