Basil Kiiza Bataringaya (1927 – 18 September 1972) was a prominent Ugandan politician in post-independence Uganda. He was the Leader of the Opposition at the beginning of the Apollo Milton Obote government, and then he changed parties and was appointed to the powerful role of Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs. He was imprisoned, tortured, and was one of the first political prisoners to be executed by the Idi Amin regime. Early life Birth Basil Kiiza Bataringaya was born in 1927, in the village of Kantojo, in the county of Igara, in the Bushenyi District of the Ugandan Protectorate. His father was Marko Kiiza, who was the Ssaza Chief of Bunyaruguru at the time. A Ssaza was the equivalent of a county in the newly created administration divisions after the absorption of the Ankole Kingdom in to the British Protectorate of Uganda, as a part of the Ankole Agreement of 1901. The Ankole Agreement set the boundaries of the Bunyaruguru Ssaza as "On the north-west by the Dweru Channel; on the east by the Chambura River, the recognized Bunyaruguru-lgara and Kamsura-Igara boundaries; on the south by the Rwenchwera River; on the west by Lake Albert Edward", and gave Bataringaya's father a powerful position in southwestern Uganda during the early 20th century. Education Bataringaya attended St. Leo's College, Kyegobe, a residential boys' secondary school of Catholic curriculum, located in Fort Portal, Kabarole District in the Western Region of Uganda from 1945 to 1947. He then attended the Government Teacher Training College of Uganda (TTC) from 1948 to 1949. He then attended Makerere University, Uganda's top university, from 1953 to 1956. It was at Makerere University that Bataringaya began his political career, becoming the University College Guild president for the 1955 to 1956 term. Teaching career After graduating from Makerere University, Bataringaya became a secondary school teacher. He taught at Ntare Secondary School, a residential single-sex all boy's secondary school located in Mbarara, Mbarara District, Uganda. He then became the school supervisor of the Ankole Catholic schools from 1959 to 1961, when he was first elected to the Parliament of Uganda. Political career Transitional Government Bataringaya ran as a member of the Democratic Party of Uganda for the legislative seat for the Ankole District to the Uganda Legislative Council in the transitional government between the colonial-era Uganda Protectorate and the Republic of Uganda in the first Ugandan nationwide direct elections, the March 1961