Jaberi Bidandi Ssali

Jaberi Bidandi Ssali
President of the People's Progressive Party
In office
December 2005[a] – 19 September 2015
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byDick Odur
Personal details
Born (1937-07-17) 17 July 1937 (age 87)[1]
Butambala, Uganda
Political partyPeople's Progressive Party (since 2004)
Other political
affiliations		National Resistance Movement (until 2004)
SpouseSuzaana Kiganda Nampinga
Alma materUganda Martyrs University (BA)[2]
OccupationBusinessman
Association football career
Position(s) Manager
Managerial career
Years Team
1974–1949 Kampala City Council
1982 Uganda

Jaberi Bidandi Ssali (born 1937) is a Ugandan politician, businessman, and former football manager.[3] He founded the People's Progressive Party in 2004 and served as its president until 2015.[1][4] He was also the Minister for Local Government from 1989 to 2004, and an unsuccessful candidate in the 2011 Ugandan general election. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Bidandi Ssali worked as a football manager, coaching the Uganda national team in 1982.

Background and education

Bidandi Ssali was born in Butambala District, in the Central Region of Uganda, on 17 July 1937[1] to Bumaali Kakonge Matembe and Nalongo Eriosi Bulyaba. He attended local elementary schools before joining Kibuli Junior School. He transferred to Nyakasura School for his A-Level education. He studied at a university in Pakistan, pursuing a degree in agriculture, but left before graduation.[5] He holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Local Governance and Human Rights, obtained from Uganda Martyrs University. As of October 2012, he was pursuing a master's degree from the same university.[6]

Career

Jaberi Bidandi Ssali 2011

At the time of Uganda's independence in 1962, Bidandi Ssali was a mobilizer for the Uganda People's Congress, led by Milton Obote, Uganda's first Prime Minister. During the regime of Idi Amin, he turned his focus to football, coaching Kampala City Council FC from 1974 until 1979.[7] In the year 1982, Bidandi was the team coach for the Uganda national team, nicknamed "The Cranes".[8]

Bidandi Ssali also worked as the deputy city mayor for Kampala in 1964 a role he used to foresee some infrastructural developments in Kampala such as the construction of Uganda Commercial Bank Building.[9]

In 1980, when Yoweri Museveni went to the bush to wage the National Resistance War, Bidandi Ssali did not go with him, although he clandestinely offered assistance to NRA supporters who sought his help. When Museveni won that war, Bidandi Ssali worked with him in the new government as Minister of Local Government from 1989 until 2004. In 2004, he resigned from the Cabinet after disagreeing with Museveni over the latter's desire to run for a third term as president.[1][6]

Bidandi Ssali founded the National Progressive Movement (NPM) in 2004, which became the People's Progressive Party (PPP) in December 2005. He served as its interim president until 14 June 2008, at which time he was elected as president by the party's delegates.[10][11] He was succeeded by Dick Odur on 19 September 2015.[12][13][14]

Other considerations

  • Jaberi Bidandi Ssali's sister, Deborah Nakafeero Wavamunno, was at one time married to Kirunda Kivejinja.[5]
  • Bindandi, Kivejinja and former Prime Minister Kintu Musoke were shareholders in Sapoba Printing Press & Bookshop, a 1970s Kampala publishing house and bookstore, which has since gone out of business. Bidandi used his proceeds from the dissolution of Sapoba to open Kiwatule Recreational Centre.[5]
  • Bidandi Ssali is the biological father of music artist Bebe Cool.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Interim until June 2008

References

  1. ^ a b c d Batte, Edgar R. (21 October 2013). "Bidandi Ssali: I Am Done With Politics". Daily Monitor (Kampala). Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Bidandi, Nambooze Graduate at Nkozi". New Vision (Kampala). 15 November 2010. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  3. ^ Lule, Jeff (13 July 2012). "Bidandi Ssali Recuperates". New Vision (Kampala). Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Bidandi Ssali Retires As PPP Chairman :". Uganda Radionetwork. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Kakaire, Sulaiman (4 February 2015). "Bidandi Ssali on His Life, And Wives". The Observer. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Ogwang, Joel (October 2012). "Bidandi Ssali, The Pacifist And Father of Decentralisation". New Vision Mobile (Kampala). Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Bidandi Ssali, the pacifist and father of decentralisation". Archived from the original on 4 February 2015.
  8. ^ "History".
  9. ^ "Bidandi Ssali, the pacifist and father of decentralisation". Archived from the original on 4 February 2015.
  10. ^ Kasasira, Risdel (12 June 2008). "Uganda: PPP Elects President Today". AllAfrica. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  11. ^ Kasasira, Risdel (14 June 2008). "Uganda: Bidandi Elected PPP Chairman". AllAfrica. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Bidandi Ssali Retires As PPP Chairman :". Uganda Radionetwork. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  13. ^ "PPP New President To Be Elected Today :". Uganda Radionetwork. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Dick Odur Is New PPP President :". Uganda Radionetwork. Retrieved 7 January 2025.