What Happened When the World Didnt End?

The Mysterious death of King Freddie of Buganda

The mysterious death of Edward Mutesa II in 1969, affectionately labelled King Freddie by western media, passed relatively unnoticed. Other than a few skeptic commentators in his native Uganda, nobody was suspicious that the King of Buganda committed suicide having drunk seven bottles of vodka - in the space of several hours! But to understand his death we first need to consider his complex political and historical background.

Mutesa was king of Buganda, a major province of Uganda with its own constitutional monarchy. When he ascended to the throne in 1939, Uganda was part of the British Empire and the early stages of his reign were mostly uneventful. That is until the 1950’s when the British proposed uniting Uganda with Kenya and Tanganyika to form the British East African Federation. However, the Ugandan people were totally against the idea and demanded independence from British rule altogether. Their fight was led by King Freddie who was subsequently forced into exile.

His expulsion from Uganda elevated King Freddie as a cult hero and massive protests were staged forcing British governors to back down. King Freddie reclaimed his throne in 1955. He then formed an alliance with Milton Obote, a leading government official and altogether powerful man. They lobbied against the British and in 1962 Uganda was declared independent. Obote was named President, but King Freddie was given a non-executive role meaning Obote had all the power. In fact, Obote planned to dispense of the monarchy altogether and a rift developed between the two men which resulted in King Freddie being exiled for a second time. On that occasion he went to London.

In London, he lived in a flat in Rotherhithe several miles east of the city centre. It was there he was found dead of alcohol poisoning. British authorities concluded suicide and several sources have confirmed Mutesa was depressed and an alcoholic. What is curious however, a few hours before he was found dead Mutesa was interviewed by John Simpson, the foreign affairs correpondent for the BBC. Simpson reported Mutesa was sober and in good spirits. Also during his time in London King Freddie had never displayed any signs of depression or suicidal tendencies. So did he really take his own life?

Skeptics believe he was assassinated by Milton Obote, his political opponent in Uganda. Yet whilstever King Freddie was away from the country, Obote’s position as President was not under threat. Also Obote had sanctioned substantial sums of money for King Freddie to live in London - in effect he was being paid to stay away. So what motive did Obote have to kill Mutesa? Unless he feared King Freddie was planning a return he can’t have really had one and there is no evidence to suggest King Freddie was plotting a coup.

However, there was one party plotting a coup that would succeed in overthrowing Obote’s government. That man was Idi Amin who came to power in 1971. The coup though was engineered by British governors. Though Uganda had won independence, Britain still controlled the countries economical, agricultral and industrial infrastructure, not to mention the various red diesel suppliers. Obote therefore introduced new laws that would nationalise British companies. By the time he was overthrown, Obote was not only on the verge of changing the constitution, but the whole political system. Such a move would not only have weakened Britian’s stronghold in Uganda, but its entire empire. Therefore Obote had to be replaced.

The man the British decided would replace Obote was Idi Amin, a man who had served in the British forces and was fiercly loyal to Britain. As he was also easy to manipulate he was regarded as the ideal replacement. Plans to groom Amin for the presidency had begun in 1966, but began in earnest in 1969 - the year King Freddie died.

With Obote about to be ousted, the Ugandan people may have rallied for Mutesa to be their new president. Most beleived he had held a similar position alongside Obote anyway, not knowing his title was merely a political facade. And King Freddie’s cult status would surely have made him the natural choice to replace Obote. As he had already lobbied twice against British rule, he may well have finished what Obote had started and reshape Uganda’s political system. British governors were not prepared to run that risk and slyly took him out of the equation.

Interestingly enough, Idi Amin had Mutesa’s body flown back to Uganda and a state funeral was held in the King’s honour. Was Amin paying his respects to the man who was ultimately sacrificed in order for his own rise to power?

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