New accusations against Kayihura

Bogus charges history

Kayihura was initially arrested over allegations that he was responsible for the murder former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

Kaweesi was murdered together with his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Mambewa on March 17 when assailants showered with bullets the car he was driving in on their way from his home in Kulambiro, a Kampala surburb.

And on June 13 the military led by the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen. Wilson Mbadi and the head of CMI Brig. Abel Kandiho arrested Kayihura at his farm in Kashagama, Lyantonde District.

Following his arrest, Kayihura was told that he was being charged with the murder of AIGP Kaweesi.

According to sources, President Yoweri Museveni had in June last year said the charges against Kayihura were of a serious nature.

The President’s explanation followed a request by Kayihura through the Chief of Defense Forces; Gen. David Muhoozi for a meeting with the head of state. But when Muhoozi passed on the information during a meeting of senior army officers with the president at State House Entebbe, President Museveni declined to see him.

He told the army officers that he preferred to keep emotional distance and explained that if he met Kayihura personally, he could be swayed by kindness and emotion towards him.

At the time the team investigating Kayihura comprised eight officers; four from police, two from the CMI and two from ISO.

Those from police were Grace Akullo, the Director Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (CIID), as chair, her deputy; Senior Commissioner of Police (SCP) Elly Womanya, and two other police detectives. From ISO, it was Lt. Churchill Mutatina and another, and from CMI, it is the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT) Director, Charles Asiimwe, and another agent.

The team concluded its investigations and submitted its report to President Museveni.

The most significant piece of evidence in this report was a recording in which Kayihura was allegedly talking to the assassin, who ISO claimed was Muhangi.

Kaka had also assembled witnesses who claimed to have participated in the planning and execution of the murder. But when a joint team of investigators from police, ISO and CMI further interrogated the said witnesses, they admitted that ISO operatives had coached them. The investigating team also found that the recording was not authentic. In their report to President Museveni, the joint investigating team concluded that the evidence against Kayihura up until this point was bogus.

“They found the claims against Kale to be fabricated,” a source knowledgeable about the investigations told The Independent on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, “They have also recommended that Kayihura’s allies who were arrested over the same allegations should be released.”

Indeed, when President Museveni was presented with a report from this investigation, he also concluded that the charges were bogus.

Then on Aug.27, a day before Kayihura was granted bail, President Museveni met his family members and told them that the authorities would soon get to the bottom of the issues.

Apart from meeting President Museveni, Kayihura’s family also met the Senior Presidential Advisor on Defence and Security, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho, aka, Salim Saleh.

Apparently, Gen. Saleh told them that he had not believed the audio recording, which operatives at the Internal ISO had availed as part of the evidence pinning the police chief in the murder of Kaweesi.

Kayihura would later be released on bail on Aug.27. Since then, some felt that he was on the verge of being a free man.

Indeed, while he was initially not allowed to travel outside Uganda, around the same time, State House aided him as he applied for visas to travel with four others including his wife and a military officer to Germany for medical treatment.

His travel plans were only frustrated when on the day he was supposed to pick his visa from the Germany Embassy in Kampala, he received a phone call informing him that his application had been declined.

Insiders said the former police chief could be facing a travel ban as a result of his work as police chief.

They pointed to the case over the forcefully deportation of a group of Rwandan nationals back to Rwanda, which apparently, President Museveni was forced to act against the police chief and others following complaints from UN diplomats over the same.

This was especially because in March last year, a group of Rwandans took Kayihura to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity that he allegedly committed along with his men when they forcefully deported a group of Rwandan nationals back to Rwanda.

Also, over the years, several pressure groups both local and in the diaspora have petitioned the U.S. and European Union countries to put travel sanctions against senior security officers in command positions who have been at the centre of human rights violations.

But away from the international trouble, it appeared like Kayihura had less pressure internally. Reports about fresh accusation could mean fresh internal pressure for the former police chief.

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