Eccentric Amin
AS I write, Uganda’s former President, General Idi Amin Dada, in critical condition in a Saudi Arabia hospital, is the country’s hottest topic for discussion at present
The Other Side of the Coin
With Paul Waibale Senior
AS I write, Uganda’s former President, General Idi Amin Dada, in critical condition in a Saudi Arabia hospital, is the country’s hottest topic for discussion at present. What is not certain is whether by the time you read what I am writing, the deposed dictator will be dead or alive.
This is an appropriate time for me to review some events that characterised Amin’s eight-year diabolical rule.
Looking back to the very first day of Amin’s notorious reign, I flatter myself that I might have been the first journalist in the entire world to conduct a face-to-face interview with the unschooled giant.
I was then a Kampala-based staff reporter at the Daily Nation of Nairobi, and it was my duty to file a report to the headquarters at the earliest opportunity. Barely one hour after the radio announcement that proclaimed that Dr Milton Obote had been overthrown, I telephoned the Army Commander Gen Idi Amin and requested for an interview. His reply was positive. He invited me to his residence along Prince Charles Drive, which was later christened “The Command Postâ€.
Driving between tanks lined along the way and past hundreds of soldiers armed to the teeth, I found the guards at the entrance to Amin’s residence waiting to usher me into his sitting room, together with two colleagues from Taifa Empya, a sister paper of the Daily Nation, who had volunteered to accompany me on what was considered a hazardous trip.
One big surprise encountered when we entered Amin’s sitting room was that deposed Milton Obote’s portrait was still hanging prominently on the wall. But Amin had his own explanation for the apparent anomaly.
He told us in what could have been his maiden interview as president that he had no personal quarrel with Obote, and that is why he continued to have his portrait hanging in his sitting room.
“Obote is a very good man who is being misled by the bad people surrounding him,†Amin observed. “If he can come back to Uganda so that we come to some understanding, I am prepared to hand power back to him,†he added.
Whatever was going on in Amin’s mind as he made those tantalising remarks, anybody’s guess is as good as mine. But it is a fact that Amin was installed president of Uganda within the next 48 hours.
Among Amin’s earliest presidential directives was one that released hundreds of prisoners from Luzira and other prisons. The majority of those released had been jailed for political reasons, of whom the most important was Benedicto Kiwanuka, the Democratic Party leader whom Amin appointed chief justice.
Ben Kiwanuka’s name was printed in indelible ink in Uganda’s history when he was abducted from his chambers at the High Court by Amin’s agents, and never re-surfaced. The common belief is that Ben was murdered in Makindye Military Police Barracks by pounding his head with a heavy hammer. But according to a reliably informed source, Amin personally shot Ben Kiwanuka dead with a pistol.
The furious soldier president shot the obstinate chief justice after Ben Kiwanuka had rejected Amin’s offer to be released after making a televised statement that he had been kidnapped by bandits who had subsequently released him.
That is not the only occasion Amin is alleged to have personally carried out the execution of some prominent personality. It is claimed in knowledgeable circles that Amin personally shot and killed Archbishop Janan Luwum after the Anglican prelate had rejected his offer to release him provided he recorded a video statement admitting that a cache of arms had been discovered at his Namirembe residence by the army.
Interestingly, among the very first victims of Amin’s murder gangs was his own lawyer, Anil Clerk. The only sin Clerk committed was that he represented Amin at the 1965 inquiry into the plunder of gold and ivory in Congo. He knew the inside story in respect of that humiliating saga.
Amin could not risk the possibility of Clerk one day spilling all the beans.
Amin had a peculiar relationship with his wives, ranging between luxurious passion and unrestrained dislike.
There was the occasion when his senior wife, Mariam, was admitted in Ward Six at Mulago following a road accident in which she suffered several fractures.
When Amin went to see his wife at Mulago, he castigated the Mulago medical staff for having given her undue privilege by allocating a special room to her. He ordered that she should immediately be transferred to a general ward and the directive was immediately implemented. A little while later Mariam’s relatives smuggled her out of Mulago Hospital and transferred her to a hospital in Nairobi.
On another occasion, Amin handed over, or claimed he was handing over, state power to his wife Madina Amin for two days. A radio announcement said that President Amin would be on bed rest for two days in accordance with orders of his doctor, and Madina Amin would be acting president.
On a more serious occasion, however, Amin had to get himself physically admitted in Mulago although there was nothing wrong with his health.
The problem was that a number of men sentenced to death for treason were to be executed by firing squad during the month of Ramadhan, a period which Islamic law recommends for forgiveness and reconciliation.
There was a hullabaloo from the Arab world and the king of Saudi Arabia dispatched a delegation to meet Amin and persuade him to stop the executions. Rather than face the Saudi delegation and give them a flat “noâ€, Amin took refuge in Mulago Hospital from where it was announced that doctors had ordered that the president must not receive any visitors. The Saudi delegation had to fly back empty-handed.
Although it was not my intention to express any strong views as to whether Amin’s body should be returned for burial in Uganda, I am inclined to the view that since one good turn deserves another, Amin’s body should be eligible for burial at home.
This is because he organised the return of the body of Sir Edward Mutesa of Buganda, a deposed former president of Uganda who died in exile in London in 1969.
With Paul Waibale Senior
AS I write, Uganda’s former President, General Idi Amin Dada, in critical condition in a Saudi Arabia hospital, is the country’s hottest topic for discussion at present. What is not certain is whether by the time you read what I am writing, the deposed dictator will be dead or alive.
This is an appropriate time for me to review some events that characterised Amin’s eight-year diabolical rule.
Looking back to the very first day of Amin’s notorious reign, I flatter myself that I might have been the first journalist in the entire world to conduct a face-to-face interview with the unschooled giant.
I was then a Kampala-based staff reporter at the Daily Nation of Nairobi, and it was my duty to file a report to the headquarters at the earliest opportunity. Barely one hour after the radio announcement that proclaimed that Dr Milton Obote had been overthrown, I telephoned the Army Commander Gen Idi Amin and requested for an interview. His reply was positive. He invited me to his residence along Prince Charles Drive, which was later christened “The Command Postâ€.
Driving between tanks lined along the way and past hundreds of soldiers armed to the teeth, I found the guards at the entrance to Amin’s residence waiting to usher me into his sitting room, together with two colleagues from Taifa Empya, a sister paper of the Daily Nation, who had volunteered to accompany me on what was considered a hazardous trip.
One big surprise encountered when we entered Amin’s sitting room was that deposed Milton Obote’s portrait was still hanging prominently on the wall. But Amin had his own explanation for the apparent anomaly.
He told us in what could have been his maiden interview as president that he had no personal quarrel with Obote, and that is why he continued to have his portrait hanging in his sitting room.
“Obote is a very good man who is being misled by the bad people surrounding him,†Amin observed. “If he can come back to Uganda so that we come to some understanding, I am prepared to hand power back to him,†he added.
Whatever was going on in Amin’s mind as he made those tantalising remarks, anybody’s guess is as good as mine. But it is a fact that Amin was installed president of Uganda within the next 48 hours.
Among Amin’s earliest presidential directives was one that released hundreds of prisoners from Luzira and other prisons. The majority of those released had been jailed for political reasons, of whom the most important was Benedicto Kiwanuka, the Democratic Party leader whom Amin appointed chief justice.
Ben Kiwanuka’s name was printed in indelible ink in Uganda’s history when he was abducted from his chambers at the High Court by Amin’s agents, and never re-surfaced. The common belief is that Ben was murdered in Makindye Military Police Barracks by pounding his head with a heavy hammer. But according to a reliably informed source, Amin personally shot Ben Kiwanuka dead with a pistol.
The furious soldier president shot the obstinate chief justice after Ben Kiwanuka had rejected Amin’s offer to be released after making a televised statement that he had been kidnapped by bandits who had subsequently released him.
That is not the only occasion Amin is alleged to have personally carried out the execution of some prominent personality. It is claimed in knowledgeable circles that Amin personally shot and killed Archbishop Janan Luwum after the Anglican prelate had rejected his offer to release him provided he recorded a video statement admitting that a cache of arms had been discovered at his Namirembe residence by the army.
Interestingly, among the very first victims of Amin’s murder gangs was his own lawyer, Anil Clerk. The only sin Clerk committed was that he represented Amin at the 1965 inquiry into the plunder of gold and ivory in Congo. He knew the inside story in respect of that humiliating saga.
Amin could not risk the possibility of Clerk one day spilling all the beans.
Amin had a peculiar relationship with his wives, ranging between luxurious passion and unrestrained dislike.
There was the occasion when his senior wife, Mariam, was admitted in Ward Six at Mulago following a road accident in which she suffered several fractures.
When Amin went to see his wife at Mulago, he castigated the Mulago medical staff for having given her undue privilege by allocating a special room to her. He ordered that she should immediately be transferred to a general ward and the directive was immediately implemented. A little while later Mariam’s relatives smuggled her out of Mulago Hospital and transferred her to a hospital in Nairobi.
On another occasion, Amin handed over, or claimed he was handing over, state power to his wife Madina Amin for two days. A radio announcement said that President Amin would be on bed rest for two days in accordance with orders of his doctor, and Madina Amin would be acting president.
On a more serious occasion, however, Amin had to get himself physically admitted in Mulago although there was nothing wrong with his health.
The problem was that a number of men sentenced to death for treason were to be executed by firing squad during the month of Ramadhan, a period which Islamic law recommends for forgiveness and reconciliation.
There was a hullabaloo from the Arab world and the king of Saudi Arabia dispatched a delegation to meet Amin and persuade him to stop the executions. Rather than face the Saudi delegation and give them a flat “noâ€, Amin took refuge in Mulago Hospital from where it was announced that doctors had ordered that the president must not receive any visitors. The Saudi delegation had to fly back empty-handed.
Although it was not my intention to express any strong views as to whether Amin’s body should be returned for burial in Uganda, I am inclined to the view that since one good turn deserves another, Amin’s body should be eligible for burial at home.
This is because he organised the return of the body of Sir Edward Mutesa of Buganda, a deposed former president of Uganda who died in exile in London in 1969.