INVESTIGATION: Tumukunde, Kayihura War Shapes Museveni Succession Battle

In 2016, shortly after being appointed Security Minister, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde sent Emmy Alio, a spy, to alert IGP Gen Kale Kayihura to “prepare for tough times ahead.”

Alio warned Kayihura that Tumukunde had vowed to “crush him,” and that he should “expect the worst.”

Alio quoted Tumukunde as threatening: “I will hit Kale, if he doesn’t resign as police chief, he will go crazy.”

Kayihura did not give this threat due attention, telling aides, “even if Tumukunde fights me, President Museveni will just ignore him. Museveni always asks for evidence. Let’s ignore these stunts and concentrate on our work.”

The then police boss also decided to ignore Tumukunde who is well known for being vengeful and arrogant.

Kayihura, as a military assistant to President Museveni, had earlier in 2005 enforced a presidential directive to arrest Tumukunde who later faced charges of spreading harmful propaganda and misconduct.

Wars

Before being sacked on 4 March 2018, Kayihura told ChimpReports in an exclusive interview that, “It is Tumukunde fighting me. I don’t care about what he does because I am very clean and he can’t do anything about it.”

Asked to provide evidence to substantiate his claims, Kayihura responded: “It’s out there for all to see. Who else? Isn’t he (Tumukunde) the one paying media to taint my name?”

A visibly irritated Kayihura banged his table with a fist and shook his head in frustration.

“And does the president believe all these things the media writes?” Kayihura wondered.

Undermining Kayihura

We’ve since learnt that even before taking over as Security Minister, Tumukunde was already undermining Kayihura.

Tumukunde, who was harboring presidential ambitions, saw Kayihura as a potential threat to his vast but concealed political goals.

Following Museveni’s fallout with Gen David Sejusa, the better part of the budget for intelligence and operations was handed to Kayihura.

ISO and ESO were starved of funds.

Kayihura was able to build the police headquarters, crime intelligence and forensic units, K-9 force, counter terrorism and VIIP Protection forces and had started laying ground for an airforce.

This attracted envy from Tumukunde and his NRA compatriots who fell out with the system, especially Gen Sejusa.

Reports

One of the ways Tumukunde used to fight Kayihura was filing intelligence reports for president Museveni, alleging that the then IGP was quietly mobilizing to challenge the incumbent in the 2021 general elections.

Tumukunde claimed that Kayihura had mobilised thousands of Boda boda riders and crime preventers to form a base for his presidential bid.

“Tumukunde would invite officials from Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and External Security Organisation (ESO) which he supervised and then instruct them to write similar reports about Kayihura,” recalls an official who worked in Tumukunde’s office.

“Therefore, if the president read two reports from different institutions carrying similar content about Kayihura, he would be bound to believe it.”

These developments underscore a high level of intrigue, infighting and blackmail in security organs and top NRM structures as powerful individuals prepare to grab power in the post-Museveni era.

Leaks

An official who worked with Kayihura for 9 years says Tumukunde created a payroll for police informers to leak critical institutional information.

The police officers who would provide Tumukunde information about the internal weaknesses of the law enforcement body included former Interpol boss, Fred Yiga and Assistant Inspector General of Police, Godfrey Bangirana.

Yiga hoped that by undermining Kayihura, he stood high chances of replacing the latter as the next IGP.

For example, it was Yiga who told Tumukunde that Kayihura’s aide Jonathan Baroza scooped blood-soaked soil from AIGP Andrew Kaweesi’s murder scene.

The blood was purportedly scooped so that it is taken to Mombasa to a sheikh who would prevail over the killers to be arrested.

During the joint security investigation into Kaweesi’s murder, Kayihura said he advised Baroza to drop the idea and go scientific.

However, this information was revealed to Tumukunde who leaked it to the media, linking Kayihura to Kaweesi’s murder.

When ChimpReports asked Kayihura about Kaweesi’s murder, the visibly disturbed IGP responded: “Me? Really? Why would I kill Kaweesi? For what?”

On his part, Bangirana was fighting Kayihura over business.

It is alleged during Bangirana’s reign as head of Logistics and Engineering Department, “43 companies” regularly won multi-billion shilling tenders for the supply of food for the police force.

Bangirana is considered Uganda’s wealthiest police officer alive.

After enrolling thousands of crime preventers, Kayihura met President Museveni at State House Entebbe during which they agreed that some of the food supply contracts be handed to the young men and women combating crime in the country.

Kayihura then directed Bangirana to implement this decision. Fearing that the “43 companies” would lose business, Bangirana started leaking classified police information to Tumukunde.

This information, which was largely about the weaknesses in police, ended up on social media, hurting Kayihura.

Tumukunde also provided information that led to the eventual arrest of Kayihura’s close associates, Col. Ndahura Atwooki (former director Crime Intelligence), ACP Herbert Muhangi (former Flying Squad Unit (FSU) commandant, SSP Richard Ndaboine (former head Cybercrime Unit) and Abdallah Kittata.

By striking at the nerve centre of Kayihura’s operations, Tumukunde gradually weakened the IGP who was eventually arrested, detained and charged before the military courts.

Muhoozi Project

The last reason why Tumukunde was determined to uproot Kayihura was because of the latter’s links to Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Having spent considerable time working closely with Museveni, Kayihura was in position to support Muhoozi and see him rise in ranks.

The duo enjoyed a cordial relationship. Kayihura was also seen as a protector of Muhoozi.

When Tumukunde waged war on Kayihura, the police chief severally met with Muhoozi at the Serena Conference Centre to manage the situation.

It became clear during the discussions that Tumukunde wanted Kayihura out so he could as well fail the widely-publicized Muhoozi succession project.

Tumukunde and Sejusa don’t want a Muhoozi presidency.

Appearing on a television talk show this past week, Tumukunde wondered why he would be at the same rank with Muhoozi.

“Muhoozi is welcome to the presidential race. But let him not use our resources,” said Tumukunde, adding, “By the way he is at the same rank as me, if not more senior. I am emphasising that for a purpose.”

A former aide of Kayihura told ChimpReports on Tuesday morning that Tumukunde’s recent public comments that he tricked Museveni to discharge him from the army was evidence of his long term plans.

“Tumukunde was never loyal to Museveni. He never wanted to serve but revenge for what he went through after being dropped as spy chief,” said the official.

“The questions Museveni should be asking himself are: What did Tumukunde do during his reign as Security Minister and NRM mobiliser? Was he building or destroying NRM? Whose network was he laying?”

Tumukunde recently urged Ugandans to “prepare smartphones to counter vote rigging,” adding, “We will use 1,000 strategies” to defeat Museveni in the 2021 polls.