To believe or not to believe Gen Sejusa’s third U-turn?

Gen David Sejusa is an enigma at any rate. So intricate is the story of his life that only he and God understand its plot and climax. It is a movie filled with all tribes of deception, Saul to Paul reincarnations, prodigal son acts and a thousand and one twists and turns. His exit, the scathing attacks on a government to whose wheels he was the fulcrum and theatrical return continues to stir more questions than answers.

When he fled the country in mid-2013 citing threats on his life, Daily Monitor’s investigations editor Chris Obore took to his Facebook page and prophesied that Tinyefuza, as he once was known, has a history of being unreliable. When he wanted to leave the army and attacked it, he apologised to Museveni, saying demons had attacked him and he was redeployed.

Obore added, attracting an avalanche of reproach, that Sejusa would face the wrath of life in exile, seek to negotiate his return with Museveni who will extend an olive branch at the taxpayer’s cost. So his departure must be appreciated from that perspective – one of a man with a history of going back to his proverbial spew. From the trend of events, Obore seems to have neatly written a script Sejusa is religiously following to the letter.

Sejusa’s Waterloo, at least in the context of the miniature public trust he had built, if any, was blown into pieces the moment the public learnt that he was welcomed by Brig Ronnie Balya, the astute Internal Security Organisation director general to whom, rather intriguingly, he had written to, asking him to investigate claims that former premier Amama Mbabazi and ex-chief of defence forces Gen Aronda Nyakairima were in the line-up for methodical execution in a nefarious plot masterminded by the President’s brother and former army commander Gen Salim Saleh and police chief Gen Kale Kayihura over their perceived opposition to the ‘Muhoozi Project’, a term attached to a purported move by President Museveni to have his son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba succeed him.

Those were grave allegations any government worth its salt would hardly take lightly. Monitor Publications and Red Pepper bore the consequences in lamentable commercial terms, several youth are still incarcerated for allegations of plotting to overthrow the government with Sejusa.

Their fate loosely hangs in the air. This is Sejusa’s collateral damage. Already so much ink has gone into explaining the backdoor negotiations that transpired between London and Kampala to have the four-star general return home, but Sejusa’s remarks at his Naguru home on Tuesday leave even more questions to be asked.

Sitting in the audience of about 150 guests, several of them clearly part of the State’s intelligence machinery disguised as motorcycle riders (about 20 motorcycles were parked outside his heavily guarded home), it was tempting to believe the General.

He spoke with objectively imposing touch of mortality after several of his self-styled supporters gave speeches in Luganda coated with insults and impassioned calls to remove Mr Museveni from his 28-year rule as soon as yesterday.

Never mind that the same day, in a five-hour journey from Sembabule District to Kampala, the former coordinator of intelligence services (he has since not been replaced) drove freely to his house, with a hero’s escort from police motorcade.

He occasionally stood in his open roof Cross Country Mercedes Benz with a strange number plate XXX, waving different political party symbols at curious onlookers as a convoy of at least three civilian cars accompanied him.

You have to contrast this with the way the State has reacted to Opposition figures such as three-time presidential candidate Kizza Besigye and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago. They have been molested to the verge of death, hospitalised severally thanks to police brutality and put under house arrest.

Their right to movement ceased to exist in the Constitution and is now dependent on the mood and orders of police officers. So with this kid-glove treatment on Tuesday in a guided tour manned by senior police officers, can Gen Sejusa’s call for regime change, especially considering that he is no average man on the street, be genuine? This is certainly not to say government’s machinery must first descend on dissenting voices for them to be taken serious but the context of the reality of standing up to Mr Museveni is fundamental.
Let us give the good General a right to be heard.

On his return
Sejusa told the guests that included former Kampala mayor Al-hajj Nasser Ntege Sebaggala that he returned on his own volition and struck no deal with the State.

In that 45 minute speech, he wanted to strictly address his mind to three issues and sought to steer clear of politics which he called diversionary and time wasting. Those three questions rotated around why and how he returned and what his mission is.
This is what he said.

When you are living in a dictatorship, you get limited in the horizon of what constitutes power; you define power beginning with your own inability. People think that if you are a president of this country that is all there is in the universe. There are higher powers other than your own; this is the modern dynamic of politics; if people do not understand this we will be stuck.

As a matter of fact, I informed some Opposition leaders, I can even reveal their names here but I have not discussed with them, but I think they would have no problem. I asked to meet them at the airport but they were not ready.

They did not grasp the opportunity available. But Museveni being the shrewd man he is grabbed the opportunity and sent people to posture as if I was received, the Opposition did not see the diversion and opportunity of a General returning home.

How do you capture power if you don’t understand the areas that matter, if you cannot seize the opportunity at the right time? Balya is an arresting officer who commands ISO, he is not a protocol person so to think it was red carpet for me, really? I am a four-star General, a powerful one, these are just disciplined officers who came to carry my bags but I told them your government is legal but it is evil and we must remove it.

But let us not allow Sejusa get away with this. This reporter was at the airport at 3am on December 14. The discreet nature of his return certainly could not have been mere posturing by Balya.

At the airport that day, a number of other security officers were present. You had police operations chief Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence boss Brig Charles Bakahumura and the Chief of Defence Forces Gen Katumba Wamala was at the VIP lounge en route to Nairobi.

Could all these have been posturing? Why didn’t they arrest a man who had openly declared war on a State and deserted the army, especially having breathed flames of fire and itched to arrest him while he was in exile? Questions!

Gen Sejusa also said he is a four-star General who could not be received by a one-star General, but he deserves a humble reminder that the establishment he built usually respects the rules of the game as and when it is convenient.

There was nothing strange with a lower ranking officer receiving a decorated General in a nation where the law can be bent to suit the needs of the hour!

On Talking to Museveni
Journalist Andrew Mwenda on NTV claimed that around November 4, the General picked his phone and called State House switch board and asked to speak to the President.

Sejusa reacting to that said, “I heard a journalist saying that I called the President, I have never talked to Museveni from the time I left. Let them bring the print outs.” He reminded his audience that he still talks to Dr Besigye though.

He also went ahead to ridicule government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo who told the press that “Sejusa was tired of the winter and was running broke, government even bought his air ticket”.

Sejusa said: “You can tell the quality of a government by its servants. How can an adult go on TV, open his eyes wide and lie to the nation that government bought my ticket? I paid for the ticket with my own debit card to British Airways. You can cross check that.”

On Opposition capacity
He also made a good point, arguing that the Opposition still has a long way to go but forgets that the machinery he built has since stifled the growth of multiparty democracy.

I was in Mbarara but did not see any Opposition office. The government has a Parish Internal Security Officer (PISO), GISO, DISO, RDC, CAO, all that is government machinery. What capacity have you built? We must go back to the drawing board if we are to remove this government otherwise it can stay on for more years like African National Congress in South Africa or CCM in Tanzania but NRM has now messed up itself.

A master of laws degree holder, Gen Sejusa has the power of the tongue. His deeds, however, and those of the State to him appear at variance with his enticing message. For a man whose service in the army is filled with horror tales of the Mukura Massacre, Operation North, military raids on media houses and a host of other human rights violations that he has never been convicted for, Gen Sejusa has a lot more convincing to do but Ugandans, from the public opinion on social media, seem to appreciate better that once beaten twice shy.

ON SERVICE IN THE ARMY

You cannot be stopped by rules that stop advancement. I will also demand retirement but you cannot judge my commitment on the basis that I am serving. You must fight; if they want to retire you they do so.

No struggle can be subservient to rules of oppression. In 1994, it was Serwanga Lwanga, Kizza Besigye and I who advocated for federo. In 1996 I brought Paul Ssemogerere. I was a soldier.

I could have been court martialled. I began opposing this regime before many of these Opposition politicians. Let us stop politicking. If someone claims to fight for democracy, what is their track record?

So what is Gen Sejusa’s track record? Is it one of a man who opposes the regime today, apologies and negotiates tomorrow and returns the next day?

In 1982 we were attacked at Bukomero, we were led by Elly Tumwine. I had been injured in another operation. Tumwine was also now injured. He had lost his eye. The eye was in the shirt, the enemy was shelling us, the previous month we had shot one of our own commanders who was injured because we did not want the enemy to capture him.

So people said Elly must be shot because the enemy was advancing. They said let’s kill him and proceed. I picked his eye and put it back in the socket, I am not a doctor and even our doctor had been injured but I picked his eye and put it back.

My relationship with Tumwine is personal, it is beyond politics, this is what UPDF is to us, it is my strength that the Opposition should look at, it is a force multiplier to have the military following. That is why I refused to surrender the UPDF to Mr Museveni even in exile. Today as I was coming I was stopped by police officers.

I used to do the same things but now I know the truth... I cannot begrudge police. These are my children operating on orders from above, you must understand he is on his job and fight the boss. The opposition always wins in areas occupied by the army and police, I saw that in Entebbe. We must build these power blocks.

When contacted, former army commander Elly Tumwine confirmed this story and said, “That is true. After the five years and the 30 years we have been together it is all about comradeship.” Asked if this was the reason Sejusa was allowed to return Tumwine said, “It is a total combination of so many factors.”

SEJUSA'S FIRST INTERVIEW AFTER FLEEING UGANDA

Renegade General David Sejusa accused President Museveni of creating a “political monarchy” to hang on to power.

In his first interview when he fled to the UK early last year, the four-star general told the BBC that Mr Museveni’s plans should be opposed.
Gen Sejusa fled after claiming that Mr Museveni was grooming his son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba to succeed him.

Gen Sejusa told BBC Focus on Africa that Mr Museveni was ruling over a “decadent system” and “playing God” in Uganda.

“Who gave Mr Museveni the right to rule over us forever?” he asked.
Gen Sejusa said Brig Kainerugaba represented a “national project of Mr Museveni to subvert the existing political system in order to perpetuate himself”.

“The central issue is a political monarchy - a life presidency and then transiting [to] a political monarchy,” he added.

“It is a terribly common African story. There is nothing strange about it.”
Pressed to rule out suggestions that he harboured presidential ambitions, Gen Sejusa said: “Why should I? A four-star general without ambitions - he might be in a wrong place.”

Gen Sejusa told the BBC the Constitution gave people the right to “use all means necessary.... including, by the way, armed struggle” to resist a leader who subverted democracy.
Source: bbc.com