[UAH] tinyefuza claims Col Bantariza was arrested because of him

Witch hunting begins,no wonder he refused to ask for bail.all those who were friendly ti Tinye are in deep shit! the dictator is damn worried

Tinyefuza claims Col Bantariza was arrested because of him

Top Stories

Sunday, 07 July 2013 18:51

Written by SIRAJE LUBWAMA & SHIFA MWESIGYE

0 Comments

Gen David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza launched a fresh assault on government last Wednesday, claiming in an email that the arrest of Col Shaban Bantariza, for alleged fraud, is part of a wider crackdown on soldiers 'linked' to him and retired Col Kizza Besigye.

"I told the country that hundreds of soldiers in all units, intelligence organisations and even police are being quietly arrested, tortured to confess that they were working with me, etc. This is general knowledge now in the forces and the latest victim is Col Bantariza," said Sejusa, in an email sent from his UK exile.

Sejusa fled to the UK in April after writing a controversial letter demanding an investigation into an alleged assassination plot against government officials opposed to perceived plans to elevate Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Museveni's son, to the presidency.

"Even other senior UPDF officers are summoned daily to CMI, held incommunicado, threatened, then released with promises of money and it's happening in all units of the UPDF," Sejusa wrote.

"They accuse them of working with me and stealing guns and uniforms from the army. The situation is of panic, anguish for those families…," he added.

Col Bantariza, who had just been appointed deputy executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, was arrested last Tuesday to face charges of fraud and mismanagement while he headed the National Leadership Institute (NALI) Kyankwanzi from 2009 to 2011. Appearing before the General Court Martial chaired by Brig Ddiba Ssentongo, he was charged with three counts of fraud.

Prosecution alleged that on February 3, 2011 at Akamba Uganda Ltd, along Old Port Bell road in Kampala, Bantariza received a tractor and its accessories, donated to NALI by the ministry of Finance, but forged receipts to suggest NALI had bought it at Shs 67m. He is being detained at the army officers' mess in Kololo.

Sejusa's latest email on Bantariza comes soon after an interview with American TV, Voice of America, in which the general spoke of a plot to eliminate him if he returns to Uganda.

It also came soon after a security swoop in Mbarara netted hundreds of people.

"The Mbarara arrests are not the first. You remember when the police was conducting panda gali in Kampala which got ample coverage in Daily Monitor? And I warned the public at the time, I was still in Uganda, that these were political arrests and had nothing to do with crime. Government, in panic, sent soldiers and police to disarm LDUs in Kiruhura, Lyantonde, Sembabule, Masaka, Mubende and Gomba; that they were supporting me," Tinyefuza wrote.

Responding to Sejusa's latest outburst, army spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said on Friday that Bantariza's arrest is not at all connected to Sejusa.

"They are not connected at all; the arrest was based on completely different reasons and there is no connection at all. He (Bantariza) is taking fraud charges," Ankunda told The Observer.

Ankunda explained that only four people had been arrested in connection with Sejusa's activities, which the army is still investigating, and these are still held by police. He said the soldiers were accused of stealing guns and uniforms from the army, among other offences.

"We are investigating him [Sejusa] and if we think there is anyone who can give us useful information, we can summon him. I think the ones who were arrested are deserters and they are not necessarily connected to Sejusa. If there is any indication of anyone with information, because he [Sejusa] has now declared war, intelligence may be interested in talking to them," Ankunda said.

slubwama@observer.ug
smwesigye@observer.ug