Former Inspector General of Police, Edward Kale Kayihura Kalekyeezi was last week spotted in Masaka during General Muhoozi Keinerugaba’s Baraza.
Kayihura who looked visibly challenged was not given a chance to address but his body language was clearly indicative of a disgruntled
man recounting the good times that have since been overshadowed by a desperate search for survival avenues whose price is an abnormal humiliation.
What the public saw at the Baraza is not the old powerful, energetic and lively Ispector General of Police whose mere cough caused shudders among the country’s powerful of the time. With his visibly de-fleshed chin resting in his unusually thin palms, the ex police Commander was clearly a shell of his former self.
Fellow former army colleagues, David Ssejusa Tinyefunza, Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe and Xaverio Kahinda Otafire have given the public an impression that Muhoozi’s purported presidential ambition is unwelcome to them by their unveiled hostility towards the cause.
David Ssejusa, in the run up to the 2011 elections unearthed a reported plit to eliminate senior Army officers opposed to a well strategised plot to have the first son take over from his father. The controversially bold revelation earned Ssejusa a prolonged time in exile and court battles on return to the country. Otafire on the other hand has vehemently faulted Muhoozi’s entitlement to think being so to the PreIdent is itself sufficient to make him one. Orafiire who has curved himself a neme for being Frank, courageous and fearless, has variously cast his Bush war master’s son’s capabilities for the high office, often referring to him as ” a faulty standby generator that can not start.”
Otafire has argued that fronting Muhoozi for the presidency after his father would sharply contrast the democratic principals upon which the National Resistance Movement was built.
As for Kayihura, he has publicly implied that his loyalty falls to the side of the PLU leader, although the reasons for the choice remain debatable. Muhoozi who has repeatedly referred to Kayihura as ” my uncle” in his various tweets has recently stepped forward to play savior amid the numerous career ending battles the former IGP has endured since 2018.
Kayihura was axed from the powerful position of IGP in March 2018 after being implicated in a string of wrongdoings including a spate of murders of high profile personalities including his deputy, Andrew Felix Kaweesi. He would later get arrested and detained on charges related to failure to protect Rwandese refugees many of whom ended up dying in the hands of the police he manned.
At the give away of his daughter, Tesi Uwibante in December last year, General Muhoozi was in attendance along with his wife Charlotte in a show of solidarity with the former army strongman.
Kayihura, who had recently just retired from the army was giving away his daughter to the son of Gen. Emmanuel Gasana, who is also a former IGP of Rwanda National Police.
Kahihura personally went out to receive the man who would ordinarily bow before him reflecting his seniority. Gen. Kayihura then thanked Muhoozi for honoring the occasion with his presence and also thanked his wife and applauded him for his role in ensuring that the retired General received justice when he was cleared of the charges he had been battling.
The former IGP expressed confidence in Muhoozi’s credentials as the most qualified to be Uganda’s next president, highlighting his contributions in national and regional security.
In Masaka, however, Kayihura looked like a man paying a debt or one seeking refuge from something so powerful that even for the highest degree of humiliation as the price, he would still feel better off.
Kayihura may not want Muhoozi to be his master but he still feels betrayed and neglected by Museveni- the man he put his reputation and career on the line to keep power for. With potentially no powers left to avenge the betrayal, Muhoozi remains the only man powerful enough to guarantee his safety and relevance. There has already been reports that the former IGP is in contention for a big appointment either in government or at the NRM Secretariat at Kyafondo Road.
If all that is anything to believe, then Kayihura’s humiliating loyalty to General Muhoozi would make much sense. A drowning man will clutch at a serpent.
