Matthew Rukikaire

Born in 1938 in a serene Kabale town on the south-western fringes of the British Protectorate of Uganda, into a family with a distinguished African ancestry, Matthew Rukikaire was raised by a nomad-like missionary father and an uncle who was an Anglophile African chief.

Matthew Rukikaire

Born in 1938 in a serene Kabale town on the south-western fringes of the British Protectorate of Uganda, into a family with a distinguished African ancestry, Matthew Rukikaire was raised by a nomad-like missionary father and an uncle who was an Anglophile African chief.

From Colonialism to Resistance and Beyond

Biography

Endowed with a liberal mind and a passion for justice, Matthew blazes a colorful trail as a student leader, which leads him to a career in politics. Later, his decision to work with Yoweri Museveni, then a Castro-like guerilla leader, to resist tyranny and liberate the country, turns out to be a watershed moment in his career. At the height of it, the resistance war is launched from his Kampala home, the National Resistance Movement is born in his Nairobi home, and Matthew clandestinely delivers a consignment of arms from Muammar Gaddafi, through two African countries, to Museveni’s guerilla army in the bush.

The Book

M athew Rukikaire has seen it all. Born into an aristocratic family and educated in the best institutions that the colonial era could offer locally and abroad, Rukikaire has either made or participated in history-making.

His book `70 Years A Witness’ is a narrative by the 81-year-old Rukikaire on how he saw events before and after independence, his two periods in exile, his role in liberating Uganda from what he terms bad leadership and the promise of the NRM under President Yoweri Museveni and how it lost the plot.

Mr Rukikaire’s life has innumerable ironies, emblematic of the Ugandan paradox. He has lived long enough, now an octogenarian, to write a compelling and riveting memoir. 

His book is lucid, rich and written with candour and clarity. It is a story of a versatile and gifted individual who excelled on multiple fronts: an effective corporate manager, successful businessman and able national leader.