Museveni calls Kayihura, Nantaba

By Charles Etukuri

President Yoweri Museveni has intervened in the wrangle between the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen. Kale Kayihura and Lands State Minister, Aidah Nantaba.

Nantaba has also apologised to Gen. Kayihura for accusing him of siding with land lords after being briefed that the IGP’s mission in Kayunga was on the orders of the President, highly placed sourced have intimated.

The source told New Vision that the President had called both parties on phone, listened and counselled them. The President is scheduled to meet the two in September.

The source said the President’s intervention followed continued public tiff between the two.

Gen. Kayihura confirmed to New Vision that he had indeed spoken to the President.

“Yes he called and one of the things we spoke about was the issue of Kayunga,” Kayihura said.

But sources in State House intimated to New Vision that the President backed Kayihura to continue with the investigations.

Meanwhile, Nantaba also broke her silence on why she chose to attack the IGP in the media, saying she had been bypassed. “He did not consult me and I only got to know he was in my district undoing what my committee had done”, she said.

However, other sources told New Vision that the President had ordered Gen. Kayihura to personally go to the area and restore sanity after being briefed by intelligence that Nantaba Committee’s actions would likely cause government a loss of colossal amounts of money if these victims who lost their lands moved to court to sue for damages.

Some of those targeted in the evictions were investors whose property had been vandalised by people the minister had ordered to be resettled.

Sources say after receiving the report, the President ordered Gen. Kayihura, a trusted lieutenant, to go and investigate the claims.

On receiving a brief from the IGP, the President ordered the Police to restore order in the area and conduct fresh investigations.

Kayihura could not confirm on phone whether the President would meet them physically though sources in state House told Sunday Vision that a meeting between the two had been planned for September.

Meanwhile, fresh details emerging indicate that Gen. Kayihura and Minister Nantaba reached out to one another on Thursday evening. “The two are now speaking and are actually in good working terms now. The minister later on got to understand that Kayihura was not fighting her, but was actually sent to the area on a special mission by the President,” an aide to Kale told New Vision.

The Minister could not deny or confirm the information but said she had nothing personal against the IGP.

Meanwhile, the Police has restored calm in the disputed properties in Galilaya and Bbale Counties in Kayunga district. The Land Protection Unit Commander Fred Enanga, who is now deployed in Kayunga to foresee the restoration of sanity in the area, said that Police had fully restored calm. “We have been able to create a safe passage for the original landlord who could not initially visit their properties.”

Enanga said the Police was recording statements from all the parties involved as they tried tracing the history of land ownership. “We are asking the landlords to give us a history of how they acquired the land and also asking the bibanja owners to show us proof of ownership of the land.”

He said some people had shied away and that investigations had found that some tenants who had moved away willingly after being compensated had taken advantage of the committee mob action to return to their original pieces.