UGANDA: COL. KAKA'S SACKING IS LINKED TO GEN. TUMUKUNDE'S PRESIDENTIAL BID (photos)

 

By CHANGE OF GUARDS

Museveni has sacked his Internal Security Organization (ISO) chief, Col. Kaka Bagyenda together with his deputy, Col. Don Mugimba. Col. Kaka who had fought Museveni's Bush War had retired in 1993 at the rank of Major. Museveni handpicked him in January 2017 to take up the position of Director General of Internal Security (DG/ISO). Museveni went ahead to promote Bagyendam to the rank of Colonel and it is not clear if the latter had rejoined active military service. He replaced Brig. Rony Balya who was sacked simply because he had 'incited violence.' His August 2018 fifty page missive had publicly conceded that; 

"pervasive graft involving bureaucrats coupled by deteriorating public service delivery are a security threat. Corruption can lead to loss of legitimacy and trust in government and because of corruption, disenchanted citizens can resort to mass demonstrations, violence and mob justice in some countries; governments have collapsed because of this."

Kaka took office at the time Gen. Tumukunde was the Minister of Security and structurally, ISO would ordinarily fall under Tumukunde's ministry. In his militarisation of security management, Museveni was relying more on Military Intelligence and the Police. The Police was under Gen. Kalekyezi while Military Intelligence was under then Col. Abel Kandiho. The control of the huge security budget, power and influence was undermining the working relationship of the three security outfits and the Minister of Security. Museveni was enjoying this lack of cohesion within the intelligence community since they could not conspire to overthrow him. Accusations, counter-accusations and backstabbing characterised their operational relationship. The souring relationship took a different twist with the emergence of Museveni's support for Rwandan dissidents. While CMI took the lead in aiding the Rwandan dissidents, Rwanda relied on Police's Gen. Kalekyezi not only to monitor but to foil the mischief being plotted by Kampala. Behind the scenes, the Minister of Security, Gen. Tumukunde threw his weight behind CMI in fighting the influence of Gen. Kalekyezi and his Police. In December 2017, the police intercepted 40 recruits of the dissident RNC at the Uganda - Tanzania border as they headed for the training camps in Congo via Burundi. They had been mobilised and facilitated by CMI. The embarrassingly high profile diplomatic scandal rubbed Museveni the wrong way and in March 2018, he sacked both Gen. Kalekyezi and Gen. Tumukunde. 

In March 2020, Gen. Tumukunde declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2021 and in a turn of events he called upon Rwanda to support whoever was bent on dislodging Museveni from power. Museveni treated Tumukunde's strategic appeal with the seriousness it deserved by having the latter arrested, indicted and detained. Since then, Gen. Tumukunde, who has adopted clandestine mobilisation for his presidential campaign has been accused of clandestinely mobilising army veterans and was in August briefly detained in Buikwe over the same. Having been the head of ISO and CMI in the past Tumukunde still wields a lot of influence and has a wide network within the intelligence community. Col. Kaka's equally sacked deputy, Col. Don Mugimba was among the very few most senior members of ISO who has been with it ever since its inception 34 years ago. His closeness to Gen. Tumukunde can't be doubted. 

Forget about the alleged mismanagement of ISO, human rights abuses and abuse of office that have dominated the public domain as to the possible cause of Kaka's sacking. On the contrary, all those alleged vices were favoured by Museveni. Ugandans seem to have learnt nothing from the earlier sacking of Gen. Kalekyezi and the sham criminal charges that were preferred against him. In the instant case, Museveni's main target may have even been Col. Don Mugimba. Otherwise, the sacking is linked to Gen. Tumukunde's presidential bid and in the same regard we are yet to witness more reshuffles in the security sector. 

Watch the space.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM