Constitution of Uganda was formally declared to be Uganda's only official party. The third constitution was partially suspended under Idi Amin by virtue of Legal Notice No. 1 of 1971 and largely ignored during his Presidency. In particular, since the notice suspended Article 1 (supremacy of the constitution), it paved for the way for Amin to rule by decree. Further constitutional changes by made by the Constitution (Modification) Decree No. 5 of 1971, which provided that all executive powers were to be exercisable by Chairman of the Defence Council (a title Amin himself held) and the Parliament (Vesting of Powers) Decree No. 8
Idi Amin school with only a fourth-grade English-language education, and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer. Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook. In later life, he falsely claimed he was forced to join the armies during World War II and that he served in the Burma Campaign. He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947, and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to northern