Twenty Years After Mahmood Mamdani The tragedy of pre-1972 Uganda Asians was that they acquiesced while their common interests were defined by a handful of proprietors who placed their bets on the continued intervention of Britain in its former colony and not on the struggle for self- determination and rights within the colony The tragedy of Uganda Asians today is that yet again their banner has been usurped by recession-driven large proprietors who seek to gain privileged treatment under the protection of yet another constellation of external interests.