[2] Ernest Obitre Gama was born into a Lugbara family of farmers in the West Nile sub-region in the Northern Region of Uganda.

His goal was to become a marine engineer and work in Mombasa, Kenya, but his guardians objected and told him to enlist in the Uganda People's Defence Force.

[5] In January 1965 he was commissioned and went to the Specialist Weapons School at Battlesbury Barracks in Warminster, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom where was trained to be a platoon commander.

[7] In 1969, Obitre Gana went on a tour of India, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia where he represented the Uganda People's Defence Force.

[7] Obitre Gama was observing the trials of Raffique Shah and Rex Lassalle, members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force who mutinied in response to Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams calling a state of emergency and arresting leaders of the Black Power Revolution.

[8] Following the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état, Idi Amin called for Obitre Gama to return to Uganda immediately.

[1] He was appointed to be Minister of Internal Affairs on 2 February,[9] replacing the imprisoned and soon-to-be executed Basil Kiiza Bataringaya.

[1] Obitre Gama's most influential action as Minister of Internal Affairs was leading a mechanized battalion to restore order to Kampala in February 1972 following ethnic conflict within the city.

[1] In May 1972, Amin allegedly snubbed a hand shake from Obitre Gama at a conference at Serena Hotel, Kampala, saying "I don't want to see you.