Who is Colonel (Rtd) Tom Butime? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, house, news, relationship with Beatrice Butime, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Joel Ssenyonyi, Uganda Airlines, Mwenge County Central, early life and education of the current Cabinet Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities in Uganda.
Colonel (Rtd) Tom Butime, a politician, journalist, and former army officer from Uganda, was born in 1947. He currently serves as the Ugandan Cabinet’s Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities.
In addition, he represents Mwenge County Central in the 11th Ugandan Parliament as an elected lawmaker (2021–2026).
Early life and Education
Tom Butime was born circa 1947 in Fort Portal town, Kabarole District where he was raised. Little is known publicly regarding his early years.
He attended St. Leo’s College for his secondary school education.
Family and relationship
He is married to Beatrice Butime.
Career and work experience
When Tom Butime was 33 years old, he enlisted in the National Resistance Army. According to President Museveni’s memoirs, Sowing the Mustard Seed, the NRA declared war against the administration of the late Apollo Milton Obote on February 6, 1981.
Butime, a journalist by training who was then residing in Nairobi, Kenya, was part of a group with roughly 30 other Ugandans who went to Libya for military training.
Among the other well-known members of that group were Col. Amanya Mushega, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, Col. Fred Bogere, and Jack Sabiiti.
After the union of Professor Yusuf Lule’s Uganda Freedom Fighters and Museveni’s Popular Resistance Army (PRA), Libya provided the training (NFF).
Butime enrolled with his colleagues in a ten-month platoon commanders’ school. They received instruction from Libyan and Pakistani personnel at Camp Ruudi and Camp Ben Walid.
Butime also collaborated with former interior minister Kirunda Kivejinja during that time to create Resistance News, a pamphlet used by the rebels’ external coordinators to advocate for their cause in front of international organizations like the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations.
Col. Butime joined the NRA fighters in Luwero as soon as he finished his training in Libya. Butime joined the political high command alongside President Museveni, Hajj Moses Kigongo, Katenta Apuuli, Fr. Leo Sseguya, Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, and Amanya Mushega as a result of his training, education, and leadership skills.
Despite their military training, they were kept for political guidance rather than field battle. The general leader of the Libyan group, Bakulu Mpagi, went back to Nairobi and took over the advertising and promotion committee there.
Col. Butime and the late Maj Victor Bwana were given the task of conducting surveillance and mobilization operations in Kabarole before the NRA took control of Fort Portal barracks later in the conflict. The so-called Western axis became accessible once Fort Portal fell.
Butime played a crucial role in getting the community ready to welcome the NRA fighters and provide supplies because Fort Portal was his hometown.
According to reports, Butime used his background in journalism to run Resistance FM, a local propaganda machine. The station’s talk shows frequently featured Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, Capt. Abbey Mukwaya, and Fr. Seguya as panellists.
Ndawula Senoga and Sam Kiwanuka, Sam Njuba’s younger brother, were among Butime’s Resistance FM employees. From that point on, public mobilization was Butime’s main focus until Kampala fell in 1986.
From July 6, 1996, to July 2001, Butime held the positions of Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of State for Refugees and Disaster Preparedness.
Butime held the Minister of State for International Cooperation position from 2001 until a cabinet shuffle in January 2005. From March 2004 to January 2005, he also served as acting foreign minister.
From January 13, 2005, to February 2006, he was the State Minister for Communications. He was appointed State Minister for Karamoja Affairs following the general elections in February 2006, a position he declined to accept.
Butime ran for the office of Mwenge County North Representative in 2011, but David Muhumuza defeated him.
Controversies
Colonels Butime and Mushega are thought to have worked behind the scenes, even though the late Lt. Col. Sserwanga Lwanga, Col. Kizza Besigye, and Gen. David Tinyefuza are better known for their opposition to prolonging the Movement’s rule during the Constituent Assembly (CA).
During the CA deliberations, it is believed that Butime and Mushega supported the opening up of the political arena but kept their support quiet.
The Libyan group had anticipated that Museveni would head a political party that would successor the NRM, according to certain sources cited by the Observer newspaper. The group recognized Butime as a potential candidate for the 1996 presidential elections internally, the aforementioned sources claim.
But this remained only a fantasy. The group desired that Western Uganda, not Ankole, continue to hold the reins of the revolution. Museveni, however, was informed by intelligence reports that Butime was being fronted to depose him.
When pressed for a comment regarding this, the former journalist and soldier, Butime, simply replied: “I don’t know about that.”
According to rumours, certain state officials allegedly spent a lot of money trying to defeat Butime in the 1996 parliamentary elections.
Butime received 23,884 votes (65%), while Maliro Gaston John received 12,722 (34%). Butime defeated his rivals in the 2001 parliamentary elections once more. He received 18,060 (48%) votes, Maliro 16,260 (43%) votes, and only 3,236 (8%) votes for Maj. Stephen Kananura. In the 2006 elections, he was to repeat the action.
In 2022, Tourism Minister Tom Butime was accused of threatening violence against the Chairperson of the Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE), Joel Ssenyonyi, in a phone conversation about the ongoing investigation into Uganda Airlines.
The case was filed at the Kampala Central police station. The Minister, however, denied intimidating the lawmaker.
Other relevant information
The Colonel was a capable and brave soldier, a dedicated revolutionary who desired a clean administration and never wanted to go against his word or a principle, according to Jack Sabiiti, who trained with Butime.
Butime held the positions of Minister of Interior Affairs and Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development. He held the positions of Minister of State for International Affairs and later, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees following the post-1996 Cabinet reorganization.
Butime threw in the towel when he was named Junior Minister in charge of Karamoja following the 2006 elections, being one of very few Ugandans to have declined a ministerial assignment.
Tom Butime is a trained Cinematographer. He is known to be a football fan with Manchester United being his favourite Premier League side. He also enjoys farming.
Editor’s Note: Please contact flashugnews@gmail.com if you find any of the content to be inaccurate or outdated.
