Uganda gained independence in 1962 with a constitutional Monarchy and an elected Prime Minister. It ended with Idi Amin, a former General known for cannibalism, most particularly of his late wives. That is quite the cascade downward, and most of the blame should lay with his benefactor, 1960s Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Considering the craziness of independent Uganda the stamp issues sure present another picture. For the most part the stamps of this era were joint issues of the postal union of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The countries had a few one nation issues like this flower issue. They were bland to the point of boredom.
Todays stamp is issue A15, a 10 cent stamp issued by Uganda on October 9th, 1969. It was a 15 stamp in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. Note that my copy as what appears to be a legitimate postal cancelation.
Apollo Milton Obote received a little schooling in colonial Uganda starting at age 15. He was denied a free place in an English law school as he desired by the colonial authorities. He ended up a construction worker first in Buganda and later in Kenya. He was however a powerful orator and founded a political party that represented the Protestants of northern Uganda. There were rivals to a party that represented southern Catholics and a third party of monarchists loyal to the ceremonial tribal King of Buganda Mutessa II. Obote made an alliance with the monarchists to lock the Catholics out of power.
In 1964 there were mutinies in the militaries of the 3 east African states. They jointly called for British Army help to put down the mutinies. In the meantime Obote began negotiating with Army officer Idi Amin. Obote agreed to promotion of Amin and his allies and a big increase in Army pay. He got something in return however. The Ugandan army began aiding rebel groups in the Congo in return for gold and ivory that could be converted to cash and deposited personally by General Amin at the Ottoman Bank in Istanbul. When King Mutessa discovered the corruption, he demanded in Parliament for an investigation. Here was the excuse Obote needed to purge the government of the monarchists. Mutessa II palace was attacked by the Ugandan army. Palace Guards held out long enough for the King to climb over the back wall of his palace and hail a taxi away. The taxi took him to a church where he was able to flee to Burundi in clerical attire.
With the King out of the way it was time to purge one by one groups that were not the “common man” as Obote put it. First it was the Kenyans, then it was anyone that also held a British passport. He referred to this as a “move to the left” and lead to the big looting that was removing forcibly the large Indian minority left from colonial days. The person Obote forgot to remove was corrupt General Amin. Amin repaid the loyalty to leading a coup against Obote in 1971 while Abote was abroad.
Amin’s eight year rule was even more brutal than Abote. He was especially brutal toward his wives. In 1974 he was married to three wives, Malyamu, Nora and Kay. Kay was beheaded and the contents of her skull eaten. Nora and Malyamu fled for their lives. Malyamu was arrested at the Kenyan border. Nora managed to make it into Zaire and completely disappear. Amin had met a 19 year old singer and go go dancer with the group “Revolutionary Suicide Mechanized Regiment Band”. She was known as Suicide Sarah. There was an elaborate wedding at an Organization of African Unity Conference with Yasser Arafat acting as Amin’s best man. Suicide Sarah’s previous boyfriend Jesse was also beheaded and eaten. The happy couple had four children and enjoyed rally road racing around East Africa with Amin driving a Citroen Maserati and suicide Sarah navigating. Suicide Sarah eventually left Amin, with her head still attached. She died in London in 2015 where she was employed as a hairdresser.
Amin was generally treated as a comical figure in the west. He played on this by giving himself strange British style titles like CBE that he said stood for conqueror of the British Empire in Africa generally and and Uganda in particular. He also declared himself the last King of Scotland. The title of this article comes from a Benny Hill skit from 1976 where a mock Amin is being interviewed with a placard behind him reading “Me Tarzan U ganda”. It should be remembered though that millions were exiled and at least 100,000 were killed by Amin. All thanks to Apollo Milton Obote promoting him.
Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.