Tumukunde speaks out on Kayihura's contract renewal

Security minister Henry Tumukunde

Security minister, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Henry Tumukunde earlier today declined to be sucked into raging debate about the pros and cons of police chief, Gen. Kale Kayihura, having his contract renewed.

"Issues of security are for the commander in chief to handle. If, and I say, if, the commander in chief feels that he (Kayihura) is doing a good job, it's his prerogative to renew his contract," Tumukunde told the media after meeting lawmakers sitting on the presidential affairs committee over budget estimates (for entities under his ministry) for the next financial year.

Early this week, a section of the media was awash with reports that president Yoweri Museveni has decided to renew Kayihura's tenure as police chief.

Kayihura has been police chief since 2005 after taking over from Gen. Katumba Wamala which makes him Uganda's longest serving police chief.

However, a wave of criminal activities in different parts of the country has put Kayihura on the spot as police struggle to keep crime in check.

Disquiet about increasing levels of crime recently reached a crescendo following the grisly murder of Assistant Inspector of Police, Felix Kaweesi, in broad day light by gun wielding assailants riding on motor cycles.

Tumukunde contends that a wave of petty crime, although incapable of ousting a government, goes a long way in undermining its legitimacy.