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Dr Stephen Oscar Malinga, the MP for Butebo, Pallisa was a Captain in the Ugandan army in 1970 when former president Amin Dada (RIP) was the army commander. Malinga, an obstetrician and gaenacologist told The Sunday Monitor’s Mercy Nalugo about the life of a soldier in Amin’s army.
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| Malinga, an army doctor whom he promoted to the rank of Captain. | In the beginning Amin was a pleasant person who demonstrated that he was a leader for the underprivileged, especially in the army.
Soldiers with minor problems made appointments to see Amin and in deed they met him.
Much as Amin was not educated, most Ugandans liked him; no wonder there was a lot of drumming when he took over power from Obote.
One time I wanted to dismiss an army sergeant called Mulangira whom I found drunk while on duty.
Mulangira went and reported me to Amin, who summoned me to the army house at Acacia Avenue. Mulangira was seated with Amin eating kalo and emolokony.
Amin asked me why I was dismissing Mulangira and whether I was ready to look after his family. I dropped the idea immediately.
Amin generally had a chain of contacts within the army which not only made him popular, but also earned him a lot of information and that is the reason it was easy for him to overthrow Obote.
How Malinga became Captain
I was recruited as an army doctor and straight away given the rank of Captain. I was actually taken into the army by the Ministry of Defence under Amin’s influence.
How Amin’s grabbed power
Before Amin became the president, there was suspicion in Obote’s government that he had a hand in killing Brig. Okoya who was stationed in Masaka and was killed in Gulu and Lt. Col. Omoya who was murdered in Mbarara.
When Amin took over power, we knew he would not be able to lead the country because he did not have the capacity to face up to the economic challenges.
And as soon as he became president, he started to regard any body who opposed him as an enemy, the logical conclusion of which was death.
The peak of it all was the murder of the Arch Bishop Janan Luwum, the Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka and the then governor of Bank of Uganda in 1972. Somehow, I think Amin knew when and how these people were killed.
Amin most of the time acted on rumours. In the beginning it was the Acholi, the Langi and the Uganda Peoples Congress supporters who suffered the brunt of brutality. But sooner than later, he spread out his net.
When he called for an emergency parliamentary meeting immediately after taking over power, we advised him not to appoint army men into critical public service jobs. We told him to appoint educated civilians. No wonder Amin’s cabinet comprised a number of educated people.
The peak of brutality
When Amin got reports that Tanzania was planning to attack Uganda, he went wild.
Most of the killings were done around this time. And I think most of the killings during Amin’s regime were caused by his intelligence network, the State Research Bureau (SRB) which was composed of men who did not care for human life.
SRB agents not only killed civilians, but they also killed soldiers whom they thought posed a threat to Amin’s government. Actually some of the killings were born out of personal grudges.
Amin the hunter
Amin loved hunting very much. He called me on several occasions to accompany him to the bush. We would go hunting in Para or Kyobe. He distributed the game to soldiers and much as buffaloes were preserved, Amin had a license to kill them. He preferred eating antelopes and never killed engabi (Bushbucks) as it was a taboo to kill them.
The rumour mill continued to work. This time round, it was catching up with me. I was then stationed in Masindi.
Rumour had it that I was one of the people who were linked to Obote and was planning to overthrow government.
Armoured Personnel Careers (APCs), were dispatched to Masindi to arrest collaborators and my name was in the list of people to be killed.
Fortunately, I was on safari in Arua. The telephone operator informed me that all my colleagues had been arrested and killed. That is how I survived.
The first thing I thought of was to flee to Zaire but on a second thought, I realised I didn’t know anyone there. So I decided to go to Gulu via Moyo.
Unable to proceed because of numerous roadblocks in Lira, Soroti and Mbale, I called a friend called Sgt. Meri in Masindi, who gave me some soldiers who escorted me to Kampala under the guise of travelling to collect supplies in Magamaga.
I finally sneaked out through Busia border. I took a bus to Kisumu.
I later got in touch with a friend who got me a ticket to Europe where I completed my post graduate course in Obstetrics and Gaenacology.
Meeting in New York
Amin came to Manhattan, New York for a workshop and I went to see him. When he saw me he said, “My doctor why did you run away. I was going to promote you to Lieutenant Colonel”.
He gave me a first class ticket to return to Uganda, but when I consulted with my friends, they advised me never ever to try it.
I again met Amin in Jedda, Saudi Arabia in 1986. This time round I reminded him of all the atrocities he committed.
He, however, swore that he had never killed a single person. I asked him if he was the one who killed Archbishop Janan Luwum and two ministers Okoth Ofumbi and Erinayo Oryema but he denied.
Luwum’s death
By the time the Archbishop was killed, I was still in the US. I did not carry out his postmortem as it has been stated in some books and narratives. It probably might be Dr Okumu (RIP).
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