Security chiefs split on crushing demos

Senior officials in the security and political arms of government are divided over how to deal with opposition-led agitation for political reforms in the country, highly placed government sources have said.

This newspaper has learnt that one extremist faction in the government prefers a strong-arm approach to deal with the pro-reform activists. It is this group that successfully lobbied for the banning of the Activists for Change (A4C) pressure group and its successor outfit, For God and My Country (4GC).

However, a moderate faction is urging the government to speed up reforms to address the grievances of the public. Our sources said this faction has urged President Museveni to deal with corrupt officials in his government and has pledged to support him against any fallout with corrupt allies.

Another source in the intelligence community told this newspaper that President Museveni was recently advised that failure to resolve the growing political standoff could lead to general unrest in the country as well as “a shift in balance of power”.

This newspaper understands that of the two groups, the moderates comprising mostly ‘old guards’ are pitching for dialogue to address snowballing discontent while the Young Turks particularly in security circles, want harsher measures to contain government opponents.

The extremist faction, sources say, believes that protestors have been handled “with kids’ gloves” by top police officials “looking for cheap popularity from opposition politicians”.
Officials with moderate views, including senior military officials, however, oppose the militarisation of police activities against the demonstrators and are pushing for a political solution to the protests, sources who spoke to this newspaper, said.

Although A4C officials claim they are protesting over rising cost of living and impunity over mismanagement of public resources, the government insists that they have been trying to incite the public to overthrow the ruling regime.

President Museveni has previously rejected calls for dialogue with the activists, who include his main political challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye, the Forum for Democratic Change president, and officials from his party, as well as smaller opposition parties.

Religious leaders factor
Religious leaders have lately joined the crusade for political reforms such as the restoration of presidential term limits, and national dialogue over issues of governance, economic inequalities and social injustices.

President Museveni has previously argued that there is no crisis in the country to warrant such a national dialogue, describing the protests, which have mainly featured attempts by activists to walk to work, as political indiscipline and economic sabotage.

He accused the activists of attempting an ‘Arab Spring’ in Uganda similar to the uprisings in North Africa that felled long-serving regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
However, in what appears to be a slight shift in position, Mr Museveni said during his Labour Day speech in Kaunda Grounds, Gulu, last week, that he was willing to convene a dialogue with religious and cultural leaders during which the question of unemployment – one of the biggest challenges facing the government – would be discussed.

A spate of strikes by city traders, lawyers, taxi conductors and teachers is said to have also implanted fresh thinking in government that the country’s problems were wider than what had previously been narrowly interpreted as grievances and jostling by handful disgruntled politicians.

Although the moderates and the extremists disagree on how to deal with the protestors, both camps agree on the need to clamp down on corruption in government, which has become endemic due to impunity and failure to punish perpetrators.

Many of the officials in both camps that this newspaper spoke to declined to speak on the record, for fear of retribution. However, Brig. Kasirye Ggwanga, the President’s adviser on security matters in Buganda region, in response to a question from this newspaper, yesterday said millions of villagers mired in humiliating poverty – without hope that things will improve for their lot – pose a big risk to Uganda’s safety.

The ‘daddy’
“The problem is the President himself,” Brig. Ggwanga said. “Museveni is a cunning man; he is not a politician. If you appoint someone and they do something wrong, why keep them?”
He said Mr Museveni was acting like a “daddy” to thieving bureaucrats and his preference to pamper the corrupt was infuriating desperate villagers who hear of billions of shillings meant for services spirited away by a few individuals.

“That is what is making people bitter,” he said, calling on the President to act tough on corrupt and lazy technocrats. His views find home in a security assessment made about a month ago in which the President was strongly urged to take stern action against the corrupt, partly to placate dissenters, and also show no government official is untouchable.

This newspaper understands that the security agencies assured the President that the Army Council promised to provide a bulwark against any political pressure that affected corrupt officials might seek to exert against Mr Museveni should he move against them.

Those holding extreme views, it is reported, have also considered involving the army in ‘crushing’ future opposition demonstrations that are not authorised by the police.

The extremists further believe that arresting protestors and arraigning them before court is a waste of time, as they are almost always acquitted because of good legal representation and constitutional guarantees of political freedoms and the right to assembly.

Museveni’s move
President Museveni has been pushing to have the law amended to deny bail for, among others, suspected rioters and ‘economic saboteurs’ until they have spent six months on remand.Police Spokesman Asuman Mugenyi, however, said there are no immediate plans to hand public order management over to the army. “The military can only come in when we request for reinforcement,” he told this newspaper in a telephone interview last month.

Army’s word
Col. Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF spokesman, in a recent interview acknowledged the existence of a new strategy, reportedly proposed by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, to contain rioters, but said it advocated engagement, and not confrontation.

“There are attempts to cause divisions among security agencies to weaken the state and I condemn that,” he said. “We have full confidence in the Uganda Police Force to handle both peaceful demonstrators and rioters.”

Last month, Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima and Brig. Charles Bakahumura, the chief of military intelligence, jointly visited Masaka District on a community mobilisation tour to popularise the new strategy, the military spokesman said. Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the Masaka Municipality MP, is the national coordinator of the banned A4C and 4GC groups.

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