By Mulengera Reporters
A video has gone viral depicting former Director General of Uganda’s External Security Organization (ESO) David Pulkol rebuking and shutting up veteran Kampala journalist Andrew Mujuni Mwenda. The same has continued to dominate discussions on social media going into the weekend. It’s based on what transpired during the Gulu engagement President Museveni’s brother Gen Salim Saleh had with a group of ambassadors and diplomats from the European Union countries.
While in rapidly-urbanizing Gulu, a Ugandan region where the EU supports many post-conflict recovery programmes and interventions, the diplomats protested to Gen Salim (Uganda’s second most powerful man) and revealed their fear and discomfort over the attacks Gen Museveni’s son, the CDF, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has been directing at them. The President’s son recently issued a threat to the EU diplomats vowing to sanction each one of them individually after they travelled to NUP and had meetings with key opposition politician Bobi Wine Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Among other things, the diplomats discussed with Mr. Wine was the torture his bodyguard Eddie Mutwe Sebuwufu endured while being confined at what the CDF confessed was his basement. The diplomats characteristically warned of dire consequences if that type of behavior continues unabated. Yet, instead of being repentant, Gen MK merely issued threats besides the contempt he had registered earlier on-for he has distinguished himself to be the army commander of Uganda who takes no prisoners.
As of now, Eddie Mutwe continues agonizing with torture wounds and the last time he appeared in court, he secured permission from the Judge and struggled to utter out what some have since described as his dying declaration. While struggling to talk, a ceaselessly shivering Mutwe told the Judge he hadn’t been permitted to access any medication beyond mere pain killers.
He requested the government to cut off his hands to relieve the pain he said he was in-claiming he was electrocuted. He proclaimed how his death was imminent unless he is allowed to access appropriate medication beyond what the prison health facility in Masaka can and has offered him thus far. He said taking pain killers 9 times a day hadn’t diminished his pain deriving from torture wounds. As all this is happening, everyone else is quiet.
Parliament, which Justice & Constitutional Affairs Norbert Mao had earlier on demanded to inquire into Gen MK’s conduct, is quiet and every MP that tries to demand debate on the same is shut up by the Speaker. Whereas Mao says Ministers are concerned about MK’s larger than life character and the matter has previously been discussed in Cabinet, Gen Museveni (MK’s father) has so far been conspicuously silent. Yet many Ugandan leaders are very calculative opportunists who can only pronounce themselves after knowing where Gen Museveni stands on his son’s endless tweeting.
It’s this uncertainty that the EU diplomats brought to Saleh’s attention while demanding assurances they won’t be harmed as a result of the threats Gen MK has publicly issued against them merely because they had audience with Mr. Wine. Led by the Ambassador of Germany (a country General Museveni loves very much and has a lot of history with including his only sister Violet being married there), the diplomats told Saleh and others present that this was unacceptable and there was need to resolve the MK menace once and for all. They seemed to wonder why Gen MK had to declare all these hostilities against them.
Before Gen Saleh could even answer, Andrew Mwenda, a self-professed GoU spokesman, blew up asking the EU diplomats to mind their business and let Uganda be. Impliedly calling this unacceptable imperialism and failure to respect Uganda’s sovereignty, Mwenda asked whether a German Ambassador in say Washington or New York at the UN would ever make such crude demands on the US government.
This was in total contrast with the day’s principal host Gen Saleh who was respectful, accommodative, calm and willing to listen while speaking very little. He was also de-escalatory unlike Mwenda’s rhetoric which was clearly escalatory. With their gloves clearly off, the EU Ambassadors and diplomats vigorously pushed back against Andrew Mwenda and a heckling session of some sort ensued.
It was that point that ex-chief spy David Pulkol, currently serving as Gen Saleh’s Principal Technical Advisor, acted like the adult in the room, which he indeed was. He directly contradicted and rebuked Mwenda. Pulkol, whose maturity has since won kudos of thousands of Ugandans on social media, came between Mwenda and the EU diplomats who were heckling and screaming at him.
As Gen Saleh, seemingly relieved, looked on, Pulkol told Mwenda the people of Uganda had no business normalizing and accepting torture by people in authority merely because European meddling and paternalism is bad. Pulkol made it clear people in Uganda’s authority positions can’t go around torturing citizens and resort to anti-imperialism rhetoric when called to account. As he spoke, Gen Saleh (who sat a few inches away) seemed relieved and nodded in approval.
Later on Saleh rendered an apology on MK’s behalf before making it clear things had become so unpredictable even himself, even when prepared to tame Gen MK, couldn’t tell or predict what his nephew would be tweeting next. Gen Saleh offered to apologize on Gen MK’s behalf and also told the EU delegation his own brother-in-law Hilmar Froelich, who marries his sister Violet Kajubiri, had previously been reaching out to him complaining about MK’s growing unpredictability and unrestrained use of social media.
PULKOL UNREPENTANT
In a phone interview on Friday, Pulkol told Mulengera News that he acted the way he did because, as his principal technical advisor, he felt duty bound to call out and shut up Andrew Mwenda over his unbecoming conduct during the Gulu meeting.
Pulkol said he doesn’t regret rebuking Mwenda the way he did because he is in place to shield his Principal Gen Saleh against such potentially very embarrassing situations.
Pulkol made it clear he wouldn’t hesitate acting in the same way and rebuking Mwenda even more going forward if the same was replicated some day in future and the situation warranted his intervention. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
