As We Celebrate Heroes Day this week... Picture (attached): President Idi Amin takes time to mingle with the Ugandan people on the streets of Kampala (1975).
He is considered by Ugandans as the most patriotic president the country ever had. Before the western media embarked on a four decades slander campaign against President Amin (including with multiple movies, and an onslaught of "Fake news"), Amin was truly a larger than life African hero across the continent. One who championed the cause of African liberation and self determination for black people. He was instrumental in the fight against Apartheid, and in 1975, he led the Pan-African struggle for the independence of southern African states. From Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa, President Idi Amin provided, sanctuary, training and weapons to African freedom fighters and liberation movements across the continent. He provided financial and political support to the black civil rights movement in the United States as they struggled to remain organized after the untimely deaths of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Deaths that aomost halted their strife for equality and individual rights in a racist/white supremacist America. President Idi Amin hosted Black civil rights leaders from America gave them much needed African political support. Amin would go on the podium in the United Nations and condemn the mistreatment of black people in America by the white establishment. He is one of the few African leaders ever to do so on an international platform. President Idi Amin is also the one person on this planet who predicted that a black man would one day become president of the United States. A prophecy that would become reality not because he simply said so, but because he already knew up to where black Americans would have to rise in their struggle for social equality and respect for their individual rights. That struggle is today still not over. Maybe a black woman should be next. When Ugandans say that "Idi Amin opened our eyes", what they mean is that he made Ugandans aware of their self worth. He made them believe in what they were capable of as individuals and as a country. He made them understand that they were now the masters of their own economic prosperity. And he removed from them the fear of taking on greater challenges. Uplifting them from a colonialist slave labour mentality, to becoming leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, decision-makers, technicians, property owners, developers, and all the other positions that were once out of reach to the indeginous Ugandan through British orchestrated economic discrimination, exclusion and social segregation. Before Amin, Uganda was a British Imperial economy. An economy that only served the colonial master and his imported cronies. The founder of the Ugandan economy, the modern economic environment that we see today, the one where the sky is the limit for any Ugandan and future generations of Ugandans, was Field Marshal President Idi Amin. He was called Conqueror of the British Empire because in 1972 he kicked out the British and their cronies who had monopolized the economy at the expense of the indeginous Ugandans. He then nationalised the properties and sent government valuers to evaluate each property. He then compensated the British/Asians for every single property that was nationalized, and then redistributed the properties to the Ugandan people. Indeginous Ugandans from all over the country applied and took over the departed British/Indians properties and started engaging in businesses that Ugandans were once excluded from practicing. President Amin was a stern personality. Demanding discipline and determination for success from the people of Uganda. But he was also very down to earth and people-friendly in every day life. Much loved by ordinary Ugandans from all walks of life. That is the reality. He was loved because he made major contributions in building his country. Investing in infrastructure, industry, telecommunications, and the airlines and railways sector. He built more education facilities and opened the once exclusive "Asians" schools to all Ugandans. He turned these schools into public institutions administered by his government. Thereby giving access to quality education to far more Ugandans than ever before, and all free of charge. He made banking available to more Ugandans by extending Uganda Commercial bank to all corners of the country. Under Amin, construction in the city and around the country was booming. The government was on a modernization campaign that also sent hundreds of thousands of Ugandans abroad for specialised training as technicians, engineers, pilots, accountants, diplomats, managers...etc. The new Entebbe International Airport continues functioning as the country's main aviation gateway. It was built by presidential decree as part of modernizing the country and its infrastructure. To this day it serves both Ugandans and it's visitors, from Heads of States and International dignitaries, businessmen and investors, to tourists, experts and aid workers. More importantly, Uganda continues to earn millions of dollars from the facility and the services it provides to airline companies, travellers and cargo. The country also gets hundreds of millions of dollars in grants every year for infrastructure development, rural electrification, and food security from international organisations that a poorly educated President Amin had the genious to subscribe the country to. After the first global oil crisis in 1972, it is Idi Amin who built major fuel reserve depots for petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel that could cushion the country's citizens and businesses with up to 9 months of uninterrupted fuel supplies in case of another global crisis. The first major extension of the national referral hospital was ordered by Idi Amin. It would become known as New Mulago. In 1976, the Ugandan leader would order the import of Uganda's first cancer treatment radiation machine for the treatment of cancer patients who until then had little hope of survival, and would just rot away as their families helplessly watched. When the cancer machine broke down a few years ago, the waiting list for cancer treatment still had 40,000 Ugandans in wait. The number of those whose lives were saved since 1976 is yet to be established. The above legacy does not exist in the narrative that todays African youths are being told about their African leader. Some Africans have even joined Europeans in mocking and ridiculing a man who stood up to western powers for the sake of Africans self rule on their own continent. Western powers were insensed to see a black man being carried aloft by white people. They went even more crazy when they saw pictures of white people kneeling in front of President Amin and reading the oath of citizenship to their new country Uganda. Kicking neo-colonialism out of Uganda and subscribing the country to the non-aligned movement (neither communist, nor pro-western) made many in the west red angry. Their envy continues to paint him with blood and murder, and with the darkest tales of cannibalism and greed. They must be talking about someone else Not the father who raised me. Why would they completely bury the story of an honest, uncorrupt, selfless African hero who came from humble beginnings where his poor parents couldn't even afford to give him an education. He would then rise to a point where he would sometimes face western imperialism almost single-handedly when other African leaders kept silent so as to continue gaining financially from neo-colonialism. Upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela himself refused to remain quiet and publicly recognised President Idi Amin and Colonel Ghaddafi as part of those who contributed immensely in the struggle against Apartheid. In Uganda, nobody is quiet anymore about what they know is the truth about their president. The real-life stories passed down to them from their parents and grandparents, many of whom had a chance of meeting the popular president who was regularly seen in the streets of Kampala walking or driving past alone, usually even without a single body guard. Something that would have been completely impossible to come out from alive if he had been the blood-thirsty animal who was killing 500,000 of his own people. As we celebrate National Heroes day, let us remember that it was created to honor all those who selflessly dedicated their lives, their energy, and their resolve to improve the lives of the people. Let us therefore remember each and every one of them, and their patriotic efforts that continue to positively impact and uplift peoples for generations to come. Happy Heroes Day 2017! Signed: Hussein Lumumba Amin
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