After the colonial hand over of power in 1962, Uganda went through series of presidents both short lived and long lived. These included, Sir Edward Luwangula Walugembe Muteesa, Yusuf Kironde Lule, Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, Iddi amin Dada and Apollo Milton obote.
Apollo Milton obote came president twice where he was over thrown by Iddi Amin Dada in 1971 while on a foreign visit. The chain of tragic events that came with Iddi Amin left many Ugandans afraid of their lives as tortures of all kinds launched coupled with brutalities including public murders to those that tried checking through the rule together with his Soldiers. It should be noted that in his first year of the rule, 10,000 people lost their lives on a killing spree and those that tried checks and balances for his regime were not spared, a total of upto 100,000 – 500,000 people are said to have been tortured, imprisoned or killed.
Asian proprietors were not left out as over 70,000 were expelled which caused an economic decline in the country.
Now, the ministry of tourism has come up with a new plan to add dollars into the tourism industry under – dark tourism as they believe it will be another way to increase revenues . This plan however comes with bias as some Amin regime witnessers still have psychological torture memories and claim this will be reminding them of the past burden as government says Amin statue will be the main face at the museum.
The Human Rights Watch says Amin not only killed but he created security organisations that reported to him directly. He also held killings publically to attract attention, terrorise others, and pass message that he was greatly responsible.
Minister Godfrey Kiwanda, however clarifies – dark tourism will try to eliminate the bad image Uganda had during Amin rule and create new impression to the World at large that we are now are free and friendly country so as to attract more tourists.
The war museum will contain elements and aspects of the post war era including pieces of other conflicts by the Lord’s resistance Army war and Luwero triangle guerrilla warfare that ultimately ventured the NRM into power.
A two hectares piece of land has already been secured for the museum and Uganda will now join the likes of Rwanda, Germany, Cambodia and Japan to use their dark past to boost tourism.
