Museveni appointed Gen. Kalekyezi to head the police force with a sole mission
of personalising it. In December 2008
Museveni publicly ordered Gen. Kalekyezi to clean up the officers who do not
support government policies. He argued thus;
“Even the colonial government police understood the policies of their country,
which is why they arrested Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro in defence of
imperialism."
Indeed, he has almost achieved this objective at a rating of 85%. He has managed to eliminate the unwanted
tribes from the force's strategic command and administrative positions and
replaced them with those from Kiruhura, Mbarara and Kisoro. He has managed to turn the police into a coercive
army of the regime's umbrella organisation, NRM. He has succeeded in militarising the police
and turned it into a brutal force against political dissent and civilians in
general.
Yet Museveni recently cried foul alleging that civilians fear to take information
to the police. In April 2011, the
parliamentary committee on state enterprises and statutory authorities
questioned the top police leadership over police cadet recruitment described as "an exclusive
club constituted on the basis of political, regional and tribal affiliations." Basing on the documentary evidence provided
by a whistleblower, the committee was shocked to learn that the cadet recruitment
for 2010/2011 had picked 23 recruits from Kiruhura, followed by Kisoro with 20,
Ntungamo with 19 while northern, central and eastern region districts had one recruit per district but even some
districts had none. The then Human
Resource director, Richard Bisherurwa defended the irregularity arguing that
the criteria had considered affirmative action and professional training.
Some members of the police have a licence to arbitrarily arrest, kidnap,
illegally detain, torture, maim, kill, rob, steal, extort, solicit for bribes,
black mail, protect high profile criminals, invade courts of law and defy court
orders while it enjoys total protection from the regime. Within its ranks, deployment, advanced
training, assignments, attachments, and promotions are on the basis of tribe, political
affiliation and godfathers. The
Inspector General of Government (IGG) is investigating the same irregularities
but obviously, nothing will be brought to light.
During the recent funeral of Gen. Kaweesi who was shot dead most likely
by his colleagues over
position and the accruing resources, Museveni once again instructed Gen.
Kalekyezi to clean up the police which he described as infiltrated by
criminals. Museveni knows very well that
it’s the likes of Kaweesi, Arooni Baguma, Kataratambi, Komurubuga, Kato, Joram Mwesigye,
and others from the preferred regions who have committed heinous crimes but
have been shielded by his regime. Instead, we have seen the likes of Omara,
Kirumira, Okalany, Ogwal and others in that category reprimanded and sent on
remand in some cases.
Somewhere midway it was also alleged that those officers who were impartial
in their conduct were being put on Katebe (rendered redundant) and replaced by
those from Ankole and Kisoro. Much
later, the Bishop of Moroto put Gen. Kalekyezi to task to explain why all the four
cadets who had been deployed in Moroto, three were from Ankole and one was from
Kisoro.
In December 2015 while handing over motorcycles to crime preventers in Ntungamo,
Gen. Kalekyezi disclosed that whatever he does is based on Museveni's orders
thus; "For us we are small people; agents.
I work on orders; the Commander in Chief's (CIC) orders. When you are going to war, the CIC gives
instruments of war. He gave me an order;
do I have a choice? If I don’t do this,
he dismisses me, of course I like my job."
He went ahead to add thus; "Those who have been saying Kayihura is
militarizing police, it’s in the law.
This is just the beginning, have you not seen the plane in the air, I
found the police with SAR, they now have anti-aircraft machine guns. Am going
to buy Sabasaba, why not. This is the
order from the president."
During the last general election campaigns, the police in Karamoja
region mounted a 60mm Mortar in the middle of the road as they blocked the
opposition candidate, Dr. Besigye from
proceeding to the rally venue (see picture).
A Mortar of whatever calibre is an army infantry weapon that is used to
pound short range targets with bombs.
There is no police force anywhere in the world that uses mortars save
for Museveni's militarised police.
Being a Lawyer, Gen. Kalekyezi was being smart in preparation for a rainy
day - future judicial process in the form of criminal proceedings. Moreover 'Superio order' is a ground for defence
in criminal law. For Museveni, he is
trying to reap maize yet he sowed red pepper.
INFORMATION IS POWER DEFIANCE IS THE WAY TO GO
Change of Guards Blog
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