William Nadiope served as a Vice-President of Uganda until April 15, 1966.
Background
William Nadiope was born on April 29, 1910, the son of Yosia Gabula Nadiope, the Paramount Chief of Busoga, whose family is traced back through countless generations of hereditary rulers to two twin ancestors, living in Ethiopia. The elder travelled to Uganda to found the Basoga people and the younger to found the Baganda. His father died in 1913 and, as he was only three years old, regents governed until he was finally installed as Kyabazinga (King) of Busoga, in 1930.
Education
Educated at Mengo High School and Trent College, Derbyshire, where he started law studies, only to have them interrupted when he was called back by the Busoga government to take his father’s office. During the war he joined the Uganda Rifles and served in Burma and Libya, rising to sergeant-major, but prevented from gaining an officer’s rank because he was serving in a South African controlled unit.
Career
After the war he went back to local government and became a public relations officer in the Community Development Department at Kampala. In 1958 he went into politics as leader of a local party. Later he joined the Uganda Peoples’ Union which merged with Obotc’s Uganda Peoples’ Congress in 1960.
In October 1963 he stood for election as President of Uganda and might have carried the day with his wide support throughout the country. But Milton Obote endorsed the Kabaka of Buganda and spent the whole night of October 3 arguing, cajoling and persuading his party caucus until he secured the Kabaka’s election by 62 votes to 27. Sir William had to make do with the Vice-Presidency, which he held until the constitutional crisis of April 1966, when Obote seized the opportunity of dismissing him the day after the assassination attempt on Obote on December 19, 1969; he was detained along with Benedicto Kiwanuka and a number of other prominent politicians. He remained in detention until the military coup of January 25, 1971.
He then went back to his farm and oil milling business at Jinja. In January 1973, President Amin sent him on a goodwill mission to Britain and the USA.
Personality
A large, imposing figure, with an urbane affable manner, which is the hallmark of a traditional ruler from Busoga, with ancestry dating back unknown generations. But also very much a man of the modem world, busily building up his farming and oil milling business, which he bought from departing Asians.
One of the few people in the Uganda Peoples’ Congress with countrywide support, he was a constant challenge to Milton Obote. This quarrel lost him the Presidency and later landed him in detention. Though released by the military government, he was not rewarded with any official post.