Can Uganda break Amin’s curse?

Uganda goes to the polls on February 18, 2016 to decide who their leaders for the next five years will be.

As Uganda’s citizens prepare for the general election, they will no doubt be thinking about the leaders they have had in the past and hope for a better future.

Uganda’s political history cannot be discussed without recalling the country’s past of war and military coups, dictatorship, and the force with which nearly all her presidents have ascended to power.

Indeed, no debate about Ugandan affairs would be complete without recalling the darkest era of Uganda’s history — the reign of Idi Amin.

The question is, as February 18 approaches, has the blanket of darkness been completely lifted from Uganda?

Did the ouster of Amin in 1979 present a new dawn for the country and her people? Did those who took over from Amin steer Ugandan affairs in the right direction and have those who have engaged in acts of violence against the people over the years faced justice?

These and other questions are the concerns of a new novel, Ugandan Affairs (East African Educational Publishers, 2015) by Sira Kiwana.

It tells the story of Fenekasi, a former child soldier fighting with the rebels against Amin. Angry and humiliated by the rebels, Amin’s soldiers kill Fenekasi’s parents, accusing them of sending their son to fight against the president.

The adult Fenekasi is a diplomat but his past as a child soldier will not let him lead a normal life.

Ugandans regard him a hero for having stood up against a powerful and armed Amin when he was only twelve but he lives with constant nightmares about the war.

He gets a diplomatic posting to London where he hopes to begin new life, away from the familiarity of Uganda, only to be sucked into intrigues of old wars and revenge missions.

He discovers that one of Amin’s most trusted lieutenants, Baridi, the person who actually killed his parents, and who everyone believed was dead, is hiding in London.

What Fenekasi believed was a genuine diplomatic assignment turns out to be a set-up by other government officials in London to use him as bait to smoke out Baridi and have him face justice for his misdeeds during Amin’s reign.

After a series of assassination attempts on his life, Fenekasi realises that not even London will save him from his past; the shackle of Amin’s terror remains with him even so many years after Amin’s fall.

Ugandan Affairs revisits the evils of the Amin regime and shows how the dictator perpetuated his power through violence, intimidation, detention, lies, and general chaos.

His soldiers looted public property, expelled so-called foreigners from their homes and businesses, harassed university students and teachers, raped women, and visited all sorts of inhumane acts on anyone they considered a dissident.

The effect was a subdued citizenry that had nowhere to turn for help. The use of a former child soldier as the main character in the story is the writer’s way of showing that war/violence does not spare anyone, and that its effects are long-term.

The novel reflects on the excesses of the Amin era, the rebels’ efforts at liberating Uganda, and the efforts if any, of Europe, in delivering Uganda from Amin’s hold.

The story chastises Britain for helping Amin rise to power and covering up for his former associates who fled to London after he was ousted.

The former “rebels” who are now government officials, carry on the war against Amin’s evils long after the real war is over and across international borders to ensure all the past evils are avenged.

In addition, many Ugandans who fled to exile during the dark years have not forgiven Amin and his soldiers for disrupting their lives.

Amin Dada may have fallen, but the freedom fighters will not rest “until” all the lieutenants have been punished.

The story is therefore one of betrayal, revenge, and conspiracy. What is fascinating is that the current war is being fought far away from home by different groups of people, all with one mission — to avenge deaths of their relatives, lost property, stolen businesses, and a destroyed nation.

The story of Fenekasi’s attempts to lead a life free of the memories of Amin’s reign and the various individuals’ and group attempts at hunting down Amin’s former right hand man leads us to reflect on the true nature of Uganda’s post-1979 politics.

Is the struggle for dictatorship over? Does post-Amin Uganda still have relics of his regime? Are there still remnants of Amin-like tendencies? Have the perpetrators of violence, during and after him, faced justice?

In the story, Baridi is neither captured nor killed, which is the writer’s symbolic way of saying the war against dictatorship and violence is not over yet.

Political criminals keep reinventing themselves, taking on new identities and trying to fool the citizenry.

This is the kind of story every Ugandan should read as they consider their choice of leaders in coming weeks.

They need to critically assess the current state of Ugandan affairs and ask themselves some hard questions about the leadership they have had and that which they desire.

For how long will they carry the Amin curse with them? Is there any chance that dictatorship can be defeated once and for all?

The loss of lives and property that has happened over the years can only be avenged, not through violence, but by citizens choosing the right leaders.

Only by electing the right persons will the ship that is Ugandan affairs begin to sail in the right direction.

The writer teaches Literature at the University of Nairobi. jennifer.muchiri@uonbi.ac.ke