Why the original national flag colours didn’t fly at Uhuru The earlier proposed national flag designs with the original colours of green, blue and gold. They were suggested by the National Flag Committee in 1962. Illustration by Chrisogon Atukwasize By FAUSTIN MUGABE The original colours of the flag were agreed on before the April 1962 general elections. But after UPC won the polls, fresh proposals were welcomed to change the national flag. Kampala- Did you know that the original colours of the Uganda National Flag were green, blue and gold? However, what is not clear is the sequence. Would the colours have run vertically, horizontally or diagonally? This was revealed in an opinion published in the Uganda Argus newspaper of April 2, 1962 authored by Senteza Kajubi, chairman National Flag Committee. While responding to a Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) activist Grace Ibingira’s opinion published earlier, Senteza wrote: “I was shocked to read Mr Ibingira’s statement in your issue of March 20, that the views of the UPC were ignored by the National Flag Committee in selecting the colours of the National Flag of Uganda. Mr Ibingira was a member of that committee, but although the committee met for about 10 days to discuss among other things the colours of the national flag, Mr Ibingira himself turned up on two occasions only at the very end when the question of the national colours had been decided and only the design had to be discussed.” Making of the flag Senteza added: “The colours of green, blue and gold were unanimously agreed upon by all those who attended the meetings, including the other representatives of the UPC. These three colours were selected not to represent certain political parties, but to reflect particular aspects of our country.” “The decision of the committee as far as the design was concerned was based on purely technical and artistic grounds rather than on political considerations,” the letter read in part. Worth noting, is that after the March 24, 1961 elections in which UPC lost to DP, and Benedict Kiwanuka became the prime minister and formed a government on April 14, the government advertised for the design of the national insignia, which included the Coat of Arms, National Flag and National Anthem from individuals and organisations in Uganda. Mr Senteza was elected chairman of the National Flag Committee. Among the organisations that forwarded their views was Teso District Council General Purpose Committee, which proposed that the colours of the Uganda flag be blue and green with the crested crane standing on the mountain at the centre. The Uganda Argus of February 22, 1962 recorded the proposals. Proposals The Teso committee explained that colour blue represents Uganda’s abundant water while green represents our vegetation. The crested crane was a symbol of continuity. On the National Anthem, the committee insisted that it should have at least three verses – and be written in English and translated into vernacular by the author. And that the three verses should be about the past, the present and the future of Uganda. Last week, Daily Monitor visited Adoko Nekyon, 82, at his home in Nsambya, Kampala. Mr Nekyon was a Cabinet minister for Information, Broadcasting and Tourism in the famous independence government formed on May 1, 1962 by Prime Minister Milton Obote. This was after UPC had won the April 25, 1962 general elections. Asked about the original green, blue and gold colours of the Uganda flag, Mr Nekyon said: “I don’t know about that. Those colours could have been chosen during the self-government rule of Kiwanuka, which was there before independence. But that flag could not be used before independence because the National Flag, which was to replace the British flag, was to be used first at Kololo at midnight on October 8 on Independence Day. Unfortunately, they [DP] were not in government after the April 1962 elections,” Mr Nekyon explained: “After the elections, we assumed government. We selected a cabinet committee on national insignia which consisted of Coat of Arms, flag and National Anthem. It was me, Onama [Felix], Ibingira, Mathias Ngobi and someone from Buganda I cannot recall,” he added. “Nobody as an individual was commissioned for the National Anthem, Coat-of-Arms or National flag. We asked people to submit new proposals,” Mr Nekyon emphasised. Fresh proposals came from Uganda police, Uganda Army, schools, Uganda scouts and many other organisations. Some came from abroad. Some of them gave reasons why National Flag should be in certain colours. Finally, we short listed about three or four of them. “We had also considered the Uganda National Congress (UNC) flag colours which were red, blue and black which later became the UPC colours,” Nekyon said. Amendments “[On October 6, 1960, the Uganda National (UNC) merged with Uganda People’s Union (UPU) to form the Uganda Peoples Congress – and the former colours of UNC flag were also as adopted as colours of the UPC party]. Ibingira and I were artistes from Buddo School. We agreed we should get a stronger colour to replace blue which was a weaker colour.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 11:15:35 +0000
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