Uganda was part of the British Empire or independent member of the Commonwealth from shortly after the source of the Nile river was discovered by John Hanning Speke and Richard Burton (no, not the actor) in the 1860s until Idi Amin’s brutal dictatorship began in 1971. In that 100 plus years the infrastructure of the country was built by the British, including the influx of a servant class from India. All of that ended in 1971 when Amin returned everything of “the Imperial British” to “the people”. As with all dictators, “the people” meant him. The country has been in decay ever since. What is left is the shell of an empire abandoned and a new dictator who has been president for the past 27 years.

But what about “the people”? It is not a question their leaders want to answer.