By Paul K. Ssemogerere
March 14 - 20, 2004
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In your special report on "Who killed Kayiira?" (Sunday Monitor, March 7 by David Kibirige, insinuations were made against me as if to suggest, among other things, that I was hiding something I might have known about Kayiira's death; and that I had reasons to do so. Nothing could be far from the truth. After pointing out, quite accurately, that I was the Minister of Internal Affairs at the time Kayiira was killed and that I resigned from government in 1995 (by then as 2nd Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs), Kibirige asks in the report: "So the question is why has Ssemogerere kept quite (sic) all this long?" And he Kibirige proceeds with the insinuations, notably: • That I avoided discussing the Kayiira issue during the 1996 presidential election and recently when approached by Sunday Monitor: first, giving excuses that I could not discuss it on phone and that I was going for a funeral on Wednesday, March 3 when he called me; and, second, that probably I made myself unavailable on Thursday when he (Kibirige) tried to speak to me "in vain". • That there might have been bad feelings between Kayiira and myself because: first, after the 1980 general elections, Kayiira decided on a guerilla war but as DP leader I opted to go to Parliament and form the opposition, thereby denying Kayiira "a block Baganda fighting force"; and second, because as early as 1986 Kayiira, who was "a Democratic Party (DP)" firebrand politician, had called on me to relinquish party leadership".
The above insinuations are unfounded and regrettable, especially coming as they do from an otherwise respectable newspaper as The Monitor. I react as follows. First on being quiet about Kayiira's death including during my presidential election campaign in 1996. Perhaps I have not been loud enough but I have spoken about Kayiira and his tragic death on appropriate occasions. That what I have said has not been reported or was not considered newsworthy is another matter. I have always said that Police investigations into the Kayiira murder which would have fallen under my portfolio were overtaken by the assignment given to Scotland Yard from the United Kingdom (UK); and that Scotland Yard's report was never availed to me, either in my capacity as minister of Internal Affairs or as a member of the Cabinet. I said as much only recently, at a memorial service for Dr Kayiira organized by relatives and friends at his burial grounds at Masuuliita, Wakiso district, in the presence of officials from the RDC's office and security operatives. Accordingly, it is understandable if Kayiira's death did not come up as an issue at all, let alone as "a hot issue" in my 1996 presidential campaign. I recall of no journalist taking interest in raising the issue with me all along the campaign trail. I was not an interesting subject to be investigated; or someone who was privy either to the still secret findings of Scotland Yard or to that ignominious plot that finished off Dr Kayiira. Second: did I avoid Mr Kibirige and did I have anything to hide. Absolutely no. The problem was on Kibirige's side who failed to keep the appointment I gave him for the purpose and who, thereafter, seems to have looked for me at the wrong time and/or in the wrong places. Kibirige first called me on phone on Tuesday, March 2 late morning, for an interview on the Kayiira saga. I disapproved carrying out the interview on such a serious issue on telephone; and we agreed on a 1.00 pm appointment at the DP headquarters on the same day. Kibirige failed to keep the appointment; and when he phoned around 1.30 pm and he was still at The Monitor premises in the Industrial Area. It was too late for me to wait for him as I had other commitments to keep. We agreed we had to arrange for another appointment.
I spent most of Thursday attending a seminar, also attended by The Monitor, on the "Implications" of the Supreme Court judgement of January 29, in my appeal case in respect of Constitutional (Amendment) Act No 13 of 2000. Presumably Kibirige looked for me in the wrong places during this time and that was why he failed to reach me. Third: were there any bad feelings between Kayiira and me? Absolutely none. All along Kayiira and I related to each other as friends, although with different approaches to politics. We both attended the Moshi Conference on Uganda (March 1979), at the head of different organisations (Kayiira for UFU and I for DP). At Moshi we both successfully promoted Prof. Yusuf K. Lule, as against Mr. Paulo Muwanga, to be chairman of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), a prelude to his becoming the country's interim president, following the anticipated ouster of president Amin from power. Incidentally, I am the one who nominated Prof. Lule for the post of chairman of NEC. When, eventually, Amin's government was overthrown in April 1979 and Lule was installed as president, Kayiira was appointed minister of Internal Affairs. To the end of Lule's administration, excellent relations prevailed between the two of us. Kayiira and I stood firmly together behind Lule, protesting, when he was being deposed in a meeting of the Uganda National Consultative Council (UNCC) in June 1979, at State House, Entebbe, when I led the "opposition" debate against the motion to depose him. Subsequently, Kayiira and I, together with the late Bernard Buzaabo, jointly sued the UNCC in the High Court for the unconstitutional removal from office of President Lule. I, however, proceeded alone with the case, with Dr Joseph Byamugisha as my counsel, as Kayiira opted for an armed struggle and left the country and Mr Buzaabo formally withdrew from the case for personal reasons. Although Lule was not restored to office the case was a vindication of his conduct as president and a contribution to constitutional development in Uganda. Consequently, in light of that judgement, Mr Godfrey Binaisa's assumption of the office of president was, technically, illegal and tantamount to a "palace coup" by a section of the UNCC in collusion with certain leading officers in the security forces. The last Sunday before Kayiira's death our two families prayed together at Christ the King Church, Kampala; and we talked intimately with each other. Thereafter, I directed for adequate security to be provided for Kayiira's immediate family. At her request, I assisted Mrs Kayiira to secure a passport for travel abroad. About this time Mr Francis W. Bwengye, then a high profile UFM leader who had been arrested for treason with Kayiira and others and later acquitted approached me for Police protection because he feared for his life. I directed the Police accordingly. Sometime afterwards Bwengye introduced to me a person who claimed to have been an eyewitness in the murder of Kayiira. I immediately introduced him to the Inspector General of Police, Luke Ofungi (RIP); and I directed the latter to mount full and thorough investigations, following all leads, wherever they pointed. This initiative was, however, overtaken by new developments, notably: first, Bwengye fled into exile and announced that UFM was resuming armed struggle, this time against the NRM government; and, second, President Yoweri Museveni invited Scotland Yard to take over the investigations into Kayiira's death. Those two developments closed the door to any meaningful and systematic flow of information to me regarding the probe into Kayiira's murder. Fourth: Was there a Kayiira vs Ssemogerere encounter over DP's going to Parliament or to the "bush"? None at all. Following the rigged 1980 General Elections, the Democratic Party, in the national interest, took the painful decision to go to Parliament, during a specially convened two-day meeting of the Party National Council, at Rubaga Social Centre, Kampala. The decision was arrived at democratically in a sincere and transparent manner. All the DP parliamentary candidates, successful and unsuccessful, were invited to this meeting; and a big majority of them did attend. Dr. Kayiira was not present in this meeting: he was not a member of any party organ, and he had not been a DP parliamentary candidate. In addition, Kayiira was already in the "bush", following the unconstitutional deposition, by the UNCC, of President Lule and his replacement by Binaisa. There was never any encounter, or meeting, or communication of any kind, between Dr. Kayiira and myself during this time over the issue of DP's participation in parliament, and the alternative of fighting. The option of DP resorting to armed struggle had previously been raised formally and rejected in meetings of the National Executive Committee (NEC), between October 18th and 19th 1980. Again Kayiira had not participated in those meetings: he was not a member of the party executive; and he was already in the "bush". Fifth: Did Kayiira call on me to relinquish party leadership in 1986? No, he never did. First of all no such occasion arose in 1986, either in the dying days of the Tito Lutwa administration, that is up to January 26; or, thereafter under the newly installed NRM government, since political party conferences and other party activities were effectively banned throughout this period. Second, Kayiira was not an active DP member; he was the leader of the UFM and its fighting force, the Uganda Freedom Army (UFA). As UFM/A leader, Kayiira was preoccupied with re-establishing his organization and, in particular, its armed wing; and making them relevant to the new political and military realities in the country. For instance: as head of UFM/A and a member of General Tito's Military Council, Kayiira was preoccupied with commanding his army in fighting the "rebels" viz Museveni's NRA. And after the capture of power by the NRM/A and Kayiira's appointment in the new administration, he was preoccupied with the preservation of his army and its integration in the new national army. Under these circumstances, Kayiira's activities, therefore, during 1986 (and thereafter), could not be described as those of "a Democratic Party firebrand politician". He was a firebrand UFM/A leader preoccupied with the UFM/A agenda. May Andrew Kayiira's soul rest in eternal peace. NOTE: The author is president of DP |
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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