UGANDA: Museveni's armed kidnappers - are they soldiers? (PHOTOS)

MUSEVENI'S FIVE ARMED KIDNAPPERS - ARE THEY SOLDIERS?

October 18, 2018 Thursday's gruesome incident in the city centre where five plain clothed and heavily armed men brutally beat up before kidnapping a one Yusuf Kawooya who is a top political activist of the youth wing (UYD) of the opposition DP is taking a new twist. Initially both the army and the police denied the involvement of their respective personnel. Police's Emiliano Kayima said;
"No, they are not Police Officers and we are looking for them."
Then the army's Col. Del Akiiki also denied the army's involvement but said efforts had been underway to unearth the perpetrators thus;
"We are following up that incident as security agencies."

The following day, on Friday the same army came out to claim that the perpetrators were its own men before issuing out an apology for their conduct. On the same day the same men were produced before the Unit Disciplinary Committee (UDC) of CMI where the committee Chairman was seen telling them that they had "executed an operation without following the standard operation procedure (SOP). They were charged with conduct prejudicial to good order contrary to provision of the UPDF Act. The charge carries a maximum sentence of dismissal from the army. Interestingly, the accused pleaded guilty and were convicted and in their mitigation, they said:
"....we went for an operation on 19th October, 2018, we got a suspect though he was violent and we mishandled him. Yes, we were working under instructions."

The UDC did not pass sentence because it has to consult Museveni first. Also, this was not a court trial but a move meant to hoodwink the irritated public. Suspiciously, the full identities of the accused; service number, mother unit, rank, names in full, age, etc were not disclosed. It is only the vague information that "they are Cpl. Ssenkunga Dan, Rwamwenge Moses, and Omara." Who are the other two? It is a practice for any soldier who appears before a military court to be dressed in army uniform. Even the uninformed ISO operatives when appearing before a military court are dressed in army uniform.  It is only the rebellious Gen. Ssejusa who appeared before the Court Martial in civilian clothes simply because he claims to have left the army.

Why are these five accused not dressed in military uniform? Even when a soldier is arrested without putting on military uniform, he is made to dress in one even if it is oversize before he appears before any military tribunal. Gen. Kalekyezi's recent shabbily dressed court appearance is a classic example. Their body language and tone before the UDC suggest either half baked soldiers or members of the police or any other paramilitary group.

The little known CMI's Col. Tom Kabuye who chaired the disciplinary committee is a veteran of the Luwero Bush War. He was seriously wounded and remained with a paralysed right hand and leg. For some years he was the Intelligence Officer for the army General Headquarters until in the early 1990s when he was involved in abuse of office by way of aiding 'supply of air' together with among others now Brig. Sam Nakuru who had been the Administrative Officer. The matter was swept under the carpet and then Capt. Tom Kabuye was grounded at the then DMI headquarters. His being married to a Munyarwanda Nurse who worked in the military hospital caused him a lot of trouble during the reign of Gen. Tumukunde as CMI. Since Baganda have no top space in Museveni's intelligence machinery, since then he has continued to linger around CMI without being involved in mainstream intelligence handling but simple administrative functions of support staff. He is only being dragged into presiding over this particular illegal and repressive act by the so called UDC.

Actually, CMI being a mere department of the army under General Headquarters, it can not constitute a UDC. Even its own personnel have always been taken before the UDC of the army General Headquarters (GHQS). The case in point is of a one Capt. Godfrey Barigye of CMI who was recently charged before the GHQS UDC for theft of gold before the matter was referred to the General Court Martial. This is the second time that CMI was convening a UDC and the move is designed to cover-up some mischief.

Museveni's so called CMI UDC was born around December 2017 when it summarily convicted six junior officers from different army units including the SFC which has its own UDC; for leaking classified information and they were sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. They had been accused of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. It was alleged that they had used social media to download and share classified military documents referred to as General Administrative Order (GAO) that contained instructions and names of promoted officers. Being the lowest level of military tribunal, the UDC is mandated to try personnel who belong to that particular mother Unit. For some reason the six officers were irregularly tried by the UDC of CMI instead of their mother units and more so from where the alleged crime was committed.

A precedent was set and now these 5 brutal strangers are appearing before the UDC just to hoodwink the public. The offence of conduct prejudicial to good order applies to minor service offences and misconduct that can be addressed administratively. For armed men who brutally torture, attempt to kill and eventually kidnap a civilian from the city centre in broad daylight; to be arraigned before a disciplinary committee is simply playing on the intelligence of Ugandans. Is the UDC a military court martial? Does it have jurisdiction to try capital offences like attempted murder, torture and kidnap? These accused were instructed to plead guilty in return for a lighter sentence and don't be surprised if they are given a few months imprisonment. That way the army intended to avoid a full trial that would disclose the real identities of the accused, the mission they had been assigned and by who, the reason for torturing and kidnapping the victim and the reason behind etc.

One of the kidnappers held a Macro Garil assault riffle which is a preserve of Museveni's special units like SFC and other killer squads. There is a concerted effort to conceal some vital information while at the same time face lifting the regime. Before that doze sends you into the usual sleep, Ugandans should at least demand for Yusuf Kawooya to be produced before court. Please, Counsel Nicholas Opio and all those who care, let us not be derailed by Museveni's UDC gymnastics but focus of timely securing the victim, Yusuf Kawooya.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM
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