‘Original Asians have learnt their lesson but the common man doesn’t know who’s who’
What is the truth behind Amin’s decision of expulsion?
Amin himself in the days following his official announcement did mention he had a dream about it but the first announcement he made was to troops in the eastern town of Tororo – and the idea didn’t come to him from above. Some people have said the idea came from Colonel Gaddafi who told him how he had expelled the Italian ‘blood-suckers’ from his country in just 90 hours. Amin said he’d give the Asians 90 days, in line with the seasonal pre-harvest loans the Asians used to extend African farmers.
The fact of the matter is Amin had made it clear from almost the time he took power that Asian ways would not be tolerated. He called a major conference of Asian leaders in December 1971, where after the preliminaries in the morning session and an amicable lunch at the State House, he just lashed out to the Asian community for their disruptive role in the Uganda economy and society. The grudges he trooped out were not out of the blue either: Africans had long resented Asian dominance of their economy and the arrogance that went with it. Boycotts of Asian businesses had been called in the 1950s. The first post-Independence president, Apollo Milton Obote, had sought to redress the issue through nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy. Amin, on coming to power rescinded Obote’s programme to placate the masters who had brought him to power – none other than the British, precisely to halt Obote’s ‘move to the left.’ They had very few qualms about the Asian expulsion per se, except that ‘thousands’ of Uganda Asians were going to inundate the islands. The British papers fanned the fire-storm, calculating, based on a census in 1969, that up to 80 thousand Uganda Asians may come to UK. By 1972 there were ‘only’ 60 thousand Asians left in Uganda and of those only one-half were British subjects.
What was the world community’s and especially the Indian reaction?
India said to the imploring British Prime Minister Edward Heath that they’d take their nationals but not the British Asians as they were not interested in alleviating Britain’s plight. Canada accepted to take as many British subjects as wanted to come and then opened up their quota to the newly disenfranchised Asians. His Highness the Aga Khan played a role in this. India’s reaction disappointed the Asians, but truth to tell, no British Asian was going to give up their right to enter Britain, something they had waited for so long, the never-ending wait itself being another reason why Idi Amin precipitated the expulsion. Not one Indian newspaper of renown sent out a reporter to cover the expulsion, whereas the Brits were all over. More disappointment came the Asians’ way when the expellees were stripped of their remaining jewellery by the Indian customs people.
Did Idi Amin mean to expel all Asians?
He did but he needed a legal cover. The official announcements were directed at non-Ugandan Asians. He said those claiming to be Uganda citizens should come to the immigration department to verify their papers. Around 15,000 or so people were affected. A majority were denied their citizenship on dubious grounds. But 8,000 or so people’s citizenship was confirmed. Of these 3,000 just packed up and went to whichever country would take them. In the last week of the deadline around 5,000 people were either stranded in Uganda because they had nowhere to go or were there because they wanted to make a go of their confirmed citizenship. They were frightened off into leaving by Amin on threats of being rusticated to the villages. The UNHCR under the leadership of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (HH’s uncle) came to pick those
people up.
What was the real reason for the expulsion?
Like asking at the end of Ramayana who was Ram! ‘It was the economy, stupid’ (to recycle a slogan coined by President Clinton during his re-election campaign) – the income distribution and the poverty and those issues still dominate the discussion about the current role of Asians/Indians in Uganda. To put it in headlines: The Asians were less than one per cent of the population in 1972 but contributed/captured more than 2/3rds of the nonfood GDP, food being the domain of the farmers. So what, it may be asked – one per cent do dominate most countries’ GDP? But Asians were a visible minority and had shown no inclination to bring up the Africans in any of their sectors and had arrogant ways to go with their wealth, parading it for all to admire on Sundays on Kampala’s main street. A story goes that Amin got caught up in the Sunday traffic jam. ‘Where are we – Bombay?’ he asked a flunkey – and the expulsion happened, right? Asians also cheated on weights and grades of produce they were handling. Safi (clean) cotton brought in by African farmers would be relegated as fifi (second grade). They hoarded goods and created artificial shortages to jack up prices; in short most of the allegations Amin made at the
December conference were true.
President Museveni has brought back the Asians. What was his intention?
President Museveni needed an ‘announceable’ event to bring back the multilateral donors – World Bank and the IMF. The return of the two sugar barons – Mehta and Madhvani – was the ‘announcement effect’ Museveni needed. In the end around 2,000 or so original Asians have returned. The masses of the Uganda Asians did not heed the call as most of them were mere duka**-owners at the expulsion and had nothing of value to reclaim and had in the meantime prospered in the diaspora countries.
The returning Asians changed the whole face of Kampala by repainting their dust-caked buildings. A handful of them went into the business of repossessing Asian properties. In spite of an unequal distribution of Asian wealth the spirit of Indian enterprise is there for everyone to see. Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, a taxi-driver in England, has since the last year been declared a billionaire by Forbes, owning the largest bank in Uganda with over thirty branches. Amir Karmalli (never left Uganda for even a day) and son Alykhan Mukwano manufacture everything an average household consumes, packages or cleans with. The Alam children (also never left) are the heavy-industry manufacturing leaders, with interests in iron smelting. Sikander Lalani ‘covers’ the population with his roofing sheets. Vipul Thakkar grows rice to feed the whole country.
How’s the economy and the general mood, since the expellees returned?
The economy collapsed by 1979 by one-third; it flat-lined until 1986 but has since grown almost seven-fold, signifying a tripling in per capita incomes. Farmers and wage earners’ incomes did not increase proportionately, showing income inequality worsened compared to 1972. The one per cent now comprise Africans as well as Asians/Indians, yet complaints are often heard from African entrepreneurs that foreign direct investors – read Asians – are being favoured by government. Resentments by the common man about wealth concentration are taken out against Asians/Indians. The latter now comprise for the most part newcomers from the subcontinent – up to 95 percent in a total Indian/Asian population of 25 thousand people. Most of the newcomer Indians are in wage employment but they are also fanning out to the villages to start up dukas – as if this was 1914 and not 2014! African traders are beginning to resent this. The newcomers also have worse racial attitudes than was ever true in the Uganda of the past. The original Asians have learnt their lesson but the common man doesn’t know who’s who.
Tell us about your much talked about book.
My original intention was to do a magazine for the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda in November 2007. When it didn’t come out - the printer simply kept the advance he had demanded – I let loose, always promising myself and all and sundry a book would be done ‘in six months.’ Multiple six months have come and gone and now the book has gone over 1,600 pages, 1.1 million words.
These are heart-rending stories of coping the expulsion, ending up in refugee centres and never leaving Uganda. Stories are told of the early Uganda Asian pioneers in Canada and UK, Indian pioneers to Uganda, and Asian success in the diaspora countries and back in Uganda. A section is devoted to Uganda Africans at the commanding heights of the economy and in government. Archival materials show the racial conflicts in Uganda that led to the expulsion and decision-making processes in UK, Canada, USA, Australia and India. Diary of the chief of the Canadian refugee mission and internal memos of the UNHCR enlighten the role of the Aga Khan and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (UNHCR head) in the Asians’ resettlement. Headlines from the Uganda Argus of all the 90-day-deadline are collected, as well as the letters Asians were writing to the paper (mostly about hooligans in the cinemas and ladies’ bad driving skills).
Conceived by Kalyan Mukherjee, Consulting Editor, Africa Rising
Research & Advertising by Aman Ramrakha
Amin himself in the days following his official announcement did mention he had a dream about it but the first announcement he made was to troops in the eastern town of Tororo – and the idea didn’t come to him from above. Some people have said the idea came from Colonel Gaddafi who told him how he had expelled the Italian ‘blood-suckers’ from his country in just 90 hours. Amin said he’d give the Asians 90 days, in line with the seasonal pre-harvest loans the Asians used to extend African farmers.
The fact of the matter is Amin had made it clear from almost the time he took power that Asian ways would not be tolerated. He called a major conference of Asian leaders in December 1971, where after the preliminaries in the morning session and an amicable lunch at the State House, he just lashed out to the Asian community for their disruptive role in the Uganda economy and society. The grudges he trooped out were not out of the blue either: Africans had long resented Asian dominance of their economy and the arrogance that went with it. Boycotts of Asian businesses had been called in the 1950s. The first post-Independence president, Apollo Milton Obote, had sought to redress the issue through nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy. Amin, on coming to power rescinded Obote’s programme to placate the masters who had brought him to power – none other than the British, precisely to halt Obote’s ‘move to the left.’ They had very few qualms about the Asian expulsion per se, except that ‘thousands’ of Uganda Asians were going to inundate the islands. The British papers fanned the fire-storm, calculating, based on a census in 1969, that up to 80 thousand Uganda Asians may come to UK. By 1972 there were ‘only’ 60 thousand Asians left in Uganda and of those only one-half were British subjects.
What was the world community’s and especially the Indian reaction?
India said to the imploring British Prime Minister Edward Heath that they’d take their nationals but not the British Asians as they were not interested in alleviating Britain’s plight. Canada accepted to take as many British subjects as wanted to come and then opened up their quota to the newly disenfranchised Asians. His Highness the Aga Khan played a role in this. India’s reaction disappointed the Asians, but truth to tell, no British Asian was going to give up their right to enter Britain, something they had waited for so long, the never-ending wait itself being another reason why Idi Amin precipitated the expulsion. Not one Indian newspaper of renown sent out a reporter to cover the expulsion, whereas the Brits were all over. More disappointment came the Asians’ way when the expellees were stripped of their remaining jewellery by the Indian customs people.
Did Idi Amin mean to expel all Asians?
He did but he needed a legal cover. The official announcements were directed at non-Ugandan Asians. He said those claiming to be Uganda citizens should come to the immigration department to verify their papers. Around 15,000 or so people were affected. A majority were denied their citizenship on dubious grounds. But 8,000 or so people’s citizenship was confirmed. Of these 3,000 just packed up and went to whichever country would take them. In the last week of the deadline around 5,000 people were either stranded in Uganda because they had nowhere to go or were there because they wanted to make a go of their confirmed citizenship. They were frightened off into leaving by Amin on threats of being rusticated to the villages. The UNHCR under the leadership of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (HH’s uncle) came to pick those
people up.
What was the real reason for the expulsion?
Like asking at the end of Ramayana who was Ram! ‘It was the economy, stupid’ (to recycle a slogan coined by President Clinton during his re-election campaign) – the income distribution and the poverty and those issues still dominate the discussion about the current role of Asians/Indians in Uganda. To put it in headlines: The Asians were less than one per cent of the population in 1972 but contributed/captured more than 2/3rds of the nonfood GDP, food being the domain of the farmers. So what, it may be asked – one per cent do dominate most countries’ GDP? But Asians were a visible minority and had shown no inclination to bring up the Africans in any of their sectors and had arrogant ways to go with their wealth, parading it for all to admire on Sundays on Kampala’s main street. A story goes that Amin got caught up in the Sunday traffic jam. ‘Where are we – Bombay?’ he asked a flunkey – and the expulsion happened, right? Asians also cheated on weights and grades of produce they were handling. Safi (clean) cotton brought in by African farmers would be relegated as fifi (second grade). They hoarded goods and created artificial shortages to jack up prices; in short most of the allegations Amin made at the
December conference were true.
President Museveni has brought back the Asians. What was his intention?
President Museveni needed an ‘announceable’ event to bring back the multilateral donors – World Bank and the IMF. The return of the two sugar barons – Mehta and Madhvani – was the ‘announcement effect’ Museveni needed. In the end around 2,000 or so original Asians have returned. The masses of the Uganda Asians did not heed the call as most of them were mere duka**-owners at the expulsion and had nothing of value to reclaim and had in the meantime prospered in the diaspora countries.
The returning Asians changed the whole face of Kampala by repainting their dust-caked buildings. A handful of them went into the business of repossessing Asian properties. In spite of an unequal distribution of Asian wealth the spirit of Indian enterprise is there for everyone to see. Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, a taxi-driver in England, has since the last year been declared a billionaire by Forbes, owning the largest bank in Uganda with over thirty branches. Amir Karmalli (never left Uganda for even a day) and son Alykhan Mukwano manufacture everything an average household consumes, packages or cleans with. The Alam children (also never left) are the heavy-industry manufacturing leaders, with interests in iron smelting. Sikander Lalani ‘covers’ the population with his roofing sheets. Vipul Thakkar grows rice to feed the whole country.
How’s the economy and the general mood, since the expellees returned?
The economy collapsed by 1979 by one-third; it flat-lined until 1986 but has since grown almost seven-fold, signifying a tripling in per capita incomes. Farmers and wage earners’ incomes did not increase proportionately, showing income inequality worsened compared to 1972. The one per cent now comprise Africans as well as Asians/Indians, yet complaints are often heard from African entrepreneurs that foreign direct investors – read Asians – are being favoured by government. Resentments by the common man about wealth concentration are taken out against Asians/Indians. The latter now comprise for the most part newcomers from the subcontinent – up to 95 percent in a total Indian/Asian population of 25 thousand people. Most of the newcomer Indians are in wage employment but they are also fanning out to the villages to start up dukas – as if this was 1914 and not 2014! African traders are beginning to resent this. The newcomers also have worse racial attitudes than was ever true in the Uganda of the past. The original Asians have learnt their lesson but the common man doesn’t know who’s who.
Tell us about your much talked about book.
My original intention was to do a magazine for the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda in November 2007. When it didn’t come out - the printer simply kept the advance he had demanded – I let loose, always promising myself and all and sundry a book would be done ‘in six months.’ Multiple six months have come and gone and now the book has gone over 1,600 pages, 1.1 million words.
These are heart-rending stories of coping the expulsion, ending up in refugee centres and never leaving Uganda. Stories are told of the early Uganda Asian pioneers in Canada and UK, Indian pioneers to Uganda, and Asian success in the diaspora countries and back in Uganda. A section is devoted to Uganda Africans at the commanding heights of the economy and in government. Archival materials show the racial conflicts in Uganda that led to the expulsion and decision-making processes in UK, Canada, USA, Australia and India. Diary of the chief of the Canadian refugee mission and internal memos of the UNHCR enlighten the role of the Aga Khan and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (UNHCR head) in the Asians’ resettlement. Headlines from the Uganda Argus of all the 90-day-deadline are collected, as well as the letters Asians were writing to the paper (mostly about hooligans in the cinemas and ladies’ bad driving skills).
Conceived by Kalyan Mukherjee, Consulting Editor, Africa Rising
Research & Advertising by Aman Ramrakha