UGANDA: THE DARK SIDE OF KIRUNDA KIVEJINJA

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By CHANGE OF GUARDS

Museveni's 2nd Deputy Prime Minister, Hajji Kirunda Kivejinja passed on two days ago. He was eulogized by different individuals as a patriot and a nationalist. Obviously, those attributes are dependant on which angle one looks at his track record and more so from the African norm of not talking ill of the dead. However, those who volunteer to put their service to the public ought to be ready for public scrutiny. The veil covering their misdeeds ought to be lifted so that their dark side is made to follow them to the grave if impunity is to be tackled head on.

Here-below, we narrate what makes Kirunda Kivenjinja a 'patriot and superb mobilizer';

His historical association with the NRM that dates to 1981 doesn't resonate with the total absence of his Basoga people in Museveni's 1981 - 85 Bush War.

While he was Museveni's Minister of Works and Transport in 1999, he stole 2,000 litres of fuel from the Uganda Railways Corporation for his personal use. When he discovered that Parliament was closing in on him with a censure motion, he resigned and the matter was swept under the carpet. In 2003 Museveni reappointed him to the Cabinet as the Minister In charge of the Presidency. Since then he has held several cabinet positions.

In 2006 the High Court nullified his election as M.P for Bugwere Constituency in Busoga sub-region. The nullification followed a successful petition by Hon. Abdu Katuntu whom he had brutally rigged out. During the hearing, court heard that Kivenjinja had super extended a campaign of terror against his opponent during the electoral process.

He had personally taken command of violent squads led by army officers like Maj. Kiswiriri, Lt. Mulindwa, Kirya and others to led armed violent squads that arrested, tortured and intimidated the supporters of his opponent, Abdu Katuntu. The violent militant squads would get drills at the home of his brother, Yusuf Igandi before being transported in two government vehicles to unleash mayhem across the Constituency. He would arrest torture and detain the supporters, campaign agents and polling agents of his opponent at his residence before he would later dump them at police stations from where they would be released without charges after the polls. In the same vein, he would intimidate the presiding officers. Court learnt that the Electoral Commission had acknowledged that Bugwere Constituency had been the most violent during the electoral process. Court nullified this election and since then he never sought for any elective position.

Despite his top positions in the Museveni regime, he did nothing to address the persecution of Muslims let alone relieving the plight of his fellow Basoga whose poverty level is the most alarming in the country. He presided over a system that deliberately oversaw the decimation of Busoga's economic potential which had since independence been Uganda's industrial heart. Instead, he secured enough for his family and close relatives with his young brother Kibedi Muzamir being appointed Justice of the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court.

RIP Hajji.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM