ABOUT AL HAJI IDI AMIN DADA ALEMI

About Idi Amin

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IDI AMIN AWONGO ALEMI DADA - EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK PROJECTS "IDI AMIN: THE REAL BIOGRAPHY" and "REMBI'S MYSTICAL LEGACY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CHRONICLE" BY TSHOMBE JAFFAR REMO AMIN (JAFFAR AMIN)

In this excerpt, Tshombe Jaffar Remo Amin (Jaffar Amin) recounts circumstances surrounding his father Idi Amin's birth and contested paternity. A proper account of Idi Amin’s life and not the tainted and slanted accounts that have been circulated to date, this excerpt is part of a book project that includes a chronology of events from the time Idi Amin was an infant to the time of his demise in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003. if you think you have heard everything about Idi Amin as reported by people who purport to know him, think again!

Compare details in this project with details contained in the Fictional Novel and Feature Film "THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND" starring Award Winning Film Star Forest Whitaker.

Become a PEER EDITOR by reading fuller TRANSCRIPTS from "IDI AMIN: THE REAL BIOGRAPHY" and "REMBI'S MYSTICAL LEGACY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CHRONICLE" and then asking questions and participating in discussions that will be incorporated into the projects.

To read outlines of "IDI AMIN: THE REAL BIOGRAPHY" and "REMBI'S MYSTICAL LEGACY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CHRONICLE" and/or obtain TRANSCRIPTS, please click on the links.





The Excerpt

“Dad was born during a heavy downpour of hailstorm. His birth coincided with the ending of the Islamic Haj Celebrations known as Eid Al-Adha, hence his Islamic name Eid, phonetically pronounced "IDI" by indigenous Africans and Kakwa. He was born at the Colonial Shimoni Police Barracks in Nakasero, Kampala, where my grandpa Amin Dada Nyabira was serving as a colonial policeman in 1927. Awongo as he was always fondly referred to by my grandma Aisha Aate of the Okapi/Lenya Clan of the Lugbara Tribe was the third child to grandma. Aate had previously given birth to a daughter who died either at birth or as a toddler, then Moro and, finally dad (Awongo). Grandpa had two other wives besides grandma Aisha Aate with whom he had other children.

Events surrounding dad’s birth were regularly re-enacted by grandma and other family members at family gatherings. I vividly recall a time when dad’s uncle Siri'ba, of the Piza Kakwa Clan re-enacted the events of dad’s birth at a family gathering in Kawempe Kiyindi Zone.

Grandpa was a particularly stern character and at the time of dad’s birth, he had reasons of his own for not accepting the infant Awongo as his own. Consequently, he demanded from amongst Elders of his Adibu Kakwa Clan that the infant Awongo be taken into the jungle and left there for three days. This was in compliance with a Kakwa tribal tradition where an infant whose paternal heritage is in dispute is taken into the jungle and left there for three days. If the infant survived the jungle then the child would be welcomed as a legitimate Progeny. Grandpa would only accept the infant Awongo if it survived the cruel ordeal in the jungle. So, the Kakwa Elders from the Adibu Clan relented and took the infant, Awongo into the Ko'buko (Koboko) County jungle and left him there for three days! On the fourth day, when the elders came for the child it was still alive!

“Like an Avenging Angel, your Grandma (Abuba Aisha {Asha} Aate) strode with fury in front of her husband and the Adibu Kakwa Elders”, recounted dad’s uncle Siri'ba. “At the next assembly, she placed an ancient KAR Rifle on the ground and a solemn curse on her husband. She proclaimed, “If this child is not yours, and is of a Munubi/Monodu, as you claim, let him languish in poverty and misery. But, But if he is of your blood, then let him prosper and succeed in this world to the highest position in the land, and may you, his Father, not see of his wealth and prosperity.” According to dad’s uncle Siri’ba, Grandma then stepped over the KAR Rifle in fulfilment of this powerful curse. The assembly was awestruck by Grandma’s curse since just the fact that the infant survived the jungle was good enough for justice to the mother and child. This occasion made it impossible for my grandparents to live together again and grandma returned to Kampala from Koboko with the infant Awongo, to live with her relatives who had retired from the KAR and were living in Bombo in the outskirts of Kampala.

Grandma Aisha Aate later told dad that Nakan, the sacred snake, had come to dad and wrapped itself around dad for warmth as it would do around its own eggs. It placed its head on the crown of dad’s head for the duration of the ordeal, offered Grandma. This tale is amazingly similar to a Meso-American legend of Lord Quetzal {Ku'Kaham}, yet dad, in all his wanderings on God’s Earth, or Grandma Aisha, whose sphere of knowledge was strictly cultural, would never have known of the legend.

Thus began dad’s long journey from an infant abandoned in a Kakwa jungle, to “the highest position in the land” as grandma Aisha Aate predicted.

I had the pleasure of residing with grandma Aisha Aate briefly between the tender age of three and four from 1969 to 1970 the year of her demise, which was one year shy of the year 1971 when dad ascended to “the highest position in the land”. Awongo grew into a strong lad, six-foot four inches tall. He outshone his contemporaries by his physical prowess and leadership qualities and “defied” all odds to ascend to the position of President of Uganda on January 25, 1971.

His was a very long journey punctuated by very many twists and turns – a journey that ended in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Holly Land of Islam, where he died of Kidney complications in 2003. Without a doubt, Awongo made an indelible mark in the world.

Click here to read "A Son's Eulogy" by Tshombe Jaffar Remo Amin.









Idi Amin Dada in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia



To read outlines of "IDI AMIN: THE REAL BIOGRAPHY" and "REMBI'S MYSTICAL LEGACY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CHRONICLE" and/or obtain TRANSCRIPTS, please click on the links. BRAVO.