By Stephen Akabway Jr
Field Martial Idi Amin Dada Oume enjoyed life to the extreme during his time in the sun sparked by his ascendancy to the helm of government following a 1971 coup at the expense of his commander-in-chief, Dr Apollo Milton Obote Opeto.
From music, dancing, motor rallying, playing football, boxing , swimming and so on, the late party animal legendary president baptized a buffoon by the imperialists’ journalists operating in European countries, enjoyed it all.
One of Amin’s former favorite hangout was Lutembe Beach. Formerly located at Ddewe Village in Wakiso district along Kampala-Entebbe Highway, the happening place could be accessed through a murram road branching off at Namulanda village leading into Ddewe Village up to Lake Victoria on whose shores it had been expertly erected.
While going to his favorite hangout spot, the bully would drive himself in open door expensive rides, cycle or even energetically saunter through the villages, leaving locals absolutely mesmerized by his swagger.
One of the reasons Amin loved Lutembe Beach was because he was a swimmer.
The other one, was his love at looking at water and the third one was his love for a fresh helping of fish.
Not to be discounted was Amin’s love for raw nature, beach girls and people.
Unfortunately, Mwalimu Kabambarage Nyerere’s bakombozi aggressors bombed down Amin’s beloved Lutembe Beach with their sabasaba bazookas as they pursued a coup in 1979 at his expense.
Nyerere’s bakombozi targeted Lutembe Beach may because it was a favorite hangout spot for a man who had derogatorily referred to him as a woman and also famously asserted that he would have very much loved to marry him but his grey hair put him off
The surviving locals who were there then nostalgically remember the tarmac road Amin constructed to ease his trips to Lutembe Beach which had laid in ruins until Gen Yoweri Museveni’s government replaced it with another that has yet reached where Lutembe Beach was located.
Another beach has since been constructed where the former had been erected.
But the new one doesn’t measure to the fame enjoyed by the former , the big clientele which patronized it and the facilities it boasted of. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
