{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Why Gen Kyaligonza is bitter with Rwabwogo
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Why Gen Kyaligonza is bitter with Rwabwogo
Harassing mobile phone users with unsolicited messages is immoral and several people have repeatedly complained to the regulator, Uganda Communications Commission.
Mobile phone users tend to be very angry when receiving of such messages results into loss of talking time (money). The YK Museveni messages, although unsolicited, are free.
"Owing to NRM achievements especially bringing peace, the Historical League and party structures seconded me to pick nomination forms for NRM for NRM Chairman and Presidential flag bearer 2016 …" reads one of the messages from 71-year-old Museveni.
And indeed the historicals accompanied Museveni when he went to pick NRM nomination forms at the party offices on Kadondo road. It is in trying to understand why Museveni hunted down NRM historicals to accompany him, and why it is the only league he is mentioning in his SMS, that one will get to know why Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza is a bitter man.
Bitter because Odrek Rwabwogo, married to Museveni's second daughter Patience Kokundeka, has picked forms to contest against him for the post of NRM vice chairman for western Uganda. Kyaligonza has held this position, I think, since NRM was registered as a political party, around 2003.
The Rwabwogo candidature has certainly caused excitement, the reason all major newspapers and broadcasting stations have given it extensive coverage. Without saying much, Maj Gen Kyaligonza, RO 0034, angrily remarked in front of cameras that this candidature needed to be discussed. Mind you, Maj Gen Saverino Kahinda Otafiire, RO 0014, is one of the contestants.
Kyaligonza is not angry with Otafiire, but with Rwabwogo. And Rwabwogo has made matters worse by claiming he has come to put things right. In a way, he is describing Kyaligonza as a failure. In fact, when he appeared on Capital radio's Capital Gang talk show, he accused the Ssemujjus of dominating the airwaves and declared that in him, we will find our match.
To understand why this will be a bitter contest, one has to revisit the history and the building of the Museveni dynasty. When Museveni seized power in 1986, like any other person, he needed to consolidate it. The first move was to purge the military since it is the one that he shared power with.
Many of the most fearless commanders of the battalions that brought him to power were all dropped, arrested and humiliated. They included Col Julius Chihandae, Col Ahmed Kashilingi and Col Samson Mande. Kashilingi and Chihandae were particularly dehumanized and humiliated.
The officer who helped Museveni do this was Gen David Tinyefuza, whose operation boy was late Maj Gen James Kazini Bunanukye. Brig Tadeo Kanyankore, one of the eight members of the Historical High Command, followed and died a bitter death, and was buried in Buhweju.
Kanyankore, Kyaligonza, Kategaya and Tinyefuza are the only members of the Historical High Command that were awarded the rank of brigadier when formal ranks were introduced around 1987. Museveni, his brother Saleh, Elly Tumwine and Fred Rwigyema Gisa were all given the rank of Major Generals.
Both Tinyefuza and Kyaligonza were furious with not only the ranks but military numbers. For example, Otafiire, who commanded no unit and is not a member of the Historical High Command, was given RO 0014. Kyaligonza is reported to have suggested in one of those early-days meetings "that blood is thicker than water."
This was a reference to the treatment of Saleh by his brother when he was in the wrong. While harsh punishments would be handed out to others, Saleh would escape with or even without a caution.
Subsequently, Kyaligonza landed into trouble and Museveni sent his brother to arrest him. Mind you, it is Kyaligonza who helped Saleh escape an assassination plot by some NRA senior commanders during the bush war. When Kyaligonza reminded Saleh of this story, Saleh broke down and pleaded with his brother to pardon the man.
I think the Rwabwogo candidature evokes this memory and that is what is driving Kyaligonza crazy. Nobody, including a person of average understanding, will not interpret that Rwabwogo is a proxy. I honestly believe Museveni detests sitting with Kyaligonza in the NRM Central Executive Committee. Probably it is because of that that his son-in-law's project will not displease him.
But most importantly, being a father of one son, Museveni must look beyond his first line of defence for a possible successor. He has progressively sorted out the military by promoting and making his son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the de facto army boss.
His wife Janet Kataha will grow old at almost the same time as he, which makes her an unsuitable successor. Muhoozi may not be in a position to hold the military and politics at the same time. He, therefore, needs a deputy and the aggressive campaign of Rwabwogo points to that.
This is no conspiracy theory; it is real stuff.
semugs@yahoo.com
The author is Kyadondo East MP.
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