The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Uganda

This page contains a list of the greatest Ugandan Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 15 of which were born in Uganda. This makes Uganda the birth place of the 116th most number of Politicians behind Dominican Republic, and El Salvador.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Ugandan Politicians of all time. This list of famous Ugandan Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Ugandan Politicians.

1. Idi Amin (1923 - 2003)

With an HPI of 73.55, Idi Amin is the most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 93 different languages on wikipedia.

Idi Amin Dada Oumee ( , UK also ; 30 May 1928 – 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history. Amin was born to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of major and being appointed commander of the Uganda Army in 1965. He became aware that Ugandan President Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he launched the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état and declared himself president. During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1972, Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime. In 1975, Amin assumed chairmanship of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), a Pan-African group designed to promote solidarity among African states (an annually rotating role). Uganda was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1977 to 1979. The United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title for "Conqueror of the British Empire". As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for PFLP-EO and RZ hijackers in 1976, leading to Israel's Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978. Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere ordered his troops to invade Uganda in response. Tanzanian Army and rebel forces successfully captured Kampala in 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003. Amin's rule was characterized by rampant human rights abuses, including political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, as well as nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime.

2. Yoweri Museveni (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 66.52, Yoweri Museveni is the 2nd most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 82 different languages.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2024, he is the third-longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world (after Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea and Paul Biya in Cameroon). His government is considered autocratic. Born in Ntungamo, Museveni studied political science from the University of Dar es Salaam where he initiated the University Students' African Revolutionary Front. In 1972, he participated in the abortive invasion of Uganda against the regime of President Idi Amin. The next year, Museveni established the Front for National Salvation and fought alongside Tanzanian forces in the Tanzania–Uganda War, which overthrew Amin. Museveni contested the subsequent 1980 general election on the platform of Uganda Patriotic Movement, though claimed electoral fraud after losing to the unpopular Milton Obote. Museveni unified the opposition under the National Resistance Movement and started the Ugandan Bush War. In January 1986, after the decisive Battle of Kampala, Museveni was sworn as president. As president, Museveni suppressed the Ugandan insurgency and oversaw involvement in the Rwandan Civil War and the First Congo War. He ordered an intervention against the Lord's Resistance Army in an effort to halt their insurgency. His rule has been described by scholars as competitive authoritarianism, or illiberal democracy. The press has been under the authority of government. His presidency has been characterized by an upsurge in anti-gay legislation and activity and numerous constitutional amendments like the scrapping of presidential term and age limits in 2005 and 2017, respectively. On 16 January 2021, Museveni was reelected to a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote, despite many videos and reports showing ballot box stuffing, over 400 polling stations with 100% voter turnout and human rights violations. As of 2022, after 36 years of his authoritarian rule, Uganda has been ranked 166th in GDP (nominal) per capita and 167th by Human Development Index.

3. Milton Obote (1925 - 2005)

With an HPI of 63.09, Milton Obote is the 3rd most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 60 different languages.

Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, Obote studied at the Busoga College and Makerere University. In 1956, he joined the Uganda National Congress (UNC) and later split away by founding the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) in 1960. After Uganda gained independence from British colonial rule in 1962, Obote was sworn in as prime minister in a coalition with the Kabaka Yekka, whose leader Mutesa II was named president. Due to a rift with Mutesa over the 1964 Ugandan lost counties referendum and later getting implicated in a gold smuggling scandal, Obote overthrew him in 1966 and declared himself president, establishing a dictatorial regime with the UPC as the sole official party in 1969. As president, Obote implemented ostensibly socialist policies, under which the country suffered from severe corruption and food shortages. He was overthrown in a military coup d'état by Idi Amin in 1971, settling in exile in Tanzania, but was re-elected in an election reported to be neither free nor fair in 1980, a year after Amin's 1979 overthrow. His second period of rule ended after a long and bloody conflict known as the Ugandan Bush War during which he was overthrown a second time by another coup d'état in 1985 led by Tito Okello, prompting him to live the rest of his life in exile.

4. Tito Okello (1914 - 1996)

With an HPI of 53.42, Tito Okello is the 4th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Tito Lutwa Okello (1914 – 3 June 1996) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the eighth president of Uganda from 29 July 1985 until 26 January 1986.

5. Mutesa II of Buganda (1924 - 1969)

With an HPI of 51.38, Mutesa II of Buganda is the 5th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II (19 November 1924 – 21 November 1969) was Kabaka, or king, of the Kingdom of Buganda in Uganda from 22 November 1939 until his death. He was the 35th Kabaka of Buganda and the first president of Uganda from 1962 to 1966, when he was overthrown by Milton Obote. The foreign press often referred to him as King Freddie, a name rarely used in Uganda. An ardent defender of Buganda's interests, especially its traditional autonomy, he often threatened to make the kingdom independent both before and after Uganda's independence to preserve it. These firm convictions also later led to conflicts with his erstwhile political ally Milton Obote, who would eventually overthrow him. Mutesa was crowned Kabaka on his 18th birthday in 1942, three years after the death of his father Daudi Cwa II of Buganda during British colonial rule in Uganda. In 1953, he attempted to have Buganda secede to retain the kingdom's independence from a proposed British colonial federation in East Africa. He was deposed and exiled by British colonial governor Andrew Cohen, but was allowed to return to the country two years later in the wake of a popular backlash known as the Kabaka Crisis under the terms of the 1955 Buganda Agreement. In the years preceding Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, Mutesa became part of the monarchist Kabaka Yekka party which then formed a coalition with Milton Obote's Uganda People's Congress. The year after Uganda's independence, Mutesa was named the first President of Uganda (then a non-executive position) in 1963 with Obote as Prime Minister. Mutesa's alliance with Obote collapsed in 1964 over the Ugandan lost counties referendum. It worsened in 1966, resulting in Obote overthrowing him and forcing him into exile in the United Kingdom, where he died three years later.

6. Yusuf Lule (1912 - 1985)

With an HPI of 50.00, Yusuf Lule is the 6th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Yusuf Kironde Lule (10 April 1912 – 21 January 1985) was a Ugandan professor and politician who served as the fourth president of Uganda between 13 April and 20 June 1979.

7. Godfrey Binaisa (1920 - 2010)

With an HPI of 48.78, Godfrey Binaisa is the 7th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa QC (30 May 1920 – 5 August 2010) was a Ugandan lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of Uganda from June 1979 to May 1980. Earlier, he was Attorney General of Uganda from 1962 to 1968. At the time of his death in 2010, he was Uganda's only surviving former president.

8. Danny Faure (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 46.34, Danny Faure is the 8th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Danny Faure (born 8 May 1962) is a Seychellois politician who served as the fourth President of Seychelles from 16 October 2016 until 26 October 2020. Previously, he served as Vice President of Seychelles from 2010 to 2016. Faure is a member of the United Seychelles Party (PP).

9. Apolo Nsibambi (1940 - 2019)

With an HPI of 45.76, Apolo Nsibambi is the 9th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Apolo Robin Nsibambi (25 October 1940 – 28 May 2019) was a Ugandan academic and politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of Uganda from 5 April 1999 until 24 May 2011, when Amama Mbabazi succeeded him.

10. Ruhakana Rugunda (b. 1947)

With an HPI of 43.48, Ruhakana Rugunda is the 10th most famous Ugandan Politician. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Ruhakana Rugunda (born 7 November 1947) is a Ugandan physician and politician who was Prime Minister of Uganda from 2014 to 2021. He held a long series of cabinet posts under President Yoweri Museveni beginning in 1986. He served as Uganda's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1996, and Minister of Internal Affairs from 2003 to 2009. Subsequently, he was Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2011 and Minister of Health from 2013 to 2014. He was appointed as Prime Minister on 18 September 2014 to 21 June 2021. He replaced Amama Mbabazi, who was dropped from the Cabinet.

People

Pantheon has 18 people classified as Ugandan politicians born between 1912 and 1996. Of these 18, 9 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Ugandan politicians include Yoweri Museveni, Danny Faure, and Ruhakana Rugunda. The most famous deceased Ugandan politicians include Idi Amin, Milton Obote, and Tito Okello. As of April 2024, 3 new Ugandan politicians have been added to Pantheon including Robinah Nabbanja, Winnie Byanyima, and Rebecca Kadaga.