ISO agent arrested at Monitor, Gen Tinye’s case goes to court

A man who identified himself as a State agent and believed to have been deployed to trail this newspaper’s journalist was on Wednesday night arrested outside Monitor Publications Ltd head offices in Namuwongo.

He was arrested by guards from KK Security, a private security group guarding the premises, at about 7:45pm local time.
He was found with an identity card in the names of Denis Orach. The card also showed he was recently recruited into the Internal Security Organisation.

The newspaper’s reporter, Mr Richard Wanambwa, thrust into public eye after a story he co-authored with colleague Risdel Kasasira about alleged schemes to kill three top government officials, said he became suspicious when he found strangers had surrounded his car.
By press time, attempts to contact Mr Ronnie Balya, the head of ISO, were futile as he was not picking calls.

However, intelligence and military officers, including Capt Edson Kwesiga, the spokesperson of the elite Special Forces Command, said the suspect was likely to be an impostor.

Police release suspect
The individual was handed over to police, but the officer in-charge of the Kisugu Police Station where he was taken on Wednesday night, strangely suggested that the matter be reported to Local Council officials before releasing the agent.

Meanwhile, the Monitor through its lawyer, Mr James Nagwala, is to seek a judicial review of an order secured by the Police to force four company journalists to avail the original Gen. David Sejusa letter, which is at the centre of the current controversy.

The order issued by Nakawa Court Chief Magistrate Rosemary Bareebe was served on the newspaper shortly after midday yesterday.

Mr Nangwala has said the order will be challenged on grounds that the journalists, including Executive Editor Simon Freeman, Managing Editor Don Wanyama and reporters Kasasira and Wanambwa ,were neither the authors nor the recipients of the letter.

“The order is misdirected. It should have been directed to the author or the recipient. The only original that the Monitor officials can avail is the copy of the newspaper which they (the police) already have,” Mr Nangwala said.

Mr Wanyama and the reporters, who had earlier been charged with refusal to cooperate and avail information contrary to the Police Act, appeared for the third consecutive day at CIID headquarters in Kibuli yesterday.

The head of the Media Crimes desk, Mr Simon Kuteesa, discharged them unconditionally, saying they would be invited when need arises.

Trailed journalist narrates ordeal

My vehicle was parked at a washing bay, about 80 metres from office, where it was cleaned earlier in the day. I found a group of five – one woman and two men seated in a car with tinted windows and two leaning on a motorcycle – positioned close to my vehicle.

When they saw me arrive, three of the men began talking on phone while consulting one another, raising my suspicion. It was then that I alerted the private guards securing Monitor offices, who intercepted one of them as he rolled on a motorcycle.

He could not explain what he was doing, prompting his arrest. Upon checking, he was found with an ISO identification card indicating his name was Denis Orach.

Mr Orach said he had come to pick a friend, Elisha, a student at Kampala International University (KIU). KIU campus is at Kansanga, about six kilometres from Monitor offices. Mr Orach was not violent, carried no gun but refused to cooperate when interrogated within Monitor premises. [Dear Jeanne, Monitor]

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