Why VP Bukenya must not meet Baganda soldiers
By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda
WEEKLY OBSERVER, 9th June 2005
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has six lieutenant generals, none of them a Muganda. It has 10 major generals and 18 brigadiers, and only one is Muganda at each of these two ranks. Of the 81 colonels the army has, just nine are Baganda.
Why then should there be a problem when Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya meets one of only 11 top Baganda officers?
That is what Prof. Bukenya indicated in an interview published by The Daily Monitor on May 26. The VP claimed that President Museveni had grilled him for meeting the late Col. Sula Ssemakula at night.
“The next day I was told by the President that I am meeting Baganda army officers. I was asked, ‘How can you summon an army officer without doing it through the army commander?’ I refused to see Ssemakula [again] without the permission of the Army Commander,” Bukenya complained in the interview.
Army Spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza in a telephone interview with The Weekly Observer this week said it is normal for civilian authority like Prof. Bukenya to meet army officers, provided the leaders follow proper guidelines (read seeking permission from the Army Commander).
Maj. Bantariza spoke angrily about segmenting officers into Baganda, Banyankole or Acholi.
Bantariza probably forgot that it was – at least according to Bukenya – President Museveni, the Commander-in-Chief who brought up the issue in the first place.
Although Bukenya mentions Ssemakula, Brig. Henry Tumukunde was actually the one who kicked off the storm that is now threatening to sweep away the Vice President.
Tumukunde’s intention, however, was not to pull down the VP but his own then deputy at the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Col. Elly Kayanja, whom he perceived as insubordinate.
According to intelligence sources, Kayanja had filed reports against Tumukunde to President Museveni. Tumukunde responded in like manner.
“In one of the reports to Museveni, Tumukunde accused Kayanja of developing a strong relationship with Bukenya aimed at building a political base [for the two] in Buganda. Bukenya would marshal civilian support while Kayanja would mobilise military support,” a senior intelligence officer claims.
Tumukunde, now under detention for alleged violation of army regulations, reportedly enlisted the support Col. Noble Mayombo, the Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI), in his battles with Kayanja. That is how the report of an alleged ‘assassination’ plot against Museveni, implicating Kayanja and Bukenya, came to be filed by CMI, and not Tumukunde. The report was about an armed soldier arrested near Museveni with a loaded pistol yet he was not a member of the Presidential Guard Brigade.
“The reports from Tumukunde against Kayanja had become predictable. The appointing authority would find an independent report from another source more believable,” said the sources.
Another report that Bukenya had met Col. Ssemakula later in the year (November 2004) would raise more questions for an already suspicious Museveni.
Sunday Monitor on June 5 reported that Col. Elly Kayanja was quizzed by Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh over his ‘close’ links with Bukenya. Kayanja was reportedly reminded of 2003 when he took it upon himself to boost the security of Bukenya shortly after the latter had been appointed Vice President.
Another report followed on Tuesday alleging that Kayanja had sent his family to the United States and was considering fleeing himself. However, Kayanja told The Weekly Observer after both reports that he would only speak through his lawyers.
Nadduli’s take
In an interview with Luwero district Chairman Hajji Abdu Nadduli this week, the maverick NRM historical attributed the suspicion against Baganda officers to Uganda’s history.
He said Buganda was at the time of independence a nation on its own; only ‘accidentally forced’ to merge with administratively young communities to make a country.
He believes Uganda has suffered because Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, picked from a community still undergoing administrative maturity, became head of government ahead of Baganda.
Nadduli claims that revolutions not blessed by Buganda have all failed; mentioning Idi Amin, Tito Okello Lutwa, and the invading force from Tanzania.
“They are scared of us,” Nadduli said, citing “inferiority complex” as the cause of the suspicion against Baganda.
“That is why I told the President that the [NRM] revolution must be transformed beyond the family,” said Nadduli.
“They have formed all sorts of political parties like Reform, FDC …,” he added. “They fear Buganda.”
Nadduli alleged that even in FDC, Sam Njuba could not become the chief executive because of the same fear and suspicion against Baganda.
The plain-speaking politician had earlier accused President Museveni of “tribalising” the army in a story published by The Daily Monitor. He claimed that army promotions had mainly gone to the [Western] part of Uganda. That, he said, is the region that has also produced the biggest number of army commanders in Museveni’s 20-year rule.
Tracing the genesis
A few months after capturing power in January 1986, President Museveni reportedly sacked 10 Baganda soldiers from his Presidential Protection Unit (PPU).
The 10 soldiers included now retired Maj. James William Kinobe who was then Regiment Sergeant Major (RSM), Richard Musoke, Lt. Luutu (RIP) and Ssekyejwe who was presidential ADC. Part of this group fled to London out of frustration. At the time, [present day Army Commander Lt. Gen.] Aronda Nyakairima was the PPU intelligence officer.
The PPU Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Akanga Byaruhanga (RIP), had just returned from a course in Tanzania and Lt. Col. Lukyamuzi had been acting in his absence.
It is possible that Museveni moved the 10 soldiers for a different reason, but the fact that they were all Baganda raised eyebrows.
The latent suspicion of Baganda officers resulted in colonels Eric Mukasa and Fred Bogere coming under scrutiny until they passed the test as being ‘harmless’.
The two were once summoned by then Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, to answer queries relating to ‘political meetings’ that they were allegedly attending at Mengo, the seat of Buganda Kingdom.
Muntu did not pursue the case further as it lacked merit, but the Ganda community in the army had received the message.
Asked about the incident, Maj. Gen. Muntu said he does not recollect the incident. He told The Weekly Observer, however, that the grilling of Bukenya by Museveni over alleged meetings with Baganda army officers points to a bigger problem.
“[After] we wrote a Constitution and specified ways of how one can access power, there shouldn’t be any fear. The moment you start operating in a manner that is not compatible with the Constitution, then you start being paranoid,” Muntu said of President Museveni.
‘Community work’
One High Command meeting presided over by Museveni even questioned why some officers had started engaging in community activities that would lead them into politics.
Col. Kayanja, then chairperson of Rakai Development Association, was singled out. The President, according to sources, condemned the practice. So Kayanja abandoned the association, but Col. Kizza Besigye remained the chairperson of Rukungiri Development Association and Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire became the chairperson of the Ankole Parliamentary Group when he was still a serving army officer.
Critics allege that Museveni is wary of respected and learned Baganda officers as they could be a threat to his hold onto power. Never mind that the President even last week insisted that a military coup against him is simply impossible.
“That is why the first Muganda to be promoted to major general (Katumba Wamala) was sent to head the police, not the military,” one critic alleged when asked why Baganda officers should be an issue at all.
Critics have also read something sinister into a July 2003 radio message Museveni sent to the Army Commander about army officers pursuing university education.
In that message, Museveni reportedly asked Lt. Gen. Aronda to replace army officers pursuing further education, and stop paying their salaries.
“I am told many army officers are pursuing university degrees while they are still serving in the army. Who authorised this? I do not remember High Command or Army Council authorising this,” Museveni said in the July 2003 message. The President’s argument was that studies that are not military-related should be treated as ‘private’.
“Therefore the maximum we can do is to allow anybody who wants to advance himself academically to go on unpaid leave. He must also get the Army Commander’s permission to even do this. He would also have to vacate army accommodation and hand in all army items,” reads the message.
The Army Commander later appointed a committee chaired by the Chief of Staff to investigate the matter.
Critics claim that this targeted Katumba Wamala, Bogere and other Baganda officers pursuing studies at Makerere and other universities. In reality, however, officers from other ethnic groups were also studying; including Col. John Mugume, Col. Fred Tolit and Col. Francis Okello, among others.
Top Baganda officers
Maj. Gen. Katumba Wamala
Brig. Kasirye Gwanga
Col. Hudson Mukasa
Col. Eric Mukasa
Col. Elly Kayanja
Col. Fred Bogere
Col. Dr. Sam Lwanga
Col. Sam Waswa Balikalege
Col. Sam Kawaga
Col. James Ssebagala
Col. Silva Kayemba
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