'MP Kipoi wanted to overthrow gov't'

By Innocent Anguyo and Vivian Agaba

Wanted Bubulo East MP Tony Nsubuga Kipoi was allegedly plotting to overthrow government, according to Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police.

“Kipoi was involved in both drug trafficking and other subversive activities aimed at overthrowing the government,” Kayihura said Friday while addressing the press at Police headquarters in Naguru.

The IGP accused Kipoi of being a drug baron who used proceeds from his alleged drug-trafficking to fund activities aimed at overthrowing government.

“He acquires drugs especially cocaine from South America and uses the proceeds for supporting anti-government activities. He once used a South African white couple to traffic drugs into the country,” narrated Kayihura.

In December 2012, police arrested Kipoi over alleged recruitment of rebels. Kipoi was arrested in Matimuku Guest House, Njala Village, Fort Portal, Kabarole district, while he was holding a meeting with some Ugandan security officers and Congolese rebel officers, according to Police.

“In particular, he has been recruiting personnel from our security services as well as Congolese rebels belonging to a Congolese rebel group called COGAI.

The group is based in areas around Bunia and Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He had promised to support the rebel groups with firearms,” Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said then.

Then, Police also said they had information that Kipoi, who is also being probed on charges of drug trafficking, was working with the support of foreign sponsors, whose identities, the Police declined to divulge.

Kipoi is still facing charges of narcotic drug trafficking by the Criminal Investigations Directorate.

According to police, Kipoi’s Personal Assistant, in 2012 was arrested in Busia over narcotic drugs and he pleaded guilty, and fined sh1m which he paid.

Later, Kipoi fled Uganda for Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo subsequently declaring himself as a fighter, saying he had abandoned his parliamentary seat and that his constituents are free to elect somebody else who is not an NRM member.

The legislator was subsequently declared absent without official leave (AWOL) by Parliament after 21 days of missing parliamentary sittings without explanation.

Early in November 2012, Ugandan security agencies investigated reports that the MP had been captured in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kipoi was then said to have been captured in Fataki, about 35 kilometers from Mahagi. But the lawmaker denied the claims, insisting he was no arrested.

His mentioned that he fled the country after his accounts were frozen and vowed to return only after President Yoweri Museveni has left power.

Kayihura made the revelation while announcing the forthcoming Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) retreat slated for Monday to Tuesday next week at Paraa Safari Lodge, Murchison Falls National park.

Police chiefs who have confirmed attendance include that of Uganda, Burundi, Comoros, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Seychelles, Somalia, and Tanzania.

President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame will make presentations at the two-day retreat.

Museveni will make a speech on “the recent wave of violence and instability in North Africa and its implications to the East African region and the rest of Africa.”

While Kagame’s presentation will focus on, “the critical role played by modern technology to development in the world, and the threat it poses, as well as the opportunity it offers, to security and stability with specific focus on Africa.”

The retreat is organized under the theme, “challenges of contemporary policing in the Eastern Africa region: managing violence and cyber-crime.”