{UAH} ISO IS NOT SECRET, BUT ITS WORK IS SECRET

I was still held up and could not respond to some issues raised by Lord George Okello here at UAH. He was reacting to my statement that the office titled 'Head of Discipline' does not exist at ISO. Let me add that even if it existed, it would certainly not be headed by my friend Lt. Bahati (now of the FDC) for reasons I won't go into but which Lt. Bahati and his colleagues at ISO (and in FDC) know very well…

As Tony Owana responds to George, George's queries will be reproduced in CAPS.

I thought that ISO is supposed to be a secret organisation, its membership and activities covered by the Official Secrets Act?

George might be shocked to learn that Amin's State Research Bureau (SRB) and Obote's National Security Agency (NASA) were displaced and replaced by the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and the External Security Organisation (ESO). George will be petrified to learn that both ISO and ESO are established by an act of parliament, which also makes it illegal to start intelligence organisations behind parliament's back. Attached is a WEEKLY TOPIC story on when the ISO and ESO bill was tabled by Hon Tom Rubaale (RIP) in 1987.

He will swoon to learn that our spies are actually public servants rather than cloak and dagger thugs. He will gasp to internalise the fact that Gombolola Internal Security Officers (GISO) are known to all resident of a sub-county. The NRM demystified the kind of intelligence George knows best 29 years ago…

I am wondering how you found out that the post of head of discipline does not exist in ISO, unless you are also a member with insider knowledge.

You wonder how I found out that the post 'head of discipline' does not exist at ISO? Hmmm! Quite unlike the spy chiefs you knew in your days here, ISO's Brig. Ronnie Balya would be described as a man of the people if he was a politician.

Let me further break your much-touted 'Official Secrets Act' for you. While I am not a member of ISO, I indeed know a lot about ISO by virtue of my curiosity and my chosen profession as a journalist. Unlike in the old days, it is no longer an abomination to have relatives, friends and in-laws in the spy agencies. What I know about ISO is also known to hundreds of Ugandans, including anti-NRM but pro-security journalists, a fact that might make George puke!

When Tumukunde worked in London as head of ESO, he and I knew, for convenience sake, that he was the First Secretary, but we both pretended we did not know his real posting to London, as I was not a member of ESO and it would have breached the Official Secrets Act for me to have become privileged to that knowledge.

Major Henry Tumukunde (now brigadier) was indeed First Secretary at our High Commission in London when George "managed to unmask him". However it is only George who does not know that in the language of the diplomats, First Secretary is a euphemism for 'Resident Spy' all over the world. Tumukunde was indeed looking out for Uganda's interests and there was a British counterpart in Kampala looking after the Queen's interests under that innocent title.

Comrade Robukui once claimed you are a Honorary Private in the NRA, and not a civilian, perhaps that's how you gained access to secret information.

If Robukui claimed that I was an Honorary Private in the NRA, then I am indeed historic. I must be the only HONORARY PRIVATE on earth and again, the only PRIVATE with access to what George believes to be top secret information. I think George has stayed away from home too long…

Adam Bujinja, the NRA political prostitute revealed that your buddy Robert Atuhairwe is in ISO to destabilise the diaspora. It seems the Official Secrets Act no longer holds the terror it once did, if a prostitute like Bujinja can reveal the identity of a high value operative and get away with it.

My professional son Robert Atuhairwe (and buddy too) will surely get far! At such a tender age he already holds ISO's brief to 'destabilise the diaspora', at least according to George. And to George, the Official Secrets Act is not a useful administrative tool but a terror weapon; he is right because that is what it was a few regimes ago…

I would actually like to be educated on what 'destabilising the diaspora' entails. If not, I will conclude that the diaspora is a failing state or a failed state and a few cheeky words from Atuhairwe will send the whole edifice crumbling!

Let me appeal to our brethren outside Uganda to draw a line between those who left home to work and earn better and those who fled justice or even injudicious revenge. No one willingly goes into the diaspora and you can confirm that from the Jews.  

Incidentally, Museveni's Uganda is the only country on earth where 'exiles' who escaped being murdered by NRM operatives spend their Christmas holidays in the very country and under the protection of the very regime they are supposed to have fled from. And I won't mention names!               

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.