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| President Amin is greeted by Princess Elizabeth Bagaya of Tooro in the 1970s. |
Earlier on February 2, Amin had signed a proclamation removing president Milton Obote and his ministers from office as well as from Parliament.
Paragraph two of the proclamation read: “All the titles, privileges, prerogative, powers, functions and exemptions formerly enjoyed or exercised by the former president of the Republic of Uganda under the Constitution are hereby vested in me with effect from the January 25, 1971, and accordingly, the head of State shall be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”
Paragraph three read: “Parliament is hereby dissolved and all legislative powers referred to in the Constitution are hereby vested in me.”
The fourth paragraph instructed: “All legislative powers shall be exercised by me through the proclamation of decrees evidenced in writing under my hand and sealed with the public seal.”
Decree on wigs
On February 1, 1974, a decree that outlawed the wearing of wigs was signed by president Amin, according to a press statement.
After signing the decree, Amin said he had come under pressure from Ugandan elders to act on women wearing wigs, trousers and long skirts with deep slits.
However, the statement said what prompted him to sign the decree was after he had learnt that wigs craved for by the Ugandan women were made by callous imperialists from human hair, mainly collected from the unfortunate and miserable victims of the Vietnam war, thus turning human tragedy into lucrative commercial enterprise.
The statement read: “Wigs had generated a number of ailments. Wigs harbour articles injurious to life; from lice to lizards. Wigs promote health hazard besides making our women look un-African and artificial.”
The decree, according to the press statement, did affect not court judges, lawyers or other persons whose occupation, profession, official function, cultural, theatrical or sports required them to wear a wig.
On the same day, Amin signed another decree permitting town clerks to register customary marriage previously registered by the sub-county chiefs.
The decree banning women from wearing trousers and long skirts was also signed on the same day. Only women in the armed forces were allowed to wear trousers in public, but only when on duty.
Decree No. 11 of 1971
The decree prohibited three or more persons travelling together at night while carrying offensive weapons.
The decree stipulated that where three or more persons are found loitering, wandering, moving about or concealing themselves whilst one of them is armed with an article which is dangerous or offensive or housebreaking equipment of any kind, such a person shall be presumed to have an interest to commit an offence relating to property or an offence against a person, and upon conviction shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable for imprisonment for seven years.
Decree on the jobless
In early April 1977, Amin signed a law popularly known as the decree of the jobless. The decree dealt with two categories of people; the vagrants (bayaye) and the unemployed.
The law amended the Community Farm Settlement Decree of 1975. Under this decree, any person who was unemployed, but able-bodied and aged between 16 and 40 years may be trained on a farm or, in an industry for a period of 12 months. And after the training, he would be settled on land.
On the vagrant persons, under the decree, any person found by an authorised officer wandering about without any visible means of subsistence, and unable to render a satisfactory account of him or herself, e.g. has no relevant graduated tax ticket or genuine school or employment identity card and has no parent, guardian or relative near, could also be trained on a farm or industry.
Parents with children who could be classified as difficult cases could also send them for training.
However, young persons between 12 and 16 years must be trained separately, the decree emphasised.
Only members of the military police, police force and the prison service or other authorised persons such as ministers, district commissioners, and gombolola chiefs were allowed to effect the arrest.
Decree on hoarding
On February 20, 1974, president Amin signed the decree prohibiting hoarding of goods. Under the decree, a person is guilty of hoarding if, while having any essential goods to sell, including farm produce, he or she falsely denies that he or she has less such goods or refuses without reasonable cause to sell those goods or, does not make any reasonable effort to sell them.
Upon conviction of the offence, the fine carried a maximum penalty of Shs20,000 or three years of imprisonment. Members of the police force not below the rank of inspector, members of the military police not below the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, all chiefs and town agents as well as produce inspectors and all persons under the Distribution and Price of Government Act were authorised to enter and search any business premises for hoarded goods.