Kayihura’s court martial case heard in camera - chairman

The trial of the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, is being held in camera, the chairman of the military court, Lt Gen Andrew Gutti, has said.

However, Gen Gutti declined to divulge more details on when Gen Kayihura’s trial started and why it’s being conducted in camera.

“It took off but it will be open for public consumption at a later stage,” the chairman of the court said by telephone yesterday.

The four star army general is currently out on bail.
Gen Kayihura is accused of failing to protect war material by issuing arms to unauthorised persons including Boda Boda 2010 members led by convict Abdallah Kitatta between 2010 and 2018.

He is also accused of aiding and abetting the kidnapping, repatriating Rwandan exiles and refugees and Ugandan citizens to Rwanda between 2012 and 2016. He denies the charges.
The former police chief was arrested on June 13, 2018 and held at Makindye Military Police Barracks for more than two months until he was charged on August 24, the same year.

Towards the end of Kayihura’s tenure, the police force seemed to go a bit out of control, with President Museveni accusing the force of being infiltrated by “weevils” (criminals) and eventually ordering the army to arrest a number of senior police officers and Gen Kayihura’s associates, which ended with the arrest of Gen Kayihura.

Background
Kayihura sacking
Gen Kayihura was sacked from police by President Museveni in April 2018 at the height of a wave of murders and kidnaps for ransom that hit the capital Kampala and its neighbourhood, and various parts of the country. He had served as police boss for 13 years.

President Museveni had earlier said the police under Gen Kayihura had been infiltrated by criminals he termed kawukumi, a local reference to bean weevils.
Before Gen Kayihura’s dismissal, the army had arrested his subordinates or close associates on criminal charges.
The US government later imposed sanctions on Gen Kayihura.