Kayihura probe: The truth will come out, says Tumwine

Jul 09, 2018

“It is true Kayihura has been allowed visitors including senior colleagues within the army," says the security minister.

PIC: Gen. Kale Kayihura was Uganda's longest-serving Inspector General of Police. (File photo)

SECURITY


KAMPALA - The fate of the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen. Kale Kayihura, now lies in the hands of President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, security sources have told Sunday Vision.

Different security sources revealed that a number of delegations including religious leaders, senior security officers, senior lawyers, legislators from western Uganda and Kisoro district in particular, plus the local leadership, were trying to secure an appointment with the President.

These leaders want to negotiate pardon for Kayihura.

"It is true Kayihura has been allowed visitors including senior colleagues within the army and there are behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by the same team to meet the President and plead for him. Gen. Salim Saleh has also met Kayihura," the source said.

Sunday Vision has learnt that Saleh visited the former IGP and the two held a meeting for over two hours at his current detention facility in Makindye military barracks in Kampala.

MPs meet Kayihura

Sam Bitangaro Kwizera, who is the Member of Parliament for Bufumbira County South, confirmed they had visited Kayihura and also toured the detention facility in the senior officer's mess.

"I visited him with some of my colleagues. He was in a good condition and the accommodation is decent," Bitangaro noted.

He also said the same team was planning to meet President Museveni after a meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

"We met with Rugunda as MPs from Bufumbira. We will be holding another meeting that will include the local leaders before we meet the President to plead Kayihura's case," Bitangaro said.

He added that Kayihura had served his country well and with dedication. It was only proper that he is pardoned in case he erred in any way.

Gen. Tumwine speaks out

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Vision, security minister Gen. Elly Tumwine said the investigations were still going on and that once complete, they would be forwarded to the relevant office for action.

"I have not met Kayihura since he was arrested. But he is not the first general to go through this. Let us be patient. The truth will come out," Tumwine said.

There were unconfirmed reports that Kayihura was recently taken to meet members of the High Command. There are also reports that he could have met President Museveni.

 

 

The President, while interacting with MPs last month during a closed-door meeting on the security situation in the country, said Kayihura's mistake during his tenure as IGP was overreliance on civilians and forgot to do his job.

The country has lately experienced a spate of violent crime incidents, such as murders and kidnaps.

Gen. Kayihura was fired as IGP early this year and subsequently arrested by the army's Chieftaincy Military Intelligence.

According to reports, Kayihura, currently detained at Makindye Military Police barracks, was questioned about the way investigations were carried out after the murder of Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, last year.

 

 
'Criminals are like diseases'

A number of Police officers who worked closely with Kayihura on high-profile cases are also in detention at the Makindye facility.

They include former Flying Squad Unit commandant and Assistant Commissioner of Police Herbert Muhangi, former head of crime intelligence Lt. Col. Ndahura Atwooki and former cyber intelligence chief Richard Ndabwoine.

Tumwine assured the country that security agencies were working together to eliminate criminality and acknowledged that some evil forces had taken advantage of the situation.

"Criminals are like diseases. When your immunity goes down, all sorts of diseases attack you. Those evil people took advantage of the gaps of not being cohesive, coordinated and not acting together to cause mayhem.

"That is what our team was put to do. To bring back cohesion, teamwork and if you heard what the President told us during our swearing in," Tumwine said.

 

 

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