Dear Cde Arafat, hulloo!
First things first, I am Nkwazi not Nkwanzi. I sincerely admit. I wrote an article on Idi Amin, which you intentionally confuted, convoluted, and misconstrued in the DN (August 24, 2025).
May I briefly respond as thus:
1. “That President Obote "messed up"”
I still stand by my assertion. Obote messed up bigly. For example, up to his removal, apart from committing atrocities like sending Amin to invade and topple Kabaka, Obote was aloof and out of touch. Divisionism and nepotism were rife and Amin didn’t evidentially aim or want to become President. Refer to https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/how-the-1971-overthrow-of-president-obote-was-hatched-1641098
2. “The Coup Was Not Bloodless?”
Truly, Amin’s coup was bloodless, which I still maintain. I though concur with you. There followed criminality that saw Obote’s loyalists hunted down and killed in the aftermath of the very coup, which I’m humbly heedful. I still commiserate with and respect the victims and their families as you correctly enumerated them. May their clean souls RIP.
“Was Amin’s coup bloody or bloodless?”
In my tome (forthcoming) Africa’s Military Coups d’état Fixed Feature: How Coloniality and Postcolonial Power Greed Cloned and Maintained the Phenomenon, I simply define bloodless coup as the one that takes place without shedding blood regardless of its aftermath. Factually, based on what transpired, Amin’s coup was bloodless. Methinks, you confused the coup and its aftermath, which was marked with brutalities and gross violations of human rights.
Regarding terrorising “Obote’s supporters, intellectuals, and Acholi and Langi tribesmen in the army,” admittedly, the aftermath of the coup was violent. Vis-à-vis the number of Amin’s victims, nobody knows the actual number. It all depends on who reports what and why. I, therefore, humbly aver. I didn’t aim to ‘erase’ Amin’s ‘bloodbath’, or sanction Obote’s.
2. “Was Amin Not Corruption-Free?”
May I unapologetically accentuate. Trust me. I analysed Amin personally not his regime. The two are different entities, which occupied the same space and systems. Regarding Amin’s ‘extravagant life”, who, among postcolonial African rulers practically lived/live on chickenfeed? To exhume this, kindly, visit their “statehouses” or covert budgets. Therefore, there’s no distortion whatsoever. Please, reread the piece again. Regarding available literature, nowhere Amin’s accused of or implicated in any ill-gotten gains.
Give the devil his due. Like others African potentates, Amin committed crimes but didn’t rob Uganda. His associates looted some Asian businesses over a year after the coup. To do justice, please, compare Amin with the likes of Abacha, Bokassa, Mobutu, Houphouet-Boigny, Kenyatta and suchlike who robbed or ruined their countries. I’d advise you to read my book Africa’s Best and Worst Presidents: How Neocolonialism and Imperialism Maintained Venal Rules in Africa (2016), Langaa RPCIG, Bamenda, Cameroon.
Significantly, I also concur with you. Uganda’s economy either collapsed or tanked under Amin. Where, in Africa, except Botswana and Seychelles (currently), did any democratic or military rules develop or improve economy thenceforward?
May I kindly repudiate your argument that “the absence of a paper trail of wealth does not mean absence of corruption!” Kindly note. Scripta manent (written words remain). If Amin were corrupt, 1) the world wouldn’t hide the boneyards of the spoils he left to his family. Is there any? Zilch, 2) Tanzania, whose founder was Obote’s enabler, friend, and protector, would have exposed him. Remember, Tanzania invented, sponsored, and span the myth that Amin was an anthropophagus. Refer to The Rise and Fall of Amin by Joseph Ogola Olita.
3. “Obote’s First Regime Was Nation-Building, Not Collapse”
Can you briefly enumerate Obote’s ‘accomplishments’ if any? Facing hostility from the Baganda whose Kabaka Obote overthrew after creating a one-party dictatorship, what did realistically the ‘Common Man Charter’ achieve? Like any potentate who opposed capitalism, Obote was a target like Nyerere and Kaunda were. Again, why did the duo survive and Obote go under if there isn’t anything fishy?
4. “Obote’s Second Administration Was Born in Hostility”
You argue: President Obote “messed up” in his second administration (1980–85) without noting the following facts: “President Obote returned to power in 1980 after nine years of devastation under Amin, inheriting a shattered economy, broken institutions…….” What did Museveni inherit? “Inheriting shattered economy” provides an opportunity to reverse it for competent heirs. You add “Obote II administration was immediately undermined by armed militias like Museveni’s NRA…..difficult.” I partly concur and differ with you. Didn’t Obote and Co. including Museveni, all backed by Tanzania, undermine Amin’s regime?
I refute Obote’s palms (the builder/renovator). Can you show anything for that if anything? I however concur with you. Amin’s a Proxy. Whose proxy was Obote? Is there any postcolonial African ruler who was/isn’t?
You speciously posited. “Idi Amin's usefulness to his imperialist handlers lay in derailing Uganda’s socialist path under Obote….” My foot. Uganda never took a socialist path or anything like. Thus, your argument, go figure is farfetched.
Finally, I didn’t intend to ‘rehabilitate’ or shampoo Amin vis-à-vis above, which you intentionally construed as revisionism though it’s truism. Why? You can’t rewrite true history since it reports everything sicut est.
First things first, I am Nkwazi not Nkwanzi. I sincerely admit. I wrote an article on Idi Amin, which you intentionally confuted, convoluted, and misconstrued in the DN (August 24, 2025).
May I briefly respond as thus:
1. “That President Obote "messed up"”
I still stand by my assertion. Obote messed up bigly. For example, up to his removal, apart from committing atrocities like sending Amin to invade and topple Kabaka, Obote was aloof and out of touch. Divisionism and nepotism were rife and Amin didn’t evidentially aim or want to become President. Refer to https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/how-the-1971-overthrow-of-president-obote-was-hatched-1641098
2. “The Coup Was Not Bloodless?”
Truly, Amin’s coup was bloodless, which I still maintain. I though concur with you. There followed criminality that saw Obote’s loyalists hunted down and killed in the aftermath of the very coup, which I’m humbly heedful. I still commiserate with and respect the victims and their families as you correctly enumerated them. May their clean souls RIP.
“Was Amin’s coup bloody or bloodless?”
In my tome (forthcoming) Africa’s Military Coups d’état Fixed Feature: How Coloniality and Postcolonial Power Greed Cloned and Maintained the Phenomenon, I simply define bloodless coup as the one that takes place without shedding blood regardless of its aftermath. Factually, based on what transpired, Amin’s coup was bloodless. Methinks, you confused the coup and its aftermath, which was marked with brutalities and gross violations of human rights.
Regarding terrorising “Obote’s supporters, intellectuals, and Acholi and Langi tribesmen in the army,” admittedly, the aftermath of the coup was violent. Vis-à-vis the number of Amin’s victims, nobody knows the actual number. It all depends on who reports what and why. I, therefore, humbly aver. I didn’t aim to ‘erase’ Amin’s ‘bloodbath’, or sanction Obote’s.
2. “Was Amin Not Corruption-Free?”
May I unapologetically accentuate. Trust me. I analysed Amin personally not his regime. The two are different entities, which occupied the same space and systems. Regarding Amin’s ‘extravagant life”, who, among postcolonial African rulers practically lived/live on chickenfeed? To exhume this, kindly, visit their “statehouses” or covert budgets. Therefore, there’s no distortion whatsoever. Please, reread the piece again. Regarding available literature, nowhere Amin’s accused of or implicated in any ill-gotten gains.
Give the devil his due. Like others African potentates, Amin committed crimes but didn’t rob Uganda. His associates looted some Asian businesses over a year after the coup. To do justice, please, compare Amin with the likes of Abacha, Bokassa, Mobutu, Houphouet-Boigny, Kenyatta and suchlike who robbed or ruined their countries. I’d advise you to read my book Africa’s Best and Worst Presidents: How Neocolonialism and Imperialism Maintained Venal Rules in Africa (2016), Langaa RPCIG, Bamenda, Cameroon.
Significantly, I also concur with you. Uganda’s economy either collapsed or tanked under Amin. Where, in Africa, except Botswana and Seychelles (currently), did any democratic or military rules develop or improve economy thenceforward?
May I kindly repudiate your argument that “the absence of a paper trail of wealth does not mean absence of corruption!” Kindly note. Scripta manent (written words remain). If Amin were corrupt, 1) the world wouldn’t hide the boneyards of the spoils he left to his family. Is there any? Zilch, 2) Tanzania, whose founder was Obote’s enabler, friend, and protector, would have exposed him. Remember, Tanzania invented, sponsored, and span the myth that Amin was an anthropophagus. Refer to The Rise and Fall of Amin by Joseph Ogola Olita.
3. “Obote’s First Regime Was Nation-Building, Not Collapse”
Can you briefly enumerate Obote’s ‘accomplishments’ if any? Facing hostility from the Baganda whose Kabaka Obote overthrew after creating a one-party dictatorship, what did realistically the ‘Common Man Charter’ achieve? Like any potentate who opposed capitalism, Obote was a target like Nyerere and Kaunda were. Again, why did the duo survive and Obote go under if there isn’t anything fishy?
4. “Obote’s Second Administration Was Born in Hostility”
You argue: President Obote “messed up” in his second administration (1980–85) without noting the following facts: “President Obote returned to power in 1980 after nine years of devastation under Amin, inheriting a shattered economy, broken institutions…….” What did Museveni inherit? “Inheriting shattered economy” provides an opportunity to reverse it for competent heirs. You add “Obote II administration was immediately undermined by armed militias like Museveni’s NRA…..difficult.” I partly concur and differ with you. Didn’t Obote and Co. including Museveni, all backed by Tanzania, undermine Amin’s regime?
I refute Obote’s palms (the builder/renovator). Can you show anything for that if anything? I however concur with you. Amin’s a Proxy. Whose proxy was Obote? Is there any postcolonial African ruler who was/isn’t?
You speciously posited. “Idi Amin's usefulness to his imperialist handlers lay in derailing Uganda’s socialist path under Obote….” My foot. Uganda never took a socialist path or anything like. Thus, your argument, go figure is farfetched.
Finally, I didn’t intend to ‘rehabilitate’ or shampoo Amin vis-à-vis above, which you intentionally construed as revisionism though it’s truism. Why? You can’t rewrite true history since it reports everything sicut est.
Source: Daily Monitor Sunday today.
No comments:
Post a Comment