John Babiiha
John Babiiha was a Ugandan politician, rancher and farmer. John was Uganda's first Republican Vice President under the Uganda People's Congress which was led by Apollo Milton Obote. He also served as the Minister of Animal Resources under Milton Obote's reign. He is believed to have founded the Uganda People's Congress Party in 1959 with Obote, Sam Odaka and Felix Rwambarari. Background and education. John Babiiha was born on the 17th of April, 1913 in Toro, the capital of the Kingdom in Western Uganda. John studied at St Joseph's College, Mbarara and St  Mary's College, Kisubi. He later on got a scholarship to Makerere University College, where he attained a diploma in veterinary science. Career. He started work as a veterinary officer from 1939 until 1946, when he joined the Toro kingdom government, as secretary and then assistant treasurer to the local parliament. In 1954 he was nominated by the Toro parliament to the Uganda Legislative Council. He stood for Parliament for Toro Central in the first elections in 1958, as leader of his own Uganda Peoples’ Union Party and again in the general election of March 1961, winning his seat both  times. He then merged his party with others to join the Uganda Peoples’ Congress of Milton Obote in 1960; he then became national chairman of the party. Obote gave him a place in his first cabinet in October 1962, at the time of independence, as Minister of Animal Husbandry, Game and Fisheries. John also served as Uganda's first republican Vice President after the abolition of traditional institutions in 1967. Political life. Babiiha temporarily assumed control of government and declared a national state of emergency on December 19, 1969, when the Uganda People's Congress party president and the then  President of Uganda Milton Obote got injured in an attempted assassination. Death. John Babiiha after the military coup in 1971, he retired immediately to his farms. His only public function in the two years which followed, when Idi Amin who was then the President of Uganda sent him on a world goodwill mission in January, 1973. Babiiha died in March 1982 and was buried at his home in Kibimba village, Fort Portal municipality.