It has been long nursed by political gurus that the disbandment of pluralism shortly after Africa grabbed freedom led to the entrenchment of single party rule that groomed the worst dictators in the world. Here in Uganda the Obote regime left the country not only wounded but faced with a new design of politics...the military bit that surfaced in the name of stamping out dictatorship...see what Amin did to Uganda. And in Africa as a whole, the post single party rule brought what Prof. Ali Mazrui described as "rug-tagged" and in most places under-facilitated revolutionaries into power. Some used coup detats while others waged wars-and-they were welcomed by the public. But the public forgot one thing. When military men galvanise the body politic of any country, it becomes almost impossible for people to feel confident if they are not governed by the military-backed politicians. In Uganda, the same disease has gripped the country. For history dictates that in 1996 when Democratic Party strongman Paul Ssemwogerere, a civillian stood with Museveni Yoweri, a former warlord, it was cristal that Paul had no niche. But when FDC stalwart and former warlord poised his military force against Yoweri-the election-heat the country felt was unbelievable...and now the succession debate in the two higly military parties has begun to rotate on the public philosophical mandle of militarism defining body politic...in FDC much as there people like Major Rubaramira Ruranga, Col Amanya Mushega...the presidencial succession toss will land on former army commander Mugisha Muntu...
If Dr. Kizza Besigye chooses not to run for the FDC presidency come2010, Uganda's most popular opposition party could look to Maj. GenMugisha Muntu, the party's Organizing Secretary--a survey suggests.The political survey which was conducted by the Steadman Group in 55districts in December last year indicates that Muntu, the longestserving army commander so far, would be better placed, more than anyother person in Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to replace Besigye,who has twice contested for the national presidency and lost toPresident Yoweri Museveni of the NRM.Out of the 1,979 respondents interviewed for the survey, 669 or (10%)revealed Muntu, who also represents the party in the East AfricanLegislative Assembly, would be their preferred candidate if FDCdecided to get a new leader.Other possible party presidential candidates surveyed include Prof.Ogenga Latigo, the Leader of Opposition and FDC Vice President (North)who garnered 9%. Former Bugabula South MP who is also a party VicePresident Salaamu Musumba also registered 9%.Meanwhile, Aswa County MP Reagan Okumu who last year hinted that hemight stand for party president, sparking off a heated successiondebate, scooped only 2%, emerging last. However, 20% of therespondents did not commit themselves on the question.The survey question was: "Since you feel that Kizza Besigye should notstand, who else would be your preferred personality to run forpresident under FDC?"Succession debateIn a way, the findings of the survey confirm what has long beensuspected as well as believed by some quarters in FDC that--- thatMuntu, perhaps more than any leader in FDC, would be better suited toreplace Besigye, if the FDC leader was to step aside.Muntu is known to be an objective thinker, a principled person and aneffective mobiliser.What's more, his military background puts him on a good standing,considering the widely held belief that no one in the opposition canchallenge President Museveni or rule the country, without marshallingthe support of the military.Beyond these factors, the survey results are likely to re-ignite thesuccession debate in the party, which was ignited by Okumu last year.Though Besigye said then that it was good for someone else to come upand challenge him, it is known that Okumu's challenge created tensionswithin the party.Yet crucially, there are emerging voices in FDC to the effect thatBesigye's time is up--on account of having failed twice to defeatPresident Museveni.Secondly Besigye, while seen as charismatic by some people, is seen as"too tough and angry" by others, a trait that some commentators sayworks against him.But Besigye remains very popular, going by the survey.Asked if Besigye should return as FDC candidate come 2011, 53% of therespondents said 'yes' while 34% said 'no'.Muntu remains cautious and says he will not be swayed by the findingsof the Steadman Group, a research firm. "Issues of leadership areparty issues. I will have to look at the report first, study it andthen take it on," Muntu said.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Like or hate him, you can't ignore Tinyefuza
General David Tinyefuza and controversy have so often been cited in the same sentence that his latest outburst in Parliament against Buganda’s agitation for 9,000 square miles of land, which he dismissed as “absolute rubbish and nonsense” didn’t surprise those who know him well.
“And there is no space for such bankrupt talk,” he warned.
Clad in battle fatigues and quoting from the Constitution (Article 209), Tinyefuza warned those hiding under “ttaka lya Buganda” to instigate genocide and fascism in the country, that they would be crushed.
Tinyefuza, also coordinator of Uganda’s intelligence services, and senior presidential advisor on security matters, has a long history of making headlines, often for the wrong reasons.
For describing one of their key demands as “rubbish and nonsense”, the Buganda government at Mengo is demanding that Tinyefuza be court-martialled.
But threat of punitive action has never restrained the maverick general. Evidence of his stubbornness is written all over his bush war and NRA-UPDF life.
FDC official, Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga, a colleague in the bush, told Daily Monitor in an interview sometime back, that Tinyefuza was “troublesome throughout the war.” The general from Sembabule was actually detained for about three months in the bush for expressing his controversial views. A bush war colleague told The Weekly Observer on condition of anonymity that Tinyefuza was detained after he opposed President Museveni’s directive against bringing local women into the guerrilla camps.
The general, who was serving as Director General of Security, spent up to a whole year without specific duties after this fallout in the bush.
Operation North
Soon after the NRA came to power, Gen. Tinyefuza assumed the role of fighting off the rebellion staged by defeated UNLA forces in northern Uganda.
His ruthless counter-insurgency machine was named ‘Operation North’ (1991-1993). His no-nonsense methods left human rights activists and opposition politicians screaming. Tinyefuza ordered the closure of all boarders and restricted movement in the region.
Subsequently, he ordered the arrest of 11 northern Uganda politicians, including ministers, on grounds that they were collaborating with the rebels.
The politicians, who included current Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Daniel Omara Atubo, were frog-marched to the army barracks, and assaulted in public.
One of them, Zachary Olum, told now defunct The Crusader that he was flogged by soldiers as Tinyefuza brushed his teeth nearby.
Explaining the Machiavellian style used to discipline the politicians, Tinyefuza said then that; “War is not Holy Communion and it can’t be solved by prayers.” Tinyefuza praised his ‘Operation North’ and declared the job done.
“My operation has led to the formation of arrow groups, it’s now people’s duty to clean up the rebels and so the NRA could now relax,” he said.
But he had spoken too soon. LRA atrocities resumed within a month of ending his operation.
CA rebellion
In the Constituent Assembly (1994-1995), Tinyefuza was one of the 10 Army Representatives. Together with current FDC leader, Dr. Col. Kizza Besigye and the late Lt. Col. Sserwanga Lwanga, he spoke against the entrenchment of the Movement System in the Constitution, arguing that it was a government, not a system.
The trio’s position angered President Museveni who convened the Army Council which resolved in minute 12\NRAC\94 that UPDF representatives should not take a stand on controversial issues.
“Having considered the above, the meeting argued that on any controversial public issues, members of NRA should always take a stand that is in the agreement with that held by NRA as an institution. Where that stand has not yet evolved, silence\restraint should be exercised, or the army leadership consulted, personal opinions should not be publicized,” the Army Council directed.
However, this did not really succeed in gagging Tinyefuza completely.
During the first general elections organised by the NRM in 1996, the fire-spitting general shocked his colleagues by appearing to support opposition candidate, Dr. Paul K. Ssemogerere.
He said in an interview with The Crusader then, that the former DP leader was a pacifist whom the country needed at the time.
“I am satisfied with the timely action of Dr. Ssemogerere and I have no problem with Ssemogerere’s candidature,” said Tinyefuza.
Taken aback by Tinyefuza’s stand, General Salim Saleh warned that his colleague would have to answer for supporting Ssemogerere.
But this warning had clearly landed on deaf ears for in 1996, while appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, Tinyefuza accused the army and government and failing to end the northern insurgency after 10 years in power.
He actually proposed a referendum on whether the NRM Government should continue ruling in light of this failure.
“If government has failed to defeat the rebels militarily and could not talk peace, it should pack and quit,” Tinyefuza declared.
The general’s testimony before Parliament shocked the nation. He was understandably castigated by the then Army Commander Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu who told the same parliamentary committee that Tinyefuza should quit the Army if he can’t behave and act professionally.
Tinyefuza, whose name means “I don’t regret” in Runyankole, took up the challenge, and resigned from the Army. Or at least he tried to.
Following reports that the High Command was about to summon him, the general penned his resignation to President Museveni, the commander in chief. In his letter, he said he found it “unjustified to continue serving in an institution whose bodies I have no faith in or whose views I do not subscribe to.”
The officer openly told Museveni in his resignation letter, that to require him to appear before the High Command because of his views was too high handed.
“Your Excellency, with great difficulty, I have decided to resign as a member of the UPDF and also resign from the UPDF High Command,” he wrote.
But little did Tinyefuza know that resignation from the army, especially when that army is NRA/UPDF, was not going to be that easy. The High Command directed him to channel his retirement through the right avenue – the Army Commissions Board. But stubborn Tinyefuza refused and instead decided to seek his freedoms through the Constitutional Court in 1997.
Represented by veteran counsel and former Attorney General, Godfrey Lule, Tinyefuza maintained that he had ceased being a soldier the moment he was appointed military advisor to the President, a public service office.
His colleagues in the army and government knew very well that Tinyefuza was a hot head, but they still didn’t expect him to take his fight against the state to this level.
Supreme Court
In the Constitutional Court, Tinyefuza was victorious. The five judges of the court led by the then deputy Chief Justice, Seth Mayindo unanimously ruled that he had indeed retired from the army.
But the government was unwilling to let Tinyefuza have the last word. Led by Attorney General, Bert Katureebe, now a Supreme Court judge, the state appealed to the Supreme Court, which eventually ruled that Tinyefuza could not quit the army through the courts. Led by the then Chief Justice Samuel Wako Wambuzi, by 5-2 judges the Supreme Court decided that Tinyefuza’s appointment as presidential advisor was not enough to secure him an easy exit from the army.
At this point, according to a colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity, Tinyefuza had been “crushed” physically and financially, and his only chance of revival was to re-unite with his comrades in government.
But not even this one regret for a man who “never regrets” could put an end to Tinyefuza’s trail of controversies.
For a while he kept a low profile but was in the limelight again in 2005, when he masterminded the arrest and detention of Dr. Kizza Besigye on charges of rape and treason. Besigye had just returned from exile in South Africa, ready to stand for elections the following year.
Around the same time, the High Court, against the government’s wishes, granted bail to People’s Redemption Army (PRA) suspects accused of treason along with Dr. Besigye. The intelligence services under Tinyefuza staged an operation at the court and re-arrested the suspects. The judiciary protested loudly, but Tinyefuza was not impressed.
The general, who has a master’s in law, famously reminded the judges that they were not “the alpha and omega of the revolution”; wondering where the learned friends were when the NRA was fighting to liberate Uganda.
Tinyefuza later famously told The Weekly Observer that the judges were hiding under their beds when they (generals) were fighting in the bush.
“There are other stake holders in this country. While they are charged with dispensing justice, we are also charged with protecting the country,” said Tinyefuza. His argument was that releasing the suspects on bail would have injured the security of the country at that time.
Fast forward to 2007 when President Museveni called for the amendment of the Land Act to effectively oust the jurisdiction of courts over land cases.
Tinyefuza was not only quick to support this position but also to radicalise it. He said judicial officers had unfairly led to the eviction of tenants by authorising court brokers to evict peasants.
“Police should not protect court-brokers but allow tenants to defend themselves using revolutionary justice against landlords,” Tinyefuza told Daily Monitor. He was understood to be advocating mob action.
Tinyefuza, who seems to hold strong views on land, was indeed following up on these controversial remarks when he said Buganda’s demand for 9,000 square miles of land was “rubbish and nonsense”.
And he seems to love the word “rubbish” in particular when dismissing things he doesn’t like.
When there were claims of Ugandan gunmen shooting at Kenyan rioters during the post-election violence there, Tinyefuza described the claims as “rubbish” and an insult to both Kenya and Uganda.
“It is the opposition who are propagating the claims, they are trying to incite the Kenyan population against us,” he said.
No one knows what will be reported about Tinyefuza next, but like or hate him, you can’t ignore the 55-year old general.
“And there is no space for such bankrupt talk,” he warned.
Clad in battle fatigues and quoting from the Constitution (Article 209), Tinyefuza warned those hiding under “ttaka lya Buganda” to instigate genocide and fascism in the country, that they would be crushed.
Tinyefuza, also coordinator of Uganda’s intelligence services, and senior presidential advisor on security matters, has a long history of making headlines, often for the wrong reasons.
For describing one of their key demands as “rubbish and nonsense”, the Buganda government at Mengo is demanding that Tinyefuza be court-martialled.
But threat of punitive action has never restrained the maverick general. Evidence of his stubbornness is written all over his bush war and NRA-UPDF life.
FDC official, Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga, a colleague in the bush, told Daily Monitor in an interview sometime back, that Tinyefuza was “troublesome throughout the war.” The general from Sembabule was actually detained for about three months in the bush for expressing his controversial views. A bush war colleague told The Weekly Observer on condition of anonymity that Tinyefuza was detained after he opposed President Museveni’s directive against bringing local women into the guerrilla camps.
The general, who was serving as Director General of Security, spent up to a whole year without specific duties after this fallout in the bush.
Operation North
Soon after the NRA came to power, Gen. Tinyefuza assumed the role of fighting off the rebellion staged by defeated UNLA forces in northern Uganda.
His ruthless counter-insurgency machine was named ‘Operation North’ (1991-1993). His no-nonsense methods left human rights activists and opposition politicians screaming. Tinyefuza ordered the closure of all boarders and restricted movement in the region.
Subsequently, he ordered the arrest of 11 northern Uganda politicians, including ministers, on grounds that they were collaborating with the rebels.
The politicians, who included current Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Daniel Omara Atubo, were frog-marched to the army barracks, and assaulted in public.
One of them, Zachary Olum, told now defunct The Crusader that he was flogged by soldiers as Tinyefuza brushed his teeth nearby.
Explaining the Machiavellian style used to discipline the politicians, Tinyefuza said then that; “War is not Holy Communion and it can’t be solved by prayers.” Tinyefuza praised his ‘Operation North’ and declared the job done.
“My operation has led to the formation of arrow groups, it’s now people’s duty to clean up the rebels and so the NRA could now relax,” he said.
But he had spoken too soon. LRA atrocities resumed within a month of ending his operation.
CA rebellion
In the Constituent Assembly (1994-1995), Tinyefuza was one of the 10 Army Representatives. Together with current FDC leader, Dr. Col. Kizza Besigye and the late Lt. Col. Sserwanga Lwanga, he spoke against the entrenchment of the Movement System in the Constitution, arguing that it was a government, not a system.
The trio’s position angered President Museveni who convened the Army Council which resolved in minute 12\NRAC\94 that UPDF representatives should not take a stand on controversial issues.
“Having considered the above, the meeting argued that on any controversial public issues, members of NRA should always take a stand that is in the agreement with that held by NRA as an institution. Where that stand has not yet evolved, silence\restraint should be exercised, or the army leadership consulted, personal opinions should not be publicized,” the Army Council directed.
However, this did not really succeed in gagging Tinyefuza completely.
During the first general elections organised by the NRM in 1996, the fire-spitting general shocked his colleagues by appearing to support opposition candidate, Dr. Paul K. Ssemogerere.
He said in an interview with The Crusader then, that the former DP leader was a pacifist whom the country needed at the time.
“I am satisfied with the timely action of Dr. Ssemogerere and I have no problem with Ssemogerere’s candidature,” said Tinyefuza.
Taken aback by Tinyefuza’s stand, General Salim Saleh warned that his colleague would have to answer for supporting Ssemogerere.
But this warning had clearly landed on deaf ears for in 1996, while appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, Tinyefuza accused the army and government and failing to end the northern insurgency after 10 years in power.
He actually proposed a referendum on whether the NRM Government should continue ruling in light of this failure.
“If government has failed to defeat the rebels militarily and could not talk peace, it should pack and quit,” Tinyefuza declared.
The general’s testimony before Parliament shocked the nation. He was understandably castigated by the then Army Commander Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu who told the same parliamentary committee that Tinyefuza should quit the Army if he can’t behave and act professionally.
Tinyefuza, whose name means “I don’t regret” in Runyankole, took up the challenge, and resigned from the Army. Or at least he tried to.
Following reports that the High Command was about to summon him, the general penned his resignation to President Museveni, the commander in chief. In his letter, he said he found it “unjustified to continue serving in an institution whose bodies I have no faith in or whose views I do not subscribe to.”
The officer openly told Museveni in his resignation letter, that to require him to appear before the High Command because of his views was too high handed.
“Your Excellency, with great difficulty, I have decided to resign as a member of the UPDF and also resign from the UPDF High Command,” he wrote.
But little did Tinyefuza know that resignation from the army, especially when that army is NRA/UPDF, was not going to be that easy. The High Command directed him to channel his retirement through the right avenue – the Army Commissions Board. But stubborn Tinyefuza refused and instead decided to seek his freedoms through the Constitutional Court in 1997.
Represented by veteran counsel and former Attorney General, Godfrey Lule, Tinyefuza maintained that he had ceased being a soldier the moment he was appointed military advisor to the President, a public service office.
His colleagues in the army and government knew very well that Tinyefuza was a hot head, but they still didn’t expect him to take his fight against the state to this level.
Supreme Court
In the Constitutional Court, Tinyefuza was victorious. The five judges of the court led by the then deputy Chief Justice, Seth Mayindo unanimously ruled that he had indeed retired from the army.
But the government was unwilling to let Tinyefuza have the last word. Led by Attorney General, Bert Katureebe, now a Supreme Court judge, the state appealed to the Supreme Court, which eventually ruled that Tinyefuza could not quit the army through the courts. Led by the then Chief Justice Samuel Wako Wambuzi, by 5-2 judges the Supreme Court decided that Tinyefuza’s appointment as presidential advisor was not enough to secure him an easy exit from the army.
At this point, according to a colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity, Tinyefuza had been “crushed” physically and financially, and his only chance of revival was to re-unite with his comrades in government.
But not even this one regret for a man who “never regrets” could put an end to Tinyefuza’s trail of controversies.
For a while he kept a low profile but was in the limelight again in 2005, when he masterminded the arrest and detention of Dr. Kizza Besigye on charges of rape and treason. Besigye had just returned from exile in South Africa, ready to stand for elections the following year.
Around the same time, the High Court, against the government’s wishes, granted bail to People’s Redemption Army (PRA) suspects accused of treason along with Dr. Besigye. The intelligence services under Tinyefuza staged an operation at the court and re-arrested the suspects. The judiciary protested loudly, but Tinyefuza was not impressed.
The general, who has a master’s in law, famously reminded the judges that they were not “the alpha and omega of the revolution”; wondering where the learned friends were when the NRA was fighting to liberate Uganda.
Tinyefuza later famously told The Weekly Observer that the judges were hiding under their beds when they (generals) were fighting in the bush.
“There are other stake holders in this country. While they are charged with dispensing justice, we are also charged with protecting the country,” said Tinyefuza. His argument was that releasing the suspects on bail would have injured the security of the country at that time.
Fast forward to 2007 when President Museveni called for the amendment of the Land Act to effectively oust the jurisdiction of courts over land cases.
Tinyefuza was not only quick to support this position but also to radicalise it. He said judicial officers had unfairly led to the eviction of tenants by authorising court brokers to evict peasants.
“Police should not protect court-brokers but allow tenants to defend themselves using revolutionary justice against landlords,” Tinyefuza told Daily Monitor. He was understood to be advocating mob action.
Tinyefuza, who seems to hold strong views on land, was indeed following up on these controversial remarks when he said Buganda’s demand for 9,000 square miles of land was “rubbish and nonsense”.
And he seems to love the word “rubbish” in particular when dismissing things he doesn’t like.
When there were claims of Ugandan gunmen shooting at Kenyan rioters during the post-election violence there, Tinyefuza described the claims as “rubbish” and an insult to both Kenya and Uganda.
“It is the opposition who are propagating the claims, they are trying to incite the Kenyan population against us,” he said.
No one knows what will be reported about Tinyefuza next, but like or hate him, you can’t ignore the 55-year old general.
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