At the instigation of President Museveni, Gen Salim Saleh convened a de-escalation meeting to help Generals Kahinda Otafiire and Muhoozi Kainerugaba find some common ground and stop their public spatting. This was some time last year.
The meeting was held at Saleh’s base in Kapeeka, Nakaseke district. Andrew Mwenda, who is number two in Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), escorted Muhoozi Kainerugaba who doubles as CDF and also son to Gen YK Museveni.
Museveni, who is very fond of Otafiire because of their history since the FRONASA days in the 1970s, insisted that the two protagonists must talk and stop public bickering. He rang Gen Saleh, MK and Otafiire too directing that they urgently travel to Kapeeka because he was tired of their bickering.
Mwenda says Otafiire, who he admits is very powerful and naturally a very defiant personality, showed his indifference when he came late for the meeting. Mwenda says they convened (himself, Saleh and MK) and patiently waited for two hours before Otafiire could arrive.
That when he arrived, instead of apologizing and explaining himself on his late coming, Otafiire just went into a long lecture demanding that the three attentively and humbly listen to him till cows are back home.
Among other things, Otafiire made it clear how he doesn’t have anything personal against Gen MK who he said was too young to pause any credible threat to him as a person. Mwenda says Otafiire reminisced to them how Gen Saleh was a young boy aged just 14 years when he (aged 26) was busy recruiting fighters for Museveni’s FRONASA in the 1970s.
This was in the Tanzanian exile. Otafiire went as far as reminding the meeting that as of that time, Gen MK was a months’ old baby still in diapers. So, he can’t have anything personal against someone like that, so many years his junior.
When he was done, Mwenda, trouble-causing as ever and always willing to take a bullet for Gen MK, exploded. As Saleh and MK pensively looked on, Mwenda lectured the elderly General from Mitooma on the need to behave more courteously towards the President’s son since the CDF was young enough to be his son.
Mwenda demanded that Otafiire behaves like someone who realizes that he is naturally MK’s uncle and should behave protectively towards him besides generally being complementary towards his old friend Gen YK Museveni’s son.
Speaking on lawyer Telly Kahuma’s podcast on Monday, Mwenda said Otafiire blew up; vigorously pushing back and since that time they haven’t talked even when they cracked deals and been close friends thriving in Kampala for more than 30 years. Mwenda says Otafiire reneged on that Kapeeka ceasefire and now is time for the warriors in the PLU universe to be unleashed to permanently destroy him.
He told Kahuma that Otafiire is more vulnerable than a lot of people think. He added that PLU will soon demonstrate that Otafiire is not as powerful or invincible as people think he is.
Politically, he said Otafiire is a very exhausted figure because as early as 2016, he was defeated by a mere Capt Kahonda for the position of Ruhinda MP.
That today he is an MP not because he is very strong or popular back home but simply because a few villages were put together for him to have a constituency to continue being called MP. He says there is no way PLU can fail to politically obliterate Otafiire who would be ferried by a mere Kahonda in 2016 (which is 11 years ago).
Claiming to be Otafiire’s long time friend and mentee, Mwenda said PLU will soon demonstrate that Otafiire isn’t the only bull in that Greater Bushenyi part of Ankole. He said besides Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, who is already bigger than Otafiire within the Mitooma sub region, there is former Minister Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye of Sheema (currently an MP) who he said will soon be rehabilitated to political greatness.
Mwenda said Otafiire will soon be destroyed by PLU within his own constituency and also in the politics of Greater Bushenyi. He said anyone can be created and propped up by PLU to become the greatest giant in Greater Bushenyi and their focus is on Elioda Tumwesigye, a well accomplished medical doctor with a lot of legacy in the HIV Aids movement.
Mwenda said Otafiire will very soon be history in the politics of Uganda including his own native Mitooma. He said there is no way Otafiire can prevail and win against whoever PLU will be fronting against him.
Mwenda, who has never stood nor won an election anywhere in his life time, said that Otafiire has only been thriving on blackmailing Gen Museveni who he said has always been reluctant to allow anyone to politically hurt or diminish him because of their FRONASA history and also because Museveni naturally is a very compasionate person.
“He is naturally a very kind person which is why he has allowed [fake intelligence peddler] Nuwagaba to retain two SFC guards on top of buying for him land to resettle in Sembabule after being chased from State House. Museveni has been Otafiire’s only constituency for a long time but we are going to take that away,” declared Mwenda making it clear that Otafiire has bad intentions against Gen MK’s ambition to become President.
Mwenda insinuated that Otafiire desires to replace Museveni in the NRM which will never happen. He said the same machinery that destroyed and demystified Amama Mbabazi is going to be unleashed to obliterated Otafiire who he said isn’t even a fraction of what Mbabazi used to be when it comes to wielding power both in the politics and security circles.
Mwenda also said Otafiire can’t claim higher moral ground while portraying himself as a champion of human rights in the country. He said that, unlike MK who never uses his power to grab people’s land, Otafiire has been implicated in human rights violations to satisfy his material desires.
He talked about a one Hamdan Khan who he said Otafiire locked up after attempting to grab his 9 acres of prime land in Munyonyo. Mwenda said Khan is his family friend and had originally bought the land from Christopher Obey who died in Luzira prison in 2019. Mwenda says Khan had approached Otafiire for help to fortify his interest in the Munyonyo land. That Otafiire turned against Khan after Obey’s death and claimed to be the owner of the land.
Mwenda says Khan ended up being arrested and charged with criminal offences at the instigation of Otafiire. Mwenda (who will most likely be sued in civil defamation) narrated to Kahuma how he personally had to abandon his treatment program in India to rush back to Kampala to get Khan out of prison where Otafiire had locked him up.
That he rang Police Directors Christopher Ddamulira and Tom Magombo, both of whom feared to intervene to get Khan released because as Internal Affairs Minister, Otafiire was their boss. Mwenda says he approached then deputy IGP Gen Paul Lokeck but he too feared to intervene because Otafiire was his boss.
That he had to fly back to Uganda and contact Gen MK who deployed SFCs to rescue Khan. Mwenda narrated how Otafiire deployed two pick ups full of Police Counter-Terrorism operatives to rearrest Khan as soon as a Judge released him on bail. Mwenda says he had to get Gen Saleh and MK to ring Museveni imploring him to force Otafiire to let old man Khan be released and go to die at home.
Mwenda says he had to drive his tinted Audi car into the court parking to whisk away Mzee Khan who Otafiire-deployed CTs were ready to rearrest. Mwenda says he relied on the heavily-armed SFCs who MK gave him to rescue Mzee Khan. He says this demonstrated how powerful Otafiire is in the security and political establishment of the Ugandan state.
All this notwithstanding, Mwenda says PLU is determined to take away the Museveni protection from Otafiire so that he can properly be demobilized without being shielded by his old FRONASA friend Gen YK Museveni. Mwenda, who also questioned the circumstances under which Lokech and Obey died when Otafiire’s appetite for Munyonyo land was active, ought to be inquired into.
He says that the Munyonyo land saga, coupled with Njeru stock farm land which the GoU was on the verge of being deprived of, all combine to demonstrate the fact that Otafiire is a very scandalous man who has no moral authority to implicate Gen MK in human rights situations.
Mwenda says that as PLU, they know that Otafiire has a countrywide infrastructure which he has gradually been building while serving as Minister of Local Government, DG ESO, Lands, Internal Affairs and earlier on as Justice Minister but they are ready to anihilate everything. He says they need just 24 hours to deflate Otafiire and make him powerless.
Mwenda says Otafiire has ill motives against MK which is why he chose Parliament of all platforms to go and publicly antagonize the President’s son. Mwenda says they agree MK is not an angel but wonders why Otafiire opts to use public forums to make his criticisms if his motive isn’t about demonizing Uganda’s next President. He prefers that Otafiire seeks an appointment to go meet the President’s son whenever he feels the CDF has gone astray.
“When we were in the meeting at Kapeeka with Gen Saleh, Otafiire responded to me on that point by saying he doesn’t know Gen Muhoozi’s phone number. But he knows mine and he can go through me to speak to the CDF if he is indeed well-intentioned.” Mwenda said Otafiire must surrender and acknowledge MK’s political supremacy or else he is going to be obliterated sooner than he thinks.
Mwenda said he is ready to take Otafiire to Gen MK so that he gets integrated and allocated an elder’s role inside PLU whose ascendancy to the Ugandan Presidency the veteran journalist from Kanyandahi said was now a done deal, which no one can succeed in blocking.
He said as PLU, they are more than capable to get Otafiire fired from Cabinet and replaced by Elioda Tumwesigye who will be the 2nd most powerful figure from that part of Ankole after Thomas Tayebwa. He implied they can even create circumstances for a by-election so that Otafiire doesn’t complete his current term as Ruhinda county MP up to 2031. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
