Makindye Prison Makindye Prison Makindye Prison was a Uganda Government state-run prison which became notorious as a hell hole for extrajudicial killings and execution of government opponents during the time of Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. Makindye Prison started and was built as a normal civilian prison. But it was turned into a military prison in 1971 when dictator Idi Amin came into power. Amin's authorities then started detaining opponents of the government there. John Kakonge, Uganda’s former Minister of Agriculture under Milton Obote, was taken to Makindye Prison where his skull was crushed by a hammer. Prisoners were told that by doing
History of Uganda (1971–79) which Obote had attempted to dismantle. They seemed willing to forget that their new president, Idi Amin, had been the tool of that military suppression. Amin made the usual statements about his government's intent to play a mere "caretaker role" until the country could recover sufficiently for civilian rule. Amin repudiated Obote's non-aligned foreign policy, and his government was quickly recognized by Israel, Britain, and the United States. By contrast, presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) initially refused to accept the legitimacy of the new military