[Free Uganda]

A United Nations report has pinned Ugandan gold companies, African Gold Refinery Ltd (AGR) and Bullion Refinery Ltd, of benefiting from gold smuggled from the volatile Eastern Republic of Congo.

The serious accusations against AGR come against the backdrop of the resignation of businessmen Barnabus Taremwa and Richard Kaijuka from the gold refining company based in Entebbe.

The two businessmen left the company which they co-founded with outgoing Chief Executive Officer Alain Goetz after the latter fell short of putting in place mechanisms of identifying gold smuggled into the country.

Now the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo who report to the United Nations Security Council say the activities of AGR could attract sanctions.

“Two independent sources associated with AGR and Bullion Refinery Ltd. told the Group that the companies were reluctant to disclose the names of their suppliers because they were aware that their activities were not always legal,” the report to the Security Council reads in part.

“In fact, documents concerning a supplier for AGR obtained by the Group show the risk of contamination of the supply chain with gold illegally sourced or traded from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

According to the investigation, the supplier, a Congolese national based in Bukavu who provided AGR, in October 2018, with gold worth more than $3 million, travelled with an official document, delivered five months earlier, identifying his occupation as that of an electrician.

The supplier declared to AGR that the gold was sourced from Tanzania.

Initial investigations conducted by the Group suggested that the individual was used as a broker by many Bukavu-based gold smugglers.

AGR did not respond to the Group’s inquiry as to whether it had a policy to verify the accuracy of statements made by Congolese nationals who claim that the gold they sell was not sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Highly placed sources told us that AGR continues to receive gold from people of all walks of life without determining the source hence being a safe conduit of smuggled gold.

Usually, gold dealers carry licenses showing the source of the gold especially mines and also authorisation of the dealerships.

“There is no evidence to suggest that AGR imports gold through proper custom channels,” reads a government briefing on the operations of the old company.

Sanctions

The findings of the UN experts could lead to Uganda facing sanctions for hosting a facility that exports gold obtained from conflict areas.

UN investigators said they requested the names of suppliers from AGR and Bullion Refinery Ltd. in order to verify whether the suppliers were involved directly or indirectly in any sanctionable acts in DRC.

In the letters, AGR reiterated its previously expressed willingness to seek the “proper consent” of the suppliers before providing the information to the Group and reiterated that it did not source any “undocumented gold” from DRC.

AGR also stated that Alphonse Katarebe would succeed Alain Goetz as CEO.

But insiders told this investigative website that Alphonse, as he is fondly known, was a mere proxy of Goetz.

“Goetz’s alleged departure is just a smokescreen because Alphonse acts on his orders,” said the source.

In the report to the Security Council , experts noted “with concern the lack of cooperation from the two companies and believes that such a lack impedes its ability to conduct a comprehensive analysis on the compliance by the two companies with the Group’s guidelines on due diligence.”

Several sources, including mining officials, researchers and Kampala -based gold traders, told investigators that Kampala was a recipient of smuggled gold from DRC.

In addition, the Group found that Ugandan authorities lacked a coherent policy to combat smuggling.

The Group also found that Kampala-based gold exporters did not have an efficient system to avoid the contamination of their supply chains with illegally traded gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It also was observed that in Uganda, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region certificate is not yet compulsory, explaining the reason they did not request those certificates from suppliers from DRC.

UN experts also noted that the authorities of Uganda have failed to share the results of their investigations into Kampala-based gold traders.

On 1 November 2018, the Group sent a request for information to the Government of Uganda to which it responded that while they were willing to cooperate and work closely with the Group, they had concerns about the short notice of one week to provide the information.

[Free Uganda]

On July 19, 2010, Mahmoud Barwani and Mohammed Yoosuf, all known to embattled Ugandan businessman, Sudhir Ruparelia, decided to open a company in Kampala.

The company was named Infinity Investments Ltd. The duo would be directors in their new outfit.

Four days after opening the company, (July 23 2010), the two directors drove to Crane Bank where they applied for credit facilities in the form Direct Loans ($2.5m, Shs 5.8bn) and Over Draft (OD) Shs 1bn.

The proposal to the bank’s loan committee for sanction was made on August 14, 2010.

The securities offered against these facilities were Plot M589, Mukabya Road, Plot 1-5, Cornwall Crescent, Plot 45-65, Mpanga Close, Plot M539, Mpanga Close, Plot 880, Industrial Area and Plot M876, Industrial Area.

According to confidential records of Crane Bank contained in an updated and detailed forensic audit report sent to Bank of Uganda, search reports for plots M876 & M880 were received on August 13, 2010.

A day later, a sanction letter was issued (August 14, 2010).

On September 30, 2010, the massive loans were disbursed to Mahmoud Barwani and Mohammed Yoosuf.

Lawyer’s warning

Yet, earlier in 2007, lawyer Kiwanuka, Karugire Advocates and Solicitors to Crane Bank had clearly pointed out that Plot 1-5, Cornwall Crescent and Plot M589, Mukabya Road were encumbered by wayleaves such as high power transmission lines that traversed the properties.

Basing on the lawyers’ report, the remaining securities tendered by Infinity’s directors, were not sufficient to cover the bank’s exposure.

Despite this knowledge, Crane Bank accepted these plots as securities.

The credit policy defines bank lending as purpose-based and not-security based. Security is meant to cushion to fall backing face of adversity.

However, Crane Bank continued to advance facilities to Infinity despite clear indications that there was no business in place to warrant the facilities.

Interestingly, when the loans were disbursed, cheques for Shs 6.1bn and $2.68m were drawn in the name of Mahmud Barwani and money deposited on his personal account.

Auditors discovered that Infinity Company had not provided a registered office location at the time of registration and the company secretary at the time was Valentine Ajay, a personal secretary of Sudhir Ruparelia.

The company was never registered for tax hence did not pay tax or file annual returns until 2014.

By setting up an overdraft position which allowed it to put in place standing orders to repay loans’ principal interest from its current accounts, Infinity created an illusion that the loans were performing despite there being very little net cash flow from outside.

On April 1, 2011, the limit for OD increased from Shs 1bn to Shs 2.5bn.

Six months later, Infinity’s credit facilities were renewed and a withdrawal of Shs 1.4bn via cheque number six was made and funds ended up in Barwani’s personal account.

Property Released

There was a dramatic turn in May 2012 when Crane Bank released the securities and in turn reduced the Shilling OD limit from Shs 2.5bn to Shs 0.7bn. At the time, Infinity was Shs 147m above the new limit.

Auditors said this “left Crane Bank at a weaker position as security coverage dropped to 67 percent.”

On November 2, 2012, the credit facilities were renewed (direct loans $2.42m, Shs 5.61bn and OD Shs 0.75bn) despite arrears of Shs 415m and $66,000 in accounts.

Thereafter, it appears a bailout was given to the company to normalize its accounts.

On November 11, 2012, $86,890 and $126,122 was transferred from Infinity’s USD current account to Shillings loan account to clear arrears in these accounts.

Auditors discovered that the “funds for the transfer had come from a cash deposit of Shs 200,000 by Mohamed Ali and a transfer of $200,000 from Meera Investments Limited.”

Mohamed Ali was a director Premier Commodities and a very close associate of Sudhir Ruparelia.

Indeed, on January 6, 2014, Infinity’s credit facilities worth Shs 12bn were renewed.

Lack of registration details

In April 2014, Oundo & Co Advocates told Crane Bank that Infinity’s mortgage charges could not be registered because documents for several plots were “missing at the files registry.”

A month later, MMAKS Advocates informed Crane Bank that Infinity had never filed annual returns and hence debenture and board resolutions could not be registered.

Investigators observed that it was not a surprise when Crane Bank, 11 months after renewing Infinity’s credit facilities amid mysterious circumstances, requested for payment of facilities advanced to infinity.

“As at then,” said PwC auditors, “Crane Bank’s exposure with Infinity stood at Shs 8.148bn and $3.56m.”

Eventually, the audit report indicated, on December 12, 2014, “Crane Bank wrote off 3.5m and Shs 8.2b advanced to Infinity, making up 20 percent of all write-offs to date.”

The revelations underscore how Crane Bank’s failure to adhere to its credit policy and banking rules led to an accumulation of non-performing loans and erosion of capital before grappling with a liquidity crisis.

As at June 2016, Crane bank’s non-performing loans stood at 14.5 per cent, nearly twice the market average of 8.3 per cent.

The auditor’s fresh finding appear to counter Crane Bank’s claim that its liquidity challenges were caused by a poor economy that suffocated many of its borrowers who failed to service their loans.

Auditors used the example of Infinity to show a long standing pattern of Crane Bank’s dubious loan policy that saw newly formed companies advanced large sums of money barely a week after they had been formed.

Aureco Investments Limited owned by Amina Moghe received billions of shillings eight days after application for a loan.

Auditors implied that Crane Bank’s problems were compounded by advancing loans to companies “even though it should have been clear that there was no business of any kind being conducted by the companies in question.”

For Infinity, Crane Bank wavered the requirement that applicants should have banked with it for 6 months or provide statements from other banks before advances are made to them.

“The same is true for loans to Minutan and Aureco which were justified on the basis of the property held by the promoters,” the audit report reads in part.

Legally, experts advised that borrowers and Crane Bank officers should be “investigated for the charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to defraud under the Anti-corruption Act and the Penal code respectively.”

In the case of Sudhir who owned the bank, the audit report recommended that he should face charges of conspiracy to defraud; making false or misleading statements; embezzlement; causing financial loss; receiving stolen property; influence peddling and nepotism among others.

[Free Uganda]

Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, has been invited to a session of the UK parliament which will be discussing the declining state of democracy in Uganda tomorrow.
Mr Kyagulanyi’s political aide, Mr Nicodemus Musoke, confirmed the travel to the UK.The Commons website has indicated ‘Democracy in Uganda’ as one of the key issues for debate in the House of Commons tomorrow at 1630 British time. The debate will be streamed live via https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/edad7192-19f3-4484-a385-61b6f03fe969
“We will be debating democracy in Uganda. I will be leading the debate and the minister for Africa will be responding,” UK Member of Parliament for Stockton South Paul Williams told Daily Monitor in a telephone interview from UK last Friday.
“I want to see a strong and prosperous, independent Uganda with strong democratic institutions. I am interested in the future of Uganda. In Bobi Wine, I see a person who has a good understanding of poverty, inequality and (he) has a good vision for the future,” Dr Williams said, but added that as a non-Ugandan, it is not him to guide Ugandans to choose the leader they want.
Dr Williams first moved the motion early last month but it did not attract much support.
However, it has since garnered support of 20 other MPs– seven from the Scottish National Party, eight from Labour Party, three independents, one Conservative, and one from Democratic Unionist Party.
The MPs want UK Prime Minister Theresa May to use her government and other international actors such as the European Union, United Nations and Commonwealth—the umbrella of former British colonies—to promote democracy in Uganda.
Bobi’s UK schedule
Mr Godfrey Ssekisonge and Ms Belinda Atim, who are coordinating Mr Kyagulanyi’s travel, said the Ugandan legislator will have a series of events in the UK beginning with the House of Commons, addressing guests at Oxford Union and Oxford University.
“He will also have his private activities after a series of official events,” Mr Ssekisonge said.
Mr Musoke said after the UK, Mr Kyagulanyi will tour the US before holding a music performance in Kingston, Jamaica.

Bobi Wine has faced confrontations with the State on several occasions with some violent incidents.
Police have blocked his music concerts on a number of occasions and banned him from addressing public gatherings.
Last year, his driver was shot dead in the violence that erupted during the Arua Municipality parliamentary by-elections. He and about five other Opposition MPs are currently charged with treason.
Dr Williams has recently been vocal on undemocratic tendencies in Uganda.
He described himself as a supporter and friend of Uganda who, for years, worked for an NGO in western Uganda’s town of Kinkizi before returning home to become an MP in 2017.
Key issues
Dr Williams said in tomorrow’s debate, he will highlight and push the UK parliament to have a chance to discuss the importance of true democracy in Uganda, the undermining of public institutions and charting ways to support Ugandans to strengthen their democracy. “UK has a legitimate interest as a friend and partner, we see attacks on politicians, we see the military moving to arrest and torture democratically elected politicians- that is something many countries around the world are concerned about,” Dr Williams said.
He said UK’s strong relations with Uganda will have to continue but that the current actions of the presidency are ‘diminishing’ the country’s standing globally.
“What we want to see is a strong Uganda but what we see at the moment is a strong President who is retaining power for himself, reducing the power of the people. We want a strong democracy, but I am not endorsing one person or the other,” Dr Williams said.
However, President Museveni’s press secretary Don Wanyama dismissed Dr Williams’ assertions and referred to him as a “victim of acute ignorance on Uganda and its history.”
“Anyone who argues that Uganda’s democracy is not working doesn’t know where we are coming from. There was a time when elections were never the reflection of the will of people. President Museveni has been democratically elected over years,” Mr Wanyama said.
“We challenge Williams and his Opposition friends in Uganda [to show] where democracy has been abused. He is obviously ignorant, a biased fellow working for lobby groups. He needs to know that the destiny and future of Uganda is a question for Ugandans,” he added.
Dr Williams reiterated: “But my critique is that the President is protecting his power while undermining the institutions of democracy – the Electoral Commission, Parliament, the Judiciary and somewhere he is undermining the free press as well — making it very difficult…. As a friend of Uganda, I would like to see strong institutions instead of a strong President.”
He said the UK is an important partner to Uganda with a vital role to play in business, development and security.
“It is very important to be critical when you see something. Right now, the UK government is keeping its criticism in private,” Dr Williams said but added that if the attacks on democracy continue to prevail in Uganda, the UK may have to make its criticism public.
He criticised what he called military operations against Ugandans intended to keep people in power and said Ugandans should be supported to take their opportunities.
“We all know in every village, there is infrastructure not to protect the country but the future of the president and his party. They control the Electoral Commission, Judiciary, undermining all the aspects of democracy,” Dr Williams added.
He said although he has previously spoken to Mr Kyagulanyi, the pair have not met.
“I see an inspiring potential leader with many strong leadership qualities. I want to help him in his learning journey, develop his skills in leadership. It is fantastic that he has a passion to get people out of poverty,” Dr Williams said.

The Minister of Information, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, described the debate by the UK legislators as political interference and told them to focus on “their own worrying issues of BREXIT and many others than engaging in internal issues of Uganda.”
“Uganda’s democracy is not discussed and debated in London. That can’t be democracy but rather an abuse of real democracy…We got enough of their imported democracy before 1962 and it was up to no good,” Mr Tumwebaze said.
Dr Williams said he “respects and totally believes” in Uganda’s national sovereignty, and his actions should not be construed as neo-colonialism or anything similar.
In December 2017, Parliament amended the Constitution to remove the presidential age limit clause which barred him or anyone aged above 75 from contesting for presidency. With the amendment, Mr Museveni can now stand for re-election until death.

Dr Williams described Uganda as a “fantastic country which deserves better.”
“…I’m concerned about the slow gradual decline of the democratic processes in Uganda and I think my country has a legitimate interest in Uganda because we are partners in the Commonwealth, in business, in development,” he added.
Dr Williams raised a similar matter in the House of Commons in August last year when Mr Museveni was in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) but it did not gain much traction.
He said the President had become a barrier to Uganda’s development and good governance”, which comments triggered a social media storm with a section of Ugandans lambasting him for still treating Uganda as a British colony while others supported him.
Envoy’s response
Uganda’s High Commissioner to UK Julius Peter Moto told the media that he had not been officially informed about tomorrow’s debate.
“We will respond when they give us a chance, but they ought to know that Uganda is a young democracy; we are on track: we are learning: and our economy is picking up,” Mr Moto said.
On January 26, Mr Museveni, now aged 74, will mark 33 years in power. He ranks fourth on list of Africa’s longest serving presidents after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema (39 years), Cameroon’s Paul Biya (36 years) and Congo-Brazzaville’s Denis Sassou Nguesso (34 years).

[Free Uganda]

The opposition, generally speaking, is a government in waiting. And true to that, in democratic societies, tables often turn with the opposition taking over power and those in power becoming the opposition.

The regularity with which the power table swings from opposition to ruling party and from ruling party to the opposition is usually an indicator of the health of a county’s democracy, and how much power citizens have in choosing those they deem qualified to manage public affairs on their behalf.

Equitable access to civic spaces by the ruling party, those in the centre, and the opposition is sacred in a functioning democracy. However, in Uganda this space is alarmingly shrinking and becoming a monopoly of the ruling NRM party.

Denying spaces for the opposition and critics of the NRM is now an established part of the power retention strategy for Museveni and his life- presidency project. Some mistake this act of opportunism for tactical astuteness on the part of Museveni. Nothing can be further from the truth.  Bluntly put, this primitive hogging of power has a counterproductive effect on Uganda’s transitions to democracy.

Already, Uganda is a black sheep in the original East African region—we are the only country that hasn’t had a peaceful transition from one president to another.

If the Democratic Republic of the Congo manages to pull off a peaceful transition from President Joseph Kabila to another leader, despite its flawed electoral process, the blackness of Uganda will cast a dark shadow beyond East Africa.

Increasingly, it is no longer even ‘‘news’’ when members of the opposition are blocked from holding meetings, rallies, prayers, and music concerts, as is the case with singer and Member of parliament, Robert Kyagulanyi better known by his stage name—Bobi Wine.

It is near- becoming acceptable in the eyes of Ugandans that the NRM and President Museveni can have as much access to the electorate using public resources while the opposition remains largely chained on poles planted by the police and military. That is how tragic it has got; normalization of the abnormal.

If you ask, who benefits from this cloudy and unbalanced sad situation in which the opposition appears free but when in real sense is chained? Certainly not Ugandans.

The sole beneficiary of this situation is Museveni. But this comes at the cost of continuous psychological torture of Ugandans who are unsure of what will happen to the country without him.

By gluing his raw life-presidency aspirations to Uganda’s future, and fattening his ego by claiming to have grandeur ambitions that go beyond Uganda’s border, Museveni has become more opportunistic than nationalistic.

The limitation of civic space for Ugandans has dire consequences for Uganda, including but not limited to stunting the growth of state institutions critical for the growth and inculcation of a democratic culture. It also undermines the growth of new emerging talent in both the opposition and ruling party—talent that could offer Uganda solutions to challenges Museveni has failed to address in the last 33 years.

Equitable access to spaces in which the opposition and the NRM must coexist to sell their agenda to the public for the benefit of Ugandans is not debatable. If the opposition is perpetually stopped from accessing the electorate, it means,

Ugandans are being denied an opportunity for the sprouting of new political talent to widen leadership choices for citizens.

Unfortunately, this is what we are faced with. The consequence has been that Ugandans have been disempowered, making citizens weaker in the demand for accountable leadership. This weakness of the citizenry is best illustrated by the now infamous begging phrase: Tusaba Govementi etuyambe ‘‘We ask government to help us.’’

By Betty Aol Ocan

The writer is Gulu woman MP & Leader of Opposition

[Free Uganda]

In 1956 the current Arua Municipality Member of Parliament (MP), Col. Ibrahim Abiriga was born in the West Nile region. In 1971, he joined the Uganda Army (UA) and mostly served as the Manager of Pakuba Lodge in the present-day Murchison Falls National Park. Like most of the ‘Amin soldiers’, after the overthrow of Iddi Amin in 1979, he fled to Congo and Sudan. In exile, they formed fighting groups to fight the new successive governments in Kampala. One such group was the UNRF under now Prime Minister, Gen. Moses Ali. Abiriga’s blood relative, Gen. Bamuze was the UNRF Chief of Staff.

In 1986, the 1,200 strong UNRF joined Museveni’s NRA and were mostly formed into the NRA’s 73rd Battalion. Subsequently, Moses Ali was accused of treason and incarcerated for years in Lubiri underground cells. Moses Ali and other prominent people had complained about then Capt. James Kaziini who was commanding the Arua based 14th Battalion.

Kaziini had been a member of UNRF before he defected to the NRA via Nairobi in late 1985. Bamuze fled to Congo again where he formed another fighting group that he named UNRF II. Ibrahim Abiriga who had also joined the NRA in 1986 rose to become the 2nd Division Administration Officer (DAO). He served in that position from 1988 to 1990 when his active military career informally ended.

A decade later, Ibrahim Abiriga contested for the Madi Okollo parliamentary seat but lost to the opposition candidate. Consequently, President Yoweri Museveni appointed Abiriga to the position of Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Arua District. As RDC, he went to Adrava Health Centre at Rhino Camp and personally unplucked the campaign posters of an opposition candidate before harassing and accusing the health workers of ‘promoting the opposition’.

Abiriga became a key Museveni party political mobilizer in Arua. In January 2011 during the presidential election campaigns, he at one time slaughtered cows and gave free meat to residents in order to dissuade them from attending the opposition candidate, Dr. Besigye’s rally but still Museveni lost in Arua.
In May 2011, Abiriga accused the USA and UK of sponsoring the Walk to Work protests prompting the then UK High Commissioner, Martin Shaerman to vehemently protest. In December 2011 during the World Aids Day celebrations at Arua Police grounds, Abiriga called upon security agencies to use live ammunitions in quelling the Walk to Work protesters. He argued that the protests were being backed by donors and were meant to systematically overthrown the government.

In 2012 Abiriga connived with Museveni’s. brother, Gen. Salim Saleh to controversially grab six acres of public land at Biafra in Arua Municipality. During a Teachers strike, he threatened to recruit his own teachers. Generally, his military style administration was characterised by arbitrary arrests and polarising people along ethnic and political party lines.

In 2014, Abiriga was transferred from Arua to Yumbe district as the RDC. However, in June 2015 he quit the position of RDC to run for Member of Parliament for Arua Municipality on the Museveni party ticket. He cited failure to serve people like he would have wished using the position of RDC. It is interesting to note that during his tenure as RDC, Abiriga would sometimes even challenge government programs that did not favour the local people.

To get nominated, he presented academic certificates from Uganda Management Institute and Uganda Christian University, Arua Campus. He beat other rivalries in the Museveni party primaries and was nominated as the flag bearer.
In September 2015, Abiriga was suspiciously nominated by the EC not in Arua but in Kampala. However, a voter from Arua disputed his academic credentials by petitioning the Electoral Commission. It was alleged that Abiriga had only stopped in Primary Three. The above-mentioned education institutions denied ever enrolling a person in those names. In February 2016, the Electoral Commission (EC) disqualified him from contesting for the Arua Municipality. The EC’s decision reversed the District Returning Officer’s earlier decision that had nominated him. A week to the election day, Museveni ordered the Electoral Commission to reinstate Abiriga on the ballot paper.
Abiriga won the Arua Municipality seat but his opposition rival challenged his victory in court on grounds that the nomination forms that were used by the EC to declare him the winner were not the right ones. Because of Museveni’s last minute intervention, the EC had ordered for the printing of the unofficial Declaration Forms to include Abriga.

In May 2015, Abiriga was sworn in as the MP for Arua Municipality. Shortly after, in an interview with NBS Television, he boldly put it thus; “Museveni is a good leader who should rule till death. No prophet is sent by God when another one is still there. Therefore, Museveni should be given his time. If we have President Museveni out, we shall face problems, see what is happening in Libya. Ugandans have accepted to lifting presidential age limits, it’s only Museveni that is 100% correct. Besigye is not even suitable for a Ministerial post. He was only rewarded by the President with a ministerial post because he was from the bush just like Museveni.”
In June 2016, the HC in Arua ruled in favour of Abiriga. An appeal was lodged in the Court of Appeal but it was also dismissed in April 2017. A criminal case of forgery of academic credentials was also lodged at Buganda Road Court but it has since been suppressed. In August 2016, Hon. Abiriga yellow (Museveni party colours) dress code was challenged by his MPs but the Deputy Speaker, Oulanya ruled in favour of Abriga. Since then Abiriga has adopted his controversial yellow outfits both in
parliament and outside.

In March 2017, Hon. Abiriga clashed with Army M.P, Cadre Felix Kulaigye (both members of the Defence and Internal Affairs committee) over the Anti-terrorism Amendment Bill. The bill sought to criminalize the financing of terrorism and terrorist activities. Abiriga sought for clarification from Bank of Uganda officials over the deference between terrorism and rebel activities thus a terrorist and a rebel.

Quoting the Act, Bank of Uganda’s Mulindwa described a terrorist as a person who does an act with intention of intimidating parliament. Cadre Felix Kulaigye was quick to interject by extending the definition to also intimidating the public or section of the public for political, religious, social or economic aim.
Another member questioned why the rebel group, LRA had been classified as a terrorism group. Cadre Kulaigye emphasized that he was more suited to help the committee owing to his military background. Hon. Abiriga called Kulaigye to order before accusing him of misleading the committee thus; ” I don’t want to know, because what Kulaigye knows, I know. I know what a terrorist is and what a rebel is. His knowledge is political but mine is proof.”
Around early this month Abiriga claimed that opposition thieves had broken into his residence and stolen his personal property. He told reporters that; “These must be FDC and DP because they only selected only yellow items (flat screen TV, Refrigerator, and cups). They want to dampen my ‘yellow spirit’ but I am still strong, I am a soldier.”
During the recent Budge Speech, Museveni donated a pair of black sandals to Hon. Abiriga on the floor of parliament. Hon. Abiriga was excited and even promised to paint them yellow.

For those who think Hon. Abriga is a semi-illiterate legislator who is just crazy with Museveni’s patronage, think twice. In 1990 while then Capt. Abiriga was the Division Administration officer for the NRA’s 2nd Division based in Fort Portal, he was arrested by then Capt. Charles Angina over treason. Together with his co-plotters like Col. Matovu who was the Chief of Personnel and Administration (CPA) at the army headquarters, Capt. Ali Chama and a few others were not formally charged but simply held by Military Intelligence in Kampala.
Since that time Abiriga never returned to active military service until over a decade later when he was formally discharged from the army. However, he did some special political and security assignments for Museveni in West Nile region in return for patronage.

Think twice, Hon. Abiriga knows the difference between a terrorist and a rebel. He has been late and been the latter and fell short of being the former just because the Anti-terrorism law was not yet in place. His knowledge “is proof”. However, it’s not too late hence why he interrogated the Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill.

[Free Uganda]

NRM/A CELEBRATIONZ!!!
Da NRM took power on 26th-jan-1986,its now 32yrs & celebrations will b held at Boma grounds(Arua) bt here are 10 unanswered qns with dis rule!
1.b4 m7 Uganda airlines was functioning now its 32yrs wer is it!
2.Hospitals lyk Bugiri,Nebbi,Masaka,Raki,Mbale wer constructed on Amin/obote’s regime now who is responsible 4 their renovations & supply drugs 2 dem!
3.Regional banks lyk Bugisu co.Masaka reg.Bank,Greenland UCB wer privatised den collapsed who was responsible!
4.B4 NRM we had no free education but p’ple studied & da edication was productive today with free educ.we study to pass!
5.who is responsible 4 da killing ov p’ple whom we’ve not got report on!
6.Entebbe airport was constructed by Amin,da airfield constructed by m7 in Kajjansi collapsed!
7.Who is responsible 4 our money value downfall coz we hv da least money value in E.Africa.
8.Poor economic strategy,high taxes,rental costs who is responsoble!
9.Corruption in all g’vt bodies who is responsible 4 it!
10.Inflation,blame who!

[Free Uganda]

IS YOWERI MUSEVENI A GOD CHOSEN LEADER?
I swear no one will ever convince me that NRM’s leadership was chosen by God and to me it’s not a guarantee that all leaders are chosen by God. Some are not.

---

If I may ask, are rebel leaders also chosen by God? If not by whom? What about the ones who rig elections against the will of the people? Does God encourage election malpractices?

First of all, killing and stealing are against God’s commandments so that disqualifies rebel leaders and illicit leaders from being God chosen.

If that is the case, NRM started as a rebel group led by its permanent leader Museveni that killed a lot of human beings for the sake of ruling Ugandans whose relatives they killed. How can we attach such leadership to God? God will never encourage killing people just because they refused you from being their leader. Museveni went to the bush after losing elections meaning people refused him.

So I will never accept that all leaders are chosen by God. That is the way religion consoles us when things are going out of hand.

Secondly, on the question of liberation, I refute it without doubt if anyone says we are liberated. We are just wasting money on celebrating a merely dictionary word which is not a reality for the case of Uganda.

We cannot call it liberation when the so called liberator is deliberating.
Where is the liberation if silent killing is still on the top news headlines?
Where is the liberation if police brutality, wantonness and injustices are still on the front pages of the news papers?
Where is the liberation if the Constitution has bowed down to exempt, exonerate and venerate some individuals contrary to the citizens interest?
Where is the liberation if public address is only peaceful for the members of the ruling party while the rest, only teargas?
Where is the liberation if a member of the ruling party can burn a tractor but walks away without any charges?

LIBERATION IS YET TO COME!

[Free Uganda]

“I have beaten you, insulted you and chased you but you are not leaving. If you don’t want to leave this house alive, tell your people to buy a coffin in which they will take you.” Said the father of my two children
“I will stay here and raise my kids,” I responded amid tears generated by the blow I had just received on my head before my kids, who were more or less used to this scenario.
“Are these the bu-ones keeping you here? Take them and go or else, leave them to die from here. After all I have my other kids and a woman who are meant to be staying here,” he said before driving off in his Mercedes Benz Compressor UAX 450K.
“Daddy is bad,” said my innocent daughter, trying to comfort me.
As I looked at the big house and my Pajero UAZ 871J parked on the one-acre compound, I missed the good old days Willington and I had in our two-roomed Muzigo in Kireka, with not even enough compound space for a boda to park but we were happy.
Willington Ssekade and I met in March 2013 when he was working as the programs manager at Raising voices and I had just started a journalism career with the Observer Newspaper.
A few months later, his organisation was awarded a DFID project which came with lots of allowances and in a nutshell, our lives changed. He finally completed his house that he had been building for the last six years, expanded the plot from a mere 90×100 to one acre, bought two Mercedes Benzes, a Pajero, several plots of land, and constructed flats for rent in Mukono.
He asked me to have kids, promising he was going to marry me but two kids later and four years down the road there was no marriage. Any mention of the word would spark a beating.
He first laid his hand on me when I was six weeks pregnant with our first child in September 2013. Later at seven months of pregnancy, I had locked myself in the bathroom of our rented Kireka muzigo to escape his beating when he forcefully kicked the door open, nearly killing me in the process. I went back home to my parents and delivered our daughter from there.
Seeing that our innocent child needed both her parents, I gave him another chance and in 2015, we had a second child, Malcolm Ssekadde who was prematurely born due to an infection and the stress I was enduring in the abusive violent marriage.
He never allowed me to go back to work and he beat me on several occasions for attempting to start working but in 2016 February, I put my foot down and started working. I endured his abuse but it only got worse until he started threatening to kill me for competing with him by working.
On the 7th April 2017 I left his house with nothing but only my kids and our clothes, not even a feeding bottle or spoon did I carry, save for the Pajero that I used for taking my suitcases to a friend’s home. I hired an Ipsum to take my children who were with my elder brother to my parents’ home in Mbale since I had no place to stay and I also to work that day despite my condition. I stayed with a friend, Dr. Mirembe Leila until I got my own place. He never called me or any member of my family to ask about us.
A week later, on the 14th of April, I went to Mbale to check on my kids and I was informed that Malcolm had been taken to an ENT and he needed immediate operation. His father and I were already aware of this so I called him to ask for money for the operation he was aware of. He didn’t pick so I sent a message. The response I got was heart breaking.
“If you can’t afford the operation, you burry him.”
My dad was willing to foot the bill but I decided to sell my supermarket to pay for my son’s operation the following week. One day while at FIDA I asked him for support so that I could bring the children to stay in Kampala where he could easily see them but he refused. I was working hard to pay up my loan and ensure that my children could come stay with me in Kampala as soon as I was financially stable.
After the boy had recovered, Willington went to my parents’ home to kidnap the kids but luckily, the neighbours saw him and called police. He was put on a seven year police bond and asked to start supporting the children. He only paid tuition and I took care of the other fees including requirements and shuttle services. He absolutely gave us no support apart from that. He sent lawyers and court bailiffs to take his car and I handed it over to them at Kiira road police.
In August, while at my parents’ home, attending to our son who was severely sick, I received a phone call from my daughter’s teacher telling me that a man claiming to be my daughter’s father had gone to school with armed police women led by ASP Lydia Birungi and AIP Sarah Kawuma and abducted my daughter along with the school headteacher, throwing the entire school in panic. And just like that she was gone. This directive as I later found out was issued by Maureen Atuhaire, the Director of Child and family protection unit, Naguru.
A few weeks later, he presented a custody order from Mukono court that had granted him custody to our two kids, Shanelle who was 3 years and Malcolm who was 23 months old. I was never summoned to court and the case was judged by a one Okwong in my absence. Since I was given visitation rights, I settled for that since I was tired of fighting and tossing the kids from one home to the other. What hurts me is that he doesn’t want me to see my children. He never picks my calls, he never calls me. I absolutely know nothing about my kids whereabouts as he keeps telling me they have shifted whenever I ask to see them. I last saw my kids in October after a prolonged battle of exchanging various emails with his lawyers who are always harassing and intimidating me and my family. He even sued my parents for taking care of my children without his permission. I sent them clothes and shoes last November and all I got in response were threats and insults to stay away from his children.
I had tried FIDA before but I wasn’t helped. This man is a renowned child rights activist who has sadly represented the country across the globe on issues pertaining children’s rights and more embarrassing, Gender based violence. He is currently working with World Education International. Due to his work history, he knows so many influential people in the family courts, Police, the gender and justice ministries, plus he has all the money to bribe anyone. He recently sent me messages telling me he had a new wife with whom they are raising my children. All I want are my kids. I have not heard from them in over three months since he and his relatives don’t talk to me.
Everytime I ask him to let me see my kids, it is as if I have opened a can of worms for endless insults. I’ve tried several lawyers but this man has so many connections. I tried drinking, out of frustration to forget but it didn’t work. I have since turned to prayer and abandoned my drinking habits to rebuild my life but my heart still aches for my little ones. They are too young to be on their own without me, especially with a father who is bitter with their mother, a father who has denied them the opportunity to enjoy their mother’s love especially at such a tender age. I forgave him and I am willing to have shared custody because I know we are both equally important in our children’s life but he is so bitter yet I am the victim in all this. I am so heart broken. I want my babies.
To all the women, activists, authorities, lawyers, fellow parents, journalists, for how long shall I and other women suffer in silence under the heavy boots of the rich and the connected? Don’t my children deserve their mother’s love? How can court award custody of such young kids to a father without hearing from their mother?
Please I beg of you, kindly help me share this message and tag whoever can help me access justice for my little ones. I know there is a kind lawyer out there who can help me access justice. Please help me rescue my children. I am totally stuck. Thank you very much and may the good Lord richly reward you.

[Free Uganda]

One person has been murdered at katwekamwe cell, Rwentondo ward, Eastern Division, Rukungiri municipality, Rukungiri District.

Elly Maate, the Kigezi region police spokesperson told Howwe.Biz that 21 year old Ahereza Crescent, a peasant, was beaten up by a group of men identified as Joseph, Genuario, Muhumuza, Sodi, Kakoza, Allan, Mugabe, Byaruhanga among others on suspicion that he stole a goat. 

Maate added that police is yet to find owner of the goat, while the animal is also still missing.

Ahereza was rushed to Nyakibale Hospital where he died on Thursday at about 1200hrs 

Police visited the scene of crime, Post Mortem was done, but no arrest has yet been made, as inquiries are ongoing under file Ruk.sd 27.25.01.18.

Police in Kanungu is investigating circumstances under which one unidentified man was murdered and another one injured by mob. 

Elly Maate the Kigezi region police spokesperson told Howwe.Biz that the unfortunate events took place last night at around 11:30 hours within Kanungu Township. The duo was suspected thieves. 

Maate explains that police rushed to the scene and managed to rescue them, while the deceased who had been rushed to Kanungu health centre 4 in critical condition died moments later. 

The other man is in police custody. He has been identified as one Turyahebwa Juma 30 years old of Runyinya village Kishenyi parish Kanyantorogo s/c Kanungu district.

“Efforts to get those involved in this criminal activity are being made so that are brought to book and charged accordingly. Kanungu SD 56/18/01/18 refers” Maate told us.

[Free Uganda]

Ugandans are warned to stay away from the city or Kampala, Ndeeba, Kibuye, Kawempe, Ntinda, Nakulabye, Mengo, Natete and surrounding areas, after dark.

This is not wolokoso and the wave of killing innocent people by yet unidentified people possibly connected to the police are planning to carry out murders in order to scare the general public of rebel groups operating in Kampala and suburbs. Many people have been attacked as they get home and the intruders wait for one to get to the gate and attack the victim. The government has no capacity to protect the citizens as it was revealed that those that had confessed to murdering people were paraded with the help of the police but no action was taken against them. The country is going through turbulence and do not expect things to get better.

The police is notorious in arresting and torturing innocent people and some of the victims have lost their lives. The best security around you is yourself as you cannot count on Kayihura. The IGP recently camped in Masaka but only to complain of jiggers attacking him and giving the people that had lost their loved one lecture on hygiene a total disregard of lives lost.

Those who think that Uganda is safe, your dead bodies would be in streets in the morning. This warning must be taken very seriously as the killings now is going to be centred in Kampala. Get off the streets after 7PM.

[Free Uganda]

32 years ago today about now….a trail of little boys (many hardly 9 or possibly emaciated 12 year olds), all armed – dragging guns possibly taller than them (check my facebook page background pic)- poured across Makerere university; they were obviously with their commanders (much older) and weather beaten. These were NRA’s bandits emerging from Luwero bushes where they had left a trail of blood, skulls and ghosts but now, on their way to the final ‘BALLOT BOX’ that delivered Museveni to power.

On December 10th, 1980, the people of Nyabushoozi (as indeed the rest of Uganda) had roundly rejected mbu, ‘Uganda Patriotic Movement’ (UPM), the political party and candidate Museveni. Except for one seat in Tooro won by former DP Crispus Kiyonga, UPM obtained 0.8% of the polls and instead of heading to the Courts (if they had any electoral petitions worthy of mention), they strolled all the way from Mbarara North to Kabamba from where they started their massacre, claiming elections had been ‘rigged’ in favour of UPC which had convincingly won over 61% of the votes. In which constituencies Kagame, Bunyenyezi, Baingana or Rwigyema stood, that’s for you young historians and ‘cadre’ professors.

Largely defeated, on the run and (Museveni having sought asylum in Sweden), a life-line had been granted when in collaboration with DP and through the go rmless Okellos, they had managed to form a league to overthrow the UPC government 6 months earlier and, 5 months to the next elections. With DP, they were scared : an election in December 1985 would see an even increased majority for UPC, a cabinet reshuffle and reforms -including within security forces – that would have nailed their hopes possibly for ever. From July 27th 1985, Museveni had dragged his DP and Okello partners with conditions including a resource-wasting expedition to Nairobi in the guise of ‘peace talks’ (aptly referred, Nairobi Peace Jokes). How certain Ugandans allowed themselves to be duped this far….is a subject of my book tomorrow. He had used this time to rebuild, regroup, gather free resources and, expose the naivety of DP and the gormless Okellos. Above all, with the help of their imperialist bosses and Pike media, the various militias operating after the coup had been exposed as ‘terrible’ except ‘disciplined’ NRA. Ask Andrew Kayiira (RIP).

Having broken into State House and now a permanent squatter who no longer even knows his age, Museveni – whose grandfather’s names I forget – is today showing off his trophies at – of all places Arua in West Nile, a region that should historians ever establish the facts of the military units that first entered Amin’s home town after 1979…..I will only say ‘no comment’. Worse, those going will pass through Tororo where some NRA victims were buried while still breathing, Mukura where hundreds were boiled alive in railway wagons, greater Teso whose cattle were rustled South into Kampala, Lango some of whose citizens still live in concentration camps and in Acholi – an area in which genocide was perfected – and now documented (watch A Brilliant Genocide by Australian journalist and activist, Ebony Atlanta Butler).

The man and gang that wrought havoc on a nation and peoples that had just survived Amin’ regime of terror, claiming ‘election rigging and fighting for democracy’ now stands ‘tall’ in the world, claiming Donald Trump as his icon, having amended his own ‘constitution’ to allow him rule for life (for himself and grandchildren) and with zombie like followers in the names of legislators, boldly pushed for a 7 year term parliament. Sane Ugandans, where are you?

This is a sad day, I mourn for the dead, stunted and regressed. Except, I believe too, that this country is possible – if ONLY you believe in better.

[Free Uganda]

32 years of bad leadership, oppression, marginalisation, Nepotism, Sectarianism, Corruption, War Crimes, Genocide, Forced Disappearance, RAPE etc etc . by Yoweri Museveni

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Why would you celebrate a day like that? That’s is not a day for Ugandans, that is YOWERI MUSEVENI and his fake liberation day, a day he set Uganda on trap of his destruction, now Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world

In 1972 Uganda’s economy was the same as of south Koreans but now Korean is million times a head of Uganda shame on you YOWERI MUSEVENI

You are using a metal chain to pull Uganda backwards.

Inform, educate, empower and inspire your friends, family and relatives.
We should not go by bandwagon influence of the goons who use States money to intimidate us.

Since Yoweri Museveni came on power, various parts of Uganda has been suffering from Ebola, poverty, nepotism, war crimes, genocides, massacre, murder, rape etc this is not because the people did want the situation but its because the government has got the poorest leadership skills of corruption, bribery and own self satisfaction of politicians.

Any politician who joins NRM automatically starts thinking of how to suck his money because, they survive by being stupid. This system has let and will let Uganda behind as long as YOWERI Museveni is on the throne.

Even the devil celebrates after its mission of destruction same Yoweri Museveni today celebrates his day of destroying Uganda.

If the Northern Uganda’s underdevelopment is blamed on prolong war then what about the forested areas of Bunyoro, West Nile, and Eastern Uganda which is totally undeveloped, why are they undeveloped, this is because Yoweri Museveni doesn’t care about the welfare of Uganda but how to extend his next seat of power.

Ugandans wake up.

[Free Uganda]

The Crimes Against Humanity Committed By NRM Chairman Rubaga/Boda boda 2010 Chairman Hajji Kitatta And His Militia Group.

The night of August 3, 2017 will always remain vivid in Desderio Byamukama’s mind.

It is the day he lost his right hand after he was attacked by Boda Boda 2010 members.

“At around 9pm, I was attacked by three members of Boda Boda 2010 in Makindye as I returned home and they demanded to know where my stage was before asking that I present my membership card,” a teary Byamukama, a born of Gomba district..

“When I told them I didn’t have Boda Boda 2010 membership card, they ganged against me.

According to the 28 year old boda boda rider, a scuffle ensued. His attackers tried to grab his ride while he tried to hold firm, gripping it tightly.

“Before I could know, I had been cut several times in the head. I then turned to see who was cutting me and in a blink of the eye, I saw someone ready to cut off my head. I lifted my hands to try to stop him but unfortunately the panga got my hand and it was chopped off.”

Byamukama says he fell to the ground and his attackers took off with his motorcycle thinking he was dead. He later regained consciousness and crawled to safety.

Byamukama shows off the cuts on his head inflicted by members of Boda Boda 2010. He however narrates that the first person who came to his rescue thought he was a robber.

“I took time convincing him that my motorcycle had been stolen before he called on other people for help,” he said.

He says he told that people who gathered around him what had happened and they called police who later rushed him to Mulago hospital.

At Mulago, he spent more than a month in pain before he was discharged and returned home after he got better.

Byamukama was among the Century boda boda riders association members who held a press conference on Monday at Ovino Complex to jubilate against Boda boda 2010 alleged downfall.

Problem is, he could not fully jubilate especially whenever other members clapped their hands.

Hard knock life

Byamukama who lives in Lukuli Nanganda in Makindye division says being the eldest in their family back in Gomba, he was always looked up to for assistance in terms of finding school fees for his little brothers.

This however changed the day he was attacked and he can no longer fend for them.

“I can no longer work for myself. I live off handouts from friends and neighbours,” he says.

Byamukama has no simple words for Boda Boda 2010 members led by their jailed patron Abudallah Kitatta whom he says need to be brought to book for terrorising fellow boda boda riders.

He says he is happy that the leadership of the notorious group has been checked, adding he is ready to testify against his tormentors in courts of law to ensure justice prevails.

[Free Uganda]

Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa Bwamba County MP (NRM) Voted NO

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Question – We understand you met the President before voting in Parliament. What reasons did you give him for not supporting an amendment he campaigned for?

Answer “I haven’t met the President on my own, but we only met him as the Legal Affairs committee to present to him our report. But even when we went there, he was quick to say that ‘please let us talk as a committee and don’t bring your constituency issues here’. I think he had learnt that some of our voters had said no. So we were limited to the committee work.”

“But immediately I came back from my consultations, I met the chief whip and Prime Minister one-on-one and I also put in writing the position of my voters. The chief whip assured me that she would present my issues to the President.
And if there was a convincing response to the issues raised by my voters, perhaps they would have revoked their earlier position. But there was no response. So voters asked me never to dare touch it and they even threatened to burn my house by the way.”
By Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa Bwamba County MP (NRM) Voted NO against the infamous removal of article 102b.

My comment DWM

Any political party that takes it’s constituents, members, supporters and well wishers for granted fails to understand the basic codes of democracy and common purpose of the said organisation. Political parties exist because of people not the other way round. History is the best teacher. Political parties which have felt so comfortable in power and ignored the cries of citizens all went down the tube of oblivion. This has been so especially in personalised organisations where the founders controlled the party as a hereditary commodity or family business. Take an example of Uganda Peoples Congress that was controlled by Dr Milton Obote and Kenya African National Union where President Daniel Arap Moi turned it into his own little business. Both UPC and KANU have ended up being led by family members even today. I fear to say that National Resistance Movement is no different. It has the traits of both KANU and UPC that shut any criticism out and called those who dared to point out mistakes as traitors. Political parties come and go but citizens and country go no where.

Political parties should be channels which use and manage tax payers cash to deliver services as promised in their manifestos or as required by the nation.

Just as other millions of Ugandans, I believe that Uganda deserves better than what is on the menu at the moment. The country is being governed like an animal farm and is losing control in all spheres including security that is seeing too many people being hacked to death by criminals in collaboration with some rogue security agents.

Almost every program projected by government has ended up losing huge amounts of money. The failure to deal with the cancer of corruption is killing more people than rebels. People are dying in hospitals due to lack of both medicine and equipment. Theatres do not function and lack almost everything from gloves to injection needles. There is no water in most health centres and hospitals. Nurses, Midwives, doctors, clinical staff etc are not paid on time.

Police Stations still have the colonial Mabati round small or mud huts for officers. People who are supposed to keep law and order are under paid. Their Pensions delayed or lost in the system. Their families are in serious financial problems.

It does not stop their. Anyone who has ever been to Special Forces Command and Army Barracks knows that 90% of the houses are so ancient, dilapidated and rundown. Our heroic officers and their families live in very bad conditions while the country loses billions of shillings every other day. Remember the police and the army are the backbone of security; that is law and order. Most army schools are not better than government run down schools around the country. The lives of the citizens come first than keeping some people in government.

It is a tragedy that the government has prioritised passing out military personnel every year and ignored the fundamental foundations of a growing country through education and Health. The Armed Forces or the Military is there to protect already healthy and well looked after citizens not ill, sick and illiterate people.

These are but a few issues critically facing Uganda. Failure for those given the mandate to solve these problems produces a backlash and must expect a revolt from the voters. Those in authority have themselves to blame. They have been given so many chances. Uganda deserves better. 

David Wangusi Masinde

 

[Free Uganda]

KAMPALA- Members of Boda Boda 2010 gang are on the run after the military arrested their leader Abdullah Kitatta and intensified the crackdown on others over the murder of Case Hospital accountant Francis Ekalungar.

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The deputy army spokesperson, Lt Col Deo Akiiki, said yesterday that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) was hunting more members of the gang and would not rest until they have been apprehended.

“The operation is still ongoing and we are looking for more suspects who are still at large. We, however, want to assure you that whoever was involved in this crime shall be apprehended. We came in as army because when a person is killed in such a manner, we become concerned on whether it is a rebel group or terrorists,” Lt Col Akiiki said.

He was speaking at a joint army and police press conference at the government’s Media Centre.

The military has arrested close to 30 Boda Boda 2010 members since last Friday, including the gang patron, Mr Kitatta and his brother Huzair Kiwalabye following the gruesome murder of Ekalungar who was kidnapped, killed and burnt beyond recognition on January 2, as he took the hospital’s Shs15m to the bank.

The army said the crackdown on the suspects came after investigations directly linked Mr Kiwalabye to Ekalungar’s murder.

Lt Col Akiiki said other suspects, including Mr Kitatta, were arrested for trying to sabotage ongoing investigations with threats, protests and blocking roads.

“No one is above the law. Even if it is me as an army officer I can be arrested and prosecuted if I have committed an offence. These people thought they would interfere with investigations by blocking roads. That is not acceptable and cannot be allowed to happen,” Lt Col Akiiki said.

The police spokesperson, Mr Emilian Kayima, said the Case Hospital proprietor, Dr Sebbaale Kato, was yesterday intercepted as he headed to Entebbe International Airport to travel out of the country because his driver, Muzamiru Mawa, is a key suspect in the murder.

“His driver is among the key suspects in this case. We thought he will be needed in this investigation. That is why we stopped him from going out of the country. He will be let to go after we have got some information from him,” Mr Kayima said.

Police asked the public to avail all the relevant evidence for the trial of the suspects.
Asked whether the suspects would be prosecuted in the court martial, Lt Col Akiiki said it would depend on the outcomes of the investigations.

“Since the investigations are still on, we may get evidence that could sustain their trial in the army court, but as of now, all the evidence we have would enable our sister institution (police) to charge them in civil courts,” he said.

Lt Col Akiiki said the suspects would be scrutinised and those who are not linked to the murder would be released.

The army ransacked Boda Boda 2010 offices at the weekend in Wakaliga and recovered weapons such as machetes (pangas), knives, army uniforms and motorcycle number plates.

Mr Kayima warned the public against mob action after it was established that Boda Boda 2010 offices in Bukesa, Wakaliga and Makindye areas had been set ablaze by their rival factions.

[Author]

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