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.
Friday, 31 July 2009
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.
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?
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?
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