ABSTRACT
The English language became important also for membership of the Ugandan parliament as independence approached, and was in any case a major factor in the political culture of Uganda as a whole. The precipitating factor had been a speech by the Colonial Secretary which seemed to suggest the formation of an East African federation which, in the circumstances of the day, would have meant greater settler say in Ugandan affairs. John Okello was a trans-national figure in the sense that he was a Ugandan who had led a revolution in Zanzibar. The first military coup in anglophone East Africa must therefore be deemed to be the Ugandan coup of January, 1971. The soldiers handed over power to Major-General Idi Amin. The peasant warrior from West Nile lay a wreath at the coffin in a concluding farewell gesture.
