Emmanuel Mukanga’s fair-minded, non-bloodstained accounts of early ‘70s
What you need to know:
- We all know about the Idi Amin’s trigger-happy rule. But Emmanuel N Mukanga has a way of controverting Amin’s praise singers with some good old common sense.
The 1971 groundbreaking book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S Thompson is simply revolutionary literature. This estimation of the book is true regardless of what side of the great divide you find yourself on.
It is a loosely autobiographical book about a drug-fuelled road trip to Las Vegas in pursuit of the American dream by a character called Raoul Duke and his lawyer Dr Gonzo. Through their drug-induced experiences, they cogitate on America's 1960s countercultural movement and where it fell short. Thompson’s style of writing became known as gonzo journalism and he became a rock-star writer, in terms of having mass cultural appeal that is.
Johnny Depp played Thompson in the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and allegedly spent $3m firing the late author’s ashes from a cannon! Now, I wonder who will play Emmanuel N Mukanga if a movie were ever made out of his seminal book, The Discarded Brick: Volume One: An African Autobiography In 26 Countries on 3 Continents, A Trilogy In 3 Seasons. I would put my money on Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga playing Mukanga because, simply put, that dude has range. And so does this book.
Take a glance at the author’s description of what you will find within this book’s pages: “Set in Africa, Europe and North America. It is about the travels and experiences of Emmanuel N Mukanga who even in childhood, would be moved to a different location every three to five years.
Born in the British Protectorate of Uganda, the changing political and economic fortunes of his post-independence homeland and region led to thousands of his country people to flee and go look for greener pastures all over the world. This desire for a better and safer world, is a human desire, and in Europe and North America, Emmanuel found people from other countries, in pursuit of happiness. Back home, not everyone was happy to co-exist with him. Fears and intrigue led to a family split, legal battles and irreconcilable differences. He and his siblings became a pariah to be avoided like a pest.”
The peregrinations of the author are born of a variety of reasons. However, politics played a chief role in why Mukanga found himself turning into a nomad. Uprooted but not rootless, the author reveals a relaxed wit as he tells us about himself and what has unfurled in a life that passes with flying colours, if we are to grade how eventful it has been.
I think this book is particularly useful as a guide to the rule of Idi Amin, too. The author’s view of Amin is fair-minded, very far away removed from the usual bloodstained accounts of the early to late 1970s. Yet, the author agrees that Amin was not the avenging angel that Ugandans, especially those born in the nineties onwards, view him as.
Amin was what we call in Ntinda, “a hard member”. Come on, not that kind of member…please; raise yourselves out of the gutter. In short, we all know about the former leader’s trigger-happy rule. But I like the way the author controverts Amin’s praise singers with some good old common sense. “Adolf Hitler is credited for ordering the construction Germany’s motorway network, the Autobahn and for investment in building a people’s car, the Volkswagen but these did not cleanse him,” writes the author. Amin was certainly not all bad, but his vices outweighed his virtues. We may demur on the degrees of this imbalance, but we cannot escape its reality. Also, the author reminded me of Amin’s policy of irredentism. What is that? Well, the book ably explains it.
Title: The Discarded Brick: Volume One
Author: Emmanuel N. Mukanga
Pages: 188
Price: Shs98,000
Availability: African Studies Bookstore
Published: 2021
