Basil Kiiza Bataringaya was born in 1927, in the village of Kantojo, in the county of Igara, in the Bushenyi District of the Ugandan Protectorate.[3] His father was Marko Kiiza, who was the Ssaza Chief of Bunyaruguru at the time.[3] A Ssaza was the equivalent of a county in the newly created administration divisions after the absorption of the Ankole Kingdom in to the British Protectorate of Uganda, as a part of the Ankole Agreement of 1901.[4] The Ankole Agreement set the boundaries of the Bunyaruguru Ssaza as "On the north-west by the Dweru Channel; on the east by the Chambura River, the recognized Bunyaruguru-lgara and Kamsura-Igara boundaries; on the south by the Rwenchwera River; on the west by Lake Albert Edward", and gave Bataringaya's father a powerful position in southwestern Uganda during the early 20th century.[5]
Following agreements made by 48 Ugandan representatives, including prominent Ugandan politician A.G. Mehta, at a September 1961 Constitutional Convention meeting in London, England, the Ugandan Legislative Council of the transitional government between the colonial-era Uganda Protectorate and the Republic of Uganda became the Parliament of Uganda, which was then formally dissolved so that the 1962 Ugandan general election could occur on 25 April 1962, the first elections held under an entirely independent Ugandan government.[10] Bataringaya ran again as a member of the Democratic Party of Uganda in his Ankole constituency and was reelected. Bataringaya lost his ministerial positions as a result of the election, as the Ugandan People's Congress won 37 of the 82 seats and formed an alliance with the Kabaka Yekka party that won 21 of 82 seats, giving this new alliance 58 of the 82 seats in the Parliament of Uganda, taking control away from the Democratic Party of Uganda who won 24 of the 82 seats and became the official party of the opposition.[11]
As Opposition Leader, Bataringaya worked as the chief representative of the Democratic Party of Uganda which was operating as the resistance to the Apollo Milton Obote regime and the joint Ugandan People's Congress and Kabaka Yekka government. Bataringaya had little power as opposition leader, but worked during his tenure as Leader of the Ugandan Opposition to protect opposition MPs from censorship, arrest, and violence.[15] His most significant act was to protect Democratic Party MP Vincent Rwamwaro of the Toro East constituency from an arrest that Bataringaya described as a political arrest.[16] On 16 August 1962, MP Vincent Rwamwaro was arrested in his home at 6:20 am, tied with rope, thrown in the back of a pick-up truck, and sent in only his underwear and sandals before a magistrate in the court in Nakawa on charges of failing to pay his graduation tax, a charge Rwamwaro denied.[16] In both the 19 September 1962 and 26 September 1962 sessions of the Parliament of Uganda, Bataringaya gave lengthy speeches describing the value of opposition in government, decrying threats against the opposition, and attacking both the manner and political nature of the arrest of MP Rwamwaro.[16]
Bataringaya quickly earned the trust of Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote, and earned a spot in Obote's small inner circle of trusted advisors and amassed a large policy portfolio as one of the most powerful ministers in the Obote government.[3] Bataringaya traveled internationally, representing Uganda on a tour of the United States and visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, California with his wife Edith Mary Bataringaya who headed the Ugandan Council for Women.[18] He also represented the Ugandan government to the media of the world following the kidnapping of Brian Lea, a British diplomat who was kidnapped in Uganda in 1970.[19] As a high-profile Catholic involved in the administration, Bataringaya also served as a liaison between the Catholic Church of Uganda and the Obote regime, helping open Catholic hospitals and Catholic schools throughout Uganda.[20]
Also as one of Obote's five most trusted ministers, Bataringaya was in charge of putting out numerous crises throughout his tenure as Minister of Internal Affairs.[3] One such crisis was the 1966 Buganda Crisis, where Ugandan troops commanded by Idi Amin attacked Lubiri and exiled the Kabaka of Buganda, Mutesa II of Buganda, after the Bugandan regional parliament voted to suspend Buganda's incorporation into Uganda, thus leading to Obote and Bataringaya reunifying Uganda by force and sending Mutesa II of Buganda into exile in the United Kingdom via Burundi.[21] This use of troops was criticized and faced resistance, and Bataringaya took much of the blame as the implementer of the crisis and the killer of several other BugandanKabaka loyalists.[3]
Bataringaya was one of the first Ugandans to be detained by the new Idi Amin government. In the week after Idi Amin's coup d'état, Amin dismissed all of the ministers of Obote government but did not immediately imprison anybody except for Bataringaya.[25] On 28 January 1971, three days after the coup d'état, Idi Amin brought fifty-five political prisoners imprisoned by the Apollo Milton Obote government to the Entebbe International Airport and freed them, while also bringing Bataringaya to the event in an army Jeep under armed guard, and was the only political prisoner not freed despite Amin's comment that "you need not fear for your safety since the new government is more interested in uniting Ugandans than anything else".[26] Bataringaya was personally interrogated by Amin, where he likely revealed the other officers working to arrest Amin on 24 January 1971.
Death
While in detention, Bataringaya was tortured and was imprisoned in Makindye Prison.[27] Bataringaya was then sent to the outskirts of the town of Mbarara, where he was dismembered alive.[28] His severed head was then displayed on a pole, and paraded around the town of Mbarara until ultimately his severed head was displayed in the Mbarara barracks.[29] A photograph of Amin's soldiers leading Bataringaya on a military Jeep to his execution was taken and circulated, one of the few photographs still existing that show proof of Idi Amin executing political opponents.[3]
Immediately after Bataringaya was executed, his loyal cabal of associates were executed as well, including Tibayunga, Katuramu, Rubashoka, Bekunda, Kanyonyore, Kibeherere, Rukare, Bitarisha, Kabaterine, Kanisi, and Marengane.[29]Edith Mary Bataringaya, Bataringaya's wife and former head of the Uganda Council of Women, was executed in 1977 during a later purge by Idi Amin, allegedly at the hands of Juma Bashir, the governor of the Western Province of Uganda.[28] Her burnt body was later found on land in Mbarara owned by the Bataringaya family.[20]
Family and personal life
Marriage to Edith Mary Bataringaya
Basil Kiiza Bataringaya married Edith Mary Bataringaya, who took an active role in his life and the Ugandan political scene. Edith Mary Bataringaya was born Edith Mary Kaijuka in the town of Kabale in the Western Region of the Ugandan Protectorate, and was the daughter of Reverend Kaijuka of Bugongi Hill.[30] Edith Mary Bataringaya traveled frequently with her husband on his international trips representing Uganda abroad, traveling to the United States with him.[18] Edith Mary Bataringaya also started the Uganda Women's Union and the Uganda Council of Women alongside Rhoda Kalema and Theresa Mbire.[31] Edith Mary Bataringaya continued her husband's work with the Catholic Church in Uganda after Basil Kiiza Bataringaya's murder.[20] Edith Mary Bataringaya was ultimately burned alive and executed by the Amin government, allegedly at the hands of Juma Bashir the Governor of the Western Province of Uganda.[28]
Family
Basil Kiiza and Edith Mary Bataringaya had eight children, Dr. Grace Bataringaya, Kenneth Bataringaya, Winifred Bataringaya, Dr. Jacqueline Bataringaya, Janette Bataringaya, Dr. Juliet Bataringaya, Dr. Geoffrey Basil Bataringaya and Dr. Aisha Bataringaya-Sekalala. [32] The children were orphaned in 1977 as both parents were killed by the Amin regime. Edith Mary Bataringaya's brother, Dr. Emmanuel Kaijuka who later served as the Ugandan Commissioner of Health, raised the children who were still young when they were orphaned following their parents' murders.[32] In 1985, the eight children reunited for the first time since their mother's murder in the town of Muyenga, Uganda.[32] Their children all went on to successful careers as of 2003: Grace Bataringaya is a veterinary doctor and events manager, Kenneth Bataringaya is a businessman who manages the family estate, Dr. Jacqueline Bataringaya is a doctor for Action Aid working in Harare, Zimbabwe, Janette Bataringaya is working in Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States, Dr. Juliet Bataringaya is a doctor working for the World Health Organization, and Dr. Aisha Bataringaya-Sekalala (née Bataringaya) was studying at the University of Western Cape in South Africa.[32]
