{UAH} Kayihura has taken over 2016 elections -HE WANTS TO STEAL IT FOR HIS BOSS

Kayihura has taken over 2016 elections

Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda

Last Updated: 21 October 2015

At around midnight of last Wednesday, the first police patrol pickup truck parked near my residence in Bukasa, Kirinya, Kira municipality.

One of my neighbours told me that four other pickup trucks and a huge teargas-carrying truck followed shortly. One truck was parked right in front of my gate and completely blocked it. Another one was used to block the road to my residence. Others were parked along the main road.

Tens of policemen were lined up, almost covering the full length of my wall fence. That is the situation I woke up under at around 5:30am, the time for my morning prayers. I used a smaller gate to access the mosque, which shares a fence with my residence, and its compound was by this time also full of policemen.

I asked one of the policemen: "what the hell has happened?" And I think he was too junior to answer. I returned home after prayers, wondering how my children were going to go to school.

Shortly after, my driver came and, after pleading, he was allowed to enter. Ssemujju Ibrahim II, 10, was the first to get out of the house and, from my bedroom window, I saw him throwing his hands in air, probably in total bewilderment!

All my four children got into a double-cabin pickup, ready for school. And another round of pleading from the driver began! Gunmen surrounded the vehicle and after satisfying themselves that I was not inside it, they moved the patrol truck a little to allow the car carrying the children a narrow access to pass. I think this is the first time that my children were being put at gunpoint.

They had watched me on television being showered with tear gas, rolled in mud and ejected from parliament, but they had never been a subject of direct harassment by the state.

I think that is what partly drove the emotions out of Faridah Ssemujju, my wife. My humiliation and movie-like capture from inside my compound was simply additional pain.

Siraje Bakaleke, whose notoriety is now well-recorded, was in charge of this operation, being the commander for Kampala East Metropolitan Police. There is probably no policeman who derives more pleasure from violence than this diminutive man.

It is under his command that we were stoned by a gang while arriving at Kawempe for a public rally about two years ago. And I think you all saw him commanding crime preventers to batter Kyambogo University students recently.

He and other policemen accessed my compound through a smaller gate. Albert Kuzara, the officer in charge at Kireka police station, came to me and, in a soft tone, requested that RPC Bakaleke wanted to speak to me. I gently walked towards him and, right inside my compound, he ordered his men to "grab the man."

And indeed they grabbed me by the shirt, jacket, collar, legs, etc. By the time they were done squeezing me through the smaller gate, my jacket had been torn. The pain they caused me is now slowly subsiding.

And throughout my two-hour journey from one police cell to another, Bakaleke insulted the madness out of me, describing me as hopeless, as he repeatedly jeered.

And guess what? He blamed his juniors including OC Kireka and a one Obwetere for not having manhandled me. He promised even a more violent arrest next time.

I think Dr Kizza Besigye has now got used to this rough treatment. His police handlers are the roughest I have ever seen. They are the ones who picked me from Naggalama and drove me to Kira Road police station cells.

However, the short period I stayed inside the cells of Kira Road police station was an enjoyable one. Most of the inmates waved the FDC V-sign to welcome me and I felt at home. There was a Somali-like man who was the RP (head of inmates). We performed the lunchtime prayer with him. There are two rooms in this cell accessed through the same corridor. I was taken to the VIP (very important person) one.

That story I will tell later.Today's story is how, like Paulo Muwanga in 1980, Gen Kale Kayihura has  taken over the electoral process. You would be forgiven for thinking that Electoral Commission Chairman Badru Kiggundu reports to Kayihura. This is what happened when FDC leaders went to meet with Kayihura on October 9. Since the meeting resolved nothing, he said: "Let's meet tomorrow at 10am at Electoral Commission."

And by 10am the following day, Eng Kiggundu was in the EC boardroom waiting for Kayihura. He didn't need to consult him at all!

That is the election that we are subjecting ourselves to. I can now understand why Kayihura, in addition to his Shs 412 billion budget, requested an additional Shs 204 billion for election-related operations. The entire Electoral Commission budget for the 2016 elections is Shs 376 billion.

Indeed, this is Kayihura's election to deliver. And I get surprised when people, out of naivety, condemn Col Besigye when he says "this is no election but a liberation struggle."

Printing of posters and T-shirts is not what one requires to win this election. This week, Kayihura has already deployed about 200 armed men, one half near my residence and another near Besigye's.
 
semugs@yahoo.com

The author is Kyadondo East MP.

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