UPDF Press Statement on Boda Boda 2010 (29.01.2018)

UPDF: “Arrest of Murder Suspects” (21.01.2018)

Opinion: Should we be worried about the power-struggle between IGP Kayihura and CMI’s Gen. Tumukunde?

We can think of the recent days as a visible power struggle between two loyalist to the Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. This weekend has filled with stories and captures of the men and woman behind the Boda Boda 2010 syndicate. A Syndicate and organization who has followed orders of the Inspector General of Police Edward Kale Kayihura. He has supported them and used their services. That is why the leadership of Abdallah Kitatta felt safe, not only as a NRM Chairman of the Lubaga (Rubaga) Division in Kampala. So he had connections to power.

Still that power was not enough the visible actions, the violence it followed has been questioned and people have struggled to believe the reason for having outlaws running the law. That was sanctioned from the IGP. Now, this weekend its enough for some reason. Chief of Military Intelligence and General Henry Tumukunde have now gone in and settled the case with the Boda Boda 2010. Kiatta has even been interviewed after the arrest by Intelligence Security Organization (ISO), therefore, the organization supported by Kayihura is now publicly dismantled.

If this is sanctioned by the State House, then Kayihura should really worry. As well as all the men and woman who is Crime Preventers too. They might be the next group that the state is dismantling through arrests and investigations. Because, this has all been useful tools of the Police Force to quell demonstrations and rallies. Both, has been used for that and the NRM could need to save the costs of having them. Instead of using political means, they could use CMI and ISO to silence them.

Gen. Tumukunde are now using his power to silence the extra organizations of Kayihura. This is happening in broad daylight and Kayihura cannot do anything about it. The men and woman of Boda Boda 2010 that has been used to enforce orders from Kayihura is now going away. We can just wonder if the CMI or the Police Force who knows who really killed Andrew Kaweesi or the one behind the murders of innocent woman in Entebbe last year. Since none of the murders has been solved, they are just a left stain on the Security Forces.

We know now that Boda Boda 2010 has killed for cars and equipment by the released information during this week. Who know what else crimes that has been sanctioned by this criminal syndicate. It is far from criminals to police officers, that is maybe a reason why the courts are extra botched. They cannot see the difference between criminals and the police. That isn’t a sign of hope or of peaceful society. That is destroyed security organization, that has to use military enforcement to stop criminals.

Gen. Tumukunde might win support over this and also shows his strength towards a man he despises. That is known and there been criticism of each other in public, with spats in the papers and even on TV between the men. It is well-known. These men has disputed and also questioned each others methods. Tumukunde is using his good standing with Sarah Kagingo, the NRM spokesperson of some sort, who owns the Soft Power Communications LLC and the Softpower.ug, to spread the positive message of the arrests and actions of Tumukunde. Just check the track-record, the friendliness of Softpower to it all is staggering.

We can know that these sort of stories will make the actions of Tumukunde sound like masterpieces of intelligence, even if the CMI and ISO are doing this as retribution for something Kayihura has either said or done. Because the Boda Boda 2010 was not an for Tumukunde in 2016 or 2017. But suddenly became so in 2018. We know that this is a sign of power-struggle between the two leaders under Museveni.

We will follow this and we should worry if this escalates, if Kayihura will try to take allies and leaders close to Tumukunde for something criminal. Even establish sort of monitoring over his men like he did to Besigye. We never know. Kayihura is surely blocked and under fire. As his supportive group has been taken down by the military and their operatives. Peace.

Issa Arinaitwe Furaha letter to President Museveni – “Re: Threats on My Life by Gen. Kale Kayihura and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame through Rwanda Inteligence Operatives and their Embassy in Uganda because of my Exposure of their Deadly Actions against You, Ugandans and Rwandan Refugees (04.01.2018)

What do Mobutu and Museveni have in common after thirty years in power? Massive looting of their state reserves!

“Museveni: My critics always forget to mention that I was democratically elected, the others were not. Everyone in Uganda can challenge me, everyone can vote, the elections are free. Not many countries have achieved what we did. One third of the seats in parliament are reserved for women, five seats for youth, five for workers, five for the disabled and 10 for the army. How many democracies with such a record do you know?” (Koelbl & Puhl, 2016).

Just as the knowledge of the all the state businesses and properties of President Museveni that he has amassed over the 31 years in power in Uganda. It reminds more and more of the state of affairs under President Mobutu. Mobutu Sese Seko was a dictator that President Museveni was proud to ouster and reinstate President Laurent Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). So that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni knows about Mobutu’s fatal fall, is certainly known.

President Museveni has gotten rid of other dictators before the fall of Mobutu, he even knew or had knowledge of the death of the plane of Juvenal Habyarimana, the plane who got shot down in April 1994, as his fellow comrade General Paul Kagame of Rwandan Patriotic Front was on the way to overthrow the current regime there. Also that the President Museveni together with President Milton Obote overthrew President Idi Amin in the late 1970s. So the current President Museveni has been involved in lots of armed change of power, he is even rumored and not verified if he had knowledge of the death of John Garang of SPLA and the South Sudan.

Still, the man who has used force and taken weapons to change history and his own fate, again and again, also to get puppets in states around. Have certainly thought of the demise of the men he got rid off. So when the stories of the last year of Mobutu sounds like this:

Mobutu’s Wealth:

“For 32 years President Mobutu has treated Zaire like a toy and used its rich mineral reserves like his own private bank account. He plundered its mines, insisting their entire annual profits be transferred to personal accounts overseas” (…) ““We had to be close to the regime to do business,” admitted Mohammed Abdul, a Lebanese businessman yesterday as he fortified his shop for an expected pre-Kabila pillage by Zaire’s ruthless and brutal army. The Lebanese are hated by Zaireans who believe they colluded with President Mobutu to plunder the country’s diamonds” (Kinshasa, 1997).

Swiss assets:

“The decision by the Swiss Federal Council came a day after judicial and police authorities seized his luxurious villa at Savigny near the lakeside resort of Lausanne. The 30-room mansion is estimated to have a market value of more than $5 million” (…) “After three decades of plundering the mineral wealth of his country, Mobutu is believed to have accumulated an enormous fortune. There have been persistent reports that he has stashed as much as $4 billion in Switzerland, but a government review of the country’s 400 banks last week said that none reported having accounts in his name” (Drozdiak, 1997).

Just as you think the dictator of Democratic Republic of Congo would be different than the current one in Uganda, your terribly wrong and President Museveni tries to keep it hidden, the way he is using the state reserves on himself and build his wealth. Just like President Mobutu was trying to move the money to the Swiss accounts, President Museveni has his own way.

A look into Museveni:

“The way the Museveni family is paid royalties, or rent, by escrow accounts for their ownership of the title deeds of the Stanbic Bank business name in Uganda (what was once the Uganda Commercial Bank, Uganda’s largest banking group) is the way it is paid for their ownership of other apparently South African or foreign-owned businesses in Uganda” (…) “These sources say that it is Stanbic Bank that is used to finance businesses like Roofings Ltd, Speke Resort Munyonyo, the J&M Hotel along the Kampala-Entebbe highway, businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba’s hotel and Kampala International University, all of which actually belong to the Museveni family” (The London Evening Post, 2012).

This is just the business side of it, it could be worse by now and they could own more pieces of all the businesses that are bailed out or even getting tax breaks by the government, because who knows the true deeds or royalties going to accounts owned by the royal Ugandan Museveni family. So the next says more about the value of the Museveni family and their estates.

“Museveni’s wealth includes ranches in Rwakitura and Kisozi Uganda which accommodates over 2,000 healthy cows which produce thousands of liters of milk daily. The Uganda president makes at least Ush 100 million per month from his farm” (…) “Apart from livestock farming, Museveni has interests in real estate, hotel industry as well as transport industry. He has also invested heavily in the banking industry” (…) “The longest serving president of Uganda is estimated to be worth $ 700 million” (Venasnews, 2016).

So when you see how the Museveni family has become as wealth and rich as President Mobutu did. Mobutu had after his 30 years of dictatorship stashed away US$ 4 Billion into Swiss Bank Accounts, what is more uncertain is the total value of the 30 years President Museveni rule in Uganda. What is right now and known is the businesses that the President is involved in or having ownership in. Secondly is the knowledge of estates, as well as ranches in Uganda with livestock that the President owns. Therefore, the extended wealth of secret bank accounts and not revealed businesses could show the true value of the Museveni family.

With the knowledge of this and the sudden departure that President Museveni together with President Kagame, as they forced the dictator away in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I don’t think there will be an intervention on President Museveni from one of the neighbors. Still, the world can see the dictator protocol is kept by Museveni as he himself have crafted ways of emptying the state coffers. Therefore, that the riches, the estates and the value of Museveni have risen over the three decades in power isn’t strange. What is more worrying is how he has been able to keep is wealth and ownership.

That President Museveni wishes to look like a hardworking rancher and that he works for his fortune. The yields are coming from hard-work and dedication. At the same time the ownership in banking industry and in other parts of the economy shows how much control the family and the President does have. The private industries and companies are run or ordered directly from the State House.

So that President Museveni said this in 1997 as he overthrew Mobutu is now insane:

“Mr. Museveni’s ideology is simple. For too long, he says, African politicians have hoodwinked the common people, manipulating tribal sentiments to stay in power and steal millions of dollars in foreign aid and taxes. A former Marxist, he sees the true struggle on the continent as one between corrupt leaders and the dirt-poor people they exploit” (McKinley Jr., 1997).

So he said for to long African Politician played the commoners, using the sentiments of tribe on their populations and using this tools to stay in power, while doing so taking an emptying the state reserves and donor funding to themselves. Therefore, 20 years since he stood for this and said these words, he has now done the same.

President Museveni of today would assassinate himself or overthrow himself… since he is now the Mobutu of Uganda, he has the character of the men he overthrew in past. He should be worried, because the ghosts of the past and the reckless leadership will follow him and that is why he trust the guns more than people. Since his own insincere political game might catch up with him.

On some levels now, there aren’t much difference between President Mobutu and President Museveni. Peace.

Reference:

Drozdiak, William – ‘Swiss Freeze Mobutu’s Assets; Reports Put Worth at $4 Billion’ (18.05.1997) link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/africa/zaire/swiss.htm

McKinley Jr., James – ‘Uganda Leader Stands Tall in New African Order’ (15.06.1997) link:http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/15/world/uganda-leader-stands-tall-in-new-african-order.html

Kinshasa, Mary Braid – ‘Mobutu takes the money and runs to a safe haven’ (16.05.1997) link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/mobutu-takes-the-money-and-runs-to-a-safe-haven-1261945.html

Koelbl, Susanne & Puhl, Jan – ‘’This Is Our Continent, Not Yours’ (10.06.2016) link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-ugandan-president-yoweri-museveni-a-1096932.html

The London Evening Post – ‘Revealed: How the Museveni family owns Uganda’ (03.01.2012) link: http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/comments/revealed-how-the-museveni-family-owns-uganda/2/

Venasnews – ‘Yoweri Museveni Salary and Wealth’ (27.06.2016) link: https://venasnews.com/yoweri-museveni-salary-and-wealth/

The Presidents’ Black book and the rewards He received from Kagame and Kabila and compensated military support of Kiir

I know it is supposed to be celebration of 30 years of NRM rule in Uganda. I have discussed the economic situation and democratic deficit now and then. Today I write about something I have thought about for a long time and think is necessary to be told. Never enough as long as President Museveni is a leader and also President Kagame and the son-of Laurent, Joseph Kabila in Democratic Republic of Congo. There is a dark history in the way President Museveni took power in Uganda and right after. Here will not directly tell about the atrocities between the UNLA and NRA. There we’re massive breaches in the middle of the civil-war. This here will be snippets of histories from both former loyal men and documents that have been released recently that we’re not public before. They tell how Museveni ushered Kabila, used force to earn wealth for himself and Uganda, how he gave way to Kagame after he helped Museveni gain power in Uganda, And lastly a little story about the recent adventure of Museveni in South Sudan as loyalty to President Kiir. Some tricks doesn’t die easy, as long as he gain something with the use of arms and guns, President Museveni will take it. Take a look!

Gen David ‘Tinye’ Sejusa revealed this murders as ordered by Museveni:
“That after accusing Gen Kazini of sending money to elements of the SPLA, Museveni “ordered his execution by procuring the services of a 6ft 6in man to murder Kazini”. He went on to say: “Forget that trash of [Lydia] Draru. In case of Kazini, again some forex bureau, originally said to belong to Gen Kazini, but [which] actually belonged to a known relative of Museveni, was later to be used to pass the money for the payment of the executioners of Kazini, to the accounts of the assassins.” (…)”He said: “For those in the know, again Andrew Kayiira was said to possess money before he was gunned down by Museveni’s goons.” (Gombya 2013).

Human Rights Violations right after the Bush-War:
“NRA embarked on revenge against people from Acholi, Lango and Teso; and second, the collapse of discipline within the NRA coincided with insurgencies in the North and East. Both the NRA and thevarious armed groups in the areas continued to attack and kill civilians. As a matter of fact, the same strategies of gross violations of human rights the UNLA had used in the Luwero Triangle and West Nile are being used by the NRA in these areas. Hospitals, schools, churches, granaries and houses have been destroyed by the the NRA. The insurgents have likewise looted, raped and murdered people from their own home areas. (Otunnu, 1992).

Killings in 1993:
“There is no evidence that the Government sanctioned political killings in 1993. There were, however, reports of extrajudicial killings. For example, on June 21, police and internal security officials arrested four intelligence officers accused of murdering two prisoners in Iganga district on June 7. The case received considerable media attention. Two of the four accused officers were released without charge; the other two were being held in Makindye military prison without charge at year’s end” (U.S. Department of State, 1994).

Museveni support of Kagame:
“Despite Museveni consistence denials, Uganda has given the RPF military support since it began the civil war in 1990. Kagame, a Tutsi who headed Ugandan military intelligence before taking over the RPF, served closely with Museveni in Ugandan civil war” (EXDIS, 1994). Mr. Claver Kanyaryshoki reminiscing: “In September 1990, precociously on 11th September , a three party summer was organized between MOBUTU, HABAYARIMA and MUSEVENI to control the borders of his country and to avoid the invasion of other countries. On that occasion, they issued a declaration signed by the three heads of state that was meant to prevent the destabilization of a neighboring country from Uganda. As the threat became clearer despite all these efforts, president HABAYARIMA sent his foreign affairs minster to MUSEVENI on the 24th September to tell him that the attack was imminent. MUSVENI reiterated that these were rumors. He let HABAYARIMA know that: “he did not to lose single second of sleep thinking about an attack from Uganda, as this would never be the case as long as (MUSEVENI] would hold power”. Later on, MUSEVENI claimed later on the same day he met Fred RWEGEMA, after receiving the Rwandan Minister Casimir BIZIMUNGU. He said he calmed down the Rwandese. However, in fact his meeting with RWEGEMA was intended to put the finishing touches on the details of the invasion. MUSVENI was to attend A UN Summit on the rights of the child in New York. He knew he would not be around and wanted that he operations be carried out in his absence. By doing so, he would then pretend to be innocent or not aware of them. This is an old habit in Uganda. Even in October 1982 with Rwandese nationals were deported, President Milton OBOTE was by any chance away in Italy” (Unofficial OTP Translation, 2006).

Museveni fallout with Laurent Kabila because of business:
“At first, in 1997, Uganda seemed ready to tolerate many of Kabila’s shortcomings if the new president of the DRC would address bigger economic issues, such as US$2 billion road linking Uganda and Kisangani and the need to train police and anti-smuggling units. Both Rwanda and Uganda had hoped that by helping Kabila take power, they would ensure security on their borders and also benefit economically from North Kivu’s natural resources including minerals, gold and diamonds. By May 1997, Ugandan businessmen had jumped into the fray, selling everything from frozen chicken to plastic mugs to Congo. But Kabila had other plans. The Kisangani project also never materialized. This lack of interest on Kabila’s side to open up Congo to Uganda’s business interests was a critical blow to the relationship between Museveni and Kabila” (International Crisis Group, 1999). “Kabila was assassinated on 17 January 2001, the date set for commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of Lumumba, whose successor he claimed to be. No light has ever been shed on this crime either” (Garreton, 2008).

The plundering under Museveni in 90s in the DRC:
“At the request of the panel, the Ugandan authorities provided extensive data, including production and export values for agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, tea and tobacco. In terms of minerals, the data also cover gold and coltan production and export figures” (…)”The gap between production and export could originate from the exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo” (…)”Ugandan gold export does not reflect this country’s production, levels but rather that some exports might be “leaking over the boarders” from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The central bank reported that, by September 1997, Uganda had exported gold valued $105 Million, compared with $60 million in 1996 and $23 Million in 1995” (…)”Second, the data from the Ugandan authorities are silent with regard to diamond production and export” (…)”These diamond exports are suspicious for many reasons: (a) Uganda have no known diamond production; (b) Diamond exports from Uganda are observed only in the last few years, coinciding surprisingly with the occupation of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo” (…)” (c)” (…)”external observers on the need to control the rich diamond zone near Kisangani and Banalia” (UN, P: 19, 2001).

Museveni’s adventure in South Sudan:
“Observers question how deployment of Uganda’s army, the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF), in South Sudan is paid for and who profits from it. At the beginning of the war, when Juba’s fall to the insurgents was a possibility, some of South Sudan’s national reserves as well as senior politicians’ assets were sent to Uganda” (…)”8 A return to intense combat or a protracted war in Uganda’s areas of operation would raise the financial and operational costs of the deployment. In February 2015, the defence ministry requested a supplementary budget allocation, in part to cover South Sudan operations, thus suggesting that they are as much strategic as economically motivated” (…)”Ugandan officials say these early payments do not appear in the national budget and speculate they may have been used for personal, not official purposes”.“The Report of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the Ministerial Policy Statement and Budget Estimates for the Fiscal Year 2015/16”, Parliament of Uganda, May 2015 (hardcopy with Crisis Group); Crisis Group Report, South Sudan: A Civil War by Any Other Name, op. cit., p. 23” (ICG, 2015)

Afterthought:
I don’t think I just discuss this deep subject to much. The stories and history tells enough and also the sadness of what the Ugandan Army has done after NRA/NRM took power in Uganda. This here is tales and stories of the darkness and shadow of President Museveni. Not only economic destruction in Uganda to personal gain, or democratic deficit to keep himself in power, this here is how he lived by the guns to keep loyal leaders in the neighborhood and also gain riches while looting the DRC. Peace.

Reference:
EXDIS – Unclassified American Government official update: SC-12252-94 ‘Rwanda Update’ (12.04.1994).
Otunnu, Ogenga – ‘Socio-Economic and Political Crisisin Uganda: Reason for Human Rights Violations and Refugees‘– Refuge Periodical, Canada – (October 14-17,1992)

Gombya, Henry D – ‘EXCLUSIVE: Museveni “ordered murder of Kayiira, Kazini and many others” (25.08.2013) link: http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/exclusive-museveni-ordered-murder-of-kayiira-kazini-and-many-others/

International Crisis Group – ‘ICG Democratic Republic of Congo Report Nº 3’ (21.05.1999)

International Crisis Group – ‘South Sudan: Keeping Faith with the IGAD Peace Process’ Africa Report N°228′ (27.07.2015)

Unofficial OTP Translation – Witness KVB46 – RP 31398-31403 BIS – ‘Report on the Interview between Counsel Yaovi Degli and Mr. Kanyarushoki Claver’ (20.11.2006)

United Nation – S/2001/357: ‘Report of the Panel of Expert on the Illegal Exploration of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo’ (12.04.2001)

United Nation – DOCUMENT ICC 01/04-01/06 – ‘REPORT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT’ (03.12.2008) Written by Robert Garreton.

U.S. Department of State – ‘UGANDA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993’ (31.01.1994).