Don’t attribute to Amin things he didn’t do
Aug 18, 2003
SIR— Former president Idi Amin is dead. Many people, maybe out of ignorance, short memories or natural sympathy for him are beginning, not only to forget the evil that he visited on Ugandans, but, unfortunately, even attributing to him good things that he did not do and was actually against. The b
SIR— Former president Idi Amin is dead. Many people, maybe out of ignorance, short memories or natural sympathy for him are beginning, not only to forget the evil that he visited on Ugandans, but, unfortunately, even attributing to him good things that he did not do and was actually against. The best example being the earth satellite station at Mpoma, Bugerere Road, in Mukono district.
The station project was originally conceived by the Posts and Telecoms engineers as an alternative to the Longonot one formerly owned by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Kenyans had since ‘stolen’ like all EA community assets and started charging the former co-owners for its use in connecting international calls. So, it was not even Amin’s baby! Right, Amin was concerned about this issue of “communication independence†but once his men learnt of the project, he opposed it vehemently, especially the location. He therefore, with one Farouk (a Pakistani) as chief advisor and project manager directed that a station instead be built at Ombachi, near Arua, ostensibly for security reasons. Because it could transport TV to Arua, Amin directed that it be under the Ministry of Information and the State Research Bureau. Ombachi was therefore a replacement for Mpoma and NOT a supplement to it. Interestingly, by the time he was overthrown, it had accumulated US$800,000 in space segment fees, a debt the young UNLF government had to pay before Mpoma could eventually be allowed to access the space satellite(s).
Meanwhile, the technical and commercial specifications for Mpoma had already been finalised and the then new Uganda P&T, in collaboration with some bureaucrats from the Ministry of Transport and Communications continued with the project “securityâ€. It is true, that so long as state security was not threatened by the project, there was no nosing around, especially in a ministry headed by one Amin confidant, Marijan, who, having worked in the Community was probably personally not against his former colleagues in the P&T. However, this concerned only its planning.
And finally, the “satellite’ was not built in Amin’s period as some people erroneously believe. The construction of Mpoma started after he had been overthrown and the money paid. Its operations started only in 1981, two years after his departure.
So please, for history’s sake, stop attributing to Amin some of the good things he never did but actually opposed! This is an unfair falsification of history and it will judge us harshly.
Christopher Muwanga
Kampala
The station project was originally conceived by the Posts and Telecoms engineers as an alternative to the Longonot one formerly owned by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Kenyans had since ‘stolen’ like all EA community assets and started charging the former co-owners for its use in connecting international calls. So, it was not even Amin’s baby! Right, Amin was concerned about this issue of “communication independence†but once his men learnt of the project, he opposed it vehemently, especially the location. He therefore, with one Farouk (a Pakistani) as chief advisor and project manager directed that a station instead be built at Ombachi, near Arua, ostensibly for security reasons. Because it could transport TV to Arua, Amin directed that it be under the Ministry of Information and the State Research Bureau. Ombachi was therefore a replacement for Mpoma and NOT a supplement to it. Interestingly, by the time he was overthrown, it had accumulated US$800,000 in space segment fees, a debt the young UNLF government had to pay before Mpoma could eventually be allowed to access the space satellite(s).
Meanwhile, the technical and commercial specifications for Mpoma had already been finalised and the then new Uganda P&T, in collaboration with some bureaucrats from the Ministry of Transport and Communications continued with the project “securityâ€. It is true, that so long as state security was not threatened by the project, there was no nosing around, especially in a ministry headed by one Amin confidant, Marijan, who, having worked in the Community was probably personally not against his former colleagues in the P&T. However, this concerned only its planning.
And finally, the “satellite’ was not built in Amin’s period as some people erroneously believe. The construction of Mpoma started after he had been overthrown and the money paid. Its operations started only in 1981, two years after his departure.
So please, for history’s sake, stop attributing to Amin some of the good things he never did but actually opposed! This is an unfair falsification of history and it will judge us harshly.
Christopher Muwanga
Kampala