Gen. Tinyefuza differs with Museveni on monarchs’ role
Gen. Tinyefuza
The Coordinator of Military Intelligence, Gen. David Tinyefuza, has praised former cultural leaders for building Africa in a way incomparable with what today’s politicians have done.
Gen. Tinyefuza, who made his remarks at the memorial service of the late Prince John Barigye of Ankole Kingdom at Namirembe Cathedral on Friday, described former cultural leaders as “great revolutionaries”.
“I pay tribute to these kings. No one has added anything to what they built. What they (former cultural leaders) created is what we are having. They were great people,” Gen. Tinyefuza said amid cheers from cultural institution advocates.
Prince Barigye died of kidney failure in a Nairobi hospital, Kenya last week. By the time of his death, Prince Barigye was still fighting for the restoration of his kingdom which, government has vehemently opposed.
Kings built empires
Gen. Tinyefuza, a known advocate of Obugabe, said kings built empires but today’s “democracy hasn’t done any of that.”
“What have ballot boxes (achieved)? Was Britain, United States, China built by democracy? People built empires by use of iron and blood. Democrats came to administrate what they (kings) built for them,” he said.
Gen Tinyefunza’s argument is, however, contrary to that of his Commander-in-Chief, President Museveni, who argues that African kings and chiefs had a lot of injustice and did not defend Africa against the colonialists. And they have no legitimacy in modern Africa.
Gen. Tinyefunza said: “I don’t want to be an apologist. There are some people saying kings were brutal; carrying out injustice. Those were their times of formation and demanded that. Times of democracy demand different things.The great revolutionaries are these kings and princes, they built something.”
President Museveni in his condolence message read by the Security Minister, Mr Muluuli Mukasa, described the late prince as a principled man who resigned his government job during Idi Amin’s regime in the 1970s due to bloodshed.
