The long road to Police chief Gen Kale Kayihura’s dramatic dethronement in 2018 and banishment from public life began with the June 2016 rise in the political stock of his nemesis Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde.
Tumukunde on June 6, 2016 was appointed to cabinet as minister for Security and superintended the security onslaught that eventually felled the all-powerful police chief two years later.
And now Gen Kayihura is finally beginning to climb out of oblivion largely on the coat-tails of Tumukunde’s own demise after his arrest on March 13, 2020 and incarceration for largely weighing a presidential challenge against the incumbent in 2021.
Kayihura, according to insiders, has bounced back into positive political territory and could be deployed in the ministry of Defense’s offshoot Operation Wealth Creation led by Gen Salim Saleh or take over the vacant slot of Inspector General of Government.
Insider sources say Tumukunde’s demise and political ambitions have forced President Museveni to re-evaluate the political strengths of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and Kale Kayihura and their strategic ability to neutralize the renegade former security minister.
Well-placed security sources toldThe Observerthat the president has spent some time rebuilding his soured relations with his once-favoured- lieutenants-turned-outcasts.
Tumukunde was arrested from his home in Kololo on the night of Thursday, March 13, by a joint team of military and police operatives. Police in a statement said the general was arrested for his utterances in a series of interviews, which sought to foster hatred that could lead to inter-community violence, fomenting and glorifying violence in general.
Days later, Tumukunde was charged with treason and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court.
Tumukunde’s alleged call on Rwanda to exploit her frosty relations with Uganda and support change of leadership in Kampala annoyed the president, according to insiders. The call, insiders say, buttressed intelligence reports that accused a sacked Tumukunde of traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and meeting with some Kigali agents.
This reportedly forced Museveni to rethink his hardline stance against Kayihura who he sacked in March 2018 after security agencies led by Tumukunde authored a series of intelligence reports accusing the police chief of advancing Kigali’s interests.
The rivalry between Kayihura and Tumukunde dates back to 2005 when Kayihura oversaw Tumukunde’s arrest after the latter, then an army MP, publicly opposed the lifting of presidential term limits in the run- up to the 2005 amendment of the Constitution.
Since Tumukunde ran afoul of the regime, Kayihura has met thrice with Museveni’s brother Gen Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh and first son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Our source declined to reveal details of the meetings but one meeting with Muhoozi was reportedly held at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala. A journalist who was active on social media during Tumukunde’s latest arrest is said to be the chief architect of the Kayihura–Muhoozi meetings.
Kayihura has travelled several times to the western town of Fort Portal to meet Salim Saleh where he oversees the establishment of an agro-industrial park.
“It is just a rumour that he [Kayihura] is going to be redeployed, but he is relieved that the truth [about the accusations against him] is finally coming out,” a source said.
Kayihura may also see the charges against him before the General Court Martial dropped. The former inspector general of police (IGP) has since August 2018 been battling charges of aiding and abetting the kidnapping by commission, repatriation of Rwandan exiles and refugees and Ugandan citizens to Rwanda between 2012 and 2016.
He is also facing the charge of failing to protect war material by issuing arms to unauthorized persons between 2010 and 2018.
AMAMA MBABAZI
Mbabazi, the former all-powerful NRM secretary general and prime minister, is also said to be on his way back, six years after falling out with Museveni and challenging his tight grip on the presidency in 2016.
Museveni used Tumukunde to dismantle Mbabazi’s 2016 campaign machinery, unknowingly putting the army man in control of resources that he used later to build his own networks with sights set on the 2021 elections.
Between December 31, 2019 and now, Mbabazi, who had gone off the public grid since his dismal performance in the 2016 elections, has appeared at least four times with Museveni at public functions.
While sources close to him dispute talk of his possible return to government, government sources maintain that he may return to government sooner rather than later.
Credit: news.phxfeeds.com
