By John V Sserwaniko
Between the Mbabazi political fallout and the advent of the rehabilitated Gen Henry Tumukunde, outgoing IGP Gen Kale Kayihura had at some point distinguished himself as the 2nd most powerful personality in Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni. He had under his control a budget of over Shs500bn (much of it classified) and a Force of more than 30,000 officers and men. This is besides the more than 10m crime preventers that were always a phone call away. And whereas this was delegated power from the President, Kayihura had all these officers and men answerable to him personally. Delegations drove to Muyenga community police near his residence to meet him and have their problems resolved. Kayihura had direct access to the mighty whereby he had become the next go-to- person by even power brokers like the Kabaka of Buganda whenever they tried and failed to get the President. Gen Saleh would sarcastically send away many people advising them to go through Gen Kayihura. Many times getting Kayihura was as good as getting the President himself. Ministers, MPs, the clergy and business people (and even diplomats) desiring to maintain or improve their relationship with the State often went to Kayihura to plead their case to Sevo. Museveni made him even more powerful by always defending him publicly. Because of the way Museveni had portrayed Gen Kayihura to appear like his (military and political) 2nd in command, striking Makerere lectures (uniting under Muasa) always went to him and had their problems solved. Quite often, Gen Kayihura acted and updated the President later.
DEMORALIZING DDUMBA:
One afternoon a strike broke out at Makerere after VC Prof Ddumba suspended some students’ leaders from Lumumba hall for spearheading a previous strike. On getting wind of the strike Gen Kayihura, hands on as ever, drove to Makerere. He went straight to Lumumba hall where students cheerfully received him. He addressed them saying he had cancelled Ddumba’s suspension. Thereafter he drove to the main building where a waiting Council Chairman Eng Wana Etyem received him. The duo sent for Ddumba to whom Kayihura announced “I have reversed your suspension of students because it was creating more problems. I’m going to inform the President about what I have done and as VC deal with the rest,” Kayihura announced to Ddumba who became very frustrated. On returning to his office, a tearful Ddumba locked up himself and pondered resigning. His point was there is no way he can remain VC when his authority is being publicly diluted by the IGP whose powers aren’t defined anywhere in the Universities Act. As Ddumba pondered resignation, jubilant students congregated outside the main building waiting to receive Kayihura and Etyem whom they thanked for being their saviors.
THE MUASA LINK
Ofcourse, despite being pragmatic and big picture-oriented, Kayihura’s act was irregular and ultra vires but Muasa academic staff members who should have backed Ddumba to condemn Kayihura turned a blind eye on his excesses. Why? They didn’t want to antagonize Kayihura who had previously many times taken them to Museveni at short notice and got their welfare-related problems solved. Under the leadership of especially Dr. Mohammed Kigundu who came after Tanga and after the political demise of JPAM, Muasa professors greatly valued Gen Kayihura and would never say anything about police brutality. Whoever risked criticize him on Radio, TV or public debates risked being isolated while those that praised him seemed to materially lead improved lives. Muasa professors one afternoon called an abrupt media event at which they gave an award to Kayihura christening him a professor of sorts. At that event held at faculty of technology near Food Science, Prof Nawangwe and Mohammed Kiggundu confessed that many of the staff problems Museveni had solved since the departure of Tanga were because of the Muasa-State House dialogue Kayihura brokered. As IGP, Kayihura always consulted the President before making any commitment to the very unpredictable Muasa bosses at Makerere. But his influence and interaction with Muasa professors started to gradually diminish after the Hon Janet Museveni became Minister of Education. It’s understood the new Minister got intelligence reports that some Professors were uncomfortable hence making it prudent for Kayihura to diminish his visibility at the campus. Over time Kayihura, who Museveni gave a lot of powers because he considered him extremely loyal, also developed feedback mechanism whereby the students and staff who appreciated his intervention always praised him before the President. Ex-Makerere deputy Guild President Lillian Aber, whom Kayihura wooed from FDC and directly connected to Museveni, was among those Makerere officials who always gave reliable positive feedback about Gen Kale. The other is ex-FDC MP Beatrice Anywar who incidentally happened to be Aber’s strong foe in the Kitgum FDC politics.
GALVANIZING PARLIAMENT:
Having known how powerful Parliament is, Gen Kayihura ensured he was on excellent terms with the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga. Those who know her well will tell you Kadaga never hesitates to defend and even praise those she treasures before the President or even the entire CEC. But for Kayihura it was more than CEC or Museveni. Parliament appropriates police budget including the supplementary which Kayihura often sought. Kadaga is deputized by Jacob Oulanyah whose Muyenga home (along Majid Musisi Close) neighbors Kayihura’s residence. More importantly Kadaga chairs the appointments committee of Parliament which always approved Kayihura’s new contract without incident. The Speaker always ensured rubble rousers like Mathias Mpuuga or even Francis Mwijukye didn’t cause chaos. To consolidate the relationship, Kayihura encouraged Kadaga to call and demand to use any of the police choppers whenever she wished. The fueling expense would be met by the Police. He also always ensured the police deployments especially during election time throughout Busoga sub region were made in consultation with Kadaga to ensure her interests were well protected. A DPC who Kadaga disliked wouldn’t survive long in Busoga or any other part of the country. This was clearly a symbiotic relationship beyond operations and work because the two shared contempt for JPAM. When Kadaga faced problems at the start of the 9th Parliament, thinking that Mbabazi who was PM was undermining and falsely accusing her to the President, Kayihura always used his proximity to the big man to detoxicate any malicious information about Kadaga. Police also had a lot of community policing outreach programs jointly executed in Busoga through the Speaker’s office. This meant Kadaga would be visible and increase her relevancy in the community without incurring any expense. The profile of police deployment at Parliament was also raised to Directorate headed by Kayihura’s blue eyed boy called Remmy Twino. Through Twino’s network, Kayihura always gathered intelligence around Parliament & if necessary acted on good time. Using Twino, Kayihura gave logistical support to many preferred Parliamentary candidates in 2016. Many of the ministers considered to be pro-JPAM were neutralized and didn’t return to Parliament. Twino, who has always worked well with Kadaga, oversaw this countrywide political operation. He also engaged opposition MPs and he was always the conduit through whom some of those MPs communicated to Gen Kale. Twino would sneak out for lunch at Golf Course opposite Fair way Hotel and it’s here that he would meet one of the aides from Kayihura’s office and pass on urgent confidential information about Parliament. Kayihura would then link up with the Speaker, Committee chairs or MPs concerned or their party whips. Through Twino, Kayihura would also give weekly fuel to some opposition MPs to run their constituency errands and that way many of them became less critical whenever Kayihura appeared before any committee. At best they absented themselves or remained silent throughout the debate. Kayihura had clearly mastered the Museveni practice whereby once given the job, the big man expects you to do your own PR to get the necessary public approval.
DEFENSE COMMITTEE:
The Defense and Internal Affairs committee of Parliament is one aspect Gen Kayihura managed very well. Gen KK neutralized it by ensuring his protégé Judith Nabakooba became its chair. Nabakooba always ensured that Semujju Nganda, Gilbert Oulanyah, Moses Kasibante and Muwanga Kivumbi didn’t make the IGP uncomfortable each time he came before them. Nabakooba, who was personally supported by IGP to become MP, is the one who recruited and neutralized the likes of Kato Lubwama who one time abused Muwanga Kivumbi for being hard on the IGP. In the last Parliament as the Mbabazi bid took shape, Museveni shifted focuss from KB to JPAM. This gave cover to Gen Kayihura to justify to the President the need to reach out to some of the pro-Besigye MPs like Semujju Nganda. Gen Kayihura rang Semujju suggesting VIP police deployment to secure his Kirinya residence but the militant from Lwengo-Bijabba declined (Semujju hadn’t yet become Chief Whip). But Kayihura had at least opened channels of communication. Through Gen Kayihura many FDC, UPC and DP MPs became hostile to their party headquarters having been put into direct communication with the H/E through the IGP. This is how the likes of Beatrice Anywar, Nabillah Nagayi and others became lukewarm. Betty Nambooze maintains that Gen Kayihura was the man through whom State House kept compromising DP leaders. Even in UPC, Kayihura is the man Museveni used to undermine legitimate President Otunnu in favor of sham Jimmy Akena. All these combined to make Kayihura a darling to Museveni because for him every assignment from the CiC had to be executed; the end always justified the means. The legality fell in place subsequently. Kale’s instructions would always be “arrest and find the enabling law later on.” There is this example commonly joked about in the internal circles of Kayihura’s aides. State House directed some young man had to be arrested and very urgently lest he fled the country. Museveni kept calling Kayihura: “Do you have him? Supposing he flees?” In that state of panic, Kayihura sent his squad at Serena hotel and they ended up arresting a wrong person.
Museveni was interested in this young man because he thought he had a lot of information regarding which government and military officials were clandestinely working with JPAM. It turned out the innocent victim was connected to the first family. “Sir it’s because we were working on your orders. We are sorry we didn’t want to disappoint you,” Kayihura reportedly explained when Museveni rung fuming about arresting the wrong person. But that scenario is indicative of how seriously and ruthlessly Kayihura took Museveni orders. In fact it’s understood that senior officers like Charles Kataratambi always opposed this approach and they always despised the end will justify the means approach. This professionalism of the Kataratambis was instead capitalized on by their internal foes within the Force to bad mouth them as anti-government. Being a lawyer and as SIU head, Kataratambi always objected to unlawful arrests and confinement of people but sycophants within Kayihura’s circles always dismissed him as being too legalistic and elitist. In the end he was sidelined and the justification to Museveni was that the man was a saboteur undermining the system from within. The decisiveness with which legalistic officers like Kataratambi were dealt with cowed others who would have respectfully stood up to Gen Kayihura. That is how sycophancy gradually took root in the Force. The likes of Grace Akullo were considered too principled for their insistence of certain procedural proprieties. In fact Akullo became sidelined and reported to the President several times in vain.
THE TECHNOCRATS:
Gen Kayihura, who also relied on the likes of Abdul Kitata and Godfrey Kirumira to deepen his influence in the business community, also didn’t spare the technocrats fraternity. He personally helped many when faced with problems. The example being Pius Bigirimana whose retention in the service he greatly supported after the OPM Kazinda scandal. Kayihura also helped such technocrats to have rapport and good relations with influential media personalities like Andrew Mwenda and Tamale Mirundi. He had his own way of working closely with people who were even enemies-take the example of Mwenda and Mirundi. They are very antagonistic yet they each excelled at doing his PR as IGP. The only very influential media guy he failed to get hold of at that level of seniority was Charles Rwomushana whom aides wrote off as slippery and very unpredictable. Bigirimana is a seasoned technocrat with influence on many others who relied on him to form opinion on Kayihura. Amongst Ministers (save for those blacklisted as Mbabazists), Gen Kayihura also had good rapport but would sometimes act very decisively in a manner that showed he was powerful and fearless. Take the example of Sam Kutesa: in the year 2010, there existed a plot to politically annihilate Sekikubo from Rwemiyaga in favor of Patrick Nkalubo. Museveni dispatched Kayihura and Wilson Mbadi who then was his ADC to go investigate reports Sekikubo had given him about rigging of NRM primaries. Kayihura’s report vindicated Sekikubo and left Sam Kutesa with an egg on his face. It was on the basis of his report, delivered to Sevo through Mbaddi, that Museveni rang the party EC directing the re-instatement of Sekikubo. Kutesa was very bitter and always looked forward to an opportunity to revenge. Undeterred, Kayihura antagonized SK more when he closely worked with lawyer Peter Kabatsi whose wife Joy was fighting with Kutesa-backed Anifa Kawooya. Kayihura also cultivated trust of ministers by always behaving very courteously towards them. One time a minister came late for dinner at State House and had nowhere to sit on the front seats. Kayihura gave up his seat for him and found somewhere to sit at the back.
SORTING OUT STATE H’SE:
Kayihura also knew guys who are very powerful and sought good relations with them especially in State House and in the President’s entourage. That is how he worked well with Maj Edith Nakalema who was defacto PPS for many years when Mary Amajo slept on the job. This meant there is no way negative petitions about him would reach the H/E without him knowing or using his own people to block it. He was also not corrupt (maybe he was too smart)-because at least we never had any situation in which he was directly implicated trying to use his coveted office to blackmail or extort cash from anyone. Maybe he had access to enough under the police classified expenditure. Kayihura also had misunderstandings with Jennifer Musisi but he was always sophisticated you couldn’t easily know about it. There is this episode that clearly betrayed his feud with Musisi who was then very powerful. It was decreed street vendors had to be evicted and police budget had just been depleted brining the youths off the Walk to Work protests. Kayihura’s DPCs in Kampala sought to engage in cost sharing with KCCA and a budget of Shs3bn was delivered to City Hall. On seeing it, Musisi hit the roof. She picked phone and rung State House and got instant meeting with Sevo. “Your excellence those guys aren’t being fair. They have their budget and they are asking me for Shs3bn. On which vote I’m I expected to raise that money?” she protested. Museveni, who had prior connived with Kayihura about Musisi’s concerns, sent for Gen Kale who was already waiting in one of the State House rooms. “This lady my daughter here is unhappy and she has something to say about your DPCs,” Museveni said as he asked Musisi to repeat the whole story. He asked her to leave and he remained behind with Gen Kale whereafter they agreed to carry on and ignore Musisi’s outbursts. By moving hard on Kabakumba Matsiko who was then considered to be a very powerful minister loyal to JPAM, Kayihura still demonstrated power and many more people came to fear him given the clout with which Kabakumba had always conducted herself. This related to the stealing of the UBC mast which was corroborated to Museveni as authentic in a subsequent police report. On knowing her goose had been cooked, Kabakumba drove to State House and demanded to meet Museveni. As she waited in the waiting lounge, Gen Kayihura came. She confronted him and hurled all manner of insults on him. But insisting that the flexibility of the chain was its strength, Kayihura remained silent through this provocation that was witnessed by other visitors who had come to see the President. Kabakumba’s insults, however, didn’t go unpunished because at the subsequent election (2016) she was ferried by city lawyer Patrick Kasumba who had always been a low profile NRM cadre. Today Kayihura-backed Kasumba is the MP Bujenje County as Kabakumba, who recently passed the LDC exams, grasses on the street. It’s also true Kabakumba was a good friend of Aronda, a man Kayihura considered a foe.
MANAGING THE CJ:
Last but not least was how Kayihura went about relating with the new CJ Bart Katureebe who he considered such a foe given the CJ’s renowned very high commitment to human rights which the Kayihura-led police always violated. Many in the JLOS circles feared Kayihura/police was always going to have a difficult relationship with the Judiciary under Katureebe but Kayihura de-escalated things by reaching out to Bart. He already had DCJ Steven Kavuma (who many times saved him by issuing face-saving court orders including one that shielded Kayihura against criminal trial at the Makindye court) but couldn’t take Katureebe for granted. And within a short time, Katureebe and Kayihura were talking regularly. CJ rang him directly each time he had a problem and the last we recall was in January 2018 when Katureebe got issues with his neighbors and called in the IGP. To his surprise, Kayihura left whatever he was doing and drove to the CJ’s Nakasero residence to assess the threat personally. “This is very important sir. I couldn’t delegate I had to come myself,” Kayihura announced as a dazed Katureebe ushered him to the balcony. To be continued! To comment on this & other Mulengera news stories, reach us on 0703164755!
