Publisher: Driberg Books Limited, Uganda
Pages: 278
Year: 2021
Category: Biography & Memoir, Political Biography
Dimensions: 229 x 152mm
A Fighting Man
A Political Life of Museveni, Volume I, c.1944-1986
Whilst much ink has
been spilt on “Museveni’s Uganda”, far too little ink has been spilt on
the life of the country’s eponymous leader, which is now in its eighth,
eventful decade. The little information on Museveni’s life that is in
the public domain comes mostly from his memoirs, in which he is, in any
case, understandably much more engaged in personal justification than an
objective and disinterested essay. Hence this volume. This is the
first, full, political biography of Museveni. This book also presents
that increasingly uncommon commodity in “Museveni’s Uganda”: a balanced
assessment of Museveni’s abilities and activities.
This volume of
Xavier Ogena’s political biography of President Museveni takes the
reader from the birth of its subject in c.1944-through his formal
education in Uganda and Tanzania, where he became considerably
politically radicalised; his brief employment in a curious capacity in
the Obote (First) President’s Office; his dogged guerrilla struggle
against the Amin military dictatorship; his changing fortunes in the
post-Amin, transitional dispensation; his studied reluctance in running,
if unsuccessfully, for the Presidency in the rigged general elections
of December 1980; and his rebellion against the Obote (Second) and
Okello regimes-to his triumphant accession to power in the dry season of
1985-86. This book is an essential reading for anyone who is interested
in the history and politics of post-colonial Uganda, even Africa.
£32.00 – £34.00
About the author
Xavier Ogena was born
in Uganda in 1968. He was educated in Uganda at St Joseph’s College
Layibi, City High School (Kampala), and Kololo Senior Secondary School.
He was also educated in the United Kingdom at Emile Woolf College of
Accountancy, Accountancy Tutors Limited, and the University of London,
where he obtained a BA in Politics, Philosophy and History, and an MA in
Philosophy. He had been successively employed for about 20 years as a
management accountant by various not-for-profit organisations in the UK,
and was also an executive member of the UK and Ireland chapter of
“Museveni’s” National Resistance Movement (NRM), when he returned
permanently to Uganda in 2010. He made, under the banner of the NRM, an
unsuccessful bid for the Oyam County North parliamentary seat in the
Uganda general elections of 2011, whereupon he became a member of the
NRM National Executive Council (NEC) for the next five years, before
reverting to rank-and-file membership of the party, which he has
maintained to date. This is his first published work. The second volume
of his political biography of Museveni is forthcoming. He lives in Oyam,
where he divides his time among farming, reading, and writing.