UGANDA: Why Dr. Kayiira was killed in 1987 & not during bush war

WHY UFM'S DR. KAYIIRA WAS KILLED IN 1987 AND NOT DURING THE BUSH WAR

CHANGE OF GUARDS - Dr. Andrew Kayiira was a prominent post Iddi Amin Muganda politician. He had been a Prisons Officer before he settled in the USA during the Iddi Amin era. He held a Masters and PhD in Criminal Justice and was an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. He briefly served in the short lived Yusuf Lule cabinet after the fall of Iddi Amin. In 1980 even before the allegedly rigged elections had taken place, he formed the UFM as a fighting group with bases in Buganda.

Kayiira's group attracted and continued to enlist former Iddi Amin soldiers who did not want to join Museveni's rebel group because as Minister of Defence he had been responsible for their gruesome mistreatment. That's how even the likes of Hussein Adda, Mark Kodil and other former soldiers including a known Rwandese refugee, Steven Ndugute alias Kalisoliso joined hands with UFM.

UFM's association with former Iddi Amin's soldiers helped attract the support of Libya's Gaddafi. It is their being based in Buganda that made Museveni uncomfortable. He knew that sooner or later, the UFM would join hands with the UFF of Yusuf Lule which was another rebel group with strong roots in the strategic central region of Buganda. Museveni moved very first and merged his PRA with Luke's UFF to form the NRA.

Museveni then embarked on sweet talking the UFM into a merger. They differed on strategy because UFM which had ready soldiers, arms and local Baganda backing was in favour of attacking Kampala to take over power. Museveni who was a stranger in Buganda and with fewer soldiers and arms opted for a protracted war. He wanted to buy time because of the wounds he had inflicted on Baganda during the Twagala Lule protests when he was the Minister of Defence in 1979. He also wanted to neutralize Dr. Kayiira's popularity in Buganda owing to his FEDERAL agenda. A series of meetings, directly and indirectly did not yield anything.

At one time, UFM agreed with the NRA that they were to carry out a joint attack on Lubiri Barracks in Kampala. However, at the last minute the NRA did not show up. The UFM went ahead and attacked and though the government had already been alerted and had shifted the armoury, they still managed to get a sizeable cache of arms. Unfortunately, they fell into the NRA ambush who took away all the arms. Negotiations to have the arms returned to UFM did not materialize. It is only a few of the UFM captives who were set free but others like Sonko Lutaaya remained with the NRA.

It was an open secret within UFM circles that the Museveni's NRA was spying on UFM. The NRA had successfully infiltrated the UFM for intelligence gathering which in turn wound indirectly end up in the hands of government. Libya had supplied the UFM with a lot of arms including support weapons and a SAM 7 missile launcher to shoot down Obote's plane. But within a few weeks of its delivery, the UFM camp in Mpigi was attacked prompting them to sink the missile into River Mayanja. Many of its top commanders and political backers like Capt. Hessein Adda, Mark Kodil, Prof. Kyesimira and many others were captured and arrested respectively.

Following intensified successful attacks against the UFM by government troops around September 1982, many fighters and supprters were captured leaving it in a very weak position. In 1983 Dr. Kayiira left for the USA. Though FEDEMO under Capt. George Nkwanga emerged as a splinter group of UFM, it did not make any impact on the ground. Museveni's NRA remained as the only comparatively formidable internal armed group since Moses Ali's UNRF was based in the far away West Nile region with bases in Sudan and Congo.

However, following the July 1985 overthrow of Obote by the Okello junta, the UFM and its splinter group of FEDEMO regrouped and joined the short lived Okello government. The UFM was controlling areas of Kabalagala, Gaba and Lake Victoria while FEDEMO controlled areas of Makindye. When Museveni's NRA took over in January 1986, two of UFM's top political heads, Dr. Kayiira and Sam Ssebagereka were included in the cabinet. UFM fighters were incorporated into the NRA but were subjected to gross mistreatment and suspicion.

Around November 1986, Dr. Kayiira, Evaristo Nyanzi and other prominent Buganda top politicians and former UFM fighters were accused of treason and incarcerated. Kasirye Gwanga and other Baganda army officers like Drago Nyanzi had betrayed them. In July 1987, court found them innocent and set them free. Two days later, unknown gunmen attacked and killed Dr. Kayiira at a friend's home in Kampala (BBC journalist Dr. Gombya now lives in UK).

It has never been clear as to who killed Dr. Kayiira. Gullible Ugandans blame Dr. Ssemogerere and Dr. BESIGYE who at that time had been holding the Ministry of Internal Affairs docket. Some 32 years later can any sensible Ugandan press the current figurehead Ministers of Internal Affairs, Jeje Odong and Obiga Kania to account for the ongoing killings in the country!!!!

Under Museveni, Ministers are monumental while the heads of intelligence services are the movers. Unlike during the Bush War period, by the time Kayiira was killed in 1987, Museveni had neutralized his fighters, potential recruiting avenues, and consolidated power.  Kayiira's death marked the end of Buganda's option of using military means to pursue its interests. Had the "unknown gunmen" killed Dr. Kayiira during the Bush War, Museveni would have lost out on the then strategic support of the Baganda.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENSM