By Angelo Izama
Dec 12, 2003
|
Big shake up in ESO KAMPALA � Mr David Pulkol was yesterday dropped as Director General of the External Security Organisation - for the second time in five years.
A statement signed by President Museveni�s press secretary, Ms Mary Okurut, said the change takes immediate effect. Pulkol was transferred back to the ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement said. Pulkol�s deputy, Mr Businge Amooti, was also dropped and transferred back to President�s Office. Mr Robert Masolo replaces Amooti as deputy Director-General, while Col. Third term jinx An official in the intelligence community told The Monitor that Pulkol�s sacking �was an accident waiting to happen� after the former spy boss made �uncomfortable political remarks�. Pulkol recently said - at a public dialogue organised by the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum, a group opposed to the lifting of term limits on the presidency � that it was okay to debate the issue. The intelligence official told The Monitor yesterday that such political comments are �hardly expected� of a spy boss. However, Pulkol told The Monitor yesterday that he had been �redeployed� and not sacked. �I have not been sacked,� Pulkol told Monitor FM in a telephone interview. �I had a contract which has come to an end and it is also a fact that I did not submit a request for an extension of that contract. �People should not read too much into it,� he added. Pulkol, who said he was speaking to Monitor FM, from his home, then put a philosophical spin to his spying career. �I don�t know how to tell a lie; in Karamoja we are afraid of heights. Whenever we take up high positions we tread carefully because we know you cannot go too close to the cliff without falling,� a jovial-sounding Pulkol said. Who is Lt. Maku? Little is known about the new ESO boss, Lt. Maku-Iga � but intelligence officials describe him as a career spy. Maku-Iga, who comes from Moyo district, joined ESO in 1993. The officer told Monitor FM last night that he had served as an army officer and career intelligence officer. �I am a cadre, soldier and I have been working in security for 17 years. I also served in the Presidents Office in the Administration Department,� he said. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
BT Yahoo! Broadband - Save �80 when you order online today. Hurry! Offer ends 21st December 2003. The way the internet was meant to be.
