Former president of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada, is probably the most famous Ugandan that almost everyone abroad associates with the beautiful east african nation.
Idi Amin was president of Uganda between 1972 – 1979 when he was driven out of the country by tanzanian soldiers. It was a reign of terror for both the countrymen and the world over. One of the episodes, that grabbed the world’s focus was the raid on entebbe by the Israel forces to rescue kidnapped jewish passengers.
Growing up in a post-Idi Amin era, he has been accused of all bad things, from over-seeing bloody murders, rapings to being a cannibal. He has been accused of driving the economy to nothing after expelling Indians out of the country.
Often times, people in Uganda, keep on wondering why the spirit of the dead former president of Uganda – Idi Amin Dada – would not rest in peace, why the country’s image abroad is still associated with Idi Amin. Almost every ugandan who has traveled abroad has been asked about Idd Amin or encountered people who still think Idd Amin is the president of Uganda!
Since Idi Amin’s reign, Uganda has enjoyed relative peace, with the economy posting extra-ordinary growth rates. what is saddening, is that the country has not brought itself to shade off the bad image of Amin. Our leaders still use him as an excuse for all their short-comings.
The chancellor of Makerere University, Uganda’s elite university, blamed Idd Amin for the declining intellectual superiority of the institution. It is unbelievable that a person who left the country 3 decades back, still is blamed for all the rot taking place today.
With Idi Amin featuring prominently in our news today, how else do hope that the International community would not associate Uganda with his dictatorial regime? We should always learn from the past but not dwell on it.
