Yusuf Kironde Lule (10 April 1912 – 21 January 1985) was a Ugandan professor and politician who served as the fourth president of Uganda between 13 April and 20 June 1979.
Early life and career
Yusuf Lule was born on 10 April 1912 in Kampala. He was educated at King's College Budo (1929–34), Makerere University College, Kampala (1934–36), Fort Hare University at Alice, South Africa (1936–39) and the University of Edinburgh. Initially, he was a Muslim but converted to Christianity while at King's College Budo.
In 1947 Lule married Hannah Namuli Wamala at Kings College Budo's church, where he was a teacher and she was head girl.
In 1959 the Democratic Party (DP) nominated Lule as a candidate to become Kattikiro (Prime Minister) of the subnational kingdom of Buganda. Many aristocratic figures in the kingdom distrusted or otherwise did not support Lule because of his Muslim origins despite his conversion to Christianity, and Michael Kintu ultimately won the election. Upon Uganda's independence in 1962, he became chairman of the Public Service Commission.
Lule served as the first black principal of Makerere University College from 1964 to 1970, and was assistant secretary-general of the Association of African Universities, in Accra, Ghana, between 1973 and 1978.
Chairman of the Uganda National Liberation Front
Following the outbreak of the Uganda–Tanzania War, Ugandan rebels and exiles began making preparations for the establishment of a new government to follow Idi Amin's regime. After the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) had captured substantial territory, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania ordered it to halt to give time for the Ugandan rebels to convene and reorganise. The Ugandan rebels made due preparations, primarily led by former president Milton Obote and leftist intellectual Dani Wadada Nabudere in their own respective circles. As the Tanzanians began organising a conference for the rebels and exiles, Nyerere was reconsidering Obote's role in the movement. He did not want to give the impression that Tanzania was going to install a government of its own choice in Uganda by facilitating Obote's assumption of leadership of the rebel movement, and there was hostility to Obote from the Baganda people in southern Uganda as well as other countries such as Kenya. Nyerere also feared that Obote would stifle cooperation at the meeting and cause it to break up without success. He ultimately convinced Obote to refrain from attending. In place of Obote, many Ugandan exiles began favouring Lule, who was a Muganda and had the reputation of being a political moderate as well as a civil servant who was not tarnished by scandal or corrupt service in a past Ugandan regime.
The Moshi Conference opened on 24 March 1979 in the Tanzanian town of Moshi, following an intense debate over which factions and persons could be admitted. That afternoon the delegates announced the formation of the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), which was to be governed by a 30-strong National Consultative Committee (NCC) and an 11-strong National Executive Committee, the latter including three special commissions—Finance and Administration, Political and Diplomatic Affairs, and Military Affairs. The next two days were spent debating the balance of power among the governing bodies and the selection of a chairman for the organisation, which was hotly contested between Lule and Paulo Muwanga, an Obote supporter. After heated argument a consensus was reached whereby Lule would be given the chair and Muwanga would be made head of the Military Affairs Commission.
President of Uganda
Inauguration
Caught unprepared by the fall of Kampala, Lule hurriedly compiled a list of ministers meant to represent the ethnic balances of Uganda's population. On 12 April 1979 Lule and his cabinet boarded a flight from Dar es Salaam to Entebbe to fly in for his inauguration. While the plane was stopped in Mwanza, Tanzanian officials decided to delay it there until they could ensure better security for a ceremony in Kampala. The next day Lule and his ministers reached Entebbe and were brought into Kampala in a TPDF motorcade in the late afternoon. Lule was then sworn in as President of Uganda in front of the Parliament building and gave a brief speech pledging to bring a return of law and order. Lule concluded by saying in Luganda, "Now it is our turn." Still feeling that Kampala was unsafe, Tanzanian officials quickly took Lule from Parliament and installed him in the Entebbe State House.
Tenure
Lule assumed office at a time when Uganda's national institutions were dysfunctional and the country was plagued by lawlessness and violence; he presided over a failed state. Lule disregarded the Moshi Conference agreements stipulating a weak presidential authority and attempted to assert his ability to operate under stronger powers provided by the constitution operative in Uganda before Amin's coup. Within days of assuming office Lule and his advisers began taking major decisions without consulting the NCC. He also snubbed the committee members by first missing their formal inauguration and, when the ceremony was rescheduled so he could be present, he gave a speech and departed before swearing them in, much to their displeasure. Lule then appointed ministers and deputy ministers to his cabinet without the NCC's approval. The members of the cabinet joined the NCC ex officio, and he ultimately appointed 24 ministers and 20 deputies, which then outnumbered the original councilors. Despite complaints from the NCC, Lule carried on making appointments and revising the structure of his cabinet. He also declared a reorganization of Ugandan's administration, dividing the country into four regions each subject to the authority of a regional commissioner.
Lule further infuriated the NCC when his cabinet awarded its own members $5,000 worth of foreign exchange as a "rehabilitation allowance" despite the treasury having very little money. Lule responded to the councilors' anger by offering them the same allowance, which they rejected. He also mistrusted the UNLA, which he considered to be made up of loyal Obote and Yoweri Museveni partisans. Lule's government withheld money to the army for this reason, and it played no role in overseeing the defeat of the remnants of Amin's forces. He planned on disbanding the UNLA and replacing it with a new "National Army", which angered the leaders of the former. Godfrey Binaisa, the former Attorney General of Uganda under Obote who had come to oppose both him and Amin and had no prior role in the committee, was then elected president. Binaisa retained some of Lule's ministers but removed his key supporters from the cabinet and reversed his administrative changes in Buganda.
Many Baganda felt that Lule had been removed from power because he had preserved legitimate interests of Buganda. His ouster instigated large protests in Kampala and clashes between demonstrators and Tanzanian troops attempting to maintain order. Baganda protesters blocked streets and destroyed trucks while transportation workers went on strike and merchants deliberately gouged prices of basic commodities. Some armed Baganda groups formed after Lule's departure and attacked police and soldiers, rendering Buganda ungovernable. On 21 October 1980 the Ugandan Court of Appeal ruled that Lule's removal had been unlawful, stating that Lule had the authority to appoint ministers without the NCC's approval. Though the ruling technically meant Lule could still claim to be President of Uganda, most nationals chose to ignore the decision, since the political situation in the country had rapidly developed since Lule's removal.
Later life
thumb|Kololo Hero Monument-Late Professor Yusuf Kironde Lule Monument
Out of office, Lule was flown to Tanzania, where he was detained under armed guard before being allowed to fly to London.
Legacy
Historian Phares Mukasa Mutibwa described Lule's performance in the presidency as "amateurish".
His son, Wasswa Lule, became an MP for Rubaga North.