Recently, while discussing with some journalist friends, we ended up focusing on the blame game that has become a constant in Ugandan politics.
We were talking about how in the aftermath of the Luwero Parliamentary by-elections 2014, blame was poured on Idi Amin for the districts current lack of government services. I wondered how anyone in their right mind could concocte such obvious misjudgemeny in 2014, 35 years since Amin left the country. The true word up for mention is the "incompetence". Many intellectuals possess a superiority complex, and they have for the last 40 years been shouting themselves hoarse about Amin. These men and women have chosen to invent a ficticious political parochialism involving Amin as long as it suits their agenda of either grabbing power or hanging on to it. Many individuals in Uganda and the region talk about the learned elite simply unable to accept a semi-literate person reaching heights they never even dreamt of attaining themselves. Thereby their subsequent, persisting negative utterances. Obviously this haters group of elitist politicians and scholars wouldn't accept any mention of Amin's positive achievements, particularly that of an uncorrupt leader struggling for the people and enjoying pan-africanist applause as he did back then when he fought for Ugandans and Africans against neo-colonialism and against apartheid in Southern Africa. It is surprising that there is a total disconnect between the Amin that ordinary Ugandans talk about, and the Amin that the media/elite talk about. How come? Is the media censuring popular opinion on Idi Amin? Obviously something is amiss. The excuse that I have heard being brought up by some editors when faced with an Amin issue, is that they don't want to hurt the feelings of those who might have suffered during the 70's. But that isn't the job of the media. When their is a story, it should be either balanced or remain unpublished. Headlines such as "Killed by Amin for confronting him" is a total fallacy of journalism when there is no substantiation. People, mainly opportunists, use such self-seeking tactics to appear brave. Scaring others by lying that they encountered a lion and single-handedly fought it. Then the whole village fears the crook. But Amin has never been convicted of any crime, and he was never asked to narrate his side of the story. So how can a news article on Amin be without his say included? That is unacceptable journalism. When one-sided stories on anything get printed by the media, that isn't journalism. It's Politics? Yet family members and former government officials are all over Uganda and able to say their opinion. As I said recently, article 28 of the Ugandan constitution says everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So how come the media is allowed to break editorial standards, journalistic principles and the constitution of Uganda all in the same stride when it comes to reporting about Idi Amin? The media takes more seriously the verbosity of a suspected underpants thief/government spokesperson. That is a telling sign of the poor quality of our ethics, politics, judicial system and media professionalism. But to explain the political tactics that have been employed for the last 35 years, the formula is quite simple. Say that everything bad was by Idi Amin, and you cover for your failures and your hitherto glaring ignorance. That is the single biggest success of any government since 1979 when Amin left the country: Blaming Amin. That is how in todays Uganda, old, outdated politicians have managed to remain under the spotlight longer than all Miss Ugandas combined. But if someone dares to praise Field Marshal Idi Amin on a particular point, these elite turn into beasts right infront of your very eyes, with anger and venom oozing from the nostrils and all pores. You think I'm exaggerating? Try it once and see the metamorphosis happen before your very eyes. The period 1980-1990's (after Amin) saw a million Ugandans dead. It stood as the East African record until the Rwanda genocide equaled it in 1994. Was that Amin? The amusing part is that the perpetrators on both sides prefer the diversionaries of... you guessed it... Blaming Amin. And sometimes they do it together. Didn't Mwalimu Nyerere withdraw his troops from Uganda in total nausea and disgust at the chaos, criminality, ethnic killings and torture by these very people he helped? But you find that til today, for some particular individuals, there is literally no public speech without at some point the mention of Idi Amin. Even for crimes committed by them when he had already left. Ok then! Since the blame game is a serious policy, let me help. The never-ending, exponentially rising wave of continuous corruption scandals, that have paralyzed the civil service and seen disgusted international donors withdraw aid as billions upon billions of public funds are literally pillaged from the coffers of the state every year. Let's put that on Amin. Let's see if we can also blame Amin for the military hardware that crashes before reaching Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab insurgents because corrupt officials bought cheap junk equipment so as to pocket the rest of the funds originally disboursed for new equipment. Lets blame Idi Amin for the officers who sell fuel and ammunition meant for battle tanks and foot soldiers who then fail and die miserably in the Somalia battle field. Blame Amin for the killings in Northern Uganda where The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces purportedly "guarding" Internally Displaced Peoples camps would somehow disappear prior to so-called "LRA attacks" and re-appear right after, acting as concerned samaritans. Blame Amin for the recently exiled Gen. Sejusa who says that the regime is plotting to assassinate senior officials opposed to the plan by Museveni to have his son replace him as president. Blame Amin for other exiled Ministers like Bakoko Bakoru who recently exposed how members of the first family secretely call ministers demanding, without accountability, for public cash from the different ministries. Blame Amin for the many deserting soldiers fleeing the regime, while political opponents like Nebanda, Francis Ayume, Wapakabulo, Gad Wilson Toko, Noble Mayombo and Andrew Kayiira die mysteriously, and sometimes in questionable car accidents similar to that of Archbishop Janan Luwum, with independent investigations swiftly curtailed by the state police. Blame Amin for the 1986 Mukura massacre where the 35th NRA/UPDF battalion heinously and mercilessly burnt trainloads of civilians in eastern Uganda. Blame Amin for the senior government officials who have attempted to forcefully grab properties and ancestral lands of poor peasants around the country and more specifically in the oil rich regions. Blame Amin for putting South Sudans former President, the late John Garang in the ill-fated presidential helicopter that crashed and killed him together with his entourage and the crew. Please blame Amin for the prevailing police state that is torturing, beating up and arresting anyone seeking any other president other than the supreme leader for 2016, while crushing protesters and unarmed civilians. Yes! Just put all that on Amin. Even the current pillaging of state coffers to bribe voters and enrich ruling party cadres, leaving teachers, doctors, policemen, soldiers and other unfortunate civil servants unpaid. Blame Amin for incarcerating and torturing soldiers who dare ask why the supreme leaders son was being promoted swiftly up the ranks while the rest of them are in the trenches selling guns to Al Shabab. We should also ask Idi Amin why he has put several relatives and tribes mates of the supreme leader and his wife in all key positions in the civil service and government. But let's make sure we blame Idi Amin for lifting presidential term limits in 2005 by bribing parliamentarians, then holding them hostage by forcing an open ballot vote so that they are unable to vote their concsience about the supreme leader hanging on to power. Blame Idi Amin for dispatching the UPDF to Congo in 1998 where, in an outburst of literal greed, Ugandan soldiers run amock and looted the country, and now Ugandans are asked to kindly reimburse 10 billion US dollars of tax payer money to the Democratic Republic of Congo. We shouldn't forget to blame Amin for creating and supporting negative forces and rebel groups wrecking havoc in Congo i.e. M23, Laurent Nkunda, M19, Gen. Jean Pierre Bemba and Terminator Ntaganda (the last two now facing the ICC). Idi Amin shouldn't go scot free for the staggering 6 million Congolese dead, tortured, maimed, cannibalized and raped in the course of the UPDF/NRA's military tour of Congo since 1998. Let's also blame him for the pit murder, suffocation and rape of civilians by the UPDF in Purcoro village in April 1991. Very importantly let us all get together quickly and blame Amin for the hundreds of thousands of human skulls and bones in Luweero district. Don't tell the Muzungu that all are innocent peasants, victims of the fight between "liberators". By the way, we can also blame Amin for bringing out the tanks and armed troops during all recent Ugandan elections to instill fear, coerce and literally threaten the people into voting "the right candidate" supreme leader who is now the longest serving ruler this country had ever had. Surely someone must have quietly celebrated the day he surpassed Amin's eight years in power. In the meantime, we might as well ponder at the enormity of the actual criminal responsible for all of the above. This can't be a human doing all this. Did the living devil visit Uganda after Amin left or what? What was this 80's cult-like assassination style of sinking a hole in innocent civilians skulls and watch them collapse to death? I had an interesting read about that in Major Kazoora's novel entitled "Betrayed By My Leader". Sorry guys, we need psychiatric therapy for some people. Fellow Ugandans. It might not look so but we have a looong way to go before we can rest assured of long term political stability. There is already rampant talk of revenge on the current regime ehen the winds of change reach this country. Of course the regime is holding haphasardly at the moment. But it's still based on the One ruler formula. And that shows lack of longterm vision. This model has been proved to inevitably collapse into guaranteed violence at the demise or death of that one person. Especially if he is surrounded by folks with hidden personal agendas of also "wanting" quietly. Institutions? My foot. Hussein Juruga Amin Son of His Excellency Idi Amin, Former President of Uganda.
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