UGANDA: FOCUS ON MUSEVENI'S ARMED PLAIN CLOTHED STREET GANGSTERS

 NOTE from the Editor - This post likely has some minor errors which we will fix after the Corona Pandemic. Come on, we are low staffed and broke. MARTHA LEAH NANGALAMA (editor / publisher). 

By CHANGE OF GUARDS

There is renewed debate in Uganda over the phenomena of gun wielding plain clothed security personnel who surface on the streets to unleash terror. The renewal of the debate has been prompted by the recent incident of protests where these gangsters were shooting directly into the crowds when 53 people were killed on the spot. The regime has shamelessly owned up these men and the notorious Minister of Security, Gen. Tumwine said; 

"About why there were people looking like civilians with guns, when you want to catch a thief, you behave like a thief, because all those are tactics." 

In his address, Museveni deliberately avoided any commenting on the sane development. 

The phenomena of Museveni's armed plain clothed gangs dates to the Iddi Amin era when he used to send them to carry out kidnaps, forced disappearances and killings in order to discredit the then regime. At one time they were cornered in the eastern region town of Mbale where some of them were killed while Museveni survived by a whisker. He shot at his pursuers with a pistol before disappearing into the forest. After the fall of the Iddi Amin regime, the UNLF era was characterised by mysterious killings and kidnappings by unidentified armed men escalated where prominent people in Kampala were targeted. Throughout his five year Bush War, squads of armed plain clothed dubbed Clandestine Operatives and the Namugongo based urban hit squad dubbed Black Bomber under the command of Matayo Kyaligonza who unleashed terror on Kampala. 

After coming into power in 1986, his armed plain clothed street gangs became formalised and adopted use of numberless vehicles and tinted cars with fake number plates. The ugly scenarios became more pronounced after the 2001 sham general elections when Safe Houses (secret torture Chambers) were introduced. His CMI (Military Intelligence) took the lead in kidnappings and killings. The notorious army led Operation Wembley that was renamed Violent Crime Crack Unit VCCU would kidnap and kill in broad daylight. The Kalangala Action Plan (KAP) of Maj. Kakooza Mutale would kidnap and torture at it's headquarters in Sure House on Bombo Road. In Gulu, the Popular Intelligence Network (PIN) would kidnap and kill at will. SFC's Counter Intelligence unit dubbed State House intelligence based at Okello House did the same and is still in existence. The internal Security Organization (ISO) contributed too under the umbrella of the so-called Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force (JATTF). 

A company, Silver Shadow run by two Israelite arms dealers Amos Golan and Barac trained a commando squad for CMI that was known as Warriors. The same company went ahead to supply CMI handcuffs, pistols and Macro galil assault riffles. n a consignment that was delivered by Ethiopian Airlines. The Warriors made their first public appearance during the raid on the High Court to reverse a court order but owing to their black T-shirts, the public renamed them the Black Mambas. After completing the privatisation process of his police force, Museveni embarked on a proliferation of the so-called special operation squads. The plain-clothed Flying Squad, Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the CID, Counter Terrorism Unit, Crime Intelligence Unit, Crime Preventers, Special Police Constables, Kiboko Squad, Kifeesi and most recently the LDUs all Carry out kidnappings and killings. 

All such gangsters have been well documented by local press and international human rights organizations. They have been publicly condemned and subjected to parliamentary scrutiny but the unmoved Museveni regime has instead escalated the phenomena. The other day when photos of gun wielding men donned in Museveni NRM party uniform went viral, the Police claimed that they were toy guns. Therefore, the recent ugly scenes of armed plain clothed security operatives shooting people in Kampala was just a continuation of the over four decades of Museveni's model of security management. They play the role of the infamous puppies that George Orwell's Animal Farm. Napoleon took them away from their mothers at a tender age and kept them in isolation from the rest of the animals on the farm. After training them into his strong private army, he first unleashed them on Snowball who was challenging his authority. From then on, these dogs have been armed and the bodyguards of the pigs and would threaten and intimidation other animals to make sure that the pigs get their way. By depiction, these dogs are the authoritarian Stalin's notorious secret police, the NKVD that helped him round during the infamous purge to round up everyone who was perceived as a threat to his power and thus keeping him in power. 

The only difference is that this time round, their operations have been synchronized under the coordination of his son Gen, Muhoozi who is his Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations. 

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM