William Mukama was a Ugandan teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and founding member of the Ninth October Movement. Mukama was also a member of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), the ruling party and government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 of Uganda both before and after the Idi Amin

Idi Amin

Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...

 dictatorship.

Mukama is believed to have been born in 1951, and a native of Mbale district

Mbale District

Mbale District is a district in Eastern Uganda. It is named after the largest city in the district, Mbale, which also servess as the main administrative and commercial center in the sub-region.-Location:...

, part of which now forms the new Pallisa District

Pallisa District

Pallisa District is a district in Eastern Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its chief town, Pallisa, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...

, in Eastern Uganda. Brought up as religious young man, his first and only wish had been to become a priest. His early training in college directed him towards achieving this goal and was changed by forced National Service. As one of the best English and literature graduates, Mukama was drafted as an English teacher in Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. The young Mukama worked and lived in Libya for approximately seven years at the end of which he had mastered speaking,writing and reading Arabic.

In the early 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 following the fall of Amin, Mukama returned to Uganda and continued with the teaching profession, quickly becoming deputy head and then head of Namutumba School. Mukama is believed to have left this position to contest a parliamentary seat for Iganga district

Iganga District

Iganga District is a district in Eastern Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Iganga, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...

 in the 1985 elections as the official candidate of The Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) under Apollo Milton Obote. Mukama lost this seat.

Between 1985 and 1989, Mukama, along with Elungat, Captain Namiti, Bright Gabula, and Paulo Muwanga

Paulo Muwanga

Paulo Muwanga was the chairman of the governing Military Commission, and the de-facto President of Uganda for a few days in May 1980 until the establishment of the Presidential Commission of Uganda. The Presidential Commission, with Muwanga as chairman, held the office of President of Uganda...

, formed the Ninth October Movement.