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Book review: President Idi Amin did not murder Archbishop Janani Luwum
What you need to know:
- As with so much Ugandan history these days, this book is revisionist. It does not stand up as orthodox history. Rather, it is parahistory
“It is important to state on the onset Ugandans over the years have been fed with propaganda lies about the late Archbishop Janani Jakaliya Luwum’s murder---that it was the then Ugandan president, Idi Amin Dada who personally murdered him on 16th February, 1977; notwithstanding the fact that the information was and is still mere propaganda lies which many gullible Ugandans have believed as gospel truth,” the author begins.
Then he adds the coup de grace, “Another part is down to the shockingly blatant falsehood that was peddled with great fanfare that the late Archbishop Janani Jakaliya prior to his murder, (sic) was holy and therefore eligible for sainthood.”
Although the author provides anecdotes and lively arguments to support this purport, he fails to substantiate it. Many of his theories on the manner of Luwum’s death and about the manner of man he was are already cold product in the public domain, so long have they been peddled.
I really hoped and waited for something new. Thankfully, I did not hold my breath. If I had, maybe somebody else would be writing this review and one of you would be writing my obituary.
As with so much Ugandan history these days, this book is revisionist. It does not stand up as orthodox history. Rather, it is parahistory. If you have never heard of parahistory, well it is the best term employed to sum up alternative facts in the historical domain.
To be a little pedantic, the ‘para’ as a prefix implies movement alongside, running parallel, with mainstream history. Actually, to be fair, it does not run parallel as much it runs counter to orthodox history by the way it goes off on a tangent and seemingly conjures up a new way of looking at history.
Mr. Lukwiya has not brought anything new, but he has contributed the newness of his voice to this once new history. But why are we getting so much history deviating from the norm?
A lot of it comes from our extreme frustration with our current politics. Everything seems to have gone awry and we want to know why. So we look to history and what we were told, then make an about-face towards what we feel was hidden from us.
That is why a man like Idi Amin is getting a makeover. He is not the monster the world made him appear as yesteryear. This makeover comes with the denial of his crimes as fictions fed to us by what Mr. Lukwiya would call agitprop. But let’s go deeper. If Amin did not kill Luwum and Luwum was not a patriot or a good man, what is the real story?
In Section V of this interesting book, replete with pictures, our answer awaits us in the very bosom of the author’s circumlocution.
“Janani Luwum was unaware that his ‘comrades-in-arms’ had covert plans to sacrifice him at the altar of political power by secretly inciting President Idi Amin to kill him in such a manner that their direct involvement would be apparent. As the result of the ignorance, Luwum adamantly refused to budge because he was more than convinced that the project he and his perceived ‘comrades-in-arms---(Amin’s nemeses) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and Kenya, to remove Amin from power by force-of-arms would thrive,” the author writes.
The author provides several discussions and quotes to make this case. I will reserve judgment on whom or who he thinks, rather implies, killed Luwum. That would rob you of the chance to read this book and do some gumshoe work of your own.
I will also not defend Luwum as paragon of virtue. I will let you read and see whether the author’s conclusions are possible. Meanwhile, please bear in mind that truth, especially in research, does not spring from what is plausible or possible. It arises from what is probable. And much of what is written here is improbable.
Title: President Idi Amin did not murder Archbishop Janani Luwum
Author: Webster Lukwiya
Price: 40,000 UGX
Availability: Aristoc Bookshop
Published: 2023
