Letter, page one: transcript

President Amin,
Uganda,
Africa.

November 2nd, '72

Dear Sir,

The British governments are quick to to criticise other governments, and with keeping their 'image' abroad they are too busy to do anything about their own injustices.

Please find enclosed a newspaper copy. As you can imagine we are living in fear of the British government and have had to buy a shotgun for protection to enable us to keep our freehold property. The government have threatened to evict us because we have not signed over the house to them for a third of the replacement value; we have nowhere to go.

My fater a musician an organist and composer worked all his life, until in his seventies to buy this house - then while laying on his death-bed at the age of 82yrs was served with a compulsory purchase order. After some considerable time the 'Authorities' said he could stay in his freehold house while he lived, but would have to build a road outside his bedroom window. This was all against the doctors' orders who said any noise or move could prove fatal. It did - he died as work commenced. After my father died we were told we had 28 days to move out, and they now owned the freehold of the property. We were, they said, their tennants. Nothing had been signed by us - the government had simply applied a vesting deed.

We could not move either way for the government buyer, the District Valuer (DV), who was buying for the government had offered a third of the true replacement value. This proved true when these same people passed the house for death duty purposed at nearly three times the value the DV had offered, or should I say 'set'. Death duty, as you will no doubt know is compulsory for tax assessment.

See: Letter, page one