[UAH] Meet Muhumuza, the man paid to trail Dr Besigye

Meet Muhumuza, the man paid to trail Dr Besigye

The man at his job: Muhumuza (in blue) closely monitors Dr Besigye's car in Kampala recently. 

In Summary

When former FDC president Kizza Besigye is in town, police never sleep; they will do anything to stop any gathering. And there are those deployed to follow the opposition kingpin.Sunday Monitor's Dear Jeanne & Faiswal Kasirye bring you the true face of Albert Muhumuza whose job is to keep his eyes glued on Dr Besigye.

The movements of former FDC president Kizza Besigye are closely monitored, despite criticisms from the political activist and his supporters. However, to Albert Muhumuza, trailing and following Dr Besigye, is just but a job that puts food on his table.

With a well-built physic, a dark skinned complexion and a daring character, Muhumuza could have made for a Casino bouncer or even an actor in some black American action movie; but no, he has come to be known as 'Dr Besigye's self-imposed body guard'.

Reports indicate that Muhumuza was part of the notorious thugs that were captured during 'Operation Wembley' under Brigadier Eli Kayanja and recruited into police.

Having helped to bring down cells of terrorists and organised criminals, he was retained even when the military unit under police control was renamed due to accusations of abuse of human rights. However, according to police records, he began as a crime preventer who was later promoted to special constable.

Currently operating under the Kampala Metropolitan Police Criminal Intelligence unit, he is not your normal picture of an intelligence officer and sometimes dresses in police uniform.

Background
Muhumuza was first cited among the group moving behind Dr Besigye in a van after the brutal arrest of the then FDC leader at the Mulago roundabout in April 2011.
At the time the group was under the leadership of Mr Musa Walugembe, who is now deployed at Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) Surveillance and Operations desk, and his assignments were to operate from a distance but close enough to monitor the movements of Dr Besigye.

Mr Ibin Ssenkumbi, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, describes Mr Muhumuza's roles as close surveillance which is part of the outdoor surveillance operations.
Muhumuza's recent deployment, that has brought him to the limelight, came at a time when complaints by the public indicated that police were using military personnel and hooligans to brutalise Dr Besigye and hence the order for wearing uniform at times although handling intelligence.

Muhumuza has a duty to monitor the FDC principal while in the Kampala metropolitan areas - Wakiso, Entebbe, Kampala and even Mukono districts. But he does not have to enter the Museveni critic's home.

"That guy is a pain [in the neck]; can you believe he last time he followed Besigye up to the toilet at Grand Imperial? Thank God he cannot enter his home and office," Mr Francis Mwijukye, one of Besigye's aides, told the Sunday Monitor. Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Felix Kaweesi says: "Muhumuza is a very committed staff, who takes orders to the dot and does not try to interpret them in his own way."

The risk
The danger and risk in Muhumuza's job is what people would call occupational hazards but day after day the risk increases. While he lives his days knowing that at any moment opposition leader Dr Besigye's supporters could attack him, he does not relent. That Muhumuza chooses to move on a motorcycle, in itself, leaves the intelligence man at the mercy of the crowd around him.

Even the goose wild chase the opposition member engages the police in will not deter Muhumuza from failing to keep track of his assignment. He will do anything possible.
"He does everything possible to do what he has been ordered, sometimes risking his life," Kaweesi says.

Out of the uniform and orders
Muhumuza is just another young man who also wants to feel the exploits of the social Kampala. In his late 30s, he can occasionally be seen in night clubs around the city and other music related functions.

Away from his duty, Muhumuza is a social man, who tries to have fun appropriately and his character can occasionally be judged as a humble one by his friends, the likes of Balaam Barugahare, the 'Bivulu' Promoter.

"Muhumuza is such a humble gentleman; he obeys orders and has respect. Apart from being his friend, I have worked with him in some of my concerts, He obeys orders," Barugahare says.
"I keep talking to him to avoid work that will make him be hated by people but he says God will always protect him since it is his job. Many think he is a 'Muyaye' [loose for a thug] but he is not," Mr Barugahare says, referring to his friend's work. Moving at all time with his rosary, Muhumuza says it is God who protects him in and out of work. With his simultaneous smiles even as he works in a threatening and unsafe surrounding where only few appreciate his role, Muhumuza demonstrates a jolly character. Born in Kabale District, the Mukiga boy did not have the privilege to a firm educational background but a conversation with him gives the picture of a knowledgeable young man.

What people say about his job
To many, it is a job like any other despite the dangers involved.
"He is "at work" just like any of us. No job is pleasant 100 per cent all the time. But don't be surprised to find that he believes he is risking his life to serve his country and truly believes his job is part of the security blanket that means you can sleep peacefully in your bed at night," David Tumusiime, says, commenting to a scenario posted on social media where Muhumuza followed Dr Besigye and waited for him for more than three hours at the Monitor Publications offices recently.

However, to others, job or no job, individuals have a choice to make. "It is the world we live in. You choose what to do, however nasty. You may be shocked to know that back in the intelligence boardroom at night, this guy is added more allowance and praised for being daring and not relenting to ''intimidations'' of journalists." Mr Charles Odongtho, a journalist adds to the social site debate.

"My wonder is whether he must do what he does," a one, Sarah Murungi, wonders.
But others view his work as ineffective and backward. "His antics are a reflection of the amateurism in the general intelligence apparatus of this country," Stuart Oramire says.

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H.OGWAPITI
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that  we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic  and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt