Friday 9 December 2011

Katikiro Walusimbi

Four years may appear as a short period for anyone to be in a leadership position. However for Buganda’s outgoing Katikkiro, it has been a long time and nightmare to complete. Considering his personality, it is possible that he would have thrown the towel in long time ago.

According to Eng. John Baptist Walusimbi who has been at the helm of the kingdom for four years, Mengo, the kingdom’s administrative seat is full of sycophants and hypocrites. “I should assure whoever will replace me that this office is not easy as it may appear. I do not intend to intimidate anyone but he should be prepared for intrigue, egoism and hypocrisy characters,” Walusimbi said.

He said “Some people here pretend to love the kingdom yet they are the key saboteurs. They are the very people who block the kingdom’s plans to prosper for personal ends,” he said adding, “No leader wishes to promise what he will not fulfill but we face several challenges. I have done my part and I thank the Kabaka for entrusting us and guiding us though the challenges.”

Walusimbi’s reign
On his appointment, Walusimbi pledged to make tremendous investment changes at Mengo, the kingdom’s seat including the completion of Bulange Plaza, setting up a technical school, establishing a referral Buganda hospital and improving house hold incomes through community initiatives. Unfortunately, none of these have been completed.

His reign at Mengo was also widely seen from a negative angle because of the number of problems the kingdom experienced during his tenure. It was during his time that the kingdom’s most treasured heritage Kasubi Tombs were burnt down by unknown agents. The Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi broke down into tears on seeing his ancestral mausoleum burnt to ashes. His term also saw the kingdom’s radio (Central Broadcasting Service /CBS) close over alleged promotion of sectarianism and inciting violence.

In the same period, central government blocked Kabaka from visiting Kayunga which resulted into bloody clashes between the two institutions. The clash left at least 27 people dead and over 600 people arrested.

Despite the several challenges, the outgoing Katikkiro has managed to make several achievements but blames his failures on inefficient kingdom funding, external factors as well as cliques who practiced double standards against him and the kingdom.

Who will be the next Katikkiro?
As he quits the second highest office in the kingdom, the search for his successor has started already. Sources at Mengo said that Walusimbi’s closing remarks have sparked a new quest for his successor.

Walusimbi 69, was appointed the Katikkiro by the Kabaka on a four year contract in 2008. He replaced Mr Dan Muliika who ruled for barely 10 months before he was dropped on grounds of being so “controversial”.

Traditionally, the Kabaka appoints his Katikkiro, and the Lukiiko, the highest decision making body approves him. The Kabaka reserves the right to reappoint the outgoing Katikkiro but makes the appointment after several consultations from his confidants.

According to the Gganda culture, the Kabaka makes the final decision after several consultations with the kingdom elders [Bataka], clan heads, religious leaders, the royal family and closest opinion leaders in the region. Sources inside the royal family said the appointment of the new Katikkiro is also mixed with several other factors including the bond between the Kabaka and the appointed premier and the personal mobilisation and management skills of the candidate among others.

“The Katikkiro should be a true friend to the Kabaka. He must be someone he can trust with anything about him as a person and his office,” a source who preferred anonymity said. The chairman Batakka Council Eng. Waliggo Nakirembeka said the cultural norms and values should be maintained to get the best option. “This kingdom has survived for over 700 years because of its strong cultural values and structures. They can hardly be broken to destroy our roots as Baganda,” Eng. Waliggo said.

Apart from tribe, religion and politics, several factors however will be considered to determine the next Katikkiro including age, popularity, and politics of the day among others.

A section of people at Mengo argue that the next Katikkiro should be youthful [of the current generation] to change the face of the kingdom and weave new structures to its prosperity while other look at it from the religious point of view, citing that he should be a Muslim.

“Traditionally, the Katikkiro was supposed to be an Anglican but this has since shifted to Catholics which prompts Muslims to feel like enjoying it as well,” a source said.
According to sources, the Kabaka is likely to choose a replacement from the following; the first Deputy Katikkro Emanuel Ssendaula, the kingdom Attorney General Apollo Makubuya, Kingdom Cabinet Affairs Minister Peter Mayiga among others.

11th May: Buganda Lukiiko convened and passed several resolutions regarding the Land Amendment Bill that was passed into an act by the Ugandan Parliament on the 26th November, 2009 and has now been signed into law by the president.
24th June: Kabaka reshuffled his County Chiefs
12 July: The New Vision publishes a false story about the Kabaka alleging that he had mortgaged Bulange title deed for his personal interests.
17 July: Buganda Kingdom denied all allegations that it was consulted and consented to the extension of Kampala city to cover areas of Kyadondo, Wakiso and Kyaggwe.
20 July: Lukiiko convenes and resolves to boycott anything associated with the New Vision Group until it comes out publicly to apologise to the Kabaka and the Kingdom of Buganda over the alleged false publication.
24 July: Kabaka sues the New Vision Group for publishing a ‘fabricated defamatory’ article about him after failing to apologize to him.
31 July: Elders from Bushenyi condemn acts of insulting the Kabaka and his subjects.
4 Aug: The New Vision publicly apologises to the Kabaka .
5 Aug: Lukiiko lifts ban on New Vision.
10 Aug: Kabaka finally withdraws case against New Vision.
16 Aug: A general prayer for the Kingdom is held at Mengo palace to commemorate the 16th coronation anniversary. During the prayers, Kabaka Mutebi calls for truth and justice in the way people are governed both in Buganda and Uganda as a whole.
25 Aug: Kabaka opens the 17th Lukiiko session with a call for peace and reconciliation among people.
10 Sept: Katikkiro and his cabinet are blocked at Sezibwa Bridge from proceeding to Kayunga to make final preparations for Kabaka’s visit.
-Riots broke out in all parts of Buganda for three days.
-Government switches off CBS radio and other three radio stations including Akaboozi, Ssuubi and Sapientia for allegedly inciting violence.
11 Sept: Kabaka cancels his trip to Kayunga due to the riots and government’s plan to block him at all costs.
30 Sept: Kabaka meets president Museveni at Entebbe State House after the riots.
9 Nov: Lukiiko convenes and commends the Kabaka for his brilliant leadership through the difficult periods the kingdom is going through.

2010
Feb 22: Museveni blames Mengo for what he calls a selfish habit of suppressing other people’s cultures.
March 10: Mengo supports a petition lodged with The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), seeking the indictment of President Museveni over the September 2009 riot killings in Kampala and parts of Buganda.
March 16: Kasubi Tombs goes up in flames, completely razing the building that houses the graves of four former kings of Buganda Kingdom.
March 17: President Museveni visits Kasubi Tombs in the morning.
-Two protesters are shot dead by Police after they tried to stop the president from visiting burnt tombs
- Kabaka also visits the place
March 29: Joseph Musoke confesses to torching Kasubi tombs
March 31: Mengo dismisses Musoke’s claims as being very strange
November...: Katikkiro John Baptist Katikkiro ends his term of office

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Sir Edward Muteesa’s struggle to survive in the UK:

Beyond the controversy surrounding his death, little is known or written about Sir Edward Muteesa’s struggle to survive in the UK from 1966 to 1969. This piece is written in memory of one of Uganda’s most unsung heroes - born on November 19, 1924 and died on November 24, 1969. It uncovers the treachery, intrigue and the diplomatic scandals surrounding what the British bureaucrats called the “Muteesa problem”. It ponders the lessons from Obote’s attack on the Lubiri and Muteesa’s defiance of political blackmail and oppression.

When Sir Edward Muteesa (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) and Uganda’s first Commander-in-Chief and President), jumped over the wall of the Lubiri and walked hundreds of miles to escape Obote’s killers, he did not know what lay in store for him. A new insight, based on historical documents and accounts from family and friends, portrays another dimension on his life in exile in the UK - a life that was as wretched as it was inspirational.

The struggle to settle in England
Far from the grandeur of his palaces and the splendour of the State House, Muteesa, together with his guards Maj. Katende and George Malo, had to settle for a very small one-bedroom flat in Bermondsey in a neighborhood called Rotherhithe. This was kindly offered by a friend - as they had no money at all to rent a better shelter. Other friends, like Major Richard Carr-Gomm, Lord Boyd of Merton, Captain Ronnie Owen and his Solicitor Martin Flegg, set up a small trust of about £789 for his upkeep. Once this fund run out, he had to apply to Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) for unemployment benefits (the dole). He got £ 8.1s a week while his guard, Mr. Katende, got £7. 6s a week. On this, they survived from hand to mouth and sometimes on a diet of tea and biscuits. Some Baganda individuals like one Mr. Iga occasionally supported. Many were scared to be associated with Muteesa for fear of what Obote would do.

To maintain the benefits from HMG, Muteesa and his guards were required to declare any gifts donated by friends including birthday presents. Muteesa relied on the kindness of his friends to pay school fees for his children. Employment in the army, where he was a Lt. Colonel with the Grenadier Guards, was declined or frustrated by the British Government. His pension from the civil contingency fund was not paid. According to the UK Ministry of Social Security no “suitable” employment was available.

Living in exile takes its toll
The British bureaucrats felt that the only possibility for employment was “if he undertook agricultural or forestry training”.

In the early days of exile, his movements were mostly restricted to his flat – for fear of being abducted by Obote’s men. So bleak was his condition that, at a meeting with the Secretary of State on May 10, 1968, Lord Boyd said that Sir Edward had had a mental break down and was suffering from delusions. Lord Boyd described his plight as “pathetic”. Of course, his mental state was not always like that. On many occasions he was jolly, notwithstanding his new circumstances.

Almost overnight, Muteesa had become a diplomatic nightmare and a thorn in HMG’s side. On top of their troubles with Ian D. smith in Rhodesia, Julius K. Nyerere in Tanzania, and Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia, the British Government was keen not to annoy Obote and his new Government. Yet at the same time, it was also under considerable pressure from Muteesa’s influential British friends to take good care of him. In the event, HMG chose to abandon Muteesa and support Obote.

It thus accepted Muteesa as a private citizen and not a political refugee. It refused to have any official dealing with him. This was regardless of the fact that Obote had violently abrogated Uganda’s independence Constitution and had the blood of many Ugandans on his hands following the attack on Muteesa’s palace on the cold night of May 24, 1966.

A memo from 10 Downing Street dated February 6, 1967 shows that the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, agreed with the Commonwealth Secretary that “any overt grant to the Kabaka could be politically embarrassing”. And, while the Prime Minister pondered discreet support from “secret funds”, this was rejected because his bureaucrats felt that “HMG had no moral or legal obligation to assist Muteesa”. Also, because they felt that “while the risks of detection would be slight, there was just a possibility that the Ugandans might guess the truth and this would seriously damage our relations with them”.

Thus HMG gave Muteesa no more financial assistance than it would to any other “destitute resident”.

How HMG felt about the king
HMG’s position on Muteesa is best captured in a memo of June 24, 1968, authored by R. G. Tallboys of the Commonwealth Office (East Africa Department) to Mr Scott. It stated that -
“If we are ever going to be rid of the Muteesa problem, other than simply waiting for him to go away, there are two lines of approach we should adopt. One is to use his friends and sympathisers in this country as a channel for putting heavier pressure on Muteesa to accept the Uganda conditions, rather than having these friends serve as their main purpose to channel to us tales of woe about Muteesa’s circumstances. The situation is :- (a) His family have been generously treated by the Uganda Government. (b) He has been given assistance by HMG in the form of social benefits. (c) he has assets in Uganda that can be sold. (d) He can almost certainly obtain access to the proceeds, or some of the proceeds, of these assets if he accepts the reality of political conditions in Uganda. (e) There is no case whatever for HMG to do more for him than has and is being done. The second thing is, without waiting for Mutesa to agree to the Uganda conditions, to encourage the realisation of his land in Uganda...I am writing to Peter Foster suggesting that Muteesa’s land should be sold without waiting for prior approval to the effect that the proceeds can be transferred...Once there is cash in the bank it may be easier to get both Muteesa’s agreement to Obote’s conditions and/or to get Obote to agree to remission of some of the money – even if only interest earned. Muteesa is not a destitute in the sense that he has no assets – his financial difficulties here are no more than the cost of his personal vanity and pride.”

The position of Uganda’s government on Muteesa - and that of Obote, in particular, was always clear. In his autobiography entitled The Desecration of My Kingdom, Muteesa wrote that by 1966 “Obote has already put me as President squarely in his sights and having obtained the range by mere pointing out at me publicly, he is now pressing firmly at the trigger”.

The hate and venom poured on Buganda and Muteesa by Obote and his UPC colleagues in the post-1966 period is available for all to see in the Hansards of the National Assembly.

In short, for Obote and his friends, Muteesa needed to be cut down to size. Now that he had escaped with his life, Muteesa needed to be starved of funds so that he could succumb – either privately or publically – to acknowledge the established state of affairs in Uganda.

Somehow, the British played along and pressured Muteesa to accept these conditions in total disregard of their (il)legality, morality or even implications on the long standing relationship they had with the kingdom and people of Buganda since 1894.

The Baganda were able to see through this although they could do little because of the fear instilled in them by the emergency laws and Obote’s brutal terror machine in Buganda. But in a brave open-letter to the British Prime Minister dated May 21, 1968, some six Baganda students, including Y. Nsambu, Joseph Male, M. Nansamba, and S. Nansamba, protested the actions of Obote and HMG government.

They stated that “the British Government has now joined hands with the Uganda authorities in holding the Kabaka as a hostage until His Highness surrenders”.

How the kingdom came to be abolished
Sam Odaka, Uganda’s Minister for foreign Affairs at the time, set the conditions for the amelioration of Muteesa’s plight.

He declared that the Government of Uganda was prepared to consider any proposal to remit funds from Muteesa’s assets in Uganda to England, but that such consideration was dependant on Muteesa giving “definite and unequivocal proof that he accepts the changes that have taken place in Uganda, the 1967 Constitution and the authority of the present government”.

Obote was not content with Muteesa’s dreadful life in exile. So, to complete his subjugation and the humiliation of the Baganda, he, by a stroke of a pen, “abolished” the 600-year old Kingdom of Buganda.

He then confiscated all the Kingdom’s land and assets and handed them to the State. As if that weren’t enough, he converted the Kabaka’s palace at Mengo into an army barracks. He took over the former Lukiiko (Buganda’s Parliament) and made it his new army headquarters.

The palace grounds were later to become one of Uganda’s most notorious torture chambers and killing fields.

Many people including Abu Mayanja, Mayanja Nkangi, David Ssimbwa and others were detained without trial. Many others were killed. Little surprise that, during those difficult days, the saying that “a good Muganda is a dead one” gained popularity in the corridors of power.

Milton Obote left nothing to chance - in ensuring that Muteesa was rendered a destitute. He personally oversaw that Muteesa had no access to funds from Uganda. According to a memo from the British High Commission in Uganda dated January 4, 1967, Obote himself actively pursued the question of Muteesa’s finances. On one occasion, he summoned a Standard Bank official and asked him if he could shed light on the possibility of funds being passed from Uganda to Muteesa.

The discussion, at which Obote was said to be pleasant and amiable, lasted two hours but the official explained that he was unable to help the President on this question. On another occasion, Obote twice summoned the local Barclays Bank Manager, Mr. Woodcock, and interrogated him at length to establish that the Kabaka had no funds. The Bank official confirmed that there was no money available to Muteesa. In the mean time, Sam Odaka discussed with the British High Commissioner the possibility for Mutesa’s land and property to be sold by his sister Princess Victoria Mpologoma.

But, as the High Commissioner saw it, even if the land was sold there was “no reason to think that the Uganda Government will allow Muteesa to receive these moneys without paying the political price” or “eating a full measure of humble pie”. Alongside the Ugandan Government, the British maintained an intense search for Muteesa’s assets in Uganda so that they be sold and, hopefully, the proceeds would go to Muteesa to “keep the wolves away from his door for at least a few months” if one may use the language of the High Commissioner.

While HMG’s agenda on Muteesa was more obscure than Obote’s, it was equally uncharitable. In spite of his plight, some senior officials felt that HMG was handling Muteesa with “kid gloves”. The Commonwealth Office for example pressed the Supplementary Benefits Commission to work with Muteesa’s solicitors to obtain “a more precise statement of Muteesa’s assets and how they can be realised, than Muteesa is prepared to make”.

The Commonwealth Office’s primary aim was “to help the Supplementary Benefits Commission to relieve themselves of the burden of Mutesa” by arranging “so far as we can, for his assets to be made available in some way or the other”, in other words, by hook or crook.

The wolves were not only at Muteesa’s door, they were also on Princess Victoria Mpologoma’s door. Indeed, according to the Daily Telegraph of February 18, 1969, she together with 15 others were arrested and detained under emergency laws. She was to be charged with high treason. It was believed by Basil Bataringaya, the Minister of Internal Affairs, that she supplied money for an abortive army mutiny in an attempt to overthrow the Ugandan government and secure the return of the Kabaka.

British government declines to help
When Muteesa’s friends asked the British government to intercede in Princess Victoria Mpologoma’s long detention without trial, HMG’s response was that it could “do nothing about the detention of Victoria since she is a Ugandan citizen. To them, her detention was “a matter for the Uganda Government and any approach by HMG would be taken by President Obote as interference in the internal affairs of Uganda”.

On the matter, a senior British official stressed that “President Obote is extremely sensitive to the question of Sir Edward Muteesa and his family” adding that “we have had to be very careful in the past to avoid any action which could conceivably be construed as support for Sir E Muteesa by HMG”. Mr P.M. Forster, the British High Commissioner in Uganda wrote that on matters concerning Muteesa, Obote’s “emotions are strongly engaged and his behaviour tends to be irrational.”

At home Muteesa’s assets were left to the vultures. Nobody was in charge. Taifa Empya reported cases of some senior Baganda lawyers and politicians scrambling for his personal property. It is said that Obote, like Governor Andrew Cohen before him, cajoled the Baganda to forget Muteesa and install another prince as their Kabaka. But, like Cohen, his plans were met with dismal failure.

Muteesa was worried about his family. Naturally. In particular, he was concerned about the wellbeing of his sister Victoria and Sarah Kisosonkole. Through his solicitors, he asked HMG for information about them. HMG was reluctant to provide this information fearing what Obote may think or suspect.

Because of the fear to insult Obote, HMG also declined a request made by Muteesa who wanted to send his son Ronnie (the reigning Kabaka) to his mother in Kenya for Christmas in 1969. The mother feared that the young prince may be kidnapped. HMG’s view was that it was a difficult matter and did not think that it “could offer any view” as “it was for the boy’s parents to make their own judgement”. The British bureaucrats believed that if their advice “came to the ears of President Obote, which it easily could, we should have insulted him”.

Kabaka refuses to accept Obote’s demands
However, and in spite of the blackmail and torment that Muteesa suffered at the hands of his British hosts and Obote’s regime, he did not relent. He never gave up. And, in an interview with officials from the Supplementary Benefits Commission on his financial affairs, it was perfectly clear that Muteesa was “not prepared at present, either publically or privately, to make the declaration which would enable the Uganda government to permit the transfer of some of his assets to this country”.

Much to their chagrin. It is not difficult to imagine what would have followed if Muteesa had yielded to Obote’s conditions. According to HMG, Muteesa did not seem to be especially concerned about his own plight and gave them the impression that he was “lethargic and complacent”. This must have infuriated Obote and his cronies even more.

In The Desecration of My Kingdom, Muteesa writes that Obote was “behaving much as the British did when they exiled me, and making the same mistakes, though he has added violence and chaos. The army rules... but just as I was supported by my faith in the loyalty of my people in the dark years of exile, now I believe utterly that the Baganda will show their devotion, though it demands great courage and perseverance. In the end I shall return to the land of my fathers and to my people”. Indeed Muteesa returned to the land of his forefathers. But as a dead man.

Unclear circumstances of the king’s death
It is said Muteesa died of alcohol poisoning in his London flat in November 1969. The British police claimed that he committed suicide. Other accounts say that he was poisoned by Obote’s assassins. Others claim he was grossly neglected by his minders – who failed to deliver him to hospital in good time. But a British journalist John Simpson, interviewed him in his flat only a few hours before his death.



He found that Muteesa was sober and in good spirits. And, although Simpson reported this to the police the following day, this line of inquiry was not pursued. Simpson says he that he “tried to tell the British police my story and even though I was the last person to see him they didn’t seem to want to interview me, which I have always found very strange and rather disturbing.” HMG has never offered an explanation for this. It seems therefore, that we shall never know what or who killed Muteesa. What we know though is Obote’s regime made Muteesa’s final years hell on earth.

In fact he refused Muteesa’s body to be returned to Uganda for burial. We know that, when it mattered most, the British establishment did little or nothing to help Muteesa or his family. To them he was a burden and an object of scorn and ridicule. One wonders why, once he had fallen, HMG had Muteesa’s casket draped with the Union Jack and let the Grenadier Guards carry it in full ceremony and honour.

But, whatever or whoever killed him, we know that, in the end, Muteesa died a frustrated but firm man. He never gave up and never let us down. He kept the faith. We salute him as our true hero. His spirit endures. We shall always remember him for many things not least - standing up to British imperialism at a youthful age of 29, his heroic triumph against Governor Andrew Cohen, his grand and heroic home-coming on October 17, 1955, his role in Uganda’s Constitutional making process in Lancaster, his fight against Obote’s dictatorship; his love for his people and respect for the Lukiiko plus his charm, dignity and sense of optimism.

And, most of all we shall never forget the historic return of his body and burial at Kasubi in 1971. Of course it is ironic that it was Idi Amin, he who led the attack on Muteesa’s palace in 1966, who was showered with praises for allowing his body to return home.

So, what do we learn from this tragic story? Many lessons abound. For 27 years, Buganda Kingdom was “abolished”. But was Uganda any better off? In this sad episode of our history, Buganda lost. But Obote and, notably, Uganda did not win.

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And, although it is now almost 20 years since the colourful coronation of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi at Nnagalabi, the wounds of 1966 have not fully healed. It hurts to see that no one has ever been tried and/or convicted for these heinous crimes. How will these wounds heal and how will Buganda and Uganda forge ahead in a united, peaceful and prosperous way? This question ought to bother our leaders yet there is little evidence that it actually does.

Fred Mpanga, Buganda’s former Attorney General and Muteesa’s old and friend, opined in 1968, that the “monarchy, where it existed in Uganda is not an anachronism. It was a vibrant political force and a stabilising factor. That is why its untimely abolition may prove the weakest link in the chain of the events that began in 1966 when Obote seized all the powers of government”.

What is the way forward?
Forty two years after Muteesa’s death, the Kingdom of Buganda remains a square peg being forced to fit in a round hole. Often, its attempts to resolve issues on land, federalism, the position and role of the Kabaka, for example, are thwarted and sometimes violently so. When shall we learn that the politics of betrayal, brinkmanship, force and violence cannot secure us a peaceful and joyful future? When shall we learn that dialogue and mutual respect is the way to go?

The challenge to us, mostly the politicians, is to resolve the Buganda question in Uganda alongside other burning national issues such as the economy, oil resources and corruption. The time is now. We cannot afford to wait any longer to lay a foundation that will guarantee our children and their children a stable future in Uganda and East Africa. And, more importantly, we can no longer afford politicians and schemes that seek to divide rather than unite; that seek to coerce rather that engage; and those that aim to destroy rather than build.

As we ponder these issues, as well as Uganda’s future, the lessons in Muteesa’s long and arduous journey – from his Palace in Mengo to a small one-bedroom flat in England where he died – dare not be lost on all of us. Therein may lie the answer.

Long live the king.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

My current thoughts!!

09/11/2011-19:15
While seated watching the news on BBC News channel, a twig of concern runs through my senses. What’s going to happen? Last year on a short trip to Dublin, I noticed the situation there as not well. I passed on this information to those in my vicinity and they listened but all embraced that God will take care or as the Holy book says tomorrow will take care of its self.
Today the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to step down due to the down turn in the Italian economy. In the USA President Obama is not as confident as when he came in. Unemployment is rife with demonstration against Wall Street as greedy and just 1% of the US population.
In my dear mother land Uganda the minister for finance joined by the governor of the Bank of Uganda warned the citizens to be ready for a tougher 2012!!!! Those there already tell us of the hard situation they are encountering with prices of commodities doubled from exactly last year prices compared. With no increment in earnings, we cannot fail to smell what’s around the corner!! I don`t mind if you consider me to be negative but may be its why I don`t take fair situations for granted!! With the oil discovery and looming exploration underway, the political climate is worsening, no one from top to bottom is “safe” from whichever angle of life one is settled in. Parents are worried about school fees and general upkeep of their livelihoods.
As I am writing this, my better half has agreed to my suggestion of recording each and every expense we incur. I suggested this so as to put in place a check on our outgoings, this time on record other than the prevailing how much we save at the end of the month as it’s no longer feasible due to becoming three thanks to Mirembe joining us. Our aim is to compare how much we spend on what and when. How we can reduce it and by what, what we need to include in our expenditure and revive our goal chasing that has given us a leading edge compared to some of our friends that would at least like to be like us.
With the world economy in turmoil, confusion in every minding soul and those responsible for planning and projecting facing uncertainty, what`s tomorrow holding for us? How am I ready for the un-predictable and projected doom around the corner? England is my adopted home where I have spent almost 10 years of my life. These 10 years are the most productive of my life so far after leaving Uganda in 2002. What can I show for these 10 years? As my former head teacher at Rubaga Boys` Primary school used to say every morning, whenever he addressed us, “If a snail leaves a mark, why not you with a bigger brain.”
Time is of the essence just as it waits for no man. We need to be first and decisive of what we aspire and dream about or else we are in for damning tomorrow where we shall say “I WISH” I had known or acted then when so and so did. Let’s not wish for changing the past for spilt milk is no good but a pivotal look and lesson for the future. Each one of us is responsible for their destiny (*s) as no one lives your life, you make your bed and lay in it. I will have to blame no one tomorrow when life starts stinking. Mirembe senior used to tell me ever since I was a boy that no one will blame my wife for the failures of my family but me, so it is my responsibility as the man in home to work, plan and dream of how we have to survive. My dears do not be alarmed but as our fore parents always advised, a word to the wise...
Till next time. Akuume.

Friday 31 July 2009

WAR MEMORIES

JULIUS CHIHANDAE's role, the first man to be injured in the five-year war.

Just as his military number, RO 0024 suggests, Chihandae is one of the founders of the National Resistance Army (NRA), but he later fell out of favour after the takeover of Kampala on January 26,1986.

Veterans of the Luwero-bush war say Chihandae provided 16 of the 27 guns the NRA used to launch its rebellion in 1981. The guns were stolen from Gulu military barracks where he served as a junior officer in the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA).

They were delivered to Kampala on a Nissan pick-up truck by Andrew Lutaaya who was his driver. Lutaaya, also a bush-war fighter is now a Brigadier. Chihandae who hails from Mbarara began his military career in 1979—the year he joined Yoweri Museveni’s FRONASA, one of the groups that fought late President Idi Amin’s regime.

FRONASA guided the Tanzanian People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) on the western axis whose main task was to capture Mbarara where Amin had a big barracks. Brig. Pecos Kutesa is also said to have joined FRONASA around the same time.

After the fall of Amin’s regime in April 1979, all Ugandan fighting groups were merged to form the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Chihandae was one of the UNLA soldiers sent to Monduli in Tanzania for an Officer Cadet training. Upon his return from Tanzania, he was deployed in Nakasongola at the rank of second lieutenant.

While Chihandae could not be reached to be interviewed for this article, some of his fellow fighters say that Sam Katabarwa, another FRONASA fighter persuaded him to desert the UNLA and join the bush-war.

Now an attaché in Uganda’s embassy in Saudi Arabia, Chihandae’s first diplomatic posting was to Cairo in May 1996 as minister councilor. His posting to Cairo came as part of a rehabilitation drive after he spent about a year in a dungeon in Lubiri Barracks for allegedly aiding his friend, Col. Ahmed Kashilingi, to flee the country. Kashilingi had then fallen out of favour with the powers that be (see The Observer, June 18-21, 2009).

Both men were among the 10 commanding officers who headed the NRA’s 10 battalions that launched a final assault on Kampala.

Shot during first attack

Chihandae was one of the 33 men led by Yoweri Museveni who attacked Kabamba Barracks on February 6, 1981 in what marked the launch of the NRA bush-war. Of the 33 people, only seven, including Chihandae, were commissioned officers. It is reported that having been a trained soldier, he actually participated in planning the attack.

Others were; Lt. Rubereza, 2nd Lt. Sam Katabarwa, 2nd Lt. Sam Magara, 2nd Lt. Jackson Mule Muwanga, 2nd Lt. Elly Tumwine and 2nd Lt. Ahmed Sseguya. He is also said to have participated in mobilising the early recruits from places such as Kitgum, Lira and Moroto.

His role during the attack on Kabamba was to destroy the communication room (signal centre) in the barracks. For that mission, he commanded a squad of seven people.

Chihandae was the best man on Saleh's wedding
His mission was successful; he indeed neutralized the signal centre. However, one of his colleagues shot and shattered his knee, making him the first causality of the NRA war. He was evacuated to the quarter guard where some of his colleagues had camped after they failed to gain entry into the fortified underground armory.


The failure to access the arms was attributed to Gen. Elly Tumwine’s blunder. It is reported that instead of wrestling and subduing the guard on duty at the quarter guard, Tumwine instead shot him and in the process alerted the whole barracks to the presence of the attackers.

The late Hannington Mugabi bandaged his knee and with the help of colleagues, placed him on the truck and the rebels fled to Kiboga. Andrew Lutaaya took him to Kiboga Hospital and handed him to a nurse called Florence Nakatto who informed Dr. Sserunjogi, the Medical Superintendent.

But luck was not on the injured man’s side as government soldiers swarmed Kiboga areas looking for rebels, days after his admission to the hospital. So, NRA veterans say that Nakatto smuggled Chihandae out of hospital and kept him in a neighbouring village from where he was picked by relatives and taken to Kampala.

His rotting knee was treated in Kampala. But he was later smuggled out of the country and taken to Nairobi. In Nairobi he reunited with Sam Katabarwa, the man who persuaded him to join the rebellion.


A senior UPDF officer told The Observer that Dr. Ben Mbonye who was working at Kabette Hospital in Nairobi supervised Chihandae’s treatment. This injury kept him away from the bush for about a year.

When he recovered, Chihandae was dispatched to Libya to acquaint himself with the way arms would be dropped to the NRA in the bush. This mission never materialized because of miscommunication, some officers said.

Return to the bush

So courageous and determined was Chihandae that even after this experience, he rejoined his colleagues in the Luwero jungles.


There are conflicting reports on how he returned to the bush. Some veterans said he returned with Yoweri Museveni in December 1981 after the Chairman of the High Command’s trip to Nairobi and Libya, others say that Chihandae returned later with some fighters who had escorted Museveni to Nairobi.


The escorts were supposed to go to Libya with Chihandae to train on how to receive Libya’s consignments. Veterans tell us that Sam Kalega Njuba, FDC national chairman together with Andrew Lutaaya transported Chihandae up to the point where he was able to walk back to Luwero triangle.


Upon his return from Nairobi, Chihandae was immediately appointed the Director of National Operations based at the High Command Headquarters. This new deployment was symbolic to fit with his status but with little work to do. He was deputized by Geoffrey Muhetsi (now a Brigadier) who had just been recruited.


Like all senior officers at the High Command, Chihandae would be called upon to participate in operations, especially where experience was required. For example he deputized late Mutebi when the rebels carried out the Kakinga operation. Commander Mutebi died during the operation and Chihandae took over.


Chihandae also participated in the attack of UNLA soldiers who had camped at Katiti sub-county headquarters that took place in February 1983. This attack was so important, coming on the back of the UNLA’s February 21, 1983 ambush of NRA mobile forces, that killed 10 fighters and injured Commander Salim Saleh during the battle of Bukalabi.


Because Saleh had been injured, David Tinyefuza led the Rapid Response Force’s onslaught on UNLA forces that had camped at Katiti sub-county headquarters, a few miles from the rebel base.


So important was this operation that several senior officers were asked to take part. The senior officers included; Jim Muhwezi, Ahmed Kashilingi and Steven Kashaka and it came almost two days after the Bukalabi incident.


Chihandae was Tinyefuza’s second in command during this operation. This operation almost turned into a disaster with its overall commander, David Tinyefuza, severely injured by the UNLA fire. His colleagues at first thought he had been killed. They carried him back on shoulders to the High Command base for treatment.


With Saleh and Tinyefuza injured, Chihandae became the commander of the Mobile Brigade Force during a period some NRA veterans described as a bad for the guerrillas. After surviving the Bukalabi and Katiti battles, the starving and demoralized fighters decided to abandon their bases in Bulemeezi and went to Lukola, in Singo.


To morale boost the fighters, Museveni sent them to carry out a second attack on Kabamba under Elly Tumwine but called it off after the starving fighters deserted and misbehaved along the more than one week trek. Those who misbehaved were caned 50 strokes each hence the name, ‘Safari 50’ as the aborted journey came to be called.


The attack had been planned to be executed by three battalions; the 1st Battalion under Pecos Kutesa deputized by Edward Barihona, the 2nd Battalion under Chihandae, deputized by Ahmed Kashilingi and Joram Mugume’s 3rd Battalion.

Chihandae was also responsible for preventing the UNLA forces based in Bukomero from attacking the main rebel base. During that time, there were daily battles in which the NRA fighters like Kagina and Ngoboka died.


Chihandae also deputized late Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigyema when an NRA force attacked Kiboga in June 1983. The success of this operation lifted the spirits of the rebels who had been beaten at Bukalabi and Katiti and were being pursued by the UNLA.


When NRA resolved to attack Masindi barracks around 1984, Chihandae’s second battalion was supposed to be the point unit but it was hit by the UNLA and again an operation under Tumwine was called off. After the cancellation of the Masindi attack, Chihandae became the court martial boss, working with Paul Kagame, now President of Rwanda.

Some veterans alleged that it appears Saleh didn’t want to work with him. The two men later became great friends and Chihandae was Saleh’s best man when he wed Jovia in 1988. Chihandae with his second battalion was also part of the force commanded by Saleh that successfully carried out the third attack on Kabamba on January 1, 1985.

At this time, Chihandae was in charge of a section of the NRA called Nkrumah that was renamed 9th Battalion.

March to Kampala

The successful attack on Kabamba gave the NRA more guns and rejuvenated the fighting spirit. With more arms, the rebels opened a second front, commonly known as the Western Axis with Rwigyema as the overall commander and Moses Kigongo as overall political head.

Jim Muhwezi was the intelligence chief and Col. Amanya Mushega the political commissar. The Western Axis comprised the 11th Battalion of Chefe Ali and 15th Battalion commanded by Samson Mande (now a renegade colonel).

When this Western Axis planned to attack Rubona Prison where UNLA had camped, Chihandae’s 9th Battalion was summoned to re-enforce them. It was Chihandae who captured Kamwenge and Bihanga Prisons and later addressed a rally in Ibanda.

Eventually the 9th, 11th and 15th battalions simultaneously attacked and overrun Mbarara Barracks. The rebels were however surrounded by the UNLA soldiers who had duped them that they had deserted the barracks and inflicted serious casualities.

After this surprise attack, Chihandae’s 9th battalion and Chefe Ali’s 11th battalion were ordered to besiege Mbarara Barracks forcing it to surrender in late 1985. Chihandae’s battalion was then divided into two, 400 of his fighters were sent to Katonga to re-enforce Kashilingi and Pecos Kutesa who were advancing towards Kampala.

The remaining 9th battalion fighters were deployed in Kabale to guard against a possible attack by the UNLA from Rwanda. Chihandae forces in Kabale were the ones that received Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi who visited the NRA bases in the company of John Nagenda.
Sidelined

After the take over, Chihandae was appointed to deputize Brig. Matayo Kyaligonza as Commanding Officer of the 150 Brigade. When the army ranks were introduced around 1988, Chihandae became a colonel together with Pecos Kutesa (now Brigadier) and Joram Mugume (now Maj. General). He has never been promoted since then.

He worked with Kyaligonza for only a few months before he was appointed the Chief of Personnel and Administration. But because of an internal rift, he was retired together with Salim Saleh and Col. Ahmed Kashilingi in November 1989.

It is alleged that Elly Tumwine, the first NRA army commander after capturing power, did not like Chihandae to the extent that he would not return his salute. Chihandae’s downfall is attributed to this rivalry which had ethnic undertones. He is a Mwiru while Tuwmine is a Muhima.

Not only was he retired from the army unceremoniously through a radio announcement but was later to be arrested after his neighbour Col. Kashilingi who had been arrested escaped from his captors and fled to DR Congo.

Chihandae was arrested and kept in a dungeon in Lubiri Barracks for about a year. His crime was that he had talked to Kashilingi and could have advised him to escape. He was found innocent in the General Court Martial and set free. When he returned home, he found his residence on Acacia Road in Kololo looted by soldiers who had been sent to look for guns he allegedly stashed away with the intention of shooting down Museveni’s helicopter.

Even after his release, the army closely watched his movements. He was stopped from attending the burial of his son who died shortly after his release. With no income and property, he began selling tomatoes and charcoal. It is after the media published a story of a bush-war hero who was vending charcoal that Museveni appointed him minister councilor at Cairo embassy.

Veterans wonder why the man who provided 16 of the 27 guns they used to launch the rebellion was not even appointed on the historical high command.

Wednesday 22 April 2009

NRM

m7`s achivements
NRM’s 10 Point Programme

1. Restoration of democracy.
2. Restoration of security of person and property.
3. Consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism.
4. Defending and consolidating national independence.
5. Building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining national economy.
6. Restoration and improvement of social services and rehabilitation of war-ravaged areas.
7. Elimination of corruption and misuse of power.
8. Redressing errors that have resulted in the dislocation of some sections of the population.
9. Cooperation with other African countries.
10. Following an economic strategy of mixed economy.

NRM achievements according to Museveni
1. Restoration of security of persons and property.
2. Introduction of democracy.
3. Building a professional bi-service army.
4. Development of human resource through education and health.
5. Expanding the GDP from Shs3.4 trillion in 1986 to Shs24.1 trillion today.
6. Diversification of exports.
7. Modernisation of road, telecommunications, electricity and piped water infrastructure.
8. Oil exploration and discovery.
9:53 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | View trackbacks (0) | Blog it | UGANDAJanuary 25
23 years later... Has Museveni delivered the fundamental change?
23 years later... Has Museveni delivered the fundamental change?
Emmanuel Gyezaho

Kampala

Tomorrow, President Yoweri Museveni celebrates more than two decades of uninterrupted stay in power. From a bush war hero, who preached the gospel of frugal spending and lean government, to a politician now enjoying the perks that come with longevity in power. Sunday Monitor’s Emmanuel Gyezaho examines the transformation of President Museveni, the man, as we know him.

On Wednesday, January 26, 1986, President Yoweri Museveni stood on the front porch of the Parliamentary Building before a rudimentary desk and took the oath as the 9th President of the Republic of Uganda.

He had just ousted the short-lived rogue regime of Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa after a five-year guerrilla war that had also seen his National Resistance Army rebels fight Dr Apollo Milton Obote’s (1980-85).
PROMISE: Mr Museveni swears-in as President on January 26 , 1986. File photo.


On that day, President Museveni delivered his now memorable line to a very anxious nation: “No one should think that what is happening today is a mere change of guard; it is a fundamental change in the politics of our country,” he said.

In that speech, the President promised to run a frugal and responsible government and told his fellow countrymen: “We want our people to be able to afford shoes.

The honourable excellency who is going to the United Nations in executive jets, but has a population at home of 90 percent walking barefoot, is nothing but a pathetic spectacle. Yet this excellency may be busy trying to compete with [then US President Ronald] Reagan and [then USSR President Mikhail] Gorbachev to show them that he, too, is an excellency.”

Such was the contempt President Museveni had for African leaders who were living opulent lifestyles while their nations basically decayed around them. But as he celebrates 23 years in power, the idea that inspired his disdain for affluence resurfaces to haunt him.

Only last week, it emerged that the government had forked out Shs88.2 billion for a luxurious new Gulfstream V extra-special performance executive jet for the President, even as the state continues to borrow heavily abroad to supposedly provide better infrastructure, decent education and healthcare for Ugandans.

It is understood that the new jet, the only one of its kind known to be owned by either an African head of state or anybody else on the continent, is fitted with enhanced anti-terror capabilities.

In the early years, his ministers drove around in modest Nissan Laurel saloon cars, today they have expensive fuel-guzzling Toyota Landrcruisers 4WD.
The President’s critics are now armed with fodder to question his lifestyle and judgement. They ask, is this the fundamental change he talked about in ’86?

Respected academic and Executive Director of the Mbale based Afrika Study Centre, Prof. Dani Wadada Nabudere told Sunday Monitor in an interview on Thursday that the country was witnessing power corrupt the President. “That’s open for all to see,” said Prof. Nabudere.

“He (Museveni) told us in 1986 that he wanted people in government not to live in opulence. He even wanted State House to have cutlery from Tumpeco (a local plastics producer). It is clear power has gotten to his head. Since he has absolute power, he feels he can ride any storm.”

President Museveni’s press secretary, however, believes such criticism is unfounded.
Said Mr Tamale Mirundi: “What they (the critics) don’t know is that the Presidency is the property of the State. How do other President’s travel? Because he is our President, we must ensure he lives comfortably. We must protect him. In 1986 there wasn’t terrorism. We have soldiers in Somalia and do you think the Islamists are happy?”

And while Makerere University political science professor Aaron Mukwaya did not pick issue with the purchase of a new jet for the President because “I thought Parliament discussed and approved that matter”, he said there was evidence to indicate a complete transformation of Mr Museveni from the austere man we once knew.

“In 1986, Museveni was just coming from the bush. He didn’t understand the mechanisms of the State and what power is. So when he comes to power, he realises there are so many factors; he needs to expose himself domestically and internationally,” said Prof. Mukwaya. “So it was inevitable that these things would happen. He totally forgot about the dictum that power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Former Samia Bugwe North MP, Aggrey Awori, once a strong Museveni critic but now in bed with government, was more philosophical in his analysis of the lifestyle changes the President has undergone.

“Politics isn’t a matter of faith where you commit yourself to some doctrine,” said Mr Awori, who abandoned his mother party, the Uganda People’s Congress. “It is an art of possibilities, perceptions and constant changes. In this case, the man [Museveni] has undergone tremendous transformation. In 1986 he was barely a President; he was still in the mould of a rebel leader not interested in the perks of the Presidency.”

Mr Awori said he doubted whether the President had personally “run” to the Ministry of Finance and ordered the purchase of a jet. “It’s the people around him who must have said, ‘Sir, your office needs better transportation.”

Added Mr Awori: “It is a matter we have to live with. These modern seemingly expensive items come with the office of the President, and given the difficult security environment obtaining, such as international terrorism, he definitely needs secure transport.”

What cost does the taxpayer has to bear in maintaining the President? According to the ministerial policy statement for the Presidency, this financial year alone, the Ugandan taxpayer will have forked out Shs51.3billion sustaining the Office of the President, besides Shs66.5 billion needed to run State House.

It isn’t in doubt that the Presidency, like any other across the globe, deserves the comfort and efficiency of modern transport. But why is it an issue for critics of this expenditure? The case made is that, the Executive and its policies are not in tandem with the needs of society. For a President who was seen as a reformer; one who spoke of fundamental change by lean effective government and frugal spending, the transformation is out of step with his own vision for change.

In understanding the evolution of Mr Museveni, however, we must assess his performance over the past two decades and determine whether he has lived up to his promises.

President Museveni assumed the mantle of leadership in Uganda at a time when the State had been run-down; insecurity was at an all time high and the economy was in tatters. His administration arrived with a high-sounding 10 Point Programme -- recently modified to 15 points -- with the restoration of democracy and security top on the agenda.

President Museveni introduced the Movement political system, a system that was supposed to be all-embracing where individual merit thrived, and one that was to forge national unity. In the years that followed, Uganda attained relative stability and economic growth after enduring decades of government mismanagement, civil war and rebel activity.

Initially an avowed disciple of the Marxist-Socialist economic model, President Museveni later introduced radical measures to liberalise the country’s economy – at the urging of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, that included privatisation and currency reform.

His State-of-the-Nation addresses have always been punctuated with rosy statistics about the progress Uganda has made, although quite often, he has said little if at all anything about the problems that have blighted his Presidency.

In his latest missive to media houses ahead of tomorrow’s celebrations, President Museveni points out that the “literacy rate [in the country] has risen to almost 70 percent up from 42 percent in the early eighties.”

The economy, President Museveni wrote, “has been growing at an average 6% of GDP since 1986.”
Without doubt, revenue collection under his tenure has exponentially increased.

Statistics from Ministry of Finance indicate that the Uganda Revenue Authority now collects Shs4 trillion compared to Shs5 billion in 1986. “As a result, Uganda can now service 70 percent of our own national budget, a great indicator of progress towards independence,” wrote the President in a letter to media houses last week.

The number of Ugandans living below the poverty line has reduced, he opined, to 31 percent down from 56 percent in 1988.

Mr Moses Byaruhanga, the president’s political assistant told Sunday Monitor on Friday that his critics “must appreciate what the NRM has done. Those criticisms are not logical and well-thought-out.” He cited the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, the increase in domestic revenue collected and the construction of new roads as examples of the fundamental change President Museveni promised in 1986.

If we are to gauge Mr Museveni’s performance based on UPE enrollment figures, his administration certainly scores highly. In 1997, 2.2 million pupils were in primary school, and as of 2007, that number had risen to 7.5 million, government statistics show. But questions abound about the quality of education provided for under UPE in the absence of adequate facilities and teaching resources especially in rural areas.

The high drop-out and increasing failure rate has blighted the programme. In the 2008 Primary Leaving Examination results, only 17,021 pupils out 463,631 passed in division one, an almost 50 percent drop compared to 2007 results which returned 31, 969 first grades out of 404,985.

The road infrastructure is at its worst and the public health services are all but crippled.
Two decades of conflict in northern Uganda, unprecedented institutionalised corruption in government, growing nepotism and cronyism, increased militarization of politics, disrespect for human rights by the security services and intolerance for the political Opposition, evidently stand out as the other negatives in his regime.

In 2005, President Museveni had presidential term limits deleted from the Constitution, in his quest to stay in power, following a Shs5 million inducement paid to NRM-leaning MPs. That action was a contradiction to his 2001 commitment to relinquish power at the end of his second elective term in office.

He told the US’ Los Angeles Times in an interview on March 12, 2001: “I will leave office for sure, because I am not a hereditary king. I would be very glad to leave office, once I have served my term.

To be remembered, just as a freedom fighter who helped to give the people of Uganda a key to their future, to give them democracy, get rid of dictatorship.”

Now, the President, mid-last year launched his bid for fourth term at a rally in the eastern town of Mbale.

AMIN

On March 23, 1979, less than three weeks to the end of Amin’s government, a resident of Kampala called Daniel Kyahulwa Kakonge simply disappeared never to be seen again.

It was assumed that this was the work of the dreaded State Research Bureau, intent on wreaking havoc on innocent Ugandans one last time before their tyrannical government fell from power.

On March 26, 1979, a man called Benjamin Henry Emor was murdered in Kampala. This reinforced the desperate wish by thousands of Ugandans for the Tanzanians to quickly step in and end Idi Amin’s reign of terror.

On the very day Amin’s government collapsed, April 11, 1979, Noah Lameck Masiira Sempiira, former General Manager of the National Trust (the agency that completed Uganda House in Kampala in 1973), was shot dead right outside the Uganda Commercial Bank headquarters building.

Since this was during the war, with Tanzanian troops surrounding Kampala, it was assumed that it was one of the unfortunate instances of “collateral damage”, the inevitable civilian deaths during combat.

A week later, April 18, 1979, an employee of the Uganda Electricity Board (known today as Umeme), John Mary Muzeyi Kalema, was shot dead by unknown people in Kampala. On June 1, 1979, a prominent Kampala bank manager called Tony Gonza Bagonza was shot dead in the city.

On June 3, 1979, Mary Nalumu Sembuya, a senior nurse at Mulago Hospital and wife of businessman Christopher Sembuya (of Sembule Steel Mills), was shot dead at their home at No. 32 Windsor Crescent in Kololo, a Kampala suburb.

The assailants stole the Sembuya’s car, a Fiat number UUQ 820. With the government of President Lule in office for only five weeks, on June 1, 1979, a building at plot 48 Kampala Road that housed the Uganda Ey’eddembe Publications was set on fire.

Once again, the assumption was that this must be the work of the only known evil people in Uganda since 1971: soldiers of ex-president Amin’s Uganda Army or the State Research Bureau intelligence agency.

“Ousted Idi Amin’s bandits are held responsible for the fire which broke out in buildings in Kampala on Friday,” is the way the government-owned newspaper, the Uganda Times reported the incident on Monday June 4, 1979.

However, some people were starting to note a pattern that left them unconvinced that this was the sabotage by Amin’s men.

A former exiled opponent of Amin’s regime, expert in criminology and forensic evidence, Andrew Lutakome Kayiira – who was now the deputy Minister of Internal Affairs in the UNLF government – called and told a press conference in Kampala that the building on Kampala Road had been set on fire by explosives.

Kayiira said this was only the latest in “a number of incidents in the past which have brought about a sense of insecurity in the country,” reported the Uganda Times on June 5.

“He [Kayiira] said there are more reports of people dressed in military uniforms commandeering vehicles whose owners are either killed or left stranded in remote areas of Kampala.”
These military uniforms that Kayiira referred to were of the UNLA, not Amin’s Uganda Army.

Then, too, the explosives used to blow up the Kampala Road building just opposite today’s Shell Capital petrol station were the exact same type that had been used to blow up buildings in Masaka and Mbarara and buildings at Ntare School in Mbarara in the closing stages of the 1979 war.

On Sunday June 10, 1979, Christopher B. Mwoyogwona, an official of the Caltex petroleum company, and his eight year-old son Charles Mwiwa, were shot dead by unknown gunmen on the Kampala-Jinja Highway near Lugazi. Their bodies were thrown into Mabira Forest.

At this point, alarm bells started to ring among security circles. With the fall of Amin’s regime, most of his former henchmen like Major Bob Astles, Brig. Ali Fadhul, and Lt. Col. Nassur Abdallah had been arrested or had fled the country.

The priority of anybody who had once worked for the Amin regime, now condemned around the world and whose officials and agents were being hunted down, was to either flee the country or, for those who stayed around, to keep as low a profile as possible.

There would hardly have been a reason to conduct open acts of sabotage when it was clear to all that, with the arrival of the Tanzanian-UNLA force at the Uganda-Sudan border area of Koboko on June 3, 1979, the Amin era was now effectively over.

Besides, the bullet cartridges being found at the scene of these shooting incidents in Kampala showed that the guns used were the Chinese/Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles used by the Tanzanins and the UNLA, not the British-made G-3 rifles that the Uganda Army under Amin used as its basic weapon.

Although Ugandans still felt relief at the ouster of Amin from power and believed they were entering a new and happy chapter of their history, there was a growing sense of bewilderment and fear at the security situation.

If we had been liberated from the dread of Amin’s brutality and terror and Amin’s army too soundly beaten to ever be a factor again in Ugandan life, who were these armed men, in military uniform, who were terrorising Kampala?