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On 20th November 1975, around 10:a:m Amin drove into Kampala’s main car park in his Citroen. He was accompanied by some of his ministers and bodyguards.

He got out of his car and started walking around the car park. He entered one of the shops that surrounded the car park and found a group of men playing ajua. Amin requested that he join in the game and one of the players relinquished his position for the president.

It was soon apparent that Amin was a good player. He was cheered by the crowd as he beat one man after another. Word went around that the president was around and playing. And crowd grew.

In the middle of jubilation, there came a crippled man by the name of Wandera Maksini. He was very well known in Kampala. Wandera pushed his way through the crowd with his crutches and went and collapsed in front of Amin.

He glared at Amin and started insulting him. He called the president names and told him that he should not have sent away the Asians because the common man was now suffering.

‘‘We don’t have commodities in the shops yet you call yourself president. Son of a bitch! Kill me if you want,’’ Said Wandera.

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One of Amin’s bodyguards raised his pistol to strike Wandera, but Amin restrained him. ‘‘Shoot me!’’ Provoked Wandera

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‘ ‘ I hear you are a murderer and shoot people with your gun. Shoot me now!’’

Amin quietly got his feet and left the crowd, followed by his ministers and bodyguards. Three days, later Wandera was seen being hauled into a military vehicle. Up until today, nobody knows what happened to him, but your guess is as good as mine.

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That same evening, Radio Uganda announced that anybody who was lame, blind had no hands and anybody who felt that he was so poor or disabled that he needed help, should report to the nearest police station. The government claimed the announcement would offer them jobs, free accommodation and free food in Jinja.

The following morning thousands of cripples and disabled turned up in Kampala’s police stations.

They were loaded onto military trucks and driven to Jinja. At Jinja, they were unloaded like sand into the Nile River.

Those who could not hold the Lorries fell into the river, while those who had hands and held on were shot and they too fell into the crocodile infested river Nile at the Owen falls dam.

Source: Drum Magazine


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