Many well travelled Ugandans will tell you the reaction of Europeans whenever they discover our country of origin. The first thing which races through their heads is the name of our former President Idi Amin who is remembered for extra judicial killings, dictatorship and expulsion of Asians from Uganda. That is the negativity planted in them by western media.
Just like all other Presidents, Amin had his own short comings but some who lived during his time will tell you that Amin’s bold step to expel Asians from Uganda was the best decision ever made on the African continent. An old man once told me that without Amin, local natives would have remained aliens given that Indians had dominated all businesses.
It is absurd that a few years down the road, our leaders saw it fit to enact laws let alone inviting departed Asians back to Uganda to claim what allegedly belonged to them. Surely with all the records at bank of Uganda which were never stolen or destroyed by past governments, we should have been able to ascertain that Idi Amin paid hefty sums of money in compensation.
Whereas many Ugandans blamed Amin for compensating Asians, the decision was mainly influenced by the Islamic values which Amin so cherished as well as external pressure from foreign countries that threatened to severe relations with Uganda. Before I can break down this very important discussion, let me say something about the Asian presence in Uganda.
The presence of Asians, call them Indians in Uganda was the result of deliberate choices by the British administration that ruled Uganda from 1894 to 1962. They were brought to this land that was later named Uganda protectorate for the construction of the Uganda railway which was important for transporting stolen items from the interior.
It would therefore be correct to state with certainty that the Asians were part of the British read as imperialists who should have left with their masters after Uganda attained independence. By leaving them behind, the impression created was that these Asians had become part of the Ugandan community and therefore deserved equal treatment as other Ugandans.
The expulsion took place against the backdrop of anti-Indian sentiments and black supremacy in Uganda, with Amin accusing a minority of the Indians of disloyalty, marginalization, non-integration, exploitation, and commercial malpractice, claims that Indian leaders disputed though confirmed by the indigenous people. No doubt the expulsion of Asians affected Uganda’s economy and international reputation.
We do not have any records disputing the compensation of Departed Asians but our leaders for whatever reasons went ahead and enacted laws that saw the return of Asians. Section 4 of the Departed Asians Act created what they called the Departed Asians Custodian Board under the Ministry of Finance which was mandated with the duty to receive and evaluates applications to enable these returnees get back what allegedly belonged to them.
However, some of these returnees were imposters who did not have any legitimate claim but used the advantage of being Indians to apply for repossession. Recent court cases have in fact unearthed instances where fellow Ugandans stage managed Indians to file applications on their behalf and later transferred the properties into their names.
Irrespective of whether the claimants of these Departed Asians properties were legitimate or not, they have benefited twice since the assets they repossessed were already compensated for using public funds during the reign of Idi Amin. The payment in compensation for the Indians was Infact witnessed by Binipipal Das, the then India’s Minister of External Affairs. These facts were reported in the New York Times of January, 25, 1976 confirming that Uganda had compensated Indian Nationals in fulfillment of a promise made by Idi Amin in Algiers.
It was also reported in the local and international newspapers in India and Britain that Amin in an act of atonement towards the expelled Asians had them compensated. The then government daily, “Voice of Uganda” of 29 January 1976 published a story of compensations for all Indian properties that had been taken over by Uganda during Idi Amin’s 1972 economic war.
That information in that daily that no one has come out to refute painted a clear picture that Amin had issued a Bank of Uganda cheque No.19 to India’s Minister of External Affairs with a total face value of US$ 1,627,144 which was a lot of money in the 1970s. The payment was due to prior negotiations with India to pay their citizens wherever they were for their 4,063 properties left in Uganda. On whether they were paid or is not our business.
It is reported that President Idi Amin addressed all complainants of compensation from time to time until all claimants were paid. History has it that another Ug.Shs.1,812,985,344/= was cleared by Amin’s government for an additional 122 properties. It is also reported that even some British nationals whose governments robbed Uganda of whatever their hands would touch months before they would hand over independence to Uganda were paid.
Other stateless Asians whose origins were not clear were also compensated through the United Nations High Commission for Refugee with a sum of Ug.shs.40,500,000/= which was also a huge sum of money by the standard rates of the time when our held a significant value.
The above payments exonerated Amin and left him a clean man but unfortunately, his gesture opened a window for a fresh set of “vultures” feigning ignorance about the compensation and created room for a double benefit. Until recently, many claimants were still coming to Uganda almost 50years later in the name of repossessing their properties.
It is said that when the current government assumed power, they found the coffers of government empty with nothing to kick start their administration. So when they sought financial bailouts from donor countries and the World Bank, they were asked to provide a plan on how they were going to handle the pending issue of the Departed Asians compensation.
Naïve, greedy and ambitious as they were, they accepted and committed themselves to enact compensation laws and re-enforce existing ones aimed at appeasing donors without considering that returning “Asian properties” would amount to double compensation. With all the corruption in this country, it is likely that these very vital compensation documents at the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda could have been destroyed or mutilated to hide evidence.
Whereas I do not personally have faith in our Parliament, I believe it is their duty to ask questions and demand for answers from the Attorney General and the Minister of Finance to explain why and how they authorized the repossession of properties aware that government had paid for them. A committee should be instituted to probe this high level of fraud and bring the perpetrators to book lest history will judge all of us harshly.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. Wadroger @yahoo.ca
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