President Idi Amin Dada’s eight-year reign in Uganda 1971 to 1979 has been portrayed by most western fictional films as murderous and erratic Ugandan ruler and among those films are the Last King of Scotland (2006), The Rise and Fall of Amin (1981), General Idi Amin Dada: a Self-Portrait. The negative documentation went beyond fictional film to be published in books, journals still standing in the library stalls today.
Much as these negative narratives have generated a blend of pride and pain among Ugandan citizens, the family and friends of the fallen president for over 44 years after president Amin’s overthrow.
They continue to disturbed negative stories portraying president Amin's rule as characterized by widespread human rights abuses, including torture, extrajudicial killings, ethnic and religious persecution, forced disappearances, personality cult and self-aggrandizement and many others reports suggest that he was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Ugandans during his time in power.
It is these negative narratives that Amin’s family and friends are now seeking to re-rewrite. They want Amin’s achievements to replace the narrative the family regard as being presented upside down.
In consequence, the family and friends of the fallen president are organizing a memorial prayer on Friday, August 18, 2023 at Masjid Noor located in Bombo town in Luwero district and followed by a memorial lecture on September 1, 2023 at Muni University in Arua city in honour of the fallen president.
Members of the public with positive stories informed of publications, newspaper cut outs, audio visual materials about the eight-year reign of president Amin are urged to reach out to the team of researchers involved in the recollection exercise of life stories of Amin.
The spokesperson of the forthcoming Idi Amin of the memorial lecture Hassan Caps Fungaro said, “To rewrite life stories of Amin, we are cognizant of the of the fact that many stories of Uganda that has been turned upside down due to social economic political and security problems arising from colonial and neocolonial effects.”
“We cannot accept narratives that president Amin ate his archbishop's liver. We are disturbed by the manner Idi Amin is remembered based on negative branding of his personality that’s why we believe his life and work while in office should be reexamined” Kaps Fungaro stressed.
On July 19, 2003, Amin died at King Faisal specialist hospital and research center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The family and friends of the fallen president expect to reinstate the debate on the return of Amin’s remains during the memorial lecture regardless of the limitations of the Islamic faith.
Kaps Fungaro said, “It’s a norm here that when you pass on, your remains are brought back home to reburial, why not Amin’s remains? This is a conversation we are set a wake during the memorial lecture that will be attended by Islamic faith leaders.''
The main speaker at the memorial lecture is Julius Sello Malema – president of the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) of South Africa and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Jamal Mohamed Hassan.
President Amin was born in Koboko in what is now northwest Uganda to Kakwa father and Lugbara mother in 1964, he joined the King’s African Rifles (KAR) of the British colonial army as a cook and kept on rising through the ranks. Amin staged a coup, overthrowing Uganda’s second president Milton Obote in 1971.
