Benedicto Kagimu Mugumba Kiwanuka (8 May 1922[1] – 22 September 1972) was a Ugandan politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Uganda.

He was the leader of the Democratic Party, and one of the political figures in Uganda that led the country in the transition between colonial British rule and independence.

In the immediate aftermath of Obote's 1972 invasion of Uganda, Kiwanuka was arrested at gunpoint by Amin's men as he presided over a session of the High Court.

Western accounts described a prolonged execution which, according to eyewitnesses, involved Kiwanuka's ears, nose, lips, and arms being severed, a disembowelling, and castration before he was finally immolated.

[3] Kiwanuka's killing was the first of a series directed against leading figures in the Baganda and Ankole tribes, aimed at curbing their power.