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Is his clock ticking? Regime enforce Gen. Kalekyezi, a.k.a Kayihura, with his boss dictator Museveni. Who will pull out the dagger first? File Photo
Will Uganda’s Donald Trump-loving dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni appoint a new police chief to break opponents’ knees?
From the trend of events it is probable that Gen. Museveni may soon drop Gen. Kale Kalekyezi a.k.a Kayihura as head of the police.
With Museveni’s blessing, the police force is so highly militarized and polarized along patronage and ethnic cliques that it is only an army General that can return some semblance of sanity. The likes of Okoth Ochola, Fred Yiga and others who are traditional professional police officers have the skills necessary for running a normal civil police force. However, what exists in Uganda is a military outfit groomed to terrorize, coerce and suppress the population into a state of fear and hence submission to Museveni’s military dictatorship.
For Police Inspector General, Gen. Kalekyezi, a.k.a Kayihura, at his personal level, he has put in place a force that owes its loyalty to him and his designs in the interest of his second master, the regime in Rwanda. Gen. Henry Tumukunde and company have to do a lot if they are to have some breathing space for their support for anti-Kagame dissidents.
Otherwise, Gen. Kalekyezi built such an effective intelligence gathering network through patronage that even if he was to leave office, it would take long to dismantle it. After eight years of politically-motivated prosecution before the Court Martial, Museveni pardoned, purported to have retired, and then appointed Gen. Tumukunde as Security Minister; so, he knows Tumukunde’s political appetite.
In fact, in terms of underground political mobilization and creation of personal political empires, Gen. Tumukunde could be worse than Gen. Kalekyezi. While Kalekyezi thrived on the Rwandese ticket –he is believed to be a Paul Kagame loyalist– Gen. Tumukunde has the First Lady Janet Museveni as his goddess mother.
From the foregoing it can be authoritatively argued that Gen. Kalekyezi’s replacement will be any of the former top military intelligence managers whose record of service and rise in rank is not owed to Gen. Tumukunde. So it’s easy to narrow the candidates:
1. Gen. Joseph Musanyufu is a senior military intelligence manager free of Gen. Tumukunde influence but an ethnic Mwiru, Catholic and former ADC to Gen. Mugisha Muntu now a retired leading opposition figure.
2. Gen. Charles Angina is an Iteso, highly partisan, minimal formal education and not Gen. Tumukunde-bred. As Division Intelligence Officer under the late Brig. Chefe Ali, Angina was falsely accused of plotting some mischief against Museveni. He is highly capable in the same way that Gen. Katumba Wamala was; except being a Born Again, he is too honest to serve Museveni’s political interests. When he poked his nose into high profile corruption scandals in the military, he was dropped and sent into a fake seed-distribution program under the bogus Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) that has seen poverty rise in Uganda.
3. Brig. Tumusiime Katsigazi is a very senior low profile and a down-to-earth ethnic Hima. He is a lawyer and had a short stint with military intelligence; his political inclination is not clear.
4. Gen. James Mugira is a Hima, son of Mzei Kagubare, former Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI), holder of a Masters in Law (LLM). His total lack of military training and field command exposure has undermined his rise to Army Chief. Though he can effectively counter Gen. Tumukunde’s influence, he highly partisan with a very poor human rights record.
There are other suitable candidates in the military. However dictator Museveni won’t look for competence in policing in the sense of ensuring the protection of life and property of the public. Uganda’s police chief is the enforcer of brutal dictatorship. The position of police chief is more politically sensitive than even that of the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF).
Earlier, some circles had suggested Gen. Leo Kyanda but I can authoritatively state that his appointment would confirm the view held by some people that Museveni is senile. If so, he can as well appoint the legislator, Col. Ibrahim Abiriga, widely seen as a clown.
The dictator could also appoint his son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who formerly commanded the Special Forces Group which includes the Presidential Guard.
Whatever the case, Ugandans have no stake in whatever changes that may take place. The institution of national security is so irreparably broken down that citizens should only expect the worst.
What is taking place in those so called “crackdown on criminals within the police” is just a realignment of the regime’s interest and not national security. There is house cleaning; strike-first- before-the-enemy-hits mentality.
If I may borrow from former prime minister Amama Mbabazi’s words: “Do you want change or more of the same?”
Change can only come by getting rid of dictator Museveni. Gen. Kalekyezi, a.k.a was used and abused and now he is being discard like a used condom. As for Gen. Tumukunde, he has learnt nothing from history.
Yoweri Museveni’s only friend is Yoweri Museveni.
