Dismas Nkunda wrote this article last year after General Sejjusa went out of Uganda and started spitting fire against the regime he has been serving from day one. I think the article was prophetic. I reproduce it here for the record. Some of us have not been saying a lot on the Sejjusa saga but we have been aware of what has been going on. Three days ago a source in London sent me a copy of a fax from the Liverpool offices of the British Home Office replying to Gen. Sejjusas letter informing the Home Office that he was withdrawing his application for asylum and intending to return home on Saturday night December 13, 2014 aboard British Airways Flight BA 063. The fax acknowledged receipt of the letter and informed the General to proceed to Heathrow Terminal 5 and show a copy of the Home Office fax in order to check in. The fax advised him to proceed to immigration officials after checking in and his Diplomatic Passport which he had surrendered to the Home Office would be returned to him to enable him board the flight to Entebbe. Anyway, here is Dismas Nkundas article: Is Tinyefuza playing on our minds? Long ago we used to take things happening in Uganda for granted. Until Gen David Sejusa aka. Tinyefuza came to the fore and began castigating his commander-in-chief and the army that he had served for donkey’s years. Now the good general says he is ready to oust his former boss with whom they captured power in that proverbial year, 1986. What is one supposed to believe? That Sejusa, who until very recently was the coordinator of intelligence, has all of a sudden learnt that President Museveni was the wrong person to be leading Uganda? At what time did Gen Sejusa realise that things were not well in the country? Could this be a trick? What if this is an internal plan in which we are being hoodwinked? You see, one theory floating around is that Sejusa could be in cahoots with Museveni. Imagine that a plan was hatched; let Sejusa question the workings of the army, then everyone will believe it since he is known for his standing up against the established order. In the process, those who associate with his thinking will get known and purged. That way, the state will be able to understand the level of disquiet and deal with all the schemers who fall for the story. So, when I watched the general on BBC, telling the world that he can use all means possible to remove President Museveni from power, it dawned on me that a rapid shift from a trusted intelligence coordinator to an avid critic is an easy script to read through. Only until Gen Sejusa tells us when and what time he realised that things were not right, can we start to believe him. Otherwise, all those hugging the general now might become collateral when the game plan finally begins to play out. And this is given more credence by the past actions of the general himself. We all know that Tinyefuza was intent to leave the army and went to court for this in 1996. Then, we believed in all that he said and thought he was brave enough to challenge the army he had served for long. He was, indeed, seen as a hero; the one person who stood up for his rights. Well, many were astounded when a few years later the general was back in the fold. What the state does so well is that when you start to become a pain, they cripple you economically. So, when things did not work out properly, as the state made sure Tinyefuza’s life was not that cozy, in came Gen Salim Saleh who “helped to rehabilitate” him. Eventually Tinyefuza came back to the fold that he had vehemently criticised. What if the latest bravado ends up like the first one? What if he is making up the current quarrel as a plan for bigger things in the same government? Why would one want to believe him now, well aware that he has a history of changing his mind? So Gen Sejusa, you need to be clear so that those who have doubts in your shifting allegiances get to be sure that this time you are for real. And when you say you can use “all means” to remove the current government from power, what does that mean? Does it mean that you even have the option of waging war against your former colleagues in the gallant UPDF that you helped found? We do not want a situation where you pull so many people to your side, they end up exposed, and then you quickly excuse yourself and retreat back to the UPDF/ NRM government. On a lighter note, I am standing in Taskim square here in Istanbul where protestors are angry with their president. Well, tear gas has just stopped. The protesters, afraid that the army was going to be deployed to remove them from the square, have engaged in an unusual protest style. They stand without talking, either reading a book or sipping tea or coffee. The police look on. Maybe Ugandans can learn something from these people; unless of course we are ordered not to stand, not to read or even drink coffee or tea, as was the case during walk-to-work! That way, we could avoid the news about Uganda’s high-handedness. [email protected] The author is a human rights expert and specialist on refugee issues.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 14:53:25 +0000
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