Liars & Accomplices

LIARS AND ACCOMPLICES

Copyright © 2022 by Norman Tumuhimbise

ISBN: 978-9970904914-3-2

Kampala -Uganda.

Website: www.thealternativeuganda.com

AUTHOR’S CONTACT:

Norman Tumuhimbise

Tel: +256 703 006 163

Email: normanalternative@gmail.com

Facebook: Tumuhimbise Norman

Twitter:@normantumuhimbi2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author or publisher, except for ‘fair use’ as brief passages embodied in articles and reviews.

NB: cover photo is a courtesy of google.

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FOREWORD

"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul"?. ( KJV). This scripture would be instructive for all of us that find ourselves in any position of responsibility; whether it be political, military, faith, cultural or business leadership. The practices of political leaders in our Country in the last 56 years of independence including the last 32 under the current regime are symptomatic of leaders who are motivated more by self aggrandizement that service to the people. That is at the core of what has gone wrong in our body politic.

That scripture is relevant to not only those who have been in and those who are in, but also those who will get into power.

What Norman observes are symptoms of the real character of men and women brought to the surface when they are exposed to the exercise of power in an environment when the institutions to check the abuses of power are weak. There are those who in the absence of strong institutional checks to power will behave like animals in the jungle.

Rtd. Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu

CONTENTS

Foreword………………….…………………………………...3

Table of contents…………………………………………....4

Introduction: …………….…………………………………..5

Chapter 1. The greatest of all fraudsters……………....11

Chapter 2. Politics as it is vs. politics as it should be.23 Chapter 3. The metamorphosis of Kale Kayihura from an altar boy to a heartless police chief .………..……....29 Chapter 4: Engineer of electoral fraud……………..…..52 Chapter 5: A devil with an angel’s smile……………….70 Chapter 6: The witchy Speaker of Parliament………..81 Chapter 7: The mediocre tax collector………………….88 Chapter 8: A female chameleon named Beti Kamya …...94 Chapter 9: The scandalous Stephen Kavuma……….103 Chapter 10: Cantankerous gen. Kahinda Otafiire….111 Chapter 11: Bart Katureebe: custodian of a rotten judiciary…………………………………………………….…132 Chapter 12: Opposition’s politics of malice and blackmail……………………………………………………..140Chapter 13: The untried theory…………………….….161 Chapter 14: Lessons from Serbia’s Otpor Mov’t……166 Conclusion…………………..………………………………169

INTRODUCTION

“A system can appear to be free, but you find that in essence, it is not so. For instance, you can manipulate the ignorance of the people and make them make decisions that will militate against their interests. Can this be called freedom? Can freedom include manipulation? Should there be freedom to manipulate, misinform, and take advantage of people’s ignorance? Is that democracy? I personally do not think it is”– Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (2000).

World over, writing about dictators is scary yet irresistible. Scary because you are not sure that their hatchet men will let you see another day; and irresistible because these dictators have many lives like proverbial cats and commit a litany of inhuman deeds that provide inexhaustible fodder for authors. This view is drawn from the hell I have suffered at the hands of security forces following the release of my first two books namely, Behind the Devil’s Line (2013) and Unsowing the Mustard Seed (2015), both critical of Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s leadership as Ugandan president since 1986.

Indeed it’s by the grace of God that I’m still alive, yet all the harassment and unfair imprisonments have not stopped me from putting pen to paper once again to expose the despicable and abominable acts of conspiratorial leaders headed by Mr. Museveni, that have brought our beloved country Uganda, to its knees. As I write this, there is an old National Resistance Army war song playing on my computer; I’m moved to tears by the plangent voices of the singers as they recite the names of patriotic men and women who lost their lives in the struggle to liberate this country. Below I share its lyrics so you can partake of their sheer loss, the anxiety, resilience and optimism that was, but that has unfortunately since been betrayed by their Commander-in-Chief.

The song goes…

“…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle…we will never get tired of fighting for peace...We are greater soldiers…and we will never get tired until Uganda is free.

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free.

Late Kazahura…comrade Sseguya …late Magara and late Lubereza…they fought a bush war, heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans…

Comrade Shaban…comrade Mutebi…comrade Emmy and late Katabarwa…they fought a bush war heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans

…. Fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free…

Late Mugisha Kyeishe…comrade Mugabe, Joy Mirembe and comrade Kato they fought a bush war heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans… comrade Kato …comrade Mondo…late Tumushabe and late Ndibarema…they fought a bush war heavy and wonderful until when the blood was shed for Ugandans

Comrade Musisi…comrade Kakwezi…late Barigye and late Wagaba…they fought a bush war heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans. Fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free.

Late Rwamukaga... late Kagina Paul…comrade Ngoboka and Kagina Emmanuel they fought a bush war heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans…

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free. We are great soldiers of all stakes and we shan’t stop to fight until Uganda is free.

…comrade Amigo…comrade Kenjura …late Kanyeihamba and late Mawanda…they fought a bush war heavy and wonderful until when the blood was shed for Ugandans...

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free…we are great soldiers of all stakes and we shall go to fight until Uganda is free. Comrade Mugerwa…comrade Ninsiima…late Rwandare and late Kaitongo…they fought a bush war heavy and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans…

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle our country Uganda must be free.

…we are great soldiers of all stakes and we shall go fight until Uganda is free.

Late Mukombozi…late Rutembana…late Muharabu and late Mudeli…they fought a bush war heavily and encouraging until when the blood was shed for Ugandans…

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle, our country Uganda must be free. We are great friend’s soldiers of all stakes and we shall go to fight until Uganda is free. And dead bodies lying in Kato-Nyanja, around Kayanja’s farm and late Vijana.

They fought a bush war heavily and wonderful until when the blood was shed for Ugandans.

…fellow combatants and patriots in the struggle, our country Uganda must be free.”

If one sang the above song with the heart and intensity that characterize its audio version, they might break down emotionally and move others to tears as well. It’s so touching with such nostalgic feel, that it takes you back to those dark days of the NRA insurgency of 1981-86. The most fallacious line however is; “…until when the blood was shed for Ugandans…” What a lie! If these departed souls who participated in the struggle, composed and sung this song resurrected today, they would recommend that their leader Museveni be immediately executed through mob-justice and sent to the hottest section in hell, for betraying them, and for the fraud that is manifest in his inconsistency, unfettered greed, evil heart and acts against natural justice.

As a human rights defender and a son of the said revolution, I have keenly followed the sequence of events right from the unjustifiable and questionable murders that have left Ugandans shuddering, to broad-day theft of public funds that have suffocated public institutions, and useless commissions-of-inquiry whose findings are only known to the president, among other mess. Let’s not even begin on the militarization of the police and partisanization of the army to ruthlessly crack down on voices of dissent. The man that led a guerilla war to dislodge a manipulative regime has since returned to the vomit he ostensibly came to rid this country of!

This is where I come in with yet another publication, to expose him and the prodigalities he has shamelessly and callously presided over. Although this exposé is not a conclusive stand on the murders, corruption scandals and generally the glut of evils committed by the man at the helm and his claque, it is something future researchers and students of history can build upon to get to the heart of the matter. Let the young generation know that all is not lost; there is hope across the bridge, because we—The Alternative—are not going to do nothing while our country bleeds to death. Uganda is too young to die!

Chapter 1: THE GREATEST OF ALL FRAUDSTERS!

Had all of Mr. Museveni’s longtime friends been keen observers of his character traits and mannerisms; had they studied his literature and mulled over his words and actions, probably Ugandans wouldn’t be led by this master fraudster whose tricks seem to be the ingredients that form his DNA!

On the first page of his own book, Sowing the Mustard Seed (Original version), he wrote, “…I was born among the Banyankore-Bahima nomads of south-western Uganda in about 1944. I use the word ‘about’ because my parents were illiterate and so didn’t know the date. In such circumstances dates were associated with events. Parents would tell their children that ‘you were born when such and such an event was taking place.’ We who know how to read and write can use all sorts of sources to find out what was happening at the time: this may not always establish the exact date, but at least it will fix the year, and possibly even the month. In my case, my parents had two events for dating the approximate time of my birth. First of all, I was born during a mass vaccination of cattle against rinderpest, and secondly, a king had just died. That was the Omugabe of Ankore, Kahya ii, who died in 1944. Another king was installed in 1945 and according to my mother, I was born nearer to the death of the old king than the installation of the new one. That’s how I settled on the year 1944…”

He adds; “My ancestors originally lived in the old gombolola of Rubaare, in Kajara County. Having fallen out with the Bashambo rulers of the area (Beene-Kihondwa Branch), they took refuge in the present-day county of Rujumbura which was being ruled by the Beene-Kihondwa, another branch of the Bashambo. Again they quarreled with the Beene-Kihondwa and went back to Rujumbura, and were still there when the first Europeans came to Uganda in the late 19^th century...”

“…by the time I was born, the clan system had been broken down to such an extent that we, my parents and I, were living alone in my father’s kraal. Sometimes his brother’s kraal would be joined with ours, but then they would quarrel and separate their kraals” [Sowing the Mustard Seed, Page 5].

Through this background, Mr. Museveni unwittingly reveals the origin of his troublesome and conflict-causing knack. It’s inborn; the quarrels and dishonesty are in the DNA of his family. No wonder the sage who raised him, the late Boniface Byanyima called him “Katahaburwa” (one who scorns wise counsel), and no wonder Mr. Meseveni himself prides in calling himself “Ssabalwanyi” (the king of fighters)!

Fraudster Amends Own Age

This fraudster shocked the whole world on August 3, 2017, when he claimed to have discovered his ‘real’ date of baptism, from which he could now answer, in one way or the other, the question of his ‘real’ age. Accompanied by his wife Janet Museveni and Bishop Sheldon Mwesigwa, Mr. Museveni claimed that he was baptized on August 3, 1947, at St. Luke Church of Uganda, Kinoni Archdeaconry in Rwampara, by Rev. Eric Sabiiti, and that at that time he [Museveni] was a toddler of eleven months!

This pushes Mr. Museveni’s date of birth to March 3, 1946, yet in Sowing the Mustard Seed he claimed that he had without doubt settled for 1944 as the year of his birth. Anyway, the new ‘discovery’ implied that Museveni was simply 71 years by August 3, 2017, a clear indication that he would be only 74 years old by November 3, 2020 only two days or so to presidential nominations of 2021 elections and hence Article 102(b) of the Constitution which barred his candidature due to old age would be irrelevant. What a fraudster by DNA!

Having received very harsh criticism by the public and the clergy, Mr. Museveni and his tricksters just like a wild squirrel went for plan ‘B’. This involved using Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga as the Speaker of Uganda’s rubber-stamping 10^th Parliament and National Resistance (NRM) sycophants/minions like Raphael Magezi Igara-West Constituency Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abiriga (RIP), Semeo Nsubuga former M.P Kasanda South Constituency, Ruth Nankabirwa former Woman M.P Kiboga District and other bootlickers to promote the Age Limit Amendment Bill of 2017.

Merely a month after the unsuccessful move to amend his [Museveni’s] age, Raphael Magezi popped up to table this highly controversial Bill on September 27, 2017; and it was evident he was acting on behalf of Mr. Museveni after members of the presidential special forces stormed parliament and turned their fangs on members opposed to the Bill. The video clip of the ‘live action” in parliament pitting members of special forces against MPs opposed to the Bill went viral on social media and became an ugly blot on abuse of power that will never be erased from Mr. Museveni’s record. Hon. Betty Nambooze had her back so hurt that she spent several months in Minicipal Hospital in India undergoing specialized treatment while MP Francis Zaake nearly lost his life. This was one of Uganda’s darkest days comparable to Milton Obote’s attack of the Buganda Palace in 1966.

On the same day of tabling the highly detestable Bill, parliament was filled to capacity by NRM party members. Of course they had to be present to ‘account for’ the 29 million shillings they had pocketed as ‘consultation facilitation’ and all other unknown sums they obviously received from the ruling party. To be honest it would be unfair to assert that the Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda and Constitutional Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafire, knew the content of this Bill neither did the Speaker seem to understand what she was presiding over. Being a fully legal document I’m almost sure the likes of Edwin Karugire, a city “renown” advocate who doubles as the president’s son-in-law alongside the former Attorney General William Byaruhanga could have had an idea of what this Bill entailed. In any case they are the ones that drafted it, therefore the Raphael Magezis of this world were merely delivery boys, and you could tell from his facial expressions, trembling body and dripping sweat while tabling this “Museveni Bill” that he was just an innocent sheep whose love for mammon couldn’t spare him from committing an historic political suicide for which he will be remembered for burying the entire country due to his Hyena-like greed and selfishness.

A few patriots stood out under the Opposition leadership of Rt. Hon. Winnie Kiiza and Hon. Ssemujju Nganda as the Opposition Chief Whip. Smartly dressed in red ribbons as a symbol of protest, they represented a glimmer of hope even though they were outnumbered by NRM bootlickers and outmuscled by Special Forces of Mr. Museveni while a coward Rebecca Kadaga in her British-made wig covering her old hair looked on helplessly.

You could cut the tension with a butter knife as national and international media houses kept the world posted as all sorts of security and military agents of Internal Security Organization(ISO), External Security Organization (ESO), Military Police commonly known as the Red-Top, Police’s Counter-Terrorism Unit in their intimidating Black attire, the most lethal Special Forces Command(SFC) armed with all forms of weaponry, Anti-Personnel armored Carriers (APCs) and the commonly known Military Mambas and all sorts of security agents both in uniforms and plain clothes were in parliament, outside parliament, around parliament, next to parliament and the entire Kampala city plus its neighbouring towns for fear of a sudden uprising that would pick momentum and lead to the overthrow of the dictator Museveni.

As for the general public that was unable to attend parliament in the gallery: was home, in bars, restaurants and offices eyes wide open onto their television sets to watch this historical parliamentary session of the century. As usual most of the opposition homes were under police siege!

At about 2:40pm Speaker Rebecca Kadaga entered the parliamentary chambers to preside over her daily and official business; she was expected to give a communication on several motions including the one of Raphael Magezi on the age limit. As partisan as she had always been, Kadaga begun by ordering the opposition MPs to get off their red ribbons with an excuse that they had abused Rule 73, and as always the NRM bootlickers chanted for the Speaker’s provocative directive to opposition MPs to remove their red ribbons.

The NRM government has always branded the opposition as radical and non-tolerant, but all the opposition MPs became compliant and removed the said ribbons for purposes of harmony and intellectual engagement. Little did they know that their compliance was rather interpreted for a weakness. Earlier, Hon. Ssemujju Nganda alleged to have met the State Minister for Water and Environment Hon. Ronald Kibuule brandishing a pistol with which he threatened to shoot Ssemujju and the entire opposition if they didn’t watch out; a matter that would later be raised on the floor, and indeed caused anarchy as the opposition demanded that the House be adjourned and each MP be rechecked if the House was to sit peacefully.

On September 28, 2017, the fight continued and this time it was bloody judging by the bodily injuries sustained by some opposition MPs namely; Francis Zaake MP Mityana Municipality and Betty Nambooze Bakireke MP Mukono Municipality both of whom were flown to India and United Arab Emirates respectively for special treatment following brutal tortures by Mr. Museveni’s Special Forces Command, Flying Squad and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).

Days later Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s hypocrisy was exposed through her own shameless act of writing to her boss a letter dated October 23, 2017, pretending to question the president over the parliamentary attack. It should be remembered that a day prior to the attack Gen. Kale Kiyihura had had a closed door meeting with the Speaker and the parliamentary security department that had given the green light over the security deployment that went bad. For that case it was nonsensical for Kadaga to act innocently by writing to the president over this absurd act in which she was an accomplice.

While meeting locals at Katabi Landing Site after launching the Police Week, Gen. Kayihura admitted he enlisted the assistance of other security agencies in evicting opposition MPs that had been suspended by the Speaker on Wednesday, September 27, 2017. “I’m the one who planned all this [parliament raid]. Those people you saw in plain clothes were a joint team. I requested sister security agencies to support me. Police did its work professionally and were focused on the work that took them there,” Gen. Kayihura told journalists.

You can only compare Kadaga and Kayihura’s evil hearts to the Biblical snake that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Attached is a copy of Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s letter to the president over parliamentary invasion.



Regardless of all this controversy 317 NRM bootlickers went ahead and voted pro this provocative Bill, and on December 27, 2017 the fearless leopard as Mr. Museveni once called himself signed it into law. Known to very few is that this Act also extended the tenure of MPs by two years, which is contrary to their contract with the electorate that gave them a five-year term during the 2016 elections. Therefore had this senseless Act remain unchallenged, elections would be held in September 2023 than 2021. What a fraud!

The extension of their parliamentary term by two years meanwhile exposed the MPs as heartless tricksters and greedy foxes because when each one of them pocketed tax payers’ 29m for ‘consultation’, the consultative question was whether or not Article 102(b) be amended; not whether in addition MPs grant themselves extra two years in parliament. They shamelessly classified this as “a political bonus”; a reward they felt they deserved after legitimatizing the life presidency of Mr. Museveni by knocking out the age limit provision from the Constitution. What a travesty!, Had Kadaga been ethical and professional enough, she would first of all scrap the two-year idea/proposal from the said Bill and stick onto what the prior consultative question was. The fact that she didn’t can only mean that she is as selfish and glaringly greedy like the gang of MPs she headed. Thus she will go down in Ugandan history as the worst Speaker for betraying the wishes of the majority of the citizenry by fraudulently passing a Bill that would give free reign to a dictator to rule for life.

Mr. Museveni would later brag in his New Year national address that the NRM 317 bootlickers acted ‘wisely’ to pass the Bill thereby making it possible for him to avoid what he called “a more complicated path”. Can you imagine! He had even the temerity to add that for the past 52 years he has either been working for little or no pay at all, but has soldiered on sacrificially for the love of this nation. ‘Mr. Volunteer’, Ugandans are not as stupid as you assume; they know what your whole clan had in terms of wealth and what you have since amassed. What do you mean working for no pay, in any case why stick onto a non-paying job that gives you stress?

Chapter 2: POLITICS AS IT IS Vs. POLITICS AS IT SHOULD BE

I am one of the lucky few Africans to have read Mr. Edward T. Chambers’ book: Roots for Radicals; Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice (2003), from which I learned a lot particularly on the chapter: “Polarities between the Two Worlds” that I will expound on more using the illustrations below:



Self-interest Self-sacrifice

The first polarity between two worlds is between self-interest and self-sacrifice. Self-interest evokes a range of responses. To realists centered on the world as it is, self-interest is obviously the prime motivator of human behavior. Pursuing self-interest is as natural as breathing. For idealists focused on the world as it should be, self-interest is another word for selfishness. It’s an isolating form of individualism with little regard for others. Both of these views convey a partial truth, but miss a deeper one.

Basing on this analysis, it is a pity that Mr. Museveni’s leadership epitomizes selfishness yet he knows well that Uganda as a Third World country needs a leader who puts the interests of the nation above self-interests. I wish to remind all people of Mr. Museveni’s speech while in Hoima on January 27, 2017, in which he stated; “…I am not your employee. I hear some people saying that I am their servant; I am not your servant. I am fighting for myself, for my belief; that’s how I come in. If anybody thinks you gave me a job, he is deceiving himself. I am just a freedom fighter whom you thought could help you also…”

By stating that he is not “a servant” of the people he leads and that he fights for “himself”, Mr. Museveni exposed his personal greed and contemptible ambition, which explain why after 36 years in power he has refused to mentor a successor and is doing everything possible to cling on. Ironically, Jesus Christ whom Mr. Museveni likes to quote said He came to serve and not to be served yet Mr. Museveni himself doesn’t cherish that noble ideal of servanthood that Jesus espoused. That in itself proves that he is a grand fraudster who is in State House not for the greater good of this nation but for personal gain.



 Power

Love

The second polarity is between Power and Love. Power is a loaded word. Those who call themselves realists take it for granted and try to use it shrewdly in pursuing their agendas. Idealists are prone to see power as negative if not downright evil, as something to be avoided. Edward T. Chambers states how the Cardinal Archbishop told him about power; “I have trouble with the word ‘power’; I call it truth.” Chambers said this Bishop seems not to understand that power has a Trinitarian character: Therefore I and you create a “we the people”, a new reality. Beyond minimal forms like voting or jury duty, ordinary people have little direct experience of exercising power in public.

Through Chambers’ write-up I have come to understand that power is the ability to act. Like the capacity to love, it’s given to us at birth therefore power is our birthright, our inheritance. It’s the basis of our capacity to address differences through politics. From one perspective, power is neutral. It may be used for evil or for good. From another, it’s ambiguous because any employment of power by finite human beings, no matter how well intended and successful, will lead to unexpected consequences for self and others.

In western culture, power is interpreted and practiced as a one-way influence. According to this understanding, one person’s power is his/her ability to get someone else to do what he or she wants ; the other person’s power then becomes his ability to do as the other chooses. In power encounter it’s one against the other. Whoever ends up making the other move more displays more power. This is what is called “Power over” in other words power too is a force that bars the “powerless” from seeing plainly.

In Uganda’s case therefore, those with power like police and NRM have used this power to bar citizens from seeing plainly. Every time they attempt to see plainly and point at what is unjust and unconstitutional, the regime uses torture, teargas and imprisonment over fake charges to muzzle them and others from pointing out the wrongs of the NRM regime.

But just as said earlier, power is a birthright; that is why at birth no one ever empowers us or gives us permission to cry! So, how to exercise this power over or power against us is fully in our mandate. We can choose to resist or be suffocated. But once we understand that we have God-given power from birth, we have a moral duty to use it to resist injustice. The bottom line is; no one ever takes away this power but rather we just offer it to some people by electing them to use that power to serve us, only for them to turn against us. Just like we have power to yawn or sneeze but can control it when in public, so is the power we have to resist injustices.

For this power to be put in practice, I learnt from Chambers’ book, there must be Imagination and Hope. Imagination is connected to memory; what we remember makes possible and limits how we understand the signs of our times, and how we understand those signs makes possible and limits the future we can imagine. Imagination and memory therefore allow us to recall, reflect, relieve, and reorganize. Imagination is a gift, a unique faculty like good instinct, but it frequently gets lost in our modern worship of intellect and will. This makes it no less important than our abilities to think and choose. It simply makes us foretaste a world that has not yet materialized and move mentally back and forth between what was and what is, and what is and what might be. As Nikolai Berdyaev stated, “The faculty of imagination is the source of all creativiness…without it there can be no works of art, no scientific or technical discoveries, no plan for ordering the economic or the political life of nation.”

With such findings therefore no man can ever bring about change unless he or she has this sense of imagination. A sense to imagine how a country would look without corruption, a sense to imagine how a country would look with rule of law, a sense to imagine how a country would be with functioning institutions but most importantly; a sense to imagine how a country would be if all its citizens lived in peace and harmony. He who lacks imagination lacks the primary element of being a leader at any level. Be it government, a political party or any other institution of any kind.

Chapter 3: THE METAMORPHOSIS OF KALE KAYIHURA FROM AN ALTAR BOY TO A HEARTLESS POLICE CHIEF

Edward Kalekyezi Kayihura commonly known as Kale Kayihura is a Four-star General who was born on December 26, 1955, in the western Uganda District of Kisoro. His father, John Kalekyezi, was a true patriot who strongly advocated for the independence of Uganda and all other Great Lakes countries in Africa but unfortunately died on August 17, 1960, in a plane crash in Ukraine.

Kale Kayihura attended Gasiza Primary School, Kisoro District, and later joined Buhinga Primary School in Fort Portal. It is in this latter school that he first forayed into ‘politics’ when he contested for and won the Head Prefect leadership position, proving that he was ‘ready’ to step into the footsteps of his father who had, before his death, laid a firm foundation for Kayihura’s leadership career.

After completing primary school, Kayihura was admitted to Mutolere Senior Secondary School in his home District of Kisoro for his Ordinary Level education. During his time there, Kayihura distinguished himself as a brilliant student, and indeed was among the leading students when the results for the East African Ordinary Certificate of Education Examinations were released in 1973.

Because of the family’s financial challenges that had started after the sudden death of his father, it was understandable that Kayihura was meant to join the affordable Busoga College, Mwiri in Eastern Uganda. But by sheer luck, his well-off Aunt enrolled him in the then best Boys’ Catholic School, St. Mary’s College Kisubi, for his Advanced Level education; the school that his father had attended as well.

While at St. Mary’s College Kisubi, Kayihura again became a student leader, serving as the Minister of Labour in Kakooza House. He was also very active in the school’s Debating and Drama clubs. Through these forums he was able to whet his leadership and oratory skills as well boast his confidence and assertiveness; important attributes that he would need badly in his future careers.

His religious discipline that was inculcated in him early by his father who wanted him to become a priest, and later by caretakers, continued at St. Mary’s College Kisubi where Kayihura was a consistent and dependable member in the school’s Young Christian Society. Indeed he was priesthood material, not notorious, lethal and heartless as he is today!

After excelling in Drama, History, Literature and Economics, Kale Kayihura was admitted to Makerere University Kampala to pursue the highly coveted Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

How university politics shaped Kayihura’s radicalism

During his time at Makerere, the dedicated altar boy and active member of the Young Christian Society was not spared by the wind of Karl Max which was at the time blowing infectiously among the political class and the student ranks. He became a strong advocate of socialism and was elected the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Students’ Common Room in North Cote Hall that was popular and well respected for housing and sheltering the politically active students in the university.

Kayihura is recalled to have led the Resistance against the then President Idi Amin’s attempt to reverse the zeal and ideas of the politically vibrant students and use them to promote and improve his diabolical image in the nation and in the Diaspora. Such a move projected Kayihura as a devoted activist who was ready to lose anything on earth if it required so for good political leadership to prevail in the pearl of Africa, Uganda. He indeed was like today’s “The Alternatives”, formerly the Jobless Brotherhood.

Even more amazing is that amidst all the challenges and hardships that Kale Kayihura went through at Makerere University; he managed to complete his Law Degree in 1979 at a time when his oppressor Idi Amin was coincidentally being deposed. He immediately enrolled for a Bar course at the Law Development Centre and attained a Diploma in Legal Practice, which made him then an Advocate of High Court. Sadly, his interpretation and practice of law is diametrically opposed to his qualifications; what a loss!

Subsequently, Kayihura travelled to the United Kingdom for his Masters’ Degree in Law at the University of London from where it is said he deliberately dropped his first name Edward after falling in love with Pan-Africanism. He was indeed seen as an African man who strongly and profoundly loved his continent and particularly his motherland Uganda.

Bright lawyer turns into a shameless bootlicker

Shortly after his studies in London, Kayihura reappeared in Uganda as a changed man and joined the National Resistance Army, a rebel outfit that was under the leadership of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda’s president today). Kayihura first served as the aide of Gen. Salim Saleh, who was the then Commander of the Mobile Brigade. Kayihura served in this position until his comrades captured power by overthrowing the then government of Tito Okello in 1986.

Since their capture of power, Gen. Kale Kayihura has risen in military ranks and occupied a number of prominent offices in the army and in the public service. He has attended a number of Military courses like the Army Command College in Nanjing in China, the Combined Arms course, the Brigade Commander’s course, among others.

From 1986 to 1988, Kale Kayihura served as Staff Officer in the Office of the Assistant Minister of Defense. He was later appointed the Chief Political Commissioner and simultaneous Director of Political Education in the National Resistance Army. Furthermore, he worked as the Operational Commander of the UPDF in Ituri Province in DRC. It is also important to note that Kayihura headed the Anti-smuggling Unit whose official name was Special Revenue Police Services, an opportunity he landed while serving as a Military Assistant to President Museveni.

In 2005, Kayihura was appointed the Inspector General of the Uganda Police Force, succeeding Gen. Katumba Wamala. He served in this capacity since then; something that has left many Ugandans wondering in the agony of mind whether a country like Uganda could take this long to find Kayihuras’ replacement despite all his wrongs and even when he was jokingly arrested and tried, his trial has since been interpreted as a mere political drama. No wonder the citizens and a reasonable portion of our political class perceived Gen. Kayihura as a devil’s ambassador who channeled all his wits and energies into working for and promoting Mr. Museveni’s personal ambition and the needs of the ruling party which he did by way of manhandling, mistreating and brutalizing Mr. Museveni’s political opponents and those with a different ideological stance.

It’s a shame of unrivaled proportions that a trained lawyer with a track record of academic excellence and an experienced leader both in the army and police has since transmogrified into Mr. Museveni’s number one bootlicker. Together the two men drunk with greed for money and power have behaved worse than leeches; devouring all the flesh of this country and emptying the national coffers, leaving Ugandans grasping for air like a fish out of water.

Why Gen. Kayihura should be Prosecuted

The police that Gen. Kayihura headed is a failed institution which is responsible for all the mess that has befallen our Pearl of Africa simply because of their negligence and dismall failure to protect the citizens and maintain law and order as prescribed in the Constitution and the Police Act. A glut of criminal acts have gone on unabated throwing the populace into panic because of realizing that no one is safe any longer. People have lost sleep because their neighbors are being killed like flies by money-hungry hyenas but the police can’t do anything effective about it. The police chief has turned to singing a bogus dirge of community policing as the antidote to crime but this is not helping the aggrieved members of the suffering society.

Gen. Kayihura and his group became deeply political and partisan to the point of no return! To clean the mess and stop the sludge, the country must have a complete overhaul of the entire police topmost leadership, preferably begin by prosecuting Gen. for presiding over the incompetence that characterized the police force, and more so for lacking the cojones to dismiss his powerful juniors who turned against him.

The incompetence of the police under Gen. Kayihura was evident in the way they dealt with criminals and how they collected data from the public on matters of criminality. There is a few high profile cases that were successfully investigated during Kayihura’s tenure as IGP. In fact, instead of investigating, they are still being investigated since they were always either principle offenders or accessories in many outstanding murder cases in the country. A case in point is how Internal Security Organization under Brig. Frank Kaka Bagyenda faulted the police to have had a hand in the murder of AIP. Felix Kawesi! Most likely this is the reason for which Museveni asked Kayihura to deal with the rote in Police. Museveni would add that Uganda Police was full of Kawukum (Bean weevil)

Also consider the recent murder of women in Entebbe. For months the ritual murders went on and there was a lot of weeping and lamentation over the innocent blood that was being shed, but the police remained unbothered. Gen. Kayihura showed how he devalues human life by deploying heavily to crash opposition rallies during Togikwato campaigns instead of sending his officers to Entebbe to protect women. The pattern in all the killings as reported was very similar; the women were waylaid in lonely places, raped, strangled and had sticks inserted into their private parts and mouths. Despite the similarity of the murders, the police which Gen. Kayihura presided over did not classify them as a handwork of a serial killer operating alone or in a gang, neither did the police succeed in tracking down and arresting the murderers.

In some cases the police was in fact accused of playing a part in some murders. A case in point is the manner in which some lady, a one Maria Mbabazi was tortured, strangled and sexually harassed by security personnel in broad-day light in Mpala, Entebbe. Instead of hunting down the callous offender and indeed all the killers of the previous women and bringing them to book, Gen. Kayihura had the audacity of saying the victims were being killed by their jilted lovers; something he vowed to stop by registering all the ladies with boyfriends! How on earth could an officer of his caliber come up with something so silly and baseless which suffers from lack of particularity? For sure in a civilized society, such an officer deserves to be sued and made to walk on his knees on the black carpet of shame for the incompetence that has blotted the image of the police force.

Gen. Kayihura’s militarization of the police

On April 11, shortly after the February 2011 general elections, Gen. Kayihura commanded his police to suppress the popular Walk-to-Work peaceful demonstration that was spearheaded by Dr. Kizza Besigye and the Democratic Party President Norbert Mao to protest against the increased costs of living, and the high price of fuel that had risen by 50% just in a period of four months leading to unbearable transport charges around the country.

The police under the instruction of Gen. Kayihura disrupted the peaceful demonstrations, mistreated and beat up the demonstrators and went further to teargas Dr. Besigye and Norbert Mao before arresting them in a dehumanizing manner. Dr. Besigye was shot in the right arm with a rubber bullet and five Ugandans had been killed by April 14, 2011. Gen. Kayihura’s heartlessness was once again exposed for allowing his officers to apply brute force to disperse unarmed protestors forgetting that their job is to defend the people, not brutalize them. The whole country was paralyzed by the rough and inhuman treatment that Gen. Kayihura and his group unleashed on protesting citizens. It was a catastrophe that sparked more protests in Masaka and Gulu. Alas the police had learnt nothing and again used brute force to suppress the demonstrators and in the process four innocent Ugandans were killed, 100 injured and more than 600 unlawfully arrested under the orders of Gen. Kayihura by April 29.

According to a Human Rights Watch report, none of the killed people was actively involved in the protest. This was a horrifying moment where the right to peaceful demonstration, freedom of expression and movement as enshrined in our constitution under Article 29 were completely violated in daylight by Gen. Kayihura’s partisan and highly militarized police, leaving ugly scars on the hearts of many Ugandans.

No one will forget April 28, the day that the police under the command of Gen. Kayihura, resumed their crackdown on opposition figures which was embodied by the cruelty with which a one Bwana Arinaitwe who seemed to have been high on drugs smashed the window of Dr. Besigye’s vehicle and with animalistic intensity blinded his eyes with pepper spray, pulled him out of the car and bundled him onto the back of a police pickup truck before he was driven like a devil to Kampala. The scene that seemed to have been plucked from a horror film indeed horrified everyone who watched it on TV. It was so bad that Dr. Besigye had to spend months undergoing special treatment in Nairobi and upon his return many Ugandans agreed that it was a miracle that he had survived. What the police did was totally against Articles 24 and 44 of the Constitution which provide for respect for human dignity and protection from inhuman treatment.

On July 13-14, 2016, the police, on orders of Gen. Kayihura, beat up and maltreated Ugandans who had gathered in Kalerwe and Makindye to cheer up Dr. Besigye who had just been released from Luzira Prison. These innocent citizens were severely caned and thrown into trenches for the ‘crime’ of showing solidarity to Dr. Besigye. This incident shook the city of Kampala and created misery and tension countrywide, fueling a team of private lawyers to sue Gen. Kayihura and his officers for torturing and mistreating Ugandans contrary to Section 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act. Gen. Kayihura and his senior officers were liable for such acts against Joseph Kaddu, Andrew Ssebitosi, Rogers Ddiba, including several boda-boda riders among other supporters of the opposition leaders.

On the day of the hearing, Gen. Kayihura and his officers showed their contempt of the Judiciary as an arm of government by not showing up in court. It is alleged that before the day of the hearing, Gen. Kayihura gave a whopping 100 million shillings to his blue-eyed man Jonathan Baroza to mobilize goons to storm the court and interfere with the hearing of the case. Gen. Kayihura did not stop there, but also conspired with the then Deputy Chief Justice Kavuma whose scandalous verdicts over the years have turned him into a subject of ridicule, to squash the case, and this was done successfully and the court proceedings were halted. Since then the case has never been heard, something that has hurt many Ugandans.

Gen. Kayihura’s other illegalities

Gen. Kayihura is said to have been involved in the illegal sale and demolition of a building on Aldina Road in Jinja trading centre. The demolition is said to have taken place in January 2015 with the knowledge of the police officers and their Commander Kayihura. According to the former tenants of the demolished government building, over 200 Ugandans who were working in that building under their umbrella organization known as Aldina Twegaise Traders Association, lost out. Contrary to their mandate of protecting people and their property, the police did nothing while these citizens were being illegally evicted by Mr. Simpson Birungi, the Director of Birus Property Services. These Ugandans lost property worth billions of shillings because their merchandise had not been cleared by the time the demolition took place.

The police and their boss Gen. Kayihura connived with the ‘investor’ and the Land Commission to evict the native citizens of Uganda who were earning an honest living from the small businesses operating in that building. It was regrettable and detestable that the Uganda police sided with a fraudster who had forged a court order and a land title to evict the rightful occupants of the building. This clearly shows how Gen. Kayihura and his allies did not care about values but were only obsessed with enriching themselves, leaving the poor Ugandans whom they have sucked for too long to die in misery and loneliness.

Gen. Kayihura, on September 27, 2017, ordered the ruthless members of the Special Force Command (SFC) to deploy at the Parliament of Uganda and forcefully evicted members of parliament that were illegally suspended by the Speaker yet Parliament has the Sergeant at Arms who is mandated to handle such situations. The SFC brutalized and humiliated Honourable Members of Parliament in a classic rape of the independence of parliamentarians and blatant abuse of the sanctity of parliamentary chambers.

Gen. Kayihura’s commanded machinery injured a number of innocent legislators including Hon. Betty Nambooze who was not part of the suspended members, Hon. Moses Kasibante and Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi, and those who tried to fight for their rights like Hon. Ssemujju Nganda and Hon. Odongo Otto were brutalized and unlawfully arrested as though they had committed crimes against the state by defending the Constitution against the Age Limit Amendment.

Having done all that to a whole arm of government, Gen. Kayihura shamelessly said that he had no regrets about the theatre of the absurd that his officers had staged at parliament. What sort of insensitive creature is this? He is a very dangerous person who does not deserve to be a General and is not worthy to wear the police uniform. People like him have never learnt how to value human life and dignity. He turned the police into a highly partisan force to orchestrate the life presidency of Mr. Museveni, which explains the merciless arrest of opposition members and brutal suppression of demonstrations around the country although the right to assemble and protest is provided for in the constitution.

Gen. Kayihura is as capricious as a chameleon changing its colours. That’s why in October 2017, he ordered his officers to foil a political rally at Rukungiri playground yet the organizers – Dr. Kizza Besigye and the then FDC party presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat – had sought and been granted permission to hold it by the same police. Gen. Kayihura who had previously given the green light to the rally suddenly instructed his officers to stop it. Thus Dr. Besigye and Mr. Amuriat together with their supporters were denied entry into the venue, with teargas canisters being fired into the crowd to suppress them.

When the people successfully defended themselves against illegal orders to vacate the venue, the police foolishly applied live ammunition; a move that resulted into the death of one person and the injury of many others. For this, the police chief and his force received condemnation around the country. Without an iota of compunction, the police ironically started blaming and framing the leaders of opposition for the mess. What a callous IGP Gen. Kayihura was! He may have hid behind the power he wield, but history will not absolve him of his horrendous illegalities.

Gen. Kayihura’s aggressiveness in suppressing anti-regime gatherings saw him behave outlandishly. For example, on Friday July 14, 2017, the Observer published an article about how he had ‘banned’ university students from holding and conducting debates about the Age Limit Bill. It was laughable that the trained lawyer that Gen. Kayihura is didn’t seem to realize he has no power to deny citizens their right to freedom of expression and assembly guaranteed in the constitution. As if that was not bad enough, Gen. Kayihura directed the Police Spokesperson AIGP Asan Kasingye to issue a statement ordering the general public to comply with his stupid order as well. To use a Ugandan expression, “You wonder what weed Gen. Kayihura was smoking!”

The murder of women did not just happen in Entebbe but also in Nansana. Even here, the police did not do anything. Gen. Kayihura and his incompetent intelligence team completely failed to investigate and net the killers. While addressing the residents of Nansana, Gen. Kayihura said a certain businessman was behind the senseless murders but he never even revealed the identity of the said killer. The accused man is even said to have been forced to confess by the police in order to divert public anger from Gen. Kayihura and his useless team. In the wake of these killings Gen. Kayihura always beefed up his personal security, then camped in the affected areas as he did in Nansana, Mukono, Entebbe, and in Kalungu, Bukomansimbi and Lwengo respectively. For heaven’s sake which criminal would continue with his act in an area in which you are camped? I knew that this move couldn’t be sustained?

Gen. Kayihura’s partisan Force rigs presidential elections

During the February 2016 general elections, Gen. Kayihura cemented the reputation of the police as a partisan force whose only purpose was to keep Mr. Museveni in power against the wishes of the majority Ugandans. The police he presided over was actively and relentlessly involved in election malpractices and rigging leading to the ‘victory’ of Mr. Museveni. On the day of elections the police and the so-called ‘crime preventers’ ganged in Naguru just above police headquarters near Kampala from where they did their dirty work to make sure that the result of the election came out in favour of the incumbent.

When Dr. Kizza Besigye stormed Naguru to expose the cheaters and their mass of pre-ticked ballots, he was harshly arrested and detained. Immediately after the announcement of the results, Gen. Kayihura, aware that Mr. Museveni had wrongly attained victory, decided to pin Dr. Besigye and FDC to the wall so that they could not fight for his stolen victory. On his way from court where the charges of disobeying lawful orders had been dismissed, Dr. Besigye was rearrested on orders of Gen. Kayihura to bar him from gathering the required evidence in time to lodge a petition in court challenging the election results that had been obtained fraudulently.

On February 18, 2016, a day after the controversial election, Gen. Kayihura ordered the police to raid the offices of the main opposition party in Najjanankumbi. The police stormed the place armed for war with heavy machinery and armoured vehicles. They fired teargas at the FDC team that was lawfully tallying their votes based on the figures their polling agents around the country had sent in. The reason the police foiled this tallying process was to mar Dr. Besigye’s evidence for his stolen victory. The rampaging police arrested Dr. Besigye’s supporters and everyone who attempted to visit the resident of another presidential candidate, Amama Mbabazi, with the same intention of keeping him silent about the election malpractices.

All this absurdity was orchestrated and executed by Gen. Kayihura, and Mr. Museveni rewarded that loyalty by renewing Gen. Kayihura’s contract against the wishes of the general public, so that he could continue playing the ignoble role of disenfranchising and manhandling the members of the opposition in the country. Without even stopping to catch his breath, Gen. Kayihura shifted the entire mistreatment and disenfranchisement to the Kasese by-elections that resulted into a win for the FDC candidate Winfred Kiiza.

The biggest number of the partisan force was deployed in Kasese Municipality where severe beatings and mistreatment took place. Gen. Kayihura sent his blue-eyed boy named Nixon who employed imprudent tactics in order to fail the opposition. I remember the FDC president Gen. Mugisha Muntu warning Nixon to watch out because he was working for dangerous wolves that would in turn devour him as well. The poor man didn’t take heed and his silly deeds boomeranged on him in a way he will never forget!

Police’s failure to resolve deaths of prominent Ugandans

During Gen. Kayihura’s failed tenure, Uganda lost the greatest number of prominent citizens under mysterious circumstances, and the police has dismally failed to provide answers as to the cause of their deaths yet Gen. Kayihura often bragged that he had the most competent investigation department. These deaths all had an element of surprise and have been so gruesome that they have left the entire nation shaken to the core.

These heartbreaking killings started with the death of Hon. Cerinah Nebanda in 2012 whose death was mysterious, and when the concerned members of society tried to question the manner in which she died, the police shut them down. Hon. Muhammad Nsereko and Hon. Chris Baryomunsi were arrested and detained in Kireka Police Station on grounds that they tried to pin the government for the death of one of the most outstanding and candid legislators. The duo was brutalized, and Hon. Baryomunsi was even denied a mattress in the police cell (shame that he is now in bed with the regime that harassed him).

The killings continued and put the country on tension when a number of Moslem clerics were assassinated in a style reminiscent of hit-men in action films. Gen. Kayihura and his ‘acclaimed’ intelligence could not resolve the deaths of these clerics.

To make matters worse, it’s around this time that the country’s biggest hope and finest prosecutor, Joan Kagezi was assassinated. She had stopped at a roadside in a Kampala suburb to buy fruits in the evening hours when the assailants riding on a motorcycle shot her to death. Joan was the leading prosecutor in the case of the terror suspects that were charged with terrorism that took place in 2010 in Kampala. She was in charge of the International Crime Division.

The death of Joan Kagezi left a huge vent in the country’s judicial sector. Gen. Kayihura vowed to deal with her assassins, but again that was his usual lip service that never translated into tangible results. Apart from promising a huge financial ransom to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the murderers, there is seemingly nothing else that police did to resolve the murder of this courageous and professional prosecutor. In fact, rumour has it that she refused to comply with her boss’ order not to tender in and surrender a sum of four billion shillings to court as exhibit against the terrorists [her bosses needed that sum for personal aggrandizement], and it’s Joan’s refusal to betray her professional ethics that is said to have led to her elimination through gunshots. But the IGP can give the exact account of Kagezi’s murder since he was the government’s chief crime preventer.

Then there was Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Kirya whose killing was not different from that of Joan Kagezi. Kirya’s death was the twelfth in a string of prominent murders that have taken place since 2012. There was a heightened sense of hopelessness caused by Gen. Kayihura’s failure to explain these murders. Many Ugandans were embittered and complained about how police spent a fortune every year on teargas, anti-riot equipment and footing allowances for the anti-riot informants at the expense of normal policing.

The police had been unreasonably blaming the former deaths on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) but this last death of Sheikh Hassan Kirya opened the eyes of Ugandans to see the incompetence of Gen. Kayihura and his group. At the burial of the deceased, Gen. Kayihura finally took humble pie and admitted that he had no answers for the cause of the death of the great man. This begged the question: who should provide the answers if the police boss with all the resources at his disposal cannot effectively resolve a murder case? In sensible institutions, Gen. Kayihura’s confession would have marked his last day in office as the country’s Inspector General of Police, but in our pitiable country he was rewarded with new tenures for his failures!!

To crown it all was the grisly murder of Gen. Kayihura’s blue-eyed boy AIGP. Andrew Felix Kaweesi who was shot dead in broad-day light by merciless mercenaries on May 17, 2017, as he was leaving his home in Kulambiro, Kyanja, together with his bodyguard and his driver. At first Gen. Kayihura seemed to distance himself from this unprecedented murder, and even energetically fueled the arrest and torture of the suspects, not knowing that tables were about to turn on him. At the vigil in Kaweesi’s home, the president put Gen. Kayihura on the spot, ordering him to put his ‘house’ in order by getting rid of the criminal pigs that had infiltrated the police force and soiled its name further. To a wise man, Mr. Museveni meant that the murderer of Afande Kaweesi was a member of the police force. Enough said!

Chapter 4: ENGINEER OF ELECTORAL FRAUD

Born on January 1, 1945, in Nkozi Hospital to the late Hajjati Yunia Kabugo and the late Hajji Yunus K A. Luswa, Badru Kiggundu was considered “a miracle baby” by his parents because his mother suffered life-threating complications while giving birth to him that left doctors marveling that he survived. Although his mother birthed two more children, and his father sired 23 others, Kigundu was always favoured by his parents who viewed him as their lucky charm. Indeed luck seemed to follow Kigundu in that he studied all the way to become a professional engineer and was later appointed by President Yoweri Museveni to head the Electoral Commission – one of the most powerful jobs in the land.

Kigundu attended Kabasanda Primary School and Kibuli Secondary School respectively. Then he got a scholarship to Nabumali Secondary School for his A’ level, and later another to the United States in Carnage - Mellon University where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering. In 1981, he attained his PhD from the University of New Mexico (USA). Kigundu is a Geo-Tecno/Bituminous materials specialist and his research in this field has contributed a lot in the study of the same.

Kigundu was an Associate Professor, Head of Department Civil Engineering and later Dean of Faculty of Technology at Makerere University before he was infected and brainwashed by the Musevenism syndrome.

He also chaired several conferences on earthquake disaster preparedness and engineering in Uganda, and because of his professional expertise and experience, Kigundu became a consultant on various road-works rehabilitation projects as Director at Technology Consult Ltd. As an academician he has authored in excess of 50 publications.

Kigundu’s first entry in the Uganda political arena was at LC level in 1989 when his fellow residents in Mutundwe requested him to lead them. He later became Chairperson of Mutundwe for over 10 years. His simplicity of character and good leadership skills made his star shine that it attracted the attention of the president who appointed him the Chairman of Electoral Commission in 2002.

How Kiggundu betrayed Ugandans

They say power corrupts and the big chair at the Electoral Commission soon warmed Kiggundu’s butt so nicely that in order to retain it he decided to lick Museveni’s boots and ignore the wishes of many Ugandans. Kiggundu, without any modicum of shame, managed the office of the Electoral Commission as a sole proprietorship business where he did as he liked, leaving behind a trail of stupid and regrettable things that he will one day pay dearly for. The most regrettable of all is the fact that he presided over three consecutive general ‘selections’ rather than elections in 2006, 2011 and 2016. In all these, Kiggundu took Ugandans for a ride and caused untold pain and friction between the various competing sides due to a litany of irregularities and disenfranchisements.

It became evident that Kiggundu’s one and only mission at Electoral Commission was to apply the theory of ends and means to keep Mr. Museveni in power. Somebody whose office mandates him to serve the interests of all Ugandans in all fairness ended up serving the interests of one man. What a fraud!

Moreover, he was unapologetic about being an active NRM cadre which portrayed him as a partisan chairman that held and presided over unfair elections that favored Mr. Museveni. It is no wonder that after leaving the Electoral Commission, the president rewarded Kiggundu’s loyalty to him by appointing him to head the monitoring team of Karuma and Isimba hydro-power stations’ construction, in other words, he did not retire from government business as one would think because he still occupies a lucrative position in the rotten NRM government.

Arguably the worst elections Kiggundu presided over were the 2006 presidential and general elections where reports from Human Rights Watch showed that the entire election was marred by ballot staffing, multiple voting and potentially thousands of people were denied to vote the leaders of their choice hence the incumbent president Museveni fraudulently retained his seat with more than 59% of the vote leaving the main opposition party FDC presidential candidate in second position yet the entire nation believed that Kizza Besigye had won the election. The voters were disfranchised and there were discrepancies between the tallies from polling stations and voting district. Jemera Rone, the East African coordinator for Human Rights Watch said domestic and international observers had reported serious irregularities in that election and to ensure that the voices of Ugandans were heard, Judicial Review was both appropriate and necessary.

The Electoral Commission refused to publish the presidential election results broken down by polling stations but instead referred all the observers to the district level tallies of each of Uganda’s then 69 districts creating an impediment to proper and effective public scrutiny of the election outcome and this was something against transparency of the election results which the people of Uganda expected to achieve from the presiding Electoral Commission under Kiggundu.

Furthermore, Eng. Kiggundu and his officials allowed voting by underage boys and girls contrary to the law that requires a voter to be of 18 years and above.

As if that was not bad enough, voters were illegally turned away from polling stations by presiding officers after 5pm and the law allows all voters in line by 4 pm to have the right to vote. Therefore such an act of chasing away voters was done in contravention with the law. Following the report given by the Democracy Monitoring Group which had deployed its monitors nearly in all the 19786 polling stations across the country, about 150,000 Ugandans were disfranchised.

A lot of votes were rigged, bribery was at its peak, and all these brought together rendered the exercise short of anyone’s expectation of a free and fair election which the law intended to achieve through the EC presided over by Eng. Kiggundu. After this dismal failure to preside over a free and fair election, it was tragic that Kigundu was maintained for the next two presidential elections not withstanding his incapability in the 2006 elections, unprecedented in the history of modern civilization and democracy.

Kiggundu’s second messy election

During the 2011 presidential elections, Mr. Kiggundu conducted another messy election that was held on February 18, 2011, in which hundreds of thousands of voters in opposition were denied a right to choose their new president by not being included in the voters’ register. Some were in the register but with their names assigned to wrong polling stations, something that should have been corrected by the Electoral Commission if it had plans for free and fair election.

Certainly these errors were masterminded by Mr. Kiggundu together with his Electoral Commission team which favored the incumbent president to win the election by 60.8% leaving his main opponent Dr. Kizza Besigye in the second position and the majority Ugandans who had voted him distraught and inconsolable after their victory was robbed by Mr. Kiggundu. In the aftermath of this rigging, Ugandans hit the streets in masses to protest in what came to be known as “walk-to-work” protests.

More so there were aberrations of the absence of voters cards, and other forms of identification and further impreciseness of the voters’ Register that clearly exposed the process of abuse and subjugation all made by the EC Chairman and his members in order to give the incumbent Museveni an advantage over his competitors.

The Electoral Commission under Kiggundu failed to accurately manage and organize general free and fair elections through poor levels of organization in the deliverance of election materials and so many polling station officials seemingly were not prepared for their duties which arose from the poor management by the electoral body. It was clear that many young boys and girls of under age (18) were voting which was a failure by the EC under Kiggundu to conduct a registration process in all the areas and following the laws of Uganda.

During this election, many polling stations opened up late and this was because the Electoral Commission officials were not prepared enough. In addition, there were delays in arrival of ballot boxes, short supply of kits, some material inventory not found in polling kits which should have been done before the election period and this was because of a reluctant and incompetent EC under the chairmanship of Badru Kiggundu.

The polling staff was ignorant in some areas about what they were supposed to do on the polling day and others did not have any knowledge of how to use some of the supplied materials. This was mainly because they were not well trained to carry out the polling duties, which was supposed to be done by the Electoral Commission under the chairmanship of Kiggundu.

More so, the ink supplied for use in polling stations varied i.e. it would get off after several washes; a technique the government through the E.C Chairman used to enable their mercenaries vote more than once. Also the basins supplied for the purpose of secrecy were inadequate for that purpose since they were left open for the bystanders to see the choice of a person which was planned by the Electoral Commission in order to favor the incumbent president.

During this election, the methods employed by the Electoral Commission left a lot to be desired. For instance the transportation of the election materials to various polling stations was either by motorcycles or bicycles by presiding officers yet in other areas the presiding officers did not show up. This was done when bringing the materials and when taking back the results which was a planned move by the EC under Kiggundu to either delay the materials or results.

In addition, the ballot paper had the incumbent president placed at the bottom for no justification, and the sequence was not alphabetical either basing on the first name or the surname. Furthermore on the ballot paper, the incumbent was the only one photographed in a hat. This was a move by the EC under Kiggundu to make the incumbent more visible on the ballot papers than other presidential candidates, thus showing that the chairman was unapologetically partisan.

Although the Electoral Commission was given funds by a democracy support program to include an extra copy of the register for each polling station, to be used by officials outside the station to guide voters as to their proper places of voting, the Electoral Commission after initially agreeing to this later refused to include the extra copy. This clearly showed that Mr. Kiggundu was not interested in a transparent election; he had already decided that the incumbent Mr. Museveni was his man and he was not willing to allow a fair process that would perhaps lead to Mr. Museveni’s defeat.

There were lots of reported rigging in some areas by polling assistants under the protection of the Uganda police and the military. And in other areas people would find themselves ticked as to have voted already yet it was not the case. This was the case in Kabale, Rukungiri and other strong opposition areas. These disenfranchised voters were either arrested or driven away from the polling stations. In some areas the political agents of Dr. Kizza Besigye were arrested and forced to sign the declaration forms.

Many Ugandans were left cursing Kiggundu’s unfairness especially when pre-ticked ballots in some areas were exposed by the watchful teams of the opposition. In other instances reports clearly showed that the results announced by Eng. Kiggundu did not correspond with the results collected from the polling stations. This was disclosed by the Supreme Court after the election following a petition filed by Dr. Kizza Besigye although the same court refused to nullify Mr. Museveni’s fraudulent victory with a bogus justification that the rigging had not been substantial to affect the final results.

The irregularities in the 2011 election were further confirmed by the many court petitions filed by MPs challenging various victories because of the rigging characterized by pre-ticked ballots and multiple voting that had been engineered by the EC Chairman to ensure that parliament is flooded with Mr. Museveni’s bootlickers. No wonder many people called for the resignation of Mr. Kiggundu, and opposition leaders demanded for an independent Electoral Commission though their demand was undermined by the NRM MPs and Mr. Museveni.

Social media was on fire as Ugandans criticized Kiggundu and called for his resignation for presiding over another sham election. They were all in agreement over one thing, namely, that Kiggundu was not a man to conduct a free and fair election! Earlier in 2015 when the opposition leaders demanded for electoral reforms citing the inability of Mr. Kigundu to organize a free and fair election, Mr. Kiggundu addressed the media and showed how prejudicial he was by saying that Dr. Kizza Besigye was not a person to contest for presidency and further that, had it been to kigundu’s will he would not dare nominate him! This proved that Eng. Kiggundu was not prepared to organize a free and fair election in which the man he hated –Dr. Besigye– had a chance of winning.

Kiggundu was not even ashamed that voting materials were delayed by over five hours in most areas in Kampala which is the home of the Electoral Commission. This was done deliberately to disenfranchise voters especially in opposition strongholds.

In the end Mr. Museveni was declared to have won the election with 60.8% against 35.4% for Dr. Kizza Besigye while Amama Mbabazi got a paltry 1.4% according to the Electoral Commission. Rt. Hon. John Patrick Amama Mbabazi who was Mr. Museveni’s former Prime Minister rejected the results and went to court. Of course Dr. Besigye was under house arrest and could not do anything, but his party president Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, a former Army Commander at a time released a statement asking Ugandans and the international community to reject the results because of the several irregularities and massive rigging in favour of Mr. Museveni.

The most flabbergasting thing was the delay in the deliverance of polling materials in most opposition strongholds including the capital Kampala and other municipalities where people were forced to vote after mid-day, and the shameless EC Chairman Kiggundu had no justification for this, and did not even have the sense to apologize to Ugandans. It turned out that this was no ordinary flaw on the part of the Electoral Commission but a deliberate ploy to disenfranchise the opposition voters. This was clearly pointed out by the election observers from the European Union as to have been an eclipsed atmosphere of intimidation as it was not transparent, according to Edward Rukani the Chief European Election Observer. He further stated, “From all discussions, we can say the Electoral Commission lacks trust among everybody with which we spoke…”.This report by the European observers was conducted from most of the districts, this therefore shows that the people of Uganda deserved better than they got through the Electoral Commission under Eng. Kiggundu. They were ripped off of their victory in broad day light!

On some polling stations, reports showed that they received improperly sealed, and in some areas unsealed ballots, according to the European Union observers. This can be related to the evidence by Mbabazi showing that there were pre-ticked ballots and other allegations that there were some areas where pre-ticking of ballots was done. This was claimed by the presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye who was arrested before reaching the said area. This showed how unfair it was for all Ugandans, which was masterminded by the EC Chairman Badru Kiggundu who was in charge of making of printing ballot papers.

More so, discrepancies in the Voter Register with irreconcilable tallies of votes in some polling stations were observed, and because of this the computed votes were much higher than the original number of voters registered in a polling station. This therefore is believed to have been caused by the addition of ghost voters into the National Voter Register prior to elections. This was evidenced by incidents of opposition voters being harshly turned away from the polling stations while the (ghosts) unknown people voted on their behalf. This was mostly observed in districts of Kampala, Wakiso, and Dokolo among others. This was the ill-intention of the man at the helm of the Electoral Commission, Kiggundu because he failed to conduct transparent registration since he wanted to favor the incumbent president. This was further seen when he failed to present signed declaration forms before the Supreme Court during the election petition. This therefore showed how a fraud Kiggundu was in conducting a free and fair election in Uganda.

During this election the Electoral Commission under Eng. Kiggundu showed that they have inadequate capacity to administer credible elections since the body failed to provide timely information and space within which programs could be discussed by the population and other stakeholders. For instance there was late introduction of biometric voter verification systems, voter location slips and the new modalities in the Voter Register that confused even the polling assistants. Moreover there was no thorough civic education which left many voters in the dark about the entire process. This was deliberately done by Eng. Kiggundu to keep the majority opposition voters disadvantaged with the use of new technology and favor the incumbent president and make rigging easy. One day Eng. Kiggundu will face the law for failing to conduct a free and fair election and for refusing to follow the rules and laws governing the elections to teach the voters on how to use the new technology.

An evil conspiracy

Unlike in the 2006 and 2011 general elections, in the 2016 election, Electoral Commission clearly partnered with the Uganda police and the state machinery whereby unprecedented orders were issued. For instance switching off the social media i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter among others and orders stopping the public from announcing results from polling stations. This was masterminded by the man (Kiggundu) in order to get a room within which to rig the election for Mr. Museveni. This is how Eng. Kiggundu managed to change the results in favor of Museveni who later rewarded him with yet another lucrative post as a supervisor of Karuma Dam construction months later.

In addition, the campaign environment was slanted in favor of the ruling party. This was evidenced by the several restrictions to the disadvantage of the opposition political parties. These among others included the Public Order Management Act, that is widely discredited as vague and too broad, thereby enabling subjective interpretations that permitted unrestricted power of police over the acts of opposition. This was emphasized by the Election observers among others Nigerian’s retired president Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who noted that, “…restrictions were imposed to basic freedom of assembly and movement affecting the fairness of the campaign for opposition candidate and lack of transparency with regard to compaign financing…”

These freedoms are enshrined under Article 29 (1995 Uganda Constitution) which include freedom of speech and expression. Access to campaign venues was denied to political opponents of Mr. Museveni. Dr. Kizza Besigye and Amama Mbabazi were blocked from holding rallies and addressing their supporters. This was however never condemned by the Electoral Commission Chairman Eng. Kigundu who instead started criticizing the victims as being stubborn which showed his bias.

It’s a shame that Eng. Kiggundu had no qualms about betraying the principle of natural justice, and openly focused on maintaining his boss (incumbent) into office. This bias and abhorrence of other candidates by Eng. Kiggundu prove that he had no moral right to occupy that noble office as Electoral Commission Chairman. It is an office that requires a non-partisan and incorruptible individual – two virtues that Eng. Kiggundu does not possess. Many Ugandans were so bitter with Eng. Kiggundu that upon his retirement they harshly condemned him saying, “Only God shall judge you because no man can forgive your actions.”

It can also be seen from the way the Electoral officials were appointed into office. This clearly showed that the Electoral Commission under Eng. Kiggundu was like a crippled man who cannot get what he wants without help. Their ill minds were seen at the Electoral Commission offices whereby most of the experienced and qualified people were not granted a chance in taking up the process. The process of recruiting polling assistants and presiding officers was flawed. This was more evident in stronghold opposition areas where the NRM politicians were in control of choosing persons who had applied for the jobs. Most of the most qualified individuals were left out with no justification. This was because the officials followed up the backgrounds of the applicants before they were shortlisted. All this was masterminded by Mr. Kiggundu since he already had an ill intention of favoring the incumbent to take another term in office. This was evidenced by the irregularities caused by these polling officials all favoring Mr Museveni.

Eng. Kiggundu’s bias was further shown when he issued guidelines and electoral laws to be followed by all presidential candidates with a threat that non-adherence to the same would lead to disqualification. When the NRA/M campaign machinery abused these laws it remained business as usual. A case in point was when a helicopter carrying Gen. Henry Tumukunde interfered with Amama Mbabazi’s rally in Fortportal Boma grounds and Eng. Kiggundu did nothing. So was the case in Ntungamo where NRM untouchables stormed Ntungamo Municipality in an attempt to block Hon. Amama Mbabazi from holding his rally despite that being his gazetted day in the same area; thanks to Christopher Aine the then Head of Mbabazi’s security for bringing these NRM mercenaries to order! This enraged Mr. Museveni, forcing him to spit fire as he stated that Aine and his group had poked their finger in the anus of the leopard and would face his wrath!

Chapter 5: A DEVIL WITH AN ANGEL’S SMILE

The theatre of the absurd in most African economies can only be attributed to dictatorship and toothless institutions. African leaders say one thing whilst meaning the opposite; they say this today and do the reverse tomorrow. That’s the tragedy of African politics. Most politicians in the once dark continent are not leaders in the real sense of the word, but rather see leadership as a platform for doing all social evils and enhancing their bellies! They cannot even differentiate between justice and injustice as they are blinded by power and all the perks that come with it.

Minister Janet Kataaha Museveni. Was Born on June 24, 1948 in a humble family and grew to become Uganda’s First Lady from 1986 to date. Who would have thought that the initially quiet Janet would cease to be satisfied by the Office of First Lady and wade into the murky waters of politics as well? Oh how politicians rise from grass to grace and back to grass! I remember one radio presenter lamenting about the First Lady’s conspiracy of silence, that is, her failure to tell her dictator husband to stop clinging to power. The two are today too dirty to find redemption in the court of public opinion.

First the grapevine has it that Janet orchestrated the death of Brig. Nobert Mayombo. Rumours abound that had it not been for his loose mouth, the late Brigadier would still be alive. It has been a city and street talk that FRONASA members like Gen. Kahinda Otafire know the whereabouts of a one Hope Rwaheru who is believed to be the real mother of Maj. Gen. Muhozi Keinerugaba; and somehow Mayombo’s loose lips and closeness to Muhozi could be the reason he was forced to meet his creator at a very tender age [details reserved for the next edition].

The Karamoja fiasco

Anyway they say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Mr. Museveni’s absolute power enticed his ‘humble’ wife to the extent that she couldn’t help coming out of the kitchen to play the dirty game of politics as well. First she contested for the MP seat of Ruhaama County in Ntungamo District and before we knew it she was a minister in charge of Karamoja. Janet is no naïve girl; she had long realized that politics was the only way of earning free money through corruption and using her presidential husband.

She claimed she was a Godsend to the Karamajongo but before she went there, Karamoja had at least five regional hospitals in Matany, Moroto, Amudat, Kotido and Kaabong all providing affordable health services. So Janet cannot claim to have played a role in improving the health sector of Karamoja. In fact, poverty in Karamoja area which was under Janet’s ministry is increasing and according to the Karamojong, the main factors responsible for poverty include persistence poor harvest as a result of dry spells and droughts, cattle rustling and insecurity, animals death, lack of water, poor farming practices, ill health and disability, high bride price for marriage, lack of skills and unemployment, limited sources of income, poor government and landlessness. The above causes of high poverty rates in the Karamoja region have gone unaddressed by Janet Museveni even when she was minister for the area. That is why much of Karamoja has remained heavily dependent on the largesse of the United Nations World Food Programme as the region’s poverty lines continue to deteriorate.

Janet Kataaha taught the people of Karamoja to beg the world organizations notable for charitable causes, but alas when these organizations gave monetary support this money got swindled. Consequently, the charity organizations withdrew their support and now death rates are increasing in the area. Eyebrows have been raised over how money meant to develop the area can be swindled under the watchful eye of the minister. Either she is behind the swindling or is too incompetent to stop the swindlers. As if that is not enough, her husband always sends her to ministries with money like Karamoja and Ministry of Education and Sports for reasons known only to this lovely couple.

With Janet in Karamoja, human welfare, living conditions and quality of life of the people in the region declined considerably due to various factors such as environmental issues, insecurity, marginalization, illiteracy, poor health and poor infrastructure, Moroto and Nakapiripirit have the lowest HDI of 0.183 and Kotido has 0.194 as compared to an average of 0.4491 for Uganda.

With enormous funds that were paid through the Janet Museveni self-centered Karamoja Ministry before she was shifted to the Education and Sports Ministry, it is flabbergasting that the districts of Karamoja have the highest human poverty indices (HPI) with Nakapiripirit and Moroto Districts having 63.5 percent and Kotido has 53.8 percent, compared to the national average of 37.5 percent, central region of 31.5 percent, northern region 46.1 percent, western region 39.0 percent, and eastern region 37.1 percent as of 2017 .

These statistics show an inverted aspect; what was expected of Janet as a minister of the area to eradicate, but she quit so soon because of a leadership style marked by arrogance and a limitedness in ideas as a short-sighted politician miming to become a leader but always coming short because of her locked knowledge in the field of politics and administrative matters. In spite all the fiascos Janet has presided over, the Office of the First Lady has continued to shield her, but as Bob Marley aptly put it, ‘you can fool some people sometime but you can’t fool all people all the time.’

How bad company has corrupted Janet’s morals

King Solomon once said that bad company corrupts morals. The veracity of this stament is reflected in the life of Janet Kataaha who once had a mental capacity that had no accommodation for dictatorship, but her continued association with Mr. Museveni has since ruined that. From the moment Mr. Museveni decided to cling to power at all costs, Janet’s last modicum of good morals was spat like phlegm to the extent she had the temerity to tell Ugandans that Mr. Museveni has sacrificed so much for this country and so deserve to be thanked and not criticized by the public.

Well, Janet needs to be reminded that the country has paid back the ‘sacrifice’ by feeding them for over thirty years, and that because of their ostentation the economy is bleeding. Their daughters have had to be flown to Germany to give birth using state resources, while Janet’s useless trips to Israel are paid for with tax-payers’ money. It befuddles that she does not even feel indebted to the country for providing everything to her children and other dependents of Mr. Museveni family. Statehouse which houses Janet Museveni is the most financially facilitated unit in this country at the expense of poor Ugandans but the First Lady does not share any of the privileges with poor ugandans.

Even more, Janet Kataaha does not have the credentials and the experience to be the Minister of Education and Sports and only occupies that important office because of nepotism. No wonder that under her supervision UPE and USE schools are at their worst yet quality education is what will determine the steady progression of this country. What poor judgment for the president to entrust such a key ministry to his mediocre wife! It makes the country move backward instead of forward as the head herself is not learned because her academic papers have issues as she personally admitted in parliament that she didn’t have an A-Level certificate but has a Masters’ degree! A leader is a servant but the only thing Janet is doing is to milk the Education Ministry of the huge sums that should be going into better remuneration for teachers and installing better facilities to realize quality education. Yet Janet Kataaha claims she came in to clean the mess. When did money become the mess that Janet Kataaha came to clean from the Education and Sports Ministry? Trust me by the time she is out, it will be all cleaned up indeed!

Marie Antoinette reincarnated!

Being dishonest to her conscience, Janet Kataaha tries to cover up the promise made by her government to buy sanitary pads to school-going girls by saying the government doesn’t have money to implement the promise. She was massively criticized for this because Ugandans saw through her lies. Government finds money to buy teargas and bribe legislators to amend the constitution yet they cannot find money to buy sanitary pads for poor school girls, come on! The government just lacked the political will to fulfill a simple promise. In any case why would Janet Kataaha even bother when her grandchildren and great grandchildren can have all the pads they need at our expense!

Janet Kataaha also advising Ugandans during a press conference on March 27, 2017 to stop taking their children to school using boda-bodas but cars left many Ugandans thinking she was Marie Antoinette of France reincarnated! She doesn’t even know how the First Family has raided and bastardized the economy to the extent that only a handful of Ugandans can afford a meal a day, and not all can afford using a car to drop and pick up their children from school. Such mockery statements are akin to Marie Antoinette’s “…if you can’t afford bread buy cakes…”

Janet Kataaha and her dictatorial husband need to go back to the basics and know the reality on ground. Behind the pristine and heavily guarded gates of State House, they live like an ordinary African couple, lavishing and chiding their children but I am afraid all these happy times may end in tragedy if Janet Kataaha Museveni doesn’t engage her husband into a mind change about his life presidency ideology that he wants to incriminate himself on Ugandans in pain.

Since Uganda’s matters have turned out to become a family business, we believed at first that Janet would convince Mr. Museveni to give up the presidency for a peaceful transition but it is evident she has abysmally failed in this national duty, which is why Mr. Museveni has gone bareknuckle to the extent of illegally amending the supreme law of the land, the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995. This rules Janet out as a team leader if she can’t convince her own husband on a matter of national and public concern.

Yet she gets the time to fight with Dr. Stella Nyanzi who stung her like a bee on Wednesday March 29, 2017 when Janet incredulously declared that government didn’t have the money to buy sanitary pads for school girls. As Dr. Stella released more missiles through social media, Janet was pushed into a precarious corner out of which she lost sense and allowed emotions to take control by having Dr. Stella arrested instead of addressing the issue of shaming, name calling, teasing, isolation, stigma and discrimination that girls face at school and in communities if their menstrual blood leaks into public view. Of course the citizens sided with Dr. Stella and slated the First Lady for being out of touch with reality.

A wolf in sheep skin

By the virtue of being the First Lady, Janet Kataaha Museveni attracts both national and international attention. In 1986 she created a nongovernmental organization—Uganda Women’s Effort to save orphans (UWESO)—a private relief agency which she said was inspired by her experience as an orphan. She became involved with the HIV/AIDS campaigns in Uganda in the 1990s, forging ties with radical Pastor Martin Ssempa for abstinence-only sex education in Uganda but this organization since then has lost the weight to silence because of the numerous embezzlement in the high arms of the programs.

The funding was being made by the charity organizations but little was known about how these funds were used. It later transpired that UWESO was just another business empire of Janet Kataaha who continues to ground roots in every place with various businesses. In case of any opposition from other business through competition the competing business is choked by state machinery as is what happened to Sudhir’s Crane Bank whose last vestiges have since been taken up by DFCU Bank. Crane Bank had become a burden to the Museveni’s businesses. If Janet Kataaha admires your business and initiates the buying of shares in it and is rebuffed then the business in question will be pressed to the wall to make it die out instantly and immediately so as to shape it after the owner’s bankruptcy. These people have turned Uganda as a feeding ground and they will continue to squeeze it until it has nothing left to offer.

When you look directly into the eyes of Janet without judging her through her actions, you might mistake her for an angel yet she is a “devil” in the mask; a wolf in sheep skin that can do anything evil at any time because she has been shaped by her husband who has indulged in so much dirt that not even a hyssop detergent can ever cleanse him! Worse of all the longer he keeps power the more he contaminates himself. Well, the couple conspired to amend the constitution to have a life presidency but I dare them also to amend the death limit! When this happens I will let destiny take its course.

Janet Kataaha was once a good lady but turned bad due to the influence of the husband who had been boiling her for the hard political times. Now political ambition is the blood coursing through her veins; perhaps she is now flirting with the idea that she could be the one to replace her husband in State House just like Grace Mugabe wanted to replace Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Well, we know what happened to Grace Mugabe and her political fantasies!

Things have so deteriorated in Uganda with dictatorship, poverty, nepotism, unemployment and bad governance that if you ask any Ugandan between selling this country and being given a huge share of the national cake to stay quiet, I can guarantee many citizens will go for the sale rather than keeping the country in the hands of the fleas that run it today!

Chapter 6: THE WITCHY SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT

She was born in Kamuli District in eastern Uganda on May 24, 1956. She attended Namasagali College for her high school studies and proceeded to Makerere University where she graduated with a Bachelors of Law degree in 1978. She went to Law Development Centre (LDC) and acquired a Diploma in Legal Practice in 1979. In 2000 she obtained a Diploma in Women’s Law from the University of Zimbabwe and in 2003 obtained the Degree of Master of Arts specializing in Women’s Laws, also from the University of Zimbabwe.

Between 1984 and 1988 Kadaga was in private practice and from 1989 to 1996 she served as the woman Member of Parliament for Kamuli District. She again served as the Chairperson of the University Council Mbarara University between 1993 and 1996 and served as the Secretary General of the East African Women Parliamentarians Association.

Kadaga was appointed the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation (Africa and Middle East) in 1996; a position she held up to 1998 when she was appointed the Minister of State for Communication and Aviation before she got rooted in parliamentary politics after she was elected as the Deputy Speaker of Parliament in 2001, a position she held until May 19, 2011 when her seeming impartiality won over fellow legislators who elected her the Speaker of Parliament, a position she recently lost to Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanya. An in and out hospital client ever since he got this position as speaker of Parliament.

Kadaga also seats on the Appointments Committee which reviewed all cabinet appointments made by the president to approve or reject thereof. She also Chaired the Parliamentary Commissions and the Business Committee.

By the time Kadaga was appointed the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda on May 19, 2011, it was widely believed that she was changing the country’s political landscape as a fearless and formidable legislator who was very knowledgeable on policy issues and good governance. When she made history by becoming the first female Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, many Ugandans were happy for her, little did they know that the same lady was a shrinking violet whose cowardice and fear of Mr. Museveni would lead to the fall and decay of the country’s democracy. Many Ugandans now regret Kadaga’s political rise and have endless thoughts flashing through their minds about what could have happened to the highly intelligent and astute lady Kadaga used to be.

On the day she was appointed the Speaker, Kadaga said that what was expected from the parliamentarians by the public was good services, value for money, transparency, accountability and overall good governance. She added that her intention was to continue bridging the gap between parliament and the voters through outreach programs in the rural areas. Really what happened to such a mind? Was the literature doctored? Slowly by slowly she plucked pages from the covenant that she made with the people of Uganda who believed that Kadaga’s appearance was a huge indicator of gender equality. Her appointment ignited a wave of excitement and hope that at long last parliament had found a formidable shepherd that would guide debates without fear or favour. To quote her, “I would like to leave this parliament stronger than it is, with all the necessary facilities for parliament to work effectively…”

The witch thanks her ancestors

A day after her attainment of the Speakership in the 10^th Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga made what the sons and daughters of God can call betrayal akin to that of Judas Iscariot betraying his Master with a kiss! The ‘fountain of knowledge’ herself (Kadaga) visited Nhyenda Hill in Nakigo Subcounty in Iganga District to thank her ancestors for her triumph in retaining the post of the Speaker of Parliament and to renew her allegiance to them! Can you imagine!! Uganda being a God-fearing country with over 80% of the population being professing Christians, many were shocked beyond words for Kadaga’s abominable act! They totally lost their respect and trust in a woman who had all along postured as a pious Christian who would even often attend church. Now she had exposed her true colours as a crafty snake like the one that tempted Adam and Eve!

Not only did Kadaga’s act of paying homage to ‘ancestors’ portray her as one who practices witchcraft, it was very provocative and disrespectful of a leader of Kadaga’s calibre to do her evil act in broad day light moreover under the full glare of television cameras. What image was she portraying to the nation as the great head of the legislative arm of government whose participation is based on the public opinion? What example was she setting to the young girls who were looking up to her as a political icon? Kadaga has since become like a flower that appears very beautiful today but withers the next day.

A catastrophe orchestrated by the Speaker

Here comes the most regrettable and most irritating catastrophe that befell the legislative arm of government and consequently tarnished the image of the entire country leaving the rest of the world in the dark about which demon had possessed the leader of the legislature who at one time was regarded as a clean, impartial and independent leader by the general public of Uganda. The day was September 27, 2017, when for the very first time the chamber of parliament was invaded by the members of armed forces preferably described as SFC who according to Rebecca Kadaga’s letter to the president were dressed in black suits and white shirts to disguise as civilians. This occurred when the Speaker read the names of the suspended MPs, then decided to suspend the House for 30 minutes so that these mercenaries could evict the innocent members in the most brutal and undignified manner you can imagine.

According to the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure, when the House is suspended it means it is still going on and therefore no strangers are allowed in. With motives to humiliate the members of the opposition, Speaker Kadaga liaised with the President and the IGP to order the state machinery (SFC) to storm the chambers, manhandle, torture and arrest the members of the opposition including those that were not bound by the suspension. The speaker would have adjourned the House and simply denied the affected members access to subsequent meetings if the aim was indeed to suspend them in line with the rules relating to parliamentary decorum. Therefore by acting in this manner Speaker Kadaga revealed her failure in her task of protecting and upholding the prestige, sanctity and independence of Parliament and above all lack of respect for the doctrine of separation of powers. Thus the Speaker herself turned into pawn in Museveni’s ever-increasing power quest.

Our Constitution envisages three co-equal pillars of the state, the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive which are supposed to be independent so that the principal of separation of powers and the checks and balances reigns. But what the Speaker did put the final nail in the coffin of parliamentary democracy hence making the opposition to remain dominated by the reckless NRM majority as they keep silent in the face of provocation.

The Speaker in collaboration with the NRM junta pushed the opposition members of parliament too far with their backs against the wall. Nevertheless, the knowledge that they represent the silent majority in the Ugandan population has kept them strong enough to take a stand in the defense of our constitution to denounce with one voice the capricious and malevolent attempt to impose Mr. Museveni on Ugandans for life by NRM in collaboration with Rebecca Kadaga then speaker.

The Speaker was expected to have that backbone and confidence to demand that the Executive complies with her ruling that a constitutional amendment is not a casual affair to be initiated by a member. Constitutional amendments especially one as contentious and controversial as the lifting of the presidential age limit should have been done in a fair and conclusive manner and above all in respect of public opinion rather than imposing the will of the parliamentary majority on the entire country.

Therefore the opposition MPs whose opinion is the opinion from the public were right to resist the tyranny of the majority members of this exploitative government. However, to the dismay of the entire nation the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga unreasonably turned a deaf ear to all reasons brought before her chair in the plenary by the concerned members of the House and succumbed to the pressure from the Executive though one may also argue that this was not succumbing but rather implementing her plans with the president to make sure that the age limit bill is tabled before the parliament.

In fact in a truly functioning democracy, she should have committed treason because you cannot secretly order that parliamentary freedom fighters be manhandled in the chambers where their voices count and then you think you can get away with it. Kadaga needed or deserved to be shown that we are not in a Hobbesian state of nature where she is at liberty to conspire with rapacious and predatory members of NRM who are seriously money parasites to remove the last hope that Ugandans have in the Constitution to end the unbearable regime of Mr. Museveni. Really God

Chapter 7: THE MEDIOCRE TAX COLLECTOR

Allen Catherine Kagina was born in 1961 in Rukungiri District in western Uganda as the eighth child in the family of ten. She attended Gayaza High School which is one of the prestigious private boarding schools around the country.

After her high school studies, Kagina went to Makerere University the largest and best university in the country from where she graduated with Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration which she obtained from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. She is a “born again” lady by title than by deeds or conduct.

Allen Kagina is married to Paul Kagina and together they have three children.

A ‘valuable’ misfortune

Kagina’s working career began in 1985 when she was recruited by Makerere University as a tutorial assistant. This shows that she undoubtedly understands the dynamic and challenges that her once fellow workmates go through to survive.

After three years of teaching, Kagina joined the public service, working in the office of the president until 1992 when she joined the Uganda Revenue Authority; an organization that is disreputable for sucking people dry. She joined this organization as a Senior Revenue Officer from where she rose through the ranks to work as a Principal Revenue Officer, then Assistant Commissioner and later to the rank of Deputy Commissioner.

In 2000, while serving as the Deputy Commissioner of a new division of customs, Kagina dealt with technical issues that involved laws and procedures, tariff classification and disputes. In 2001 she was rewarded with a promotion as the Commissioner in Charge of Customs after the death of her boss. She considered the death of her boss as a valuable misfortunate for her to rise to a higher rank and advance her career. As she told Daily Monitor newspaper, “Having been in this department for some time, there were things that I thought could be streamlined and others be implemented and this was an opportunity for me to overhaul the systems.”

Her words were in bad taste because it seemed like the death of her boss was a blessing in disguise for her since it presented her an opportunity to exert her power and implement things. It showed a dark side of Kagina that many people didn’t know about; that she is greedy like a wolf because only the greedy celebrate the death of others. Mind you she claims to be born-again!!

Anyway, Allen Kagina was appointed the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority in 2004. She was awarded the Corporate Leadership Award in February 2006 by Destiny Consult an industry group for turning around the performance of the tax body since her appointment as the head.

In October 2010, her contract was renewed for another three years notwithstanding the fact that the country had a number of people capable enough to replace her and even perform better than her. Her contract extension is known to every Ugandan as having been a political move intending to keep her in the system that favors top government officials. During this time her monthly salary is reported to have been 28 million shillings which ushered her into the league of the most highly paid Ugandan officers in the country.

Wrong impressions

On April 27, 2015, the president through his Minister of Works and Transport at that time, John Byabagambi, appointed Allen Kagina as the Executive Director of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) effective May 1st, a position she has held up to date.

During her time at URA, Allen Kagina presided over an organization which on the face of it was taken as the best performer but in real sense was the worst. Uganda’s ratio of taxes to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remained almost stagnant for all the years she was in office because in 2004 when she took up the office of the Commissioner General of URA, the GDP percentage was at about 11% and since then up to her leave of office, it only increased to 13.7% which is a negligible and very small contribution to the economy for a lady like Kagina whom the entire government of NRM praises to have been very hard working and intelligent. In fact when you compare the tax to GDP ratio in Uganda during Allen Kagina’s era with that in 1970, you shudder because in 1970 the ratio was 22%. This was large because the government was taxing especially agriculture exports but during the reign of Madam Kagina, large-scale ranchers like her boss Mr. Museveni with about 21 square miles of land with 5000 heads of cattle that generate millions of money monthly were ironically exempted from taxation. Such despicable exemptions coupled with corruption and nepotism meant Kagina deserved to be shown a red card, instead she was praised!

Worse still, many businesses in Uganda doing import and export trade and other informal ventures that generate a lot of money were not paying taxes at all during Kagina’s reign. Economists and analysts sounded their displeasure saying this would be the most regrettable mistake for the economy. In exempting such businesses from paying taxes, Kagina thought that was an irresistible incentive for business persons to do more. But Kagina was pushed into this business blunder by self-seeking big wigs in government who were the major beneficiaries of the tax exemptions. After all her failures, it was mindboggling to see Kagina being awarded for good performance and administration. It proved one thing: that the only people this government celebrates are thieves and failures!

Moreover, Kagina led a group of officials at the URA who were very lazy and corrupt and above all incompetent in service delivery and good accountability because they didn’t take the initiative of registering every business and regularly check for auditing so as to generate more taxes. They only did what one can call profiting individually from non-compliance and that is why many business personnel kept their transactions informal in order to avoid the adverse impact of taxes on their businesses.

It didn’t help that the tax laws that the URA under Kagina was enforcing (still enforces) were (are) strict and cannot accommodate both the interests of the business people and the URA collectors since they were in conflict. Kagina and her team asked for exorbitant taxes after auditing a business, and rather than pay the unfair taxes, the business owners would bribe the tax collectors. Through such dubious and corrupt ways, the country lost a lot of tax revenue that would have been used for socio-economic transformation

The extent of corruption in URA demoralized the business community from organizing collectively to pursue tax reforms. Ironically Allen Kagina, falsely perceived to be very intelligent, could not save the country from the dilemma of losing tax revenue important for economic progress and did not effectively push for changes in the laws for the greater good of Uganda. Instead she continued to pick a huge monthly cheque along with her corrupt subordinates while the economy bled and suffered. Now she has shifted her incompetence to UNRA where she will continue to be part of the state machinery that Mr. Museveni uses to run his business.

Chapter 8: A FEMALE CHAMELEON NAMED BETI KAMYA

Nothing sums up Beti Kamya like the flamingo bird which eats its own vomit every time it throws up! First she was a cardholder member of the ruling NRM which she later quit claiming she couldn’t stomach the dirt in the party. She joined the opposition FDC and felt at home. However it did not take long before she left that as well and formed her own party. While many were watching keenly to see how she would grow it into a formidable party that would one day capture state power, she quit that too and went back to lick her own vomit in NRM; the party she had acerbically criticized for more than a decade! Very exasperating indeed!

Born in Nakuru Kenya on November 30, 1955, to George Wilson Kamya a Ugandan and Margret Wairimu Kamya a Kenyan, she was the fourth born of the nine children. Her family relocated to Uganda in 1961 when Beti was six years old.

She attended Mckay Memorial School in Kampala and later St. Hellen’s Primary School in Mbarara. For O’ Level, she joined Wanyanga Girl’s School and proceeded to King’s College Buddo for A’ Level. She was admitted at Makerere University, the oldest and the largest public university, and graduated with Bachelors of Commerce Degree in Marketing.

In early 1980’s she joined Uganda Leather and Training Industries Limited in Jinja where she worked in the Sales Department until 1988 when she joined Nyanza Textile Industries Limited as the Sales Executive until 1992. She relocated to Kampala with her husband in 1996 and worked as the Marketing Manager at Uganda Breweries Limited in Port Bell, a Kampala suburb up to 1999. She was appointed as the Executive Director of the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria a job she lost in 2004 under uncertain circumstances.

While still in UWEC in early 2000, Beti Kamya became an official in the political pressure group Reform Agenda, which later turned into the FDC political party. From 2005 until 2010, she served as the Special Envoy of the FDC President Dr. Kizza Besigye and served in the Ugandan Parliament representing Rubaga North County on the FDC ticket. In January 2010, she quit FDC and formed the Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA) and became its first president. Suddenly, Beti Kamya developed an attachment with the president of Uganda who later, in July 2016, named her as part of the cabinet that would drive this nation to the so-called middle income status.

Taking into account that she had been an indefatigable opposition leader, her appointment to the government seemed to the whole nation as a drop of rain in the Kalahari desert since she previously longed to get an opportunity to serve in the government and tackle Uganda’s political problems with the aim of looking out for the ordinary Ugandan using all means available.

However days, months and a year after her appointment, it turned out that she had been very insincere and a liar to the nation that dared to trust her eloquent wiles. She has in her actions and characteristic way made the real meaning of ‘’politician’’ resurrect for the entire nation to observe. She has showed the country that she only works with allies who are mission-specific but not genuine country men.

Beti’s sneaky and double-dealing ways

On September 26, 2017, Beti Kamya is said to have aided the Minister of State for Water, a one Ronald Kibule to sneak out a gun which he had entered with in the parliamentary chamber contrary to the parliamentary rules. Kibule’s action had caused pandemonium in the House after he threatened to shoot Hon. Ssemujju Nganda and other opposition MPs. Hon. Kibule had cantankerously wielded his pistol while spewing deadly threats, and the MPs refused to debate on the Floor of Parliament until everyone had been rechecked. However on doing that, the House was surprised that the pistol had vanished. It later transpired that Beti Kamya had helped Kibule to sneak the unwanted weapon out using her gigantic handbag.

Beti Kamya is also one of the few members of the public who relentlessly campaigned for the removal of the presidential age limit so that Mr. Museveni can take this country with him to the grave! In an interview with NTV on July 21, 2017, Kamya in her wisdom described President Museveni as a blessing to Uganda and that the country should not send him home in 2021 simply because of his age. It was strange and quite absurd that Kamya who until 2016 had been in the opposition where she always told off Mr. Museveni as a man who was way past his heydays was the same Kamya now saying Mr. Museveni was the best thing that ever happened to Uganda and should be left to rule for life! It was a confirmation to some of us that Beti Kamya is a dimwit, halfwit who was never cheated in the market from where she bought all this dishonesty and double-dealing that have engulfed the whole of her life. Really had she fallen short of what to say when she categorically said that Mr. Museveni is a God-given blessing, or is it a different Museveni she had abused and abhorred for many years?

It is right for anyone to say that Beti Kamya has developed too much religiosity to the extent that she believes that all leaders come from God and therefore it is her an unforgivable sin to fight and rebel against some tyrants since to the worst of her wisdom it is like going against God’s appointment. God cannot appoint leaders that subject his sheep to the kind of oppression and suffering that Mr. Museveni exerts on the poor and naive Ugandans, and I don’t think God has too run short of charismatic leaders that can take up the mantle and steer the nation to the right direction. Perhaps if Beti Kamya had reasonable proof to show Ugandans that Mr. Museveni was the only capable and rightful leader that was remaining in the mind of God, we would relent. Otherwise she should first address her mind to the Bible on Romans chapter 13 that talks about the ruling authorities.

Sincerely if Kamya wholeheartedly believes that Mr. Museveni is a God- a sent and gifted leader, why did she choose to contest against him in the year 2011? This is the lady whom everyone at first thought was anointed with political charisma; a Godly blessed opposition leader, she made a U-turn on her initial beliefs and has now turned a stranger to her longtime colleagues and followers. She is currently a woman of no vision that has nothing to offer in as far as the people’s welfare is concerned. She has turned in the words of one philosopher as the epitome of sycophancy as she only concentrates on gaining favour from the president. She is now a political whore!

Beti’s begging bowl

She makes Ugandans resort to a saying that, “ If your dad supplies every need of yours, how can you call him a bad dad” because sources say that shortly after the 2011 presidential election, Kamya ran bankrupt and could not afford to meet the cost for the posters that she had used in the presidential race. The debt was too big for her that she went with a begging bowl to President Museveni who undoubtedly cleared her debt on condition that she returns to NRM and never raise her tongue against him again. She has now very much comfortably sat under the shelter of NRM to the extent that she cannot notice that outside it is raining and people need rescue. But time will be the best judge.

In early 2017, Betty was sued and was shamed as a con-star who hoodwinked a city struggling printer into printing campaign posters worth 54.7 million shillings that she for over five years refused to pay for. This took place in 2011 when Kamya stood against her new found political friend president Museveni where she performed dismally as she was on the ticket of Uganda Federal Alliance, one for which she was the president. It is said that ahead of the campaigns, Kamya wrote to Abubaker Bakka, commonly known as Najab Printers on November 21, 2010, begging him to print several posters for all the candidates on UFA who were running for parliament and other local government political offices. She requested the printers to compile all the bills of different people that picked the posters. Abubaker did as instructed but Kamya failed to clear the outstanding debt since Abubaker had used his working capital to buy materials and do the job because of the trust he had in Kamya. Alas his trust was betrayed by this insensitive and inconsiderate lady that Kamya is! Had it not been for Mr. Museveni using tax-payers’ money to clear the outstanding debt, poor Betty would probably be rotting in a jail cell!!

Kamya’s inhumanity

Beti Kamya, while she was the Minister for KCCA she issued directives to have more than 15,000 vendors at the Nakivubo Park Yard Market evicted by the police officials and everyone was very disappointed in the manner with which these vendors were chased. Everyone who saw the live footage of the vendors in the now razed areas being brutalized and humiliated and ostracized cursed Beti Kamya for her inhumanity. Whereas these vendors may not be the first-class citizens that you hobnob with daily, they are Ugandans that were trying to eke out a living in these tough times of a weak economy and increased unemployment. Therefore they deserved to be treated like citizens but not inferior or third-class subjects because they pay taxes from which Beti grows her stomach through corruption. They are not parasites and never are they criminals that deserved to be treated like animals.

Moreover this was done with neither the consent of the Lord Mayor of Kampala nor that of the Minister of Trade Amelia Kyambadde. These ordinary simple people Kamya oppresses are the very ones that have on several occasions mounted the ladder that often times she has used to climb to these greater political heights she seems to be pompous about and at some point, in the future, these very much tormented people may plant the step ladder for you to ironically descend safely.

While serving as the Minister for Kampala, Beti Kamya failed to defend KCCA budget which was reduced during the budget allocation for 2017/2018 as it was slashed from 563 billion shilling to 314 billion shillings and then finally 317 million shillings removed from it. This was very rare to both the political and technical teams of Kampala as they were left up in arms since the target service delivery would not be met and the city could revert to a dilapidated status.

The minister also failed to defend the interests of Kampala before the cabinet yet it contributes almost 70% of the national revenue. No wonder she has come out to say that Museveni is wiser than the entire cabinet.

Not so long ago, Beti Kamya shocked the general public when she organized a seven-day training for the Kampala Capital City Authority councilors. The intention was to draft the councilors into supporting the proposal to remove the presidential age limit from the constitution. What Kamya did those days was to make sure she won support for the oppressor Museveni so that she could fulfill what she promised him while they were together addressing the vendors in Kawempe Market when she said that Museveni will win with 80% in Kampala if he returns in 2021. Who does she think she is fooling? How could she use the training in the name of KCCA yet the Lord Mayor, who is the political head of the city, is not aware and the Executive Director has not consented to it?

Kamya is employing crazy maneuvers to win back the trust of Mr. Museveni with the hope that he can keep her in cabinet or appoint her the next prime minister or vice president. But that will remain a pipe dream since Mr. Museveni knows her as a highly ambitious and selfish chameleon that can never be trusted. So he will continue using her like a dirty rag especially in the politics of Kampala and thereafter drop her like hot iron. Mark my words!

Chapter 9: THE SCANDALOUS STEPHEN KAVUMA

This gentleman can only be compared to a wild squirrel/packrat infamous for reaping where it didn’t sow, and notorious for its greed and selfishness that manifest in the way it uproots and devours the farmer’s groundnuts.

In 2006, Kavuma made surprising news when he gave a judgment that totally and controversially contradicted the judgments that had been reached by his fellow four colleagues on the five points of law that came up. This was done in a serious petition filed by the Uganda Law Society challenging the double trial of Dr. Kizza Besigye and his fellow colleagues who were falsely accused of belonging to the People’s Redemption Army for which they were facing charges of unlawful possession of fire arms and terrorism. This case was before the General Court Martial, then under the Chairmanship of Gen. Elly Tumwine. Dr. Besigye and his colleagues were facing charges of treason and concealment of treason in the High Court. It was unconstitutional to subject them to criminal proceedings in two courts at the same time on offences based on similar and same facts.

Justice Kavuma, to the dismay of every other judge, dismissed the petition arguing that it lacked basis contrary to the judgments given by the other members of the panel more especially the one of Justice Constance Byamugisha, who ruled that “in principle, there is nothing illegal about charging people with different criminal cases in different courts, but concurrent proceedings in the High Court and the General Court Martial arising out of the same facts is not proper.”

Justice Steven Kavuma is also well-known for issuing a controversial interim order barring the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago from accessing his office after the High Court presided over by Lydia Mugambe, had cancelled his removal from office. He shamelessly did this on the very day the Lord Mayor appeared at the office for work and he issued it in the absence of the Lord Mayor. Because of this and related acts many people have lost confidence in the Judiciary. Kavuma did this while he was acting as the Chief Justice after the retirement of Justice Benjamin Odoki.

Callous Kavuma grabs neighbour’s land

On January 1, 2016, Kavuma was sued in the Land Division of the High Court in Kampala to answer the case of land grabbing in which he was critically accused of having unlawfully grabbed his neighbor’s land, a one Sentongo who had purchased it in 2008 in Makindye Kizungu Zone from a one Kabagambe Obed. The land in contention was adjacent to Justice Kavuma’s land that had an unfinished building that had been left on the foundation level.

Living true to his unbecoming character and greed for anything that portrays wealth, Kavuma erected a unipart in Sentongo’s land and put a signpost with the wordings, “NO TRESSPASS”. He then hired people guard the land so that the rightful owner could not access his land. When Sentongo tried to call Justice Kavuma for explanation, the only answer from him was an invitation to his office.

Scared of losing his precious land, Mr. Sentongo went to Justice Kavuma’s office early in March 2016 and put before him the two agreements showing him as the rightful owner of the land. Instead of becoming remorseful, Kavuma behaved callously by falsely accusing Mr. Sentongo for criminal trespass. He had him arrested, tortured and detained at Makindye Police Station though he was later released on police bond. To the dismay of the lawful owner of the land, Justice Kavuma, early 2017 hired the UPDF armed officers to transport and protect the workers on the land who were instructed to immediately put up a fence.

Another sign post was erected and it showed that there were no plots for sale on that land which propelled the aggrieved to take the matter into courts of law. Kavuma has no iota of shame as he believes that it is his birthright to trample on everyone and have his way always.

Kavuma has graduated First Class in the school of land grabbing, opportunism and hedonism like his longtime boss Yoweri Museveni and it is indeed absolutely right and fitting to say that he is a rotter with a destructive personality. He needs someone to remind him of the Biblical Ahab who grabbed Naboth’s land and what happened to him and his household. How can you say that you bought the land in early 1980s and up to now you had never taken a step to develop it. This is laughable and unprecedented in the history of modern civilization.

While serving as the State Minister for Defense, Justice Kavuma made a controversial statement on Light House TV; he told the public that Lt. Col. Jet Mwebaze and his counterparts were safe and not dead after their crash in a helicopter in the Rwenzori Mountains in 1998 during the ADF insurgency. To the contrary, and to the astonishment of Ugandans, the announcement from the government revealed that the colonel was dead and his body had been discovered at the top of the mountain covered by snow.

Kavuma’s endless acts of impunity

Justice Kavuma has on many occasions been accused of issuing orders without notification and participation of both parties involved in a case after lying that they were present. This is contrary to the Rules of Procedure and it portrays Kavuma as a dishonest person who denies fairness and justice to the people that approach the temple of justice.

Most of the things Justice Kavuma did defied logic. He convened several court sessions between May 30 and November 2, 2016 in the case where a city businessman Wilfred Bugingo was battling with Willy Jagwe. It is quite clear that in all these court sessions Kavuma entertained them without notifying and inviting Mr. Wilfred Bugingo to participate in the proceedings and this is illegal as it is against the right to a fair hearing, covered in the Constitution under Articles 28 and 44. Instead of appointing a panel of judges of the Court of Appeal to hear the matter in contention, Steven Kavuma acted with impunity and extended an order from the court that was compelling Mr. Willy Jagwe to pay Mr. Bugingo about five billion shillings as compensation for his destroyed plantation in Mubende District yet the time had not yet elapsed. By acting in such a manner, Justice Kavuma failed in his administrative role of ensuring that justice is dispensed within the courts of law, particularly the Court of Appeal which he led for some years.

Justice Kavuma is also well known for having issued an interim order barring and constraining Parliament from investigating and discussing the controversial handshake where the president unlawfully paid out six billion shillings to 42 government officials from the Consolidated Fund. The attempt to block Parliament from debating a matter of public interest by Steven Kavuma was an open indicator that the Judiciary which Kavuma was then heading was serving the interests of Mr. Museveni, not the citizens of Uganda since he knew that such money was dished out in a way that was unlawful, and equally affected the financial situation of the country.

Secondly, such an order that in essence was a command was against the Doctrine of Separation of Powers whereby the three arms of government are separate and independent and one arm should not interfere with the other except for checks and balances. One wonders why Parliament was discussing a matter from the Executive, particularly the president’s action was ultravires and a threat to the national treasury. Therefore Parliament, being an organ responsible for checks and balances had the mandate to inquire into the manner in which the president had given out such huge sums of money to public servants for a task done as part of their normal duties when at Mulago Hospital doctors are rarely rewarded, and are paid peanuts moreover not on time.

Since his appointment to the Judiciary, different politicians and judges have described Kavuma as ‘’hugely partisan’’ and often leans on the side he much supports and does not give a semblance of impartiality and fairness yet it is the core ingredient of judicial independence. He has positioned himself as NRM’s ‘Mr-Fix-It’ in the Judiciary without caring about justice and democracy as enshrined in the Supreme Law of the land. Shame upon him; a man of such character does not deserve to hold a significant public office.

In the outstanding case of the rebel MPs that were illegally expelled from Parliament, Justice Kavuma’s partisanship was exposed like never before when he was referred to as Party Promoter 163 and that he had signed the Registration Book for the NRM Party in 2005 and was still a member yet the judges have to be nonpartisan and impartial. Due to his partiality and subscription to the ruling party, he should have done the honourable thing of disqualifying himself from the Bench but he refused in order to continue promoting the interests of the party through the Judiciary. In the case of the former DP Spokesperson Jude Mbabali versus Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, Kavuma still refused to comply with the request of him leaving the Bench. in all the cases the government had interests, Kavuma stayed to rule in favour of the party. Below is a list of the cases and orders Justice Kavuma delivered and issued that favoured the NRM Party:

1)An order blocking Dr. Besigye and FDC from carrying out a defiance campaign.

2)Cash bonanza.

3)An order stopping the investigations into the criminal proceedings against the IGP Kale Kayihura.

4)Stopping proceedings against investigations to Rubaga South MP Kato Lubwama.

5)Barring Erias Lukwago from accessing his office as the Lord Mayor.

6) All these were a courtersy of the one and only Justice Kavuma.

Chapter 10: CANTANKEROUS GEN. KAHINDA OTAFIIRE

Proud of his bad looks and seismic snores, this acerbic-tongued General is a Ugandan politician and military officer, born on December 29, 1950, in Kashenshero, Mitooma District, in western Uganda.

He is among the few public figures whose academic backgrounds are misty though sources say he attended Bubangizi S.S. in Mitooma, later joined Kitabi Seminary from where he was expelled for failing to meet the disciplinary requirements of the school. Little is known about his high school life though he holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Science which he says he attained from Makerere University although it is still unclear when he joined the university. He also holds a Certificate in the French language.

Gen. Otafiire’s career started to take shape when he landed a job as a Youth Officer in the Foreign Affairs Ministry during the reign of Idi Amin Dada from 1975 up to 1976. He was promoted to Foreign Service Officer in the same Ministry in 1976 until 1980. It is said that Otafiire who was great friends with Idi Amin didn’t warm up to Obote II and soon fell out with the new government.

In 1981, he joined the National Resistance Army which was a guerilla organization formed by Mr. Museveni. In the bush war Otafiire served as the Chief Political Commissioner from 1981 until 1984. He served in the same role from 1984 and 1986 although the title had changed to National Political Commissioner. When the NRA captured power in 1986, Otafiire was appointed the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, an office he occupied up to 1988 when he was made the Presidential Assistant for Security up to 1992. Then he served as the Director General of the External Security Organization (ESO) up to the time of his election in 1994 as the Ruhinda County delegate to the Constituent Assembly, a body that drafted Uganda’s Constitution which has unfortunately been disrespected and abused by Mr. Museveni.

During that time still, Otafiire served as Minister of State for Security and was later appointed the Minister of State for Local Government, a position he held up to 2001. When the time came for the General Elections in 1996, Otafiire was elected as a Member of Parliament representing Ruhinda County in then greater Bushenyi District.

Otafiire also served as the Political Head of the Uganda Military Expedition into the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001 where he is believed to have exploited Congo’s minerals and amassed a lot of wicked wealth.

He was appointed Minister of State for Regional Cooperation, a position he held until 2003 when he was appointed Minister of Land, Water and Environment. He dirtied his hands through the fraudulent sell of public land, for example Kampala’s only green belt located at Golf Course was partitioned and developed by unknown people into the present day Garden City. Also the environment was encroached on through massive occupation of wetlands by government agents. By the time he was dropped from this ministry in 2006, global warming was already affecting the country and Ugandans are still feeling the pinch.

Instead of being dropped altogether, Otafiire was appointed the Minister of Local Government prior to becoming the Minister of Trade and Industry in February 2009, a capacity he served in up to when he was appointed in the lucrative Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in 2011 and has continued in that ministry despite his lack of knowhow in constitutional matters.

He served as the Member of Parliament for his home county of Ruhinda from 1996 until 2016 when he was unanimously voted out by the disgusted people of Mitooma. They were fed up of his arrogance and sense of entitlement; most of all they were tired of mediocrity.

Throughout his military and political career, Gen. Otafiire has projected a rough, arrogant, insensitive personality with an abusive tongue and ill-mannered character to the extent that he once pulled a pistol on a woman minister threatening to blast her brains out. He is very ribald and controversial not forgetting his cantankerous persona. His only consistency is in making a lot of noise, and most times unnecessary noise. You should get used to Otafiire as a man whose nature is to speak louder than he means.

His first name is Severino but apparently among the many things that can provoke the battle-hardened General is to call him by that name. It hurts him equally to suggest publishing his biography despite his voluminous political and military career.

The serial swindler

Gen. Otafiire was involved in the give-away of public land to a private developer in Jinja Municipal Council in 2011. He is said to have given land to Simpson Birungi of Movit products according to Emmanuel Orum, the former Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry while appearing before the Commission of Inquiry to Land Acquisition and Management. Otafiire mounted pressure on him to issue a letter of no objection for the sale of land located along Aldina Visram Road in Jinja Municipality although Mr. Orum had recommended that land’s title be cancelled on grounds that it was forged and duplicated. This illegal sale of land by Otafiire resulted into the demolition of a building which was being occupied by a number of local business people that earned their livelihood from this. They were dismissed and their life put at stake as the minister enjoyed his life after being corrupted by the alleged investor.

In the same year, Gen. Otafiire is said to have embezzled huge sums of money from the Protected Areas Management and Sustainable Use (PAMSU) to the tune of 39 million dollars of which 29 million dollars was a loan from the World Bank that was meant to be paid back with interest by the Uganda government, and the rest being a grant. This money was intended to build Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) headquarters, set up infrastructure in the ten national parks and twelve wildlife reserves, build staff quarters in all the parks, demarcate all the parks and reserves, procure equipment for road maintenance in national game parks, buy vehicles and radio equipment and plant trees around Mt. Rwenzori and Mt. Elgon National Parks among other things. But Gen. Kahinda used his ministerial and military clout to divert all that money and use it in his personal political activities including the 2011 General Election in which he was standing as the Member of Parliament for Ruhinda County in Mitooma District and even used some of it to mobilize support for his unsuccessful struggle for NRM Secretary General which he lost to Hon. Amama Mbabazi.

This is the very General who later publicly said that he had never heard of something called PAMSU yet he was the one responsible for the entire ministry and all the reports from UWA were periodically submitted to him! One wonders whether his eyes got blind every time they came nearer to the word PAMSU! Secondly, quite often, a number of complaints were brought to his attention about the shoddy and inadequate work that was being done in the National parks but he never took the responsibility as the head to address such issues in the ministry. This showed his incapability and poor supervisory and monitoring skills as a minister hence did not really qualify to be part of that sector of government.

However, this was not the first time he misused public funds. In 2007, Otafiire abused his office as Minister of Local Government when he fraudulently allocated the Nakawa-Naguru Estate Redevelopment Project to Opec Prime Properties Ltd. To date this land is occupied by snakes and wild animals as the “tenants”. He was also in 1990s dragged to a parliamentary probe committee for having stolen copper rivets worth billions of shillings from an Asian businessman. That is the Kahinda!

On May 17, 2012, Gen. Otafiire failed to show up in court to explain why he failed to honor a land lease deal with the petroleum giant Shell (U) Ltd which amounted to breach of contract by the minister. He was expected to show up before the commercial court for mediation and see whether the matter could be solved through an–out-of -court settlement but he and his legal team did not appear; something that was embarrassing for the minister in charge of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to defy the court requirements.

Gen. Otafiire through Benzina (U) Ltd negotiated a land lease deal with Shell (U) Ltd but later failed to honor it and refused to deliver land to the company which resulted in a big loss of business by the petroleum company. When the matter was taken to a mediator, a one Shane Micheal, in request for refund, only lawyers of the complaining shell company appeared and Gen. Otafiire’s phones were off and did not care whether the mediation took place or not.

Putting people on gunpoint

In May 2008, Gen. Otafiire while serving as the Minister of Water, Lands and Environment crashed his car and drew a gun at a journalist who came to the accident scene in the night hours. This incident occurred on Kinawataka Road, off the Old Portbell Road. The journalist who fell victim of Otafiire’s inhuman behavior was Mr. Mike Odongkara from the Daily Monitor; he was subjected to a gunpoint by Otafiire and manhandled by policemen on the orders of the minister. The victimized journalist was travelling home in Kireka when he met the minister’s official car having skidded off the road as he drove towards Kinawataka near Bugolobi. The journalist introduced himself to the policemen and started taking the photographs as is mandated but to his dismay, Gen Otafiire sprung from the dark corner near his crashed car while pointing a black pistol at him and shouting, “Let me finish this stupid journalist.’’ He even ordered the policemen to confiscate the journalist’s camera and referred to him as a nuisance. That is the character of Otafiire that Mr. Museveni brags about.

Moreover, this is not the very first time Gen. Otafiire draws a gun at an unarmed person. In the late 90’s Otafiire resigned after pulling a gun and pointing it at Mrs. Jennifer Kuteesa (RIP) the late wife of Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kuteesa during an argument at the Uganda Club when Jennifer Kuteesa told him that he could not shoot below his belt. Therefore before the journalist was victimized, many people had been victimized by the same bush war man.

Gen. Otafiire is also another fellow who usually wants the public to give him utmost respect and wants to be always treated in a manner so above others.

In 2014, Otafiire was shopping at Joy Supermarket in Mbuya, near his residence, and after shopping he pushed his trolley to the register to pay. The whole shopping generally cost the minister 160,000 Uganda shillings. He pulled out 50,000 shilling note and then pulled out a small bag full of coins and started counting them one by one. He spent over 30 minutes while people were waiting in line, losing patience, and outside his car remained packed in the road, causing jam that one would think the road had been closed.

Looting minerals in DRC

Gen. Otafiire was involved in the 2000 war and related administrative confusion in DRC that brought and resulted into the unhindered exploitation of local resources by Ugandan officers that were disguising as peace maintainers in the area. According to the investigations undertaken by the Human Rights Watch in December 2000, about an area which was under the control of Uganda, it was said that there was extensive exploitation of the Congolese wealth for the benefit of some highly placed Ugandan military officers who were outside actors.

Gen. Otafiire who was then a Presidential Advisor on Congo matters, took advantage of being among the senior elite network to create his wealth at the expense of the Republic of Congo. Otafiire and his friends like Caleb Akandwanaho, the late James Kazini and Gen. Kale Kayihura effectively plundered diamonds, coltan, timber and gold in eastern Congo and set up lucrative business enterprises in the neighboring country and refused to pay taxes, as is revealed in the 2003 final report of the United Nations Panel of Experts on illegal exploitation of Natural Resources and other forms of wealth of DRC. They say members of the UPDF used their control over the DRC K/ML rebel administration to seek tax exonerations for imports of high value commodities and the worst of it all was the granting of tax exonerations to Otafiire between late 2001 and early 2002. This did not only benefit Otafiire financially but also forced local competitors out of markets in Bunia and Beni, leaving the petrol trade largely under the control of Otafiire and his allies.

One may ask how Otafiire got involved in the first place. It all started when a high level Uganda military ministerial delegation consisting of Ruhakana Rugunda and Kahinda Otafiire among others was appointed to promote reconciliation and oversee the containment of the crisis in the DRC, and observe the airlift of the defectors. That is how Otafiire came to find himself in the lucrative position in Congo, and factoring in his unclean background, one should not wonder how he got engaged in the dirty plays of robbery and stealing. In fact, a number of Congolese were killed during this period; almost 760 members of the civilian society were registered dead in 2000 in the battle to control Kisangani and this increased critical international scrutiny on the conduct of Ugandan troops which were under the leadership of, among others, Gen. Otafiire.

There was increased rape and defilement and wide spread of HIV/AIDs that also claimed unknown numbers of the society. The UPDF backed the wealthy Hema tycoons and Hema militias against the majority Lendu ethnic group all in the guise of attracting support from their fellow elites to exploit the resources. Indeed Otafiire and his comrades converted their attention to looting of resources and failed their core responsibility of keeping law and order. It is said that Otafiire’s wealth eventually multiplied after the war in Congo due to the looting that he participated in.

Defying tax laws

In 2007, a large consignment of sugar worth 850 million Ugandan shillings belonging to Gen. Otafiire was impounded in Mombasa over tax evasion. It was impounded at Mombasa Sea Port several months before the authorities realized its destination papers had been falsified to avoid paying taxes. It is said that if the deal had gone through successfully, the owner (Kahinda Otafiire) would have evaded the 100 percent duty paid for imported sugar and the imported duty due to Uganda Revenue Authority. The sugar would have been taken to have originated from Kenya and that would be a very big loss to both Kenya and Uganda just because of one ill-mannered General named Otafiire. No wonder he was nominated as one of the most corrupt Ugandans in 2012 and was awarded the spot of number 7.

In the 1990s, Obote put it more succinctly to Andrew Mwenda that Otafiire was one of the members of the National Resistance Army rebels who used to wear UPC colors in Luwero and then went into villages and killed people in order to make people think that those were actions of the Uganda People’s Congress government. Moreover Otafiire had the nerve to brag about those bloody tricks that won them the support of the unsuspecting natives of Luwero. What a sneaky snake; what a dangerous man Otafiire was and is!

Otafiire’s political fights

There was a time Otafiire used to be a kingmaker of sorts in Greater Bushenyi back before it was subdivided into several districts. The people respected him for being a high-ranked officer in the army. They admired his army uniform and kept sending him to parliament to represent them. Even when at the campaign trail he took them for granted and disrespected them with his I-don’t-care attitude and an arrogance if people didn’t vote him he would still rig and go to parliament, they didn’t mind; they accepted him as their own, his flaws and idiosyncrasies notwithstanding.

But there’s a time for everything; a time to rise and a time to fall. The Bible says pride comes before a fall. And so it happened with Otafiire as he continued fighting unnecessary wars as if he was still living in the bush. He engaged in all sorts of political fights as if he was high on crack.

In 2010, when Greater Bushenyi was to be divided into other districts of Buhweju, Mitooma, Sheema, Bushenyi and Rubirizi, Otafiire energetically advocated for an idea that Mitooma should not be made an independent district. The then people’s most wanted Benon Karyeijja, who was once the NRM Vice Chairman of Bushenyi District, was advocating for the creation of Mitooma District as the people requested contrary to the desires of Otafiire who had his personal ambitions. This made the two political giants collide. In essence Otafiire with his military pedigree, political clout and financial muscle was a Goliath while Karyeija who is not financially well-off and has not played politics on a national scale like his opponent was more like little David. But he was more loved by the people. Would he use people’s love for him as the stone in his political sling with which he would knock down Otafiire like David knocked down Goliath in the valley of Ellah?

The answer is a resounding yes. Mitooma was subsequently given a district and Karyeija was overwhelmingly voted the first Chairman of the new district, while Kahinda who fraudulently won the seat of the Member of Parliament was not happy with the election of Karyeija into power. He started going against him together with the Councilor LCV for Bitereko Sub-county Mr. Muhwezi Bamusiime who was doubling as the Finance Secretary of the district. Otafiire also hated the NRM Chairperson Tito Nsigireho for having been in support of Benon Karyeijja and Mr. Tumukurate Silver the then District Speaker. Otafiire started plotting for the removal of these gentlemen.

In the first elections of 2016 which were for the NRM District Chairpersons, Gen. Otafiire endorsed his former Political Assistant Mr. Wilberforce Byaboneka to contest against Tito Nsigireho. On the very day of the elections which took place at Mitooma Headquarters, Gen. Otafiire appeared in person, gathered councilors, took them to Peak Hotel and bribed them to vote in favor of Mr. Byaboneka subsequently leading to the defeat of Tito Nsigireho. To add pepper to the wound, Kahinda summoned Mr. Nsigireho to his home shortly after the elections and ordered his bodyguards to whip him and chase him like a thief. Gen. Otafiire thought he had now achieved one target and waited for the next elections to humiliate his other opponent but he didn’t know what was in store for him!

For the parliamentary seat of Ruhinda from where Otafiire hails, people were tired of the arrogant army General and were ready to do anything to teach him a lesson he would remember the rest of his life. In came a retired army officer named Captain Donozio Kahonda. This is the man the voters chose as their redeemer from Otafiire. Kahonda hails from Katenga and Kahinda greatly feared his coming to the extent that when Ruhinda County was going to be partitioned into two constituencies, Otafiire struggled not to share a constituency with Donozio Kahonda but in vain. On the day the councilors were planning on how to partition the county, Otafiire hired goons to carry bees to the District Hall and unleash them on the councillors and foil the entire process but even this heartless plot failed. Thus Otafiire stayed in the same constituency with his great threat Kahonda and the people of Mitooma waited in ecstasy and exhilaration to show their disgust for Otafiire in the elections. Their grievances over his arrogance and incompetence had gone on for years unaddressed and now it was their chance to exert their revenge and show the powerful General that indeed nothing can stop people power!

On the day of the election (party primaries), people turned up in massive numbers to exercise their civic right of voting and showed Otafiire that although he had fooled some people sometimes he could not fool all the people all the time. They all voted for Donozio Kahonda, and seeing that his political days were numbered, Gen. Otafiire stormed the tally centre in company of security personnel and ordered everybody out while alleging that his votes had been rigged. Of course his gun-force and intimidation were utterly defeated by a united people who were ready to lay their lives down to protect Kahonda’s votes.

Having been utterly defeated in the NRM primaries, Gen. Otafiire defied the party and decided to contest in the main election as an independent anyway. This time he was so determined to ensure that Capt. Kahonda was out of the race that he masterminded Kahonda’s arrest and detention on allegations of forging academic transcripts. This won the poor Captain more sympathy and empathy and increased the people’s enthusiasm to go and vote for a prisoner on February 18, 2016. In this election, Gen. Otafiire was given a humiliating defeat akin to that the Biblical David handed out to a giant heathen named Goliath in the Valley of Elah. This marked the end of Gen. Otafiire’s 20 years as a legislator and I don’t think it is possible that he will ever win a political seat again through an election.

Since the elections, Otafiire has kept disturbing the peace of the people of Mitooma by influencing the continued charges against the beloved MP Kahonda as well as influenced the removal of Chairman Benson Karyeijja from his office on false allegations of misuse of District funds, yet it is a secret deal to disturb the leadership of his rivals. The people of Mitooma District know the real truth and are upset but view Otafiire’s plots as simply the kicks of a dying horse.

Gen. Otafiire’s role in the desecration of the Constitution

Gen. Otafiire was the one on the frontline in the struggle for the removal of the age limit in our Constitution and the amendment of Article 26 of the Constitution that will allow the government to forcefully acquire people’s land. He is now busy raping our grand norm in order to obtain support from the president so that he can retain him in a political office because that is the only job he can do since no one can risk employing him in his private company or organization because of his rotten character. What he can only do is a political job under the government of his fellow bush war comrade Mr. Museveni.

Otafiire and his cronies submitted a no brainer arguments in the line of the proposed amendment of Article 26 which in his lack of wisdom thinks hinders the implementation of government projects notwithstanding the fact that land is a gift from God and therefore people have the right to own it without deprivation from the government. He has been so active in pushing for amending it perhaps to show the president that he is working hard for him so that the president can retain him in cabinet. Mr. Museveni likes working with such dirty men like Otafiire because he is assured of their loyalty and knows they cannot raise their voices against him. That is why the president hangs small thieves and elects the great ones into public offices.

Gen. Otafiire, in his speech at a certain burial and in his submissions in parliament, put it to the whole nation that Article 102(b) is not one of the commandments of God and for that matter must be amended by any means possible. This is the very Article in which all hopes of Ugandans were pinned; that would save them from the oppressive and despotic rule of president Museveni. The two men hate to see Ugandans exercising their constitutional and civic duties of defending and upholding the constitution against any rape. A case in point is when Otafiire attacked Hon. Alex Ruhunda and Sylvia Rwabwogo who were all against the amendment as he was addressing the NRM leaders in Fort Portal in early November 2017.

This is the same Otafiire, who when the Igara East Member of Parliament Andrew Martial announced his opinion on the Amendment, liaised with Micheal Mawanda, Hon. Rukutana with the usual suspect Justice Kavuma to deliver the judgment for the election petition case that Mawanda had filed against Martial and make sure Martial is ejected from Parliament. In fact Kavuma was not part of the Justices that heard the case but due to the influence of Otafiire and his character of love for money, he is the one that wrote the controversial judgment nullifying the election on October 3, 2017 on the basis of what never even happened in the election process. And surprisingly enough, on October 14, 2017, Gen. Otafiire joined Micheal Mawanda in the celebrations for the decision of court where he appeared as the chief guest. How can a minister of justice who supervises works of the courts of law be a chief celebrant of the decision that came from his area of jurisdiction? Isn’t that clear that he influenced the outcome of court? Where is justice in him?

This is same the Ugandan who October 31, while appearing before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to justify why the age limit Article should be removed from the Constitution, appeared with a document that lacked authenticity as he had not signed it. In real sense it showed that his document suffered from lack of ownership and therefore anonymous primafacie hence being so insufficient since anyone can type such a document.

Gen. Otafiire who has spent over thirty years in parliament and does not have any record of sitting in the Legal Committee except as a witness, did not comply to the orders and requests compelling him to take an oath and own the document. Instead he started engaging in verbal exchanges in an arrogant and disrespectful manner, ironical of a Minister of Justice whose ministry was in possession of the jurisdiction in which the matter in contention fell.

However Otafiire was in his true element as he has a history of conducting himself arrogantly and violently when he is appearing before the committees of parliament or any other commissions of inquiry. In fact one time he wanted to slap Hon. Ben Wacha and the situation was calmed down by the late James Wapakhabulo who was the Speaker that time when he intervened in protection of the naive Honourable Ben from the attack of this remorseless Otafiire. So generally Otafiire has a violent history and his manners are not societal; he deserves to be in a gazzetted area where he can only concentrate on himself but not on public issues or matters of national construction and importance that always get him riled.

Chapter 11: BART KATUREEBE: CUSTODIAN OF A ROTTEN JUDICIARY

He was born in Rubirizi District, formerly Bushenyi District in western Uganda, to Yowana Magunda and Virginia Ngoni of Rugazi village Bunyaruguru County. He is married with six children.

Bart Magunda Katureebe attended Rugazi Primary School in 1957 until 1962, and then went to St. Joseph Junior School Mbarara for his Junior One and Junior Two. He joined Kitunga High School for O’ Level from 1965-68, and then Namilyango College up to 1970. He then entered Makerere University where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree and went to Law Development Centre where he acquired a post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.

After completing his legal studies in 1974, Katureebe worked as a State Attorney in the Ministry of Justice.

In 1983, he went into private practice until 1988 when he was appointed Deputy Minister in Charge of Regional Cooperation.

From 1991 to 1992, he also served as a Minister of Industry and Technology before he was appointed Minister of State for Health and a member of the National Resistance Council (NRC).

In 1994, Katureebe was elected to the Constituent Assembly (C.A) representing Bunyaruguru County up to 1995.

From 1996 to 2001, Katureebe served as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Attorney General at the same time.

Hon. Abdu Kantuntu the shadow Attorney General describes Katureebe as “the last Attorney General to represent government in court.”

Katureebe represented Uganda at the International Court of Justice Hague where D.R. Congo had accused Uganda of plundering her resources, among other complaints, and Uganda lost this case.

He also appeared in the Supreme Court on behalf of the government to challenge Gen. David Tinyefuza’s victory in the Constitutional Court after the lower court had ruled that it was against Tunyefuza’s rights to be allowed to retire from UPDF.

Uganda is expected to lose $10 million shillings as a result of the actions of the selfish individuals who ostensibly went on the mission of peacekeeping but ended up stealing gold and timber and destroying other resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2001, Bart Katureebe controversially resigned from the office Attorney General. And in an interview with a certain media house, Katureebe said; “Having found myself in politics, it put me in the limelight, but it also gave me the opportunity to serve my country.”

After leaving government in 2001, Katureebe together with others started a law firm called Kampala Associated Advocates, a very prominent firm in the country.

At some point, he was appointed Chairman Board of Directors of the government publication, The New Vision. He also served as a Director at Standard Chartered Bank and National Insurance Corporation and as a Justice to the Supreme Court in 2005.

Katureebe’s disrespect of Parliament

In 2006, Katureebe argued with other members of the Supreme Court quorum that upheld the outcome of the year’s presidential election; an election that had been widely rigged across Uganda, and was characterized by direct voter bribery and intimidation.

In an article published on April 22, 2015, following the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Chief Justice Bart Katureebe during a meeting with the Parliamentary Commission on Legal and State Enterprises which visited him at his offices at the High Court Kampala Building, said the speed at which the Judiciary was developing had been brought to a sudden halt by this law.

“Following the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law,” he is quoted to have said, “many of those funders have given up.” Apparently, with the help of the funders, the Judiciary had managed to construct 53 new court buildings in 52 districts but after the Law, the funders pulled out.

The Anti-homosexuality Bill has since been quashed by the Constitutional Court after it found out that the Bill was passed into law without the required quorum of Parliament.

Therefore, with such a statement from a Chief Justice towards a Bill that was enacted with the support of the people of Uganda and for the purposes of regulating public morals, it is clear that even if it had been passed with the right quorum of Parliament, Katureebe would still have used his position to suppress its applicability in court all in the name of maintaining foreign aid.

The same Committee that visited him led by Kajara County M.P Hon. Steven Tashobya, had come to be updated about certain key priority areas the Judiciary needed to have factored in the National Budget, and to ascertain the challenges the institution was facing. Katureebe cited a few provisions of the Constitution to them and concluded that, “So, when we are sitting, we do not expect you to tell us what to do,” which impliedly expressly that he wants to run the Judiciary as he likes and therefore any views from the public are not of any value so were the views of Hon. Tashobya’s Committee! Therefore, while Parliament is mandated to direct the Executive and the Judiciary as provided for under the doctrine of checks and balances, Katureebe undermines the same yet it is core principle in the doctrine of separation of powers.

The rot in the Judiciary

As it is, Bart Katureebe presides over a Judiciary that is weak, incompetent, corrupt and unreliable. The general public has completely lost confidence in this Judiciary and on many cases and instances; Katureebe has watched and done nothing about reviving the dying Judiciary while a number of cases of corrupt judicial officers continue to dominate newspaper headlines.

On Wednesday, November 6, 2013, it was discovered that 15 vehicles that were meant for new judges and millions of shillings meant for training judicial officers had not been accounted for. This prompted Hon. Eddie Kwizera, the Public Accounts Committee Lead Counsel to say that, “People in Luzira prison need justice. We want accountability for the money you received for the pending court cases and the recruitment of the judges.”

It was also revealed that out of 1,622 positions established for the entity, only 1,390 had been filled, leaving a balance of 132 positions vacant. In addition, out of 76 positions for judges, only 58 were filled with 18 positions remaining unfilled.

Also, investigations into day-to-day operations of the Judiciary by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in 2013 revealed widespread corruption and havoc. These acts of impurity in the face of a corrupt temple have delayed the delivery of justice, created case backlog and led to loss of billions of shillings to be paid by the tax payer.

Case files still go missing due to a poor archiving system and corrupt judicial officers who are bribed to dissolve them.

While lots of billions are lost dubiously within Katureebe’s Judiciary, most courts upcountry are not inspected due to alleged lack of transport.

The Judiciary under Katureebe is also notorious for shoddy work in almost everything it does. In one particular case of fraud, an audit into the abuse of donor funds meant for construction of 33 magistrate courts unveiled how judicial officials spent millions of shillings on shoddy work and in some districts they supplied nothing but air. For instance, in Kabale, instead of digging 15-feet toilets the officials dug five-feet leaving the hollow pipes hanging in space and not attached to timber which may not be able to hold the weight of the building.

In an investigation by the Auditor General it was found out that in Paidha, rooms in a newly constructed magistrates’ residence were too tiny that even a rat could not fit!

Judicial officers also failed to account for 63 billion shillings.

With all this rot in the Judiciary, Katureebe has kept quiet about these matters except when he comes out in the media and begins pouring out how he is tired and wants to leave. To leave nothing but a rotten, inefficient and corrupt Judicial system! There are competent officers whose grievances have not been addressed regardless of their outcry for the increase of their salaries.

Further, the Chief Justice is supposed to be the fountain justice taking into regard the position that h holds as head of the Judiciary. However, Bart Katureebe has abused the administration of Justice in Uganda even in cases where he has been on the Panel of Justices. Clear examples are the 2006 presidential election petition, the 2011 presidential election petition and the most recent election petition of 2016.

Chapter 12: OPPOSITION’S POLITICS OF MALICE AND BLACKMAIL

Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was formed after a merger of Reform Agenda, Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) and the National Democratic Forum of Mr. Chapa Karuhanga on July 23, 2004 in a Delegates’ Conference that saw 350 members resolve to form one “strong” force against a then eighteen-year-old dictator Yoweri Museveni.

The key members of this noble move were Dr. Kizza Besigye Mr. Museveni’s former Chief Political Commissar and a 2001 Reform Agenda Presidential candidate, Hon. Augustine Ruzindana PAFO Chairman and also Museveni’s former Inspector General of Government, Mr. Chris Kibuuka (Reform Agenda External Coordinator), Hon. Reagan Okumu (Reform Agenda first Vice-Chairman) and James Garuga (Reform Agenda Secretary for Economic Affairs).

Meanwhile Mr. Atanas Rutaro, Ms. Joyce Ssebugwawo, Hon. Wandera Ogallo, Mr. Wagoda Muguli, Mr. David Pulkol and Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu had had a long week meeting at Ridar Hotel in Mukono to discuss the same—Uganda’s political future. On the face of it Reform Agenda had tested it through the rough presidential campaigns of 2001 and therefore saw itself as a pressure group with experience and resilience over Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO); a group that was referred to as elitists and white-color politicians who were simply massaging the dictator. On the other hand too; PAFO members saw Reform Agenda as Radicals who were simply being led and guided by anger and quick fixers without a long-term agenda but rather focused onto removing Mr. Museveni and the rest would follow.

This friction has since then grown into a big rift as seen in all subsequent FDC internal elections and politics; somehow a reason why FDC may take long to take power unless it irons out its internal conflicts.

In late 2012 Dr. Besigye shocked the world when he chose to resign from the FDC leadership. This brave move was one of its kind and uncommon in African politics, therefore made Besigye the most Democratic figure in Ugandan politics at the time. According to the Observer of January 4, 2012, Dr. Besigye’s reason for resignation was to give his successor an opportunity to build enough clout.

According to Mr. Sadam Gayira’s interview with The Observer, Dr. Besigye’s resignation symbolized a leader who believed in constitutionalism and rule of law but a leader who also gives others a chance to lead under whatever circumstances. Has this been realized? It’s both a yes and a no.

As a result of these two conflicting theories of Reformists and PAFO members Dr. Besigye’s reason for his resignation (Giving his successor a chance to build clout) couldn’t see light. Gen. Mugisha Muntu and Hon. Nandala Mafabi would go through a very tough presidential campaign that aimed at electing the successor of Dr. Besigye.

Dr. Besigye’s verses Hon Amanya Mushega

After very heated and controversial campaigns full of malice and blackmail as it has always been, Gen. Mugisha Muntu emerged a victor with a small margin of less than 50 votes. To democracy seeking Ugandans FDC had shown a robust sense of political maturity by getting itself a new democratically elected party president to replace its founder president. A dream that was however never realized.

First of all the FDC leadership did not specify on how long its new party president would serve. Some people argued that Mr. Mugisha Muntu’s term was five years as is in the party constitution on the Presidential tenure while others argued that the next president was to complete Dr. Besigye’s term. This was the first controversy in Muntu’s leadership. Since then things were no longer at ease. To Hon. Mafabi’s supporters whose roots are of Reform agenda; Muntu had rigged both the elections and his term of office despite having set up an impartial Electoral Commission that cleared the air on Muntu’s tenure as FDC President.

For purposes of party harmony and institutional building, Muntu replaced Hon. Nandala Mafabi with his [Mafabi] right hand man a one Hon. Phillip Wafula Ogutu as Leader of Opposition. This move shocked many as people thought that Muntu would appoint one of his diehards like Hon. Alice Alaso or Hon. Abdu Katuntu for this noble office. Meanwhile pressure continued to mount on Mugisha Muntu as a non-performer. For reasons unknown to many, Dr. Besigye had an operational office at Katonga Road and to Muntu supporters he had started parallel structures that would see the birth of the commonly known Power Ten (P10) that many saw as Besigye’s outfit to encounter and undermine Muntu’s leadership and later plan for Dr. Besigye’s controversial return years later.

This heated friction saw a political veteran get this silent war from the bedroom to the public court/media through different media exchanges as seen in Hon. Amanya Mushega’s open letter to Dr. Kizza Besigye. Dated Monday August 31, 2015, the letter is here below reproduced.

Dear Col. (rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye,

In your interview with one of the local English papers, you insinuated that in my earlier interview with the same paper, I was trying to speak on behalf of President Mugisha Muntu, yet I am not his spokesperson, and that Muntu is competent to speak for himself.

I’m writing this letter to you directly to let you know that I gave my views in my personal capacity. I hold no position in FDC but I have views based on experience in leadership on a fairly long period of reading, observing and in some cases practices.

You stated that in 1999, you approached some of us to leave the Movement and when we failed; you decided to start the work of ‘heavy lifting’ to remove the dictatorship and that you left the Movement for that purpose.

For how long will this ‘heavy lifting’ be a personal obligation and mission? The fact is that you did not leave the Movement; you just run for the Office of the President under the Movement system. There were some members who moved a motion that Mr. President be declared a sole candidate in 2000. Some of those movers are now victims of that thinking, some of us openly opposed this move and argued that you were free to stand.

We even advised against the efforts to have you arrested and victimised. You are ‘entasiima’.

By the way, to refresh your memory, just 10 years earlier in 1989, you led a team to draft a resolution for a constitutional amendment to extend NRM rule and hence the leadership of President Museveni for an extra five years which was passed.

Then you were the most trusted confidant of the NRM leadership. Only a sole voice, Omulongo Waswa Ziritwawula opposed this move and resigned his seat in Parliament in protest. If you had joined him to fight the nascent ‘dictatorship’, perhaps the course of history of this country would have been different.

We may recall that when the Constitution was being amended to remove term limits, there were many clear voices in and outside Parliament who opposed it and some paid and are still paying a price. Not everyone succumbed to money offers. This was before FDC was formed. And FDC was not founded by a single individual or group. It was a culmination of efforts by several groups and tendencies, to forge a common home for a common effort and purpose.

You may recall my long discussion with you in South Africa in 2004. Many others did visit you. Learn to appreciate that there were other strugglers before you then and there are many others now.

The issues that concern you that I raised in that interview and which I still hold were;

1. You had turned on your word as recorded live on NTV and many other forms of media.

2. That you had not supported your successor Gen. Mugisha Muntu

3. That you had set up parallel structures and centres of power.

I can now add that you don’t easily tolerate different points of view and you don’t genuinely welcome and accommodate those who hold a different point of view. Case in point, during the Namboole Delegates Conference in 2010 that elected you for the second term as president, Hon. Wandera Martin was publically announced that he had been appointed unopposed as Secretary for Labour.

Later on at the first NEC meeting at party headquarters, a meeting you chaired, it was raised that actually there were other people who had been nominated but papers not presented. To cut the long story short, Wandera was dropped and replaced by another person. The real reason, he had supported Muntu. Wandera is alive.

My brother Besigye, you are free to change your mind and you are entitled to run again, but if you do so, say so and why, rather than attacking people who raise that issue as you did in the interview referred to above. You actually state in the same interview that you stood because of the trust voters have in you that is not transferable to another candidate of the same party.

You also pointed that there was a deficit in that trust in your absence and that there was insufficient resolve by leaders in your absence to fight for reforms. Did you really think through this? If you did and it’s true, then your style and content of leadership raises concern. Please learn to respect and appreciate the contribution of others however small or insufficient from your point of view.

If it’s personal to you as if new voters have not come on board and some in the old voters register passed on, then this is in itself failed leadership. When you stepped down, I told some leaders at that time that you had stepped down tacticfully in order to come back with a bang as flag bearer. So your coming back was not a surprise to me, what surprised was the spurious reasons you advanced.

You started a parallel sect dubbed ‘activists’ from the top to the districts level. I will not delve into its activities. My view is that a leader’s role is to reconcile and harmonise different points of view in order to advance a common goal and purpose. Styles of struggle will always be there in any organised society. We should also learn to tolerate different points of view and respond to them without insinuations.

Finally, let me make it clear to all concerned that whoever gets elected and in spite of the attacks and labels put against me by some of your ardent supporters and campaign handlers, we shall support the party and its leadership at all levels.

— Amanya Mushega

Whether or not all Mushega’s allegations are true, the fact is that there are some undisputable facts. For example much as it was Dr. Besigye’s right to stand in 2016, one wonders why vow never to stand again so long as Badru Kiggundu was still heading the Uganda Electoral Commission and more so under Mr. Museveni as President. His [Besigye] U-turn portrayed him as an inconsistent man just like his long-time political rival notwithstanding his personal sacrifice and contributions to this whole struggle.

Politics of defiance and posturing

This political dishonesty, blackmail and malice between two conflicting theories amongst Uganda’s giant opposition party would re-surface in 2017 FDC presidential campaign in which the biggest competition was between Hon. Patrick Oboi Amuriat (POA) and Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu.

Muntu had been accused of compliance yet the entire FDC campaigns were filled with defiance. Unless otherwise this defiance campaign was to deliver FDC into power by hook or by crook; take for instance FDC was not meant to name and appoint the opposition leadership in Parliament with a claim that it [FDC] had won the presidential elections. With FDC under his stewardship Muntu converged a National Executive Committee meeting to discuss the future of FDC in Parliament and post-election plans.

The most scorching issue during this NEC meeting was whether or not FDC would appoint the Leader of Opposition in parliament as required by law. Much as some elements voted against this appointment in the NEC, Mugisha Muntu had the biggest number of people that found no sense in defying this move. In any case all FDC members of Parliament hadn’t defied to be sworn as legislators in Museveni’s government therefore proposing that FDC defies the LOP appointment was not realistic but rather posturing; something that Mugisha Muntu abhors.

The vote for those in support was higher than for those against, therefore it was Muntu’s role to propose the name of the would-be Leader of Opposition to replace Hon. Wafula Ogutu who had not made it to parliament but also whose term had expired. Muntu appointed Hon. Winnie Kiiza, Woman MP Kasese District as Leader of Opposition subject to approval by the NEC members. The remaining task therefore was left to the Party Secretary General, Hon. Nandala Mafabi to make a formal Party communication to Parliament about the newly appointed Leader-of-Opposition.

In what seemed a planned move to portray Muntu as a controversial leader, Mafabi wrote a letter to the Speaker of Parliament informing her and the entire Parliament that FDC had appointed a Leader of the Minority in Parliament; a position Hon. Mafabi was well aware wasn’t provided for in our national Constitution. For this letter to be valid it required a constitutional amendment to provide for such an office/position. Indeed “misguided” defiance and posturing were at their peak.

Realizing that there was an invisible force behind Mafabi’s move, Muntu personally wrote to Parliament informing the Speaker of the newly appointed Leader of Opposition; a title and office that is provided for in the mother law of the land. Little did he know that his [Mugisha Muntu] move would broaden the gap between the “defiant” and the “compliant”. Appearing at a press conference thereafter Mugisha Muntu said that he was ready to pay the price for his decision. Indeed he paid the price in the November FDC Presidential elections.

An impeachment plot that ended in a fiasco

Boiling as they were [Defiants] embarked a plot to undermine Muntu’s leadership in broad day light. The first move was spearheaded by some young FDC and Defiant General like Nasur Din Basalirwa, Mayanja Robert, Mupendi, Mutibwa Fred and others whose names I can’t recall. This defiant group started on an impeachment process that saw them traverse some districts in an attempt to have impeachment documents signed; a move that later died a natural death.

On realizing that the impeachment process was as impossible as a camel passing through a needle’s eye, this team under the stewardship of an invisible financing hand concentrated on identifying a candidate that would fight the Big-Papa’s unfinished war. Sources say that Hon. Mafabi was their priority but he turned down the request. The next choice was Hon. Wafula Ogutu who also declined the prayer with an excuse that he was aged and therefore this noble calling deserved a slightly young and energetic leader. Sources add that he [Wafula Ogutu] offered to help in convincing Hon. Patrick Oboi Amuriat to stand: a job he did fruitfully.

A team of defiant strategists led by the Party’s Secretary for Mobilization Ms. Ingrid Turinawe and others would sit in Naguru to plan what later was seen as a dirty campaign which was full of malice, name calling and blackmail all in the name of looking for victory no matter what implications it would have on the party. On October 17, 2017 Ms. Turinawe shocked the world through her malicious and blackmailing Facebook post where she openly claimed that; “…the police of Uganda has decided to get involved and take sides in the FDC presidential campaigns. Police is currently protecting and helping candidate Mugisha Muntu to campaign while they continue to disrupt and block candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat…

…team Muntu has been given clearance by police to hold a rally in Mbarara on Thursday 19, but team POA who submitted to the same police with POA program to hold a rally in Mbarara on 21^st this week have been told that they have orders from above not to allow POA rally…”

As if this wasn’t enough, on November 14, 2017, Hon. Francis Mwijukye sued police and the Attorney General for blocking Patrick Amuriat from carrying out party presidential campaigns. Appearing on television talkshow, this “defiant” Mwijukye added: “…I wonder why the police is partisan, it blocks POA and helps candidate Muntu to campaign freely…”

With due respect, one wonders whether these leaders were considerate of the impact of their allegations both to the general public and the party. To many this was a conclusion that Mugisha Muntu is indeed a mole in FDC and therefore the earlier they dealt with him the better.

But when one asks about the achievements of the non-moles that have been in command of the party longer than Muntu, they automatically label you a mole too; a tactic they have mastered and indeed it worked. One wonders; for how long shall politics of malice, name calling and blackmail live.

In addition to all the blackmail, Dr. Besigye was on Hon. Amuriat’s rallies. In fact Dr. Besigye was at POA’s Rukungiri rally just a day after Ms. Ingrid Turinawe had blackmailed Muntu for working with police. Regardless of whatever reason Dr. Besigye gave, it was slightly hard for any person to believe that POA wasn’t his bootlicker. A reason so many people begun to question his [Besigye’s] impartiality as a founding president.

With all this sequence of events Mugisha Muntu and the team were left with no choice but to accept that he [Muntu] was practicing defensive politics and politics of acceptability. This was a real conflict between Mugisha Muntu “as-is” Vs Mugisha Muntu “as they wanted him to be”.

Most of the voters had been indoctrinated and brainwashed by this baseless blackmail and hate-campaign against Muntu. In any case seeing Dr. Besigye with POA was a clear command that POA was the most suitable. November 24, 2017 was the D-day. FDC Delegates filled Mandela National Stadium to capacity to vote for the new FDC president.

For the first time I saw Mugisha Muntu emotionally reacting over the name calling, malice and blackmail that had been unleashed on him. In his speech he said;

“…I have subordinated my own individual interest to a collective interest of our party. I don’t concentrate on promoting myself but I concentrate on promoting the party…I have heard my colleague Patrick who says that there are internal contradictions in the party that he wants to come in and manage them, but let me tell you, before you come and manage these internal conflicts you need to know the source of these conflicts…I am glad Dr. Kizza Besigye you are seated here, I am very glad. 2009 we competed with you, you won and I went behind you without even a question, I didn’t question I went behind you.

In 2015 incidentally I was already party president, we competed, you got the flag, Dr. Kizza Besigye I saw you were fearful you didn’t know what was going to happen. You remember what I said when I stood on the platform, I told you I am a democrat. I accepted people’s choice; I said I will swing behind Dr. Kizza Besigye. Did I do that or not? Don’t put feelings in politics.

In 2012 I defeated them and they stood on this platform and conceded defeat but within a week, I got a petition from the Chairman of the campaign, Mr. Rubaramira Ruranga saying that the election was rigged. We spent one and a half years trying to resolve that. I was already in the position, I would have resisted that but I didn’t do that. Then after that another team came and said my term was supposed to be three years, we resolved that.

Since 2012 we have not seen stability since people couldn’t accept a loss and unfortunately Patrick, the people who couldn’t accept a loss are the ones behind you. I want to know today for sure whether the people of FDC either trust me or not.

I don’t want to be a bother to you ladies and gentlemen…I am a military man; when you don’t have trust in your soldiers you can’t win that war. The Bible says whatever a man sows, so he shall reap.”

As evident with all the previous hate campaign and blackmail, the above honest speech was interpreted for an open insult to Dr. Besigye and therefore the other team’s strategists moved around inciting delegates that Muntu had attacked the People’s President as they call him! To political speculators, it is believed that regardless of the honesty of Mugisha Muntu’s speech, it might have impacted his [Muntu] performance as most of the ‘naïve’ delegates were indoctrinated by the said blackmail of Muntu’s attack to Dr. Beigye. The Party National Chairman Amb. Waswa Biligwa had earlier, in his opening remarks stated; “…FDC is a party of defiance, we won by defiance…and so we shall remain…” To many, such remarks seemed to have been subtly accusing Muntu of being compliant. Remember it’s no news that this entire campaign was between “Defiance” and “compliance”.

At around 5pm or so; voting had begun amidst all sorts of blackmail and hate campaign that saw Hon. Patrick Oboi Amuriat (POA) scoop 641(57.6%) against Mugisha Muntu’s 463(41.1%). In my opinion both teams had done their best: those that had mastered blackmail and malice in addition to defiance and the ones that used organization as a campaign slogan that would see the party move beyond self. Like any other competition the defiant team emerged victors. Thanks to the Defiance team for their “commendable” blackmail, malice and hate campaign.

In the wee hours of November 25th, Muntu was invited as an outgoing Party President to give his final remarks, and once again stated as follows;

“…to those who don’t trust me I sincerely apologise; it wasn’t my intentions to waste your time.

On my side, within a few weeks, there are decisions I am going to make…

“…we are heading into interesting and challenging times as we are going forward. For those who believe in my method and approach, please don’t panic and don’t be provoked. During the campaigns, it became clear there was considerable amount of distrust in me by some people within our party. Indeed it was this mistrust that characterized my tenure. At a personal level there are decisions that I have to make, I am an honest man and I’ve always been honest to myself. I would like to be honest to you as well…

I am a military man and I know firsthand just how important trust is in a fight. No matter how well trained or equipped you are, it’s impossible to fight and win at the frontline if those beside you and behind you are hesitant to be led by you. I want to operate in an environment where I feel I am trusted by those that I am working with…

It’s also clear that there are significant differences, some feel these differences are irreconcilable but we intend to pursue a consultative process to talk about these differences…”

What an emotional concession speech this was! In my observation however, this wasn’t driven by the fact that Mugisha Muntu had lost to Hon. Amuriat because it wasn’t the first time he [Muntu] had lost. These emotions were as a result of name-calling [mole], malice and blackmail by some party leaders. Therefore Muntu’s emotional speech was sparked by baseless malice and blackmail mixed with some misunderstanding of Muntu’s organizational skills and institutional building of a party beyond self against the long-term posturing and what many term as “unorganized defiance” whose fruits are known to its advocates.

With all this visible and evident conflict between two theories, no wonder FDC may need more time to take power if it ever does. What a shame that a party with all these former NRA/M experienced leaders ranking from Chief Political Commissar, former IGG, former Army Commander, former ministers among other high-profile people has taken this long to capture power and so far with no clear symbol of its closeness to power. No doubt it’s because of politics of eating, blackmail, and malice that we need to change if we are to get the desired change. Just to say; we need to change the politics of; “It’s either me or non”

Much as Saul Alinsky gives his theory on the law of change as; “Change means movement; movement means friction; friction means heat; heat means controversy; and therefore there is no change without the movement of action, no movement without the friction of competing interests, and no friction without the heat of controversy.” Despite the above theory I continue to wonder whether the above can’t be realized with a common purpose and objective than self-centred conflicts.

Chapter 13: THE UNTRIED THEORY

Having read most of the ancient theories on movement building that applied to equally ancient dictators I found out some gaps in the said theories and therefore “The Alternative” [Pressure Group] did not only come to provide solutions to the current political and leadership question but rather help to guide its generation to change some historical theories and beliefs about power, and movement building. For example these theories talk about unity as one of the most crucial elements in movement building and in all civil movements— armed struggles or non-violent movements. But much as unity is key, it’s important to consider the requisite ingredients of the said unity if indeed it is to bring about any positive change.

For example it’s imperative to consider the following;

a)Whether or not you have a common enemy

b)The allies to consider in the said unity

c)The purpose/common objective for this unity

d)The timing of this unity and,

e)The anticipated outcomes of the said unity.

If any movement leader answers the above questions; it becomes easy for them to know whether or not to engage in any alliance.

As an activist that has tried uniting with different people, I have seen the positive and negative fruits of the said unity: a reason I have come up with a different view on and about unity in any movement.



DISUNITY OF PURPOSE UN-PURPOSEFUL UNITY

Amputating a cancerous female breast is a better example of Disunity of Purpose. This amputation not only helps in getting rid of infecting the rest of the body but also helps the remaining body remain functional. But when one insists on the un-purposeful unity [maintaining the cancerous breast] chances are that the rest of the body will get infected as well, causing death. So is the Movement/Struggle.

An example can be drawn from Uganda’s struggles against dictator Idi Amin between 1972-1980. In an attempt to have this dictator dealt with, some movement organizers like Yoweri Museveni entered a Purposeful Unity with Milton Obote under Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and other forces at play. However, after the overthrow of Amin this unity was no longer relevant and therefore called for Disunity of Purpose that saw Mr Museveni break off from the newly formed government and waged a war against it despite his contribution to bring it in power.

Somehow Mr Museveni and his group had answered all the questions that I raised in the introduction of this chapter.

How Mr. Museveni answered the stated questions

a)Common enemy: Idi Amin was an enemy to both Milton Obote and Mr. Museveni’s group.

b)Allies to consider: Mr. Museveni and his group considered uniting with the Obote faction because they (UPC) had experience and also UPC was the most enraged group for having lost its power to Idi Amin.

c)Purpose: Both groups’ common purpose was to restore democracy and good governance.

d)Timing: 1972- was the most appropriate.

e)Anticipated outcome/results: To both groups the anticipated results were; Rule of law and good governance that would eventually help Uganda to attain Middle Income status.

It’s evident therefore that when all the above principles and purposes of unity are violated, then unity loses meaning but rather Disunity of purpose ought to substitute the obvious Un-purposeful unity.

Since time memorial our generation has not been natured to answer the above questions but rather duped to unite with less systematized movements despite its significance. As such our generation as wasted time and energy into movements that luck common purpose and hence failed struggles.

How to tell that you are in an un purposeful unity

Drawing intersection sets will help you answer the above question.

Using the above different sizes is intended to show that the oppressed population is always bigger followed by the ones attempting to build movements. As for the oppressors; they are always the least populace though they are advantaged with state security machinery that they use to arrest, torture and convict. They waste public taxes on keeping themselves in power through buying those that tend to oppose them.

In addition, it’s evident that dictatorial governments tend to have a lot in common with Movements/struggles that are against them. However, due to the Dictators’ tendencies of oppression and suppression these common factors have extended to some suffering citizens. But most importantly to note; is the citizens in an intersection among all the three.

Therefore it’s very strategic for any citizen to keenly study every movement, its objectives and leaders before joining. Some movements/struggles as well as their leaders may be more dictatorial than even the sitting dictator. That’s why I doubt whether Mr. Museveni has ever been democratic; but because the ones who were following him during the early days of the struggle chose to be part of his Un-Purposeful Unity as his dictatorship grew to an extent that some of his dictatorial tendencies are infectious and have infected some people in the struggle; a very big risk to our common cause.

Therefore it’s high time that movement organizers, political parties, activists and all democracy seeking Ugandans re-visited their prescription of work. Where need be substitute Un-Purposeful Unity with Disunity of Purpose.

Chapter 14: LESSONS FROM SERBIA’S OTPOR MOVEMENT

One of Serbia’s Otpor Movement leaders, Ivan Marovic who doubles as my friend and coach on Non-violent Resistance, told me how they [Serbs] had the same problem of the old politicians who had personalized the struggle for so long. While at Belgrade University in 1998 small discussions begun on how they as a generation should get rid of dictator Slobodan Milesevic but also the long time Opposition big wigs who had personalized the struggle at the expense of the majority suffering Serbs.

Under Srda Popovic as their leader, they instituted a formal leadership of young people who included among others Srda Popovic [Movement Leader], Slobodan Dinovic, Ivan Marovic, Nenad Konstantinovic, Ivan Andric, Dejan Randic, Jovan Ratkovic, Vlada Pavlov, Andreja Stamonkovic. This group’s biggest task was to find moderate ways through which they would push down Slobodan Milosevic that had led Serbia and Montenegro for eighteen years, and restore democracy in Serbia.

As is here [Uganda], the old opposition Turks took these students for granted, blackmailed them among other acts of malice. The old opposition Turks seemed worried of this new Third Force of young but determined people. To many they had turned Opposition into another form of employment, that’s why Milosevic was still Serbia’s leader.

While all these Belgrade University students continued with their internal organization; planning for the downfall of Milosevic’s dictatorship, there came a great opportunity when this dictator pulled backward the General elections that were scheduled for 2002 following his [Slobodan Milosevic’s] bad blood with his Parliament and therefore to resolve this conflict he chose to cut short his government tenure by two years hence calling for the General elections on September 24, 2000. What a great opportunity! Ivan Marovic added.

This great opportunity “eased” their move as they embarked on the forthcoming election as a means to have the Serbian Political question answered. Ivan Marovic added that their group resolved to meet all opposition political parties in order to forge a common strategy. To begin with was to look for Serbian’s leading opposition Party (Radical Political Party) and interest him in working with them but in vain as this party was possessed by pride and selfish motives.

These students chose to meet other “weaker” parties. They met a veteran politician and a senior constitutional lawyer namely; Vojislav Kostunica who at that time was leading Democratic Party which was a lukewarm opposition party. Their first meeting with Mr. Vojislav Kostunica was characterized by pride from this old politician among other acts of disrespect for this delegation of three Otpor leaders.

As determined as they were, they convinced this politician’s Personal Assistant to schedule a second meeting with Mr. Vojislav. According to Ivan Marovic this persistence was driven by the fact that this constitutional lawyer was the only opposition politician with no dirty political background; a reason they preferred him. After meeting him they pledged to do everything within their power to ensure that they promote and support him. In addition they [Otpor leaders] convinced seventeen other political parties into a coalition with Mr. Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party. This eased Otpor’s work to a certain extent. And indeed on October 5, 2000, Slobodan Milosevic was no more.

As a generation therefore we need to borrow a leaf from the Otpor movement; their organizational structure but most importantly avoid quick fixing and posturing. Otpor Movement took close to three years of organization to dislodge their enemy yet serious opposition in Uganda has taken close to twenty years!

CONCLUSION

In conclusion therefore, as Edward T. Chambers observed;

When the two-world Tension Is lost, or the War Over value, powerful forces constantly try to undermine the necessary creative tension between the two worlds. When they succeed, we lose our moral compass and are left to choose between two distorted ways to live, so-called realism on one side and so called idealism on the other. As a result two worlds may collapse into world-as-it-is only and therefore get self-serving individualism as a way of life. People will become consumers or self-actualizers who dismiss ethics or morality as pious non-sense of no relevance in the real world and operate on the amorality of selfishness and instant gratification where self-interest the prime moving force of human behavior, is distorted into the belief that self-regard and being self-serving are bottom-line winners.

As a player in the politics of our country and generation we need to change some historical theories that to a greater extent have confused us. I have come up with a new finding against the ancient thinking too. It’s not true that Unity has achieved change; what matters is the quality of unity, the characters one unites with and the purpose for which one party/group of people choose to unite with one another.

If this unity is achieved therefore I call it “Unity of Purpose” and where it fails I propose it be called “Disunity of Purpose” which means breaking off from all forces that seem unprogressive and creating a new force than sticking to “Un-Purposeful Unity” that may not yield anything positive. For example a human body with both functioning hands has a unity of purpose; the moment one of the hands gets infected with the cancer virus, the unity of the infected hand and the body turns into Un-Purposeful Unity and therefore doctors will propose an amputation; call it Disunity of Purpose, to separate the now useless hand in order for the rest of the body to remain functional and operational. If this isn’t done in time, the infected hand may cause the dis-functioning [death] of the whole system and therefore total collapse.

Mr. Museveni had a Unity of Purpose with Milton Obote to fight Idi Amin, later in 1980s Disunity of Purpose between Mr. Museveni and Dr. Obote was healthy and inevitable. This is what I call the New World Order, and Politics as It should be.

For God and my Country.