=====================By Sarah Nalukenge=================== *****Merry Christmas & Happy, Blessed, Prosperous, Victorious 2015**** WHO IS BRIG. RONNIE BALYA OF OF ISO WHO MET SEJUSA ON HIS RETURN FROM LONDON? Museveni calls him BARYA in order to give the name an Ankole accent. Brig. Ronnie BALYA is a mutooro from the late Bishop Balya family. He is a graduate from Makerere university having graduated around 1980. He joined the NRA around 1985/86. He is among the different university graduates from the wrong tribes whom Museveni would deliberately divert to Internal Security Organisation, External Security Organisation and other civilian assignments in order to keep them off his main stream military service. It is this diversion of the highly educated that gave rise to the likes of Kaziini (P. 7), Otema Awany (S. 4),Wilson Mbadi (S. 4), Kayanja Muhanga (S. 5), Dick Olum (S2). Katumba Wamala (Cert in Agric), Charles Angina (S. 4 and others with modest education continue to occupy top positions. His usual excuse of historical factor does not apply here because none of them was in the bush. The fact is that those with minimal education standard are easy to manipulate and use to overwhelm the highly educated whose capacity to analyse political/military situations does not go well with his designs. Brig. Balya first came to public eye when he was the DISO of Mbarara district at the time when Gen Tinyefuza secretly crowned the Ankole king. Then Lt. Balya was reprimanded on suspicion that he had connived with the team that crowned the king. Thanks to Hon. John Nasasira who pleaded with Museveni because by clan (Omwitira), Balya shares with Nasasira and other members of the ruling clique.Therefore, BARYA is regarded as a home boy. At the ISO head office, Lt. Balya rose to become the Director of Information Techinology (DIT). It is DIT that is responsible for technical intelligence gathering using technical means in intercepting telephone, military radio, email, fax communications. Then Lt Ronnie Balya gained fame when his department played a vital role in intercepting and breaking into the communication codes of the LRA during the northern insurgency, the Rwanda army during the Kisangani standoff and most of the regional security agencies. The operation is codenamed RABIT. By 2010, Balya had rised to become the Deputy Director General (DG) of ISO at a time when the spy agency was embroiled in factionalism. He was charged with leading a pro Museveni loyalist operatives within ISO. The then Director General Dr. Amos Mukumbi was suspected to have personal connections with ISO former DG and founder Gen. Jim Muhwezi whose political clarity was in doubt. It during the same time that other senior directors in ISO like Baguma, Kasura, Kwiringira, Rwekikiga, Kagoro, and some others were purged. Brig. Ronnie Balya though a Deputy DG enjoyed closeness to the then Chief of Defence forces and Musevenis right hand man, Gen Aronda Nyakairima, the Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura and the then CMI boss Brig. James Mugira. Ronnie Balyas intelligence collection undertakings and reporting had a direct link to Museveni. Such a development left the then ISO DG Dr Mukumbi issolated. No wonder, soon after, the Cadet Officer trained Dr. Mukumbi was kicked out and Balya was promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed the Director General. With Aronda at the top of the internal affairs ministry and spearheading the process of militarising the Police force, bringing the immigration department to the armpit of security agencies and monitoring the operations of NGOs among other tasks, there is no doubt Balya has a big role to play in availing Aronda with the required spies for planting on each and every inch of the Uganda territory. During the recent military adventure in the south Sudan, ISO and Operation RABIT in particular must have played a vital role in providing technical intelligence to the the invading NRA and Kirrs SPLA thus, the seemingly coincidental promotion of the two key players Brig Kayanja and Brig Balya. But given Musevenis ways the promotions of the two sons of Tooro was partly prompted by his move to neutralise the opposition influence among prominent families in Tooro against reports that members of the Tooro royal family in London are getting close to exiled Gen. Tinyefuza. On the other hand the promotion of Kayanja and Balya to the top rank of Brigadier is to also act as a compensation for the demise of Brig Noble Mayombo who was from the royal family in Tooro. The move is also meant to cover up for the public outcry of the top command positions in the army being dominated by his Hima tribes men. Otherwise, Brig. Balya is as a civilian more than his predecessors Honorary Brig. Eriya Kategaya, Col. Mushega, Col Butime, Gen. Otafire and others whom Museveni delibarately denied a mainstream military career but simply awarded them military ranks to hoodwink them.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 08:36:07 +0000
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