Museveni addressed a special parliamentary session convened following Obote’s death in exile in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 10, 2005. He laid a wreath on Obote’s casket, which had arrived at Parliament the previous afternoon to lie in state, as Uganda prepared to give its former leader an official state funeral.
President Museveni made a landmark appearance before Parliament on October 20, 2005, to pay tribute to former President Apollo Milton Obote, striking a conciliatory tone towards a man who had been one of his fiercest political rivals.
Museveni addressed a special parliamentary session convened following Obote’s death in exile in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 10, 2005. He laid a wreath on Obote’s casket, which had arrived at Parliament the previous afternoon to lie in state, as Uganda prepared to give its former leader an official state funeral.
The appearance was significant because Museveni had led the five-year guerrilla war against Obote’s second government between 1981 and 1986. For years, he had criticised Obote’s leadership, making his decision to attend the parliamentary tribute a striking moment in Uganda’s political history.
In his address, Museveni invoked the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, citing the passage that “there is a time for everything” to frame his call for national reconciliation and reflection. He acknowledged Obote’s contribution to Uganda’s independence struggle and recognised achievements from his first administration, including the construction of 22 regional hospitals and numerous secondary schools during the 1960s.
Museveni also recalled an attempt to forge an alliance with Obote in 1979. He said a meeting arranged by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere had brought the two leaders together to discuss forming a joint liberation front against Idi Amin, but political opportunists on both sides disrupted the effort.
The tribute did not erase the political grievances surrounding Obote’s rule or resolve all the differences between his family, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and the government.
The government accorded Obote an official state funeral, with flags flown at half-mast. A funeral service was held at Kololo Independence Grounds on October 21, before he was buried at his ancestral home in Akokoro, Apac District, on October 24, 2005.