Idi Amin declared to a mass rally at Rukungiri, Kigeszi that all Asian commercial properties and businesses would be sold. He also declared that all Asians regardless of citizenship status would be expelled from Uganda.

The precarious status of all Ugandan Asians of Ugandan and British citizenship was made clear in hate-filled articles published in the Uganda Argus. In one such article, Reverend Peten Ben Ocban wrote:

“I would like to remind the Ugandan Asians who are remaining in this country that they are citizens by virtue of their deeds and not simply by being holders of Ugandan passports or citizenship papers. (Remember that it is the simplest thing in this world to tear a paper to pieces.) See what has happened to their kith and kin who bit the hand that was feeding them.

May I wish the British Asians going to Britain a long and very cold winter, and of course ‘bon voyage’.

This is a time when we Ugandans should come forward to congratulate our non-violent delicated [sic] President General Idi Amin for his firm decision to expel the Asians and non-Ugandans who had put the economy of Uganda into their pockets.”

Source: Rev. Peter Ben Ocban, ‘An Asian Dread is Ended’, Uganda Argus, 18 Aug 1972