“I don’t think the US can risk engaging us in an offensive. The most they can do is just to impose sanctions and that is all” – Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho (Emmanuel Busingye – ‘CMI boss Kandiho brags about detaining US citizen’ 02.05.2021, Ekyooto.co.uk).
The Chief Commander of Chieftain of Military Intelligence (CMI) Abel Kandiho is now under fire, as his one man who is sanctioned by the United States Treasury. Maj. Gen. Kandiho was appointed to this position on January 2017. He has been ruthless as the leader of CMI and been unforgiving to anyone in his path.
Kandiho have followed orders, kidnapped and arrested people without any hesitation. While taking in Rwandese refugees and others too. He has even bragged about detaining a U.S. citizen during this calendar year. That’s the sort of fella he is.
As a leader of CMI his said to be uneducated and haven’t even finished P-7. The CMI is known for kidnappings, arrests, torture and murder of Ugandan citizens as well. The CMI isn’t a friendly security organization or a fair enterprise.
We also know that Kandiho have coordinated and worked with the RNC in Rwanda. He has supported and aided the guerrilla outfit, which works to overthrow the leadership of Kigali. The CMI have also supporter FDLR during his tenure. So, this man has no issues supporting militias and rebels who intends to overthrow a foreign power. That is all done on behalf of the State House and their intended missions.
Lt Isaac Rutagatina Sankara have written this about him: “Our P.7 graduate can’t even measure up to any responsibility. This has been clearly manifested in his methods of work and management style, that’s why he has even shied away from facing any committee in Parliament because he can’t even understand budgets and policies and this is an area where CMI should be having a big impact. On May 25th 2011 when US president Barrack Obama gave a keynote address to both houses of British Parliament gathered at Westminster Hall in his opening remarks he said that and I quote “Am told the last three speakers have been the Pope, Her Majesty the Queen and Nelson Mandela which is either a very bar or the beginning of the joke” Your Excellency the appointment of Maj. General Kandiho as the chief of military intelligence was a big blander and one of the biggest jokes in the intelligence circles” (Lt. Isaac Tutagatina Sankara – ‘#CMI_Files: The appointment of Maj Gen Abel Kandiho as the Chief of CMI and the implications of the appointment on both regional and nationa#cmi_files’ 19.09.2020, CMIFILES.Wordpress.com).
While on the other hand, there been reports, which was never verified that Rwandan government after the appointed of Kandiho as the CMI chief. They intended to send commandos to Kampala and assassinate him. He has worked in the early 2000s in Kigali, but he wasn’t a favoured character and maybe he earned his resentment for the Rwandese, because of his time there. However, that is mere speculations.
There also unverified information that the Maj. Gen. have been imprisoned twice. Some calling him a uneducated crook and a henchmen, who worked for gangsters in Kampala and pimps who sold prostitutes. However, that cannot be verified either. Nevertheless, if even a little of this is true. Than it says a lot about his character and how unfit he is for office. Neither educated and a thug who is just a brute without any concern for anyone else. Who just follows orders and directs his merciless attacks on civilians and dissidents of the state.
““According to analysts, this is another reason Rwandans are never tried in court. The charges against them will be bogus, and there will be no evidence to charge them in court. They will just torture them in CMI dungeons. Rwamucyo and Rutayisire would be transferred to CMI headquarters after some weeks in Mbarara, and by then the accusation had changed from “involvement in a robbery plot” to “illegal possession of weapons”. The same happened to Moses Ishimwe Rutare, a Rwandan businessman in Kampala who in December 2018 happened to step out of a church service to answer his phone. Unknowingly, he ambled next to the residence of Abel Kandiho where CMI men asked him to show his identity. When it was discovered he was a Rwandan they whisked him off to their torture chambers in Mbuya, accusing him of “espionage”” (Grace Kamugisha – ‘The strange case of arrests of ADEPR members in Uganda ‘ 05.08.2019, The New Times Rwanda).
In 2020, the Gahigi Safari wrote this story: “The movie was set in motion after Nyamwasa (who was scared that Rutabana was about to challenge him for RNC leadership) told his friend Kandiho in CMI to abduct Rutabana the next time he came to Uganda. Kandiho did. “Kandiho and Nyamwasa thought it would be just very easy to ‘disappear’ Rutabana – the way they normally kill people and no one asks,” a knowledgeable source said. “But with Rutabana they have run into a big problem. The wife and relatives have not stopped asking. The Western embassies (Rutabana has French nationality and Belgian residence), have not stopped asking. An American organisation has been investigating, and has released a damning report on both CMI and RNC’s Nyamwasa!” So now, CMI is deploying their tools of misinformation, to try to fool people. It will not work!” (Gahigi Safari – ‘Seruga lies. Kandiho, Nyamwasa better produce Rutabana’ 04.07.2020).
So, it is easy to find stories and tales of grievances against Maj. Gen. Kandiho. It is too easy actually and proves the reasons for the sanctions against him. I am sure there plenty of stories, which I could gloss over in a hot minute.
Just as this is just two court case shows the pattern of the CMI:
1st: “The grounds of this application are well laid out in the affidavit of Kenneth Munungu an Advocate but briefly they are that the applicant was arrested from Kampala in the morning on the 8th September, 2019 by plain clothed men who identified themselves as security operatives from CMI and ISO. Upon arrest, the applicant was taken to Mbuya Chieftaincy of Military Intelligent (CMI) headquarters and then transferred to the Internal Security Organization and back to CMI and thereafter his whereabouts became unknown. The applicant’s family members wrote letters to the French Embassy and to the Ministry of foreign Affairs in Uganda on the 28th October 2019, but to no avail. The applicant has spent 5 months in illegal detention, which unconscionably exceeds the constitutional limit of 48 hours and contravenes Article 23(4) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. The applicant has not been tried in any court of law and that it is in the interest of justice and fairness that the applicant be unconditionally released from detention since the government has failed to charge him before the courts of law” (Rutabana v Director General, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence & 5 Ors (Miscellaneous Cause 18 of 2020) [2020] UGHCCD 132 (05 March 2020), 05.03.2020).
2nd: “That on September 15 2018, the Applicant was arrested from his work place by intelligence officers (CMI) and detained at a safe house in Mbuya for more than a month, where he was kept and denied access to his family. That he was later informed that he would only be released once they got the information which they wanted from him. Instead the applicant was produced before Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court where he was charged with the offences of belonging to a terrorist organization c/s 11 (1) (a) and 11 (3) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2002; and Aiding and abetting or financing or harbouring acts of terrorism c/s 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2002. That he was committed for trial on the 31st May 2019. That the Applicant has patiently waited for the trial of his case to start since then in vain, and owing to the busy schedule of the court, he is not certain when his trial will commence. That all the offences charged against the applicant are bailable by this honorable court. That the applicant is presumed innocent until proved guilty and his continued detention is a violation of the same right. That the applicant has a fixed place of abode within the jurisdiction of this honorable court and shall not abscond when granted bail” (Ahamad Ssebuwufu v Uganda (HCT-OO-ICD-CM 21 of 2019) [2020] UGHICD 1 (08 January 2020); 08.01.2020).
So, the CMI Chief doesn’t have a clean record, but a big one. If the CMI had the systemic reports of all the hidden reports about the arrests, kidnappings and how they detain people. Alas, also how the torture and killing of civilians as well. This would show what sort of horrific character the CMI chief is. His record will be bloodstained for life. He does this as a service to the Republic and the ones who has given his this career.
Maj. Gen. Kahindo follows orders and command. He is vicious and bloodthirsty. We will know more about him with time. This is just what I could access today. However, there should be reports written about his mischief. The U.S. sanctions on him only proves what he has done and what his willing to do. Peace.
MinBane 