Although the Independence and Liberation days are usually overlapped, it is important to understand the distinctivenes of these days. The Liberation day is a federal annual public holiday celebrated on 26th January in Uganda.
Although the country gained independence from the British Monarchy in 1962, political unrest and riots continued to wave through the communities in Uganda, military coups and civil wars caused unrest, even as the now independent country was allowed to run its own errands. A plain example is when General Tito Okello over threw the Incumbent President Milton Obote and thus Tito became the new head of state in 1985. Yoweri Museveni and his battalion National Resistance Army who were also fighting for power, opened negotiations with Tito, a negotiation that led to a peace agreement. The peace agreement however did not take long and on January 26th, 1986 Museveni overthrew Tito’s reign and became the new president of Uganda. That is how the anniversary of this event turned into a public holiday.
The celebration is Kampala begins with fireworks, a parade in Kololo hill with machines from all branches of the Uganda Peoples Force.
Lesson
Independence is given but true freedom is earned, as you can see, even after the British rule had lifted their mornachy from Uganda, the people continued to struggle with how to go about with their new found independence. We had to learn how to manage ourselves, we had to learn how freedom is managed, we stumbled a little bit, and then gained momentum as the years went by.
Happy Liberation Day Uganda, and our hope is that you will continue to liberate yourself in little ways, that at the end of it all, true freedom will be yous.
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