Danger to Democracy: Uganda’s Security agencies are too politicized
Let me begin by making a categorical statement. I am willing and ready
to testify on the complicity of the Police with Kiboko Squad. This is
because I am not an armchair commentator on the Kiboko squad, also
known as Uganda's Interahamwe. I am a victim, with wounds and bruises
to show from last week's attack on a NAFFE organized peaceful demo in
support of a free and fair election, in which JEEMA's Asuman Basalirwa
and FDC's Besigye were brutally attacked by the police and Kiboko
squad. NAFFE is the National Alliance for a Free and Fair Election,
led by former ACFODE communications officer Margaret Wokuri. The media
chose to twist the facts and decided to call it an IPC demonstration.
IPC had only been invited to attend the assembly. That's how the IPC
leaders found themselves there. It was never an IPC led demo.
Last week, and throughout this week the discussion on Kiboko squad has
continued. The Inspector General of Police and former Uganda Peoples'
Defence Forces political commissar Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura denied any
knowledge of the Kiboko squad. He did not tell the truth. He is fully
aware of the Kiboko squad, that is why although he came physically to
the scene of the beatings, hiding behind the tinted window screens of
his car, he did not order any arrests. By pretending to be surprised
that Kiboko squad beat up people he reduced himself to an
unprofessional officer not averse to disinformation. He was actually
playing hide and seek, hoping that Ugandans are so ignorant and not
particularly intelligent. Kiboko squad is commanded from the Central
Police Station, CPS, and that is where they often emerge to terrorize
innocent people. I saw them personally during the Mabira
demonstration. If for the sake of argument we believe Kayihura's
feigned ignorance of the Kiboko squad, then he should resign as police
chief. The whole town knows who the Kiboko squad are. How can a police
chief with his privileged position of access to intelligence be
unaware? Is somebody undermining his authority? Is he less than keen
on his duties as IGP?
I have never met Kayihura in private. We have, though, had public
exchange with Maj Gen Kayihura before, as recent as May 28th 2010. We
contended that the Police had become a political organization and that
its claimed professionalism and credibility is at stake. Matters have
not been helped by Kayihura's innovation of establishing a full office
of Political Commissar of the Uganda Police, now headed by Asan
Kasingye.
“What does a political commissar of the Uganda Police Force do in a
multiparty democracy?” I asked Kayihura on the occasion. He said that
he deals with “ideological matters” and also to “liaise with the
public” – typical tongue in cheek display. Dealing with the public
has nothing to do with ideology or politics. Uganda Police was meant
to be a neutral force that would serve all - without wearing
ideological lenses. Kayihura has harmed the reputation of the police
so badly, it will take a long time for the next government to
rehabilitate the Police Force's image. The real professionals in the
Police Force must be very frustrated with the situation. They are
being forced to forget all that they learned at Police school and at
the higher police academies they have attended. The police should
never become a tool of a regime.
Throughout Uganda's turbulent history, significant political change
has resulted into the disbanding of the Army, because the army has
always been political and a tool of the regime. The Police Force and
Uganda Prisons have always survived. They had kept their neutral
professional image. Not anymore. Unless the regime rethinks its
strategy of politicizing the police force, the next government may
find itself in the unenviable position of building a new police force
that would be acceptable to all.
It was laughable that Kayihura talked of an inquiry into the Kiboko
squad. How do you inquire into what you already know? Why do you waste
tax payers' money on an inquiry whose results are known. Where I come
from there is a saying about old men, who have no shame. Watching
octagerian Minister for Internal Affairs Kirunda Kivejinja on TV
denying knowledge of the Kiboko squad on Tueday this week, I
sympathized with him. What a legacy he will live behind! Old men
should not use their last days on earth being untruthful.
We don't need an inquiry. What we need is a public debate with
Kayihura on the 'Kiboko squad' and I am ready to take him on.