US Edition For many Ugandans, his booming laugh alone is enough to bring back memories of the bad old days. Taban Amin, the eldest son of the former dictator, Idi Amin, is every inch the larger-than-life character that his father was - a boisterous giant of a man whose personality is as big as his physical presence.
Unlike most of Amin's other 43 children, however, he was not content to spend the rest of his life in quiet exile after the tyrant was ousted in 1979.
A year and a half after returning home under an amnesty offered by President Yoweri Museveni, Mr Amin, 51, has taken a senior job in the country's feared state security services - the organisation with which his father maintained his reign of terror.
In what many see as a sign of Mr Museveni's desperation to cling to power, the former army officer has been appointed as a deputy director general of Uganda's internal security organisation, part of the apparatus blamed for the growing harassment of Mr Museveni's political opponents.
The post, given just two weeks before Uganda's presidential elections, marks a rapid political rehabilitation for Mr Amin, who moved to neighbouring Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of Congo - following his father's downfall.
Until 2003, he was the leader of the West Nile Bank Front, a 6,000-strong militia led by ex-Ugandan army officers intent on returning the Amin name to power. Idi Amin died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2003, having been warned by Mr Museveni that he would face war crimes charges for up to 400,000 deaths were he ever to return.
While Mr Museveni and Mr Amin now seem the best of friends - the latter is backing him in his election campaign, even offering the services of the Congolese jazz band that he fronts in his spare time - many Ugandans view their alliance as ominous. The mere presence of the name Amin in the country's state security apparatus resurrects grim memories of Gen Amin's bloody eight-year rule.
Mr Amin is now thought to harbour political ambitions of his own, although in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he said Ugandans had no reason to fear him. "Amin ruled in the 1970s, now it is 2006, it is a different time," he said. "Amin's name is so tough in Uganda that some people are scared, but that which Amin did is not what I will do: I'm his son but I am not his heart."
The appointment comes amid escalating tensions in the run-up to the elections on February 23. Until recently Mr Museveni was hailed as the African leader of the future: he stopped the appalling human rights violations of his predecessors, introduced democratic elections and pioneered an effective campaign against the spread of Aids.
But in the past year he has quashed press freedoms, amended the constitution so he can continue to stand for office, and charged the opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, with treason.
There are now fears that the polls could provide a potential flashpoint for violence.
Amin's son's new job will be in the region bordering the Congo where he has long commanded support. Opposition politicians see it as a pitch to buy Mr Museveni popularity in the area.
The re-emergence of an Amin is not the only surreal turn that Uganda is taking as election day draws near.
On almost every street corner and political rally, life-like effigies of Mr Museveni and Dr Besigye are paraded around. The effigies were first produced when Dr Besigye was on remand in prison last year, when it seemed he would be unable to campaign in person. Once Museveni supporters realised how effective it was as a campaign symbol, they made their own.