Opposition Chief Whip Semujju Nganda, who is also Kira Municipality MP, has said President Museveni might have satisfied his temporary anger by knifing IGP Gen Kale Kayihura but he will never find a perfect replacement for his extremely loyal servant from Kisoro. Renowned for his excellent analysis, Semujju told Capital Gang listeners Saturday morning that Kayihura effectively did political mobilization against Museveni’s political opponents while leading the Uganda Police Force at the same time. “I’m a victim. I suffered his wrath. He was deadly and when I had just joined politics, I almost failed because of Gen Kayihura. He went behind me and reached out to all my campaign agents and by the time I knew of it he had already rehabilitated them financially with all sorts of offers.
He was really very good at it. If it meant calling you to either threaten or sweet talk you, Kayihura knew how to do it and in many cases he succeeded getting weak-hearted opposition leaders to abandon or compromise the struggle,” Semujju said. “I really don’t see the guys who have replaced him be it Okoth Ochora or even Brig Sabiiti Muzeeyi doing that. However determined Sabiiti might be to emulate Kayihura, it will take him years to build the sort of political network Gen Kayihura had put in place.” He added that whereas he doesn’t know much about Brig Sabiiti’s mobilization capabilities, he knows a thing about the new Security Minister Gen Elly Tumwine. “He can’t achieve even a fraction of what Kayihura achieved regarding mobilizing support for Mr. Museveni.” Semujju said Tumwine is full of swag and likes the pomp of creating an impression that he is very close to the President and clearly lacks the political mobilization clout Kayihura possessed. Semujju maintained that Museveni was very much satisfied with Kayihura’s political performance and it’s very unlikely he fired him because of soaring crime rates. “I’m yet to be told by anybody but I just think Museveni felt threatened by Kayihura’s power base otherwise those two have always had a personal relationship. This is why when Kayihura moved to something else, that was the end of SPRS and the same happened to the office of Military Assistant. It has never been filled since Kayihura moved up,” Semujju said arguing he won’t be surprised if Museveni sidelines Police in the post-Kayihura era and revitalizes any of the other security agencies to do his political errands against his opponents.
Semujju said nobody should blame Kayihura for developing Presidential ambitions in case he possessed any “because once he uses you the way he used Gen Kayihura, Museveni will make you feel you are indeed the crown prince.” Semujju said this was the experience of Amama Mbabazi and even Gen James Kazini of the 1990s. “What is consistent is that Museveni will decisively crush that crown prince the moment he feels threatened and that is why I doubt if Kayihura will ever rise again if he indeed made Museveni feel threatened,” said Semujju who confessed being a victim of fake intelligence reports some of Kayihura’s assistants wrote for the President.
KATUNTU WEIGHS IN:
Semujju’s fellow panelist MP Abdul Katuntu, who is understood to have had a good relationship with the outgoing IGP, said it’s too early to write off Kayihura. “In agreement with Andrew Mwenda [whose Last Word column this week focused on Gen Kale], I believe this had to do with uneasiness with Rwanda but I’m certain that Gen Kayihura will bounce back in a very powerful role but it won’t be in military or security. It could be a civilian powerful position in government. You can be sure as day follows night that this is going to happen Gen Kayihura bouncing back and it will all depend on how fast relations normalize with Rwanda,” said Katuntu who seemed to have interacted with some well-connected people before coming for the show for which he arrived unusually late.
In agreement with Katuntu’s insight, some of the influential Museveni assistants we spoke to speculated that Gen Kayihura could bounce back as the Commissioner General URA or even Secretary General of the NRM party if not Prime Minister in the cabinet reshuffle Museveni is reliably understood to be finalizing. Ofwono Opondo wasn’t in the house but Moses Byaruhanga, who represented the government side, comfortably discussed Kayihura’s legacy saying he will be remembered as the IGP who tolerated mediocrity and impunity as epitomized by informal groups like Abdul Kitata’s Boda-Boda 2010. Byaruhanga called Kayihura’s tolerance of the Kitatas to a leader who “misfires while in office.” For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
