UGANDA: WHEN DID MUSEVENI LOSE HIS SENSE OF SHAME?

 

By CHANGE OF GUARDS

There is a lot of talk that Museveni and his regime have lost any sense of shame and are doing anything to retain their hold on power. I beg to disagree on grounds that Museveni has not just lost his sense of shame but has never had any. If he had any sense of shame, we wouldn't be where we are as a country. What is happening now is not new but just an accumulation of what he has always been doing. To refresh your mind, just take a flashback at just one incident in February 2001 that involved a one Maj. (Rtd) Okwir Rabwoni.

It's February 20, 2001 and Presidential candidate Col. (Rtd) Dr. Besigye is set to fly from Entebbe Airport to the West Nile Region for campaigns. Among his team is Maj. (Rtd) Okwir Rabwoni who by virtue of his position as Secretary for Mobilisation was also a member of the Elect Kizza Besigye Task Force (EKBTF). Dr. Besigye's presidential bid had overtly attracted a number of retired security personnel while those in active service covertly offered their support. Museveni could not tolerate that development but more so the fact that Maj. Okwir was a young brother of the then Museveni's Chief of Military Intelligence, Col. Noble Mayombo. They had together joined Museveni's NRA around late 1985 and served in the Political Education and Military Intelligence respectively as junior officers. When the Rwandans in the NRA invaded Rwanda on October 1, 1990, then Sgt. Okwir Rabwoni was among the few Ugandans who voluntarily went with them. In 1997 he returned to Uganda at the rank of Major and was not charged with desertion but instead went straight into retirement.

Museveni hacked a plot to forcefully delink Maj. Okwir from Dr. Besigye's presidential bid. On the fateful day, Museveni's squad of heavily armed soldiers under the command of Moses Rwakitarate stormed the airport's VIP lounge and attempted to forcefully take away Maj. Okwir. Dr. Besigye and his team put up a spirited physical fight that sent the security squad into disarray. The episode was witnessed by the then Ambassador of Norway and the then Secretary General of the East African Community. The then Head of JATT, Kayanja Muhanga (brother to Andrew Mwenda) appeared with reinforcements and the fight resumed. Gen. Ssejusa who had now rushed to Noble Mayombo's office at CMI rang Kayanja and issued the following instructions;
"Kayanja; just tie up Besigye and bundle him on the Pick Up truck."

The team was overpowered and the four and a half ordeal ended with Maj. Okwir being brutally taken away. Bundled on the back of the Pick Up truck and soldiers stepping on him, he was driven straight to CMI headquarters at Kitante Courts.

At CMI, he was interrogated by a squad of seven officers over links with Dr. Besigye before being presented to Gen. Ssejusa and Mayombo for final polishing. The following day, he was presented to the press and made to read a statement that Dr. Besigye had plotted to kill him, denouncing any association with Dr. Besigye and that he had not been tortured in any way. He was not allowed to take any questions from Journalists. Later, Museveni gave a national address in which he said that Maj. Okwir had been rescued from the opposition that had plotted to abduct him and do harm on him. Next he was on a plane to the UK where the regime claimed he was having a rest but only to spend years before he returned several years later to attend the burial of his brother, Brig. Mayombo. Since then, he has kept a low profile.

If it could happen to the brother of the CMI with full approval of the latter, what about the ordinary person!!!

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM