ONLY TRUTH WILL SET TINYE (Now SSEJUSA) FREE====By Kevin AliroSo Lt. Gen. David Tinyefuza apologises to President Museveni and confesses that he was ‘misled’ even ‘possessed’ when he denounced the system and tried to leave the UPDF in 1997?Here are Tinyefuza’s exact words as quoted in the papers: “Mzee (Museveni), forgive me because I got advice from some people. It was as if I was possessed because I received advice from some circles but I later woke up to my senses and made a turn-around. I am prepared to work with you even more.”The general’s belated public apology to Mr. Museveni came on December 4 at Emmanuel Cathedral, Rushere (Mbarara) as the President attended the wedding of Tinyefuza’s daughter.Miria Matembe (Woman MP for Mbarara) and former Ethics and Integrity minister cannot believe that the general has no shame in claiming that he was ill advised. “Things are like [George Orwell’s] Animal Farm. The chicken used to come and say I have been misadvised by so and so. Who was misadvising Tinyefuza? He saw the wrong things and he still sees them,” Matembe said in an interview with The Weekly Observer.Tinyefuza’s story is a very interesting one; especially to the few friends who remained close to the once maverick general during his lowest moments in 1997.I feel personally insulted because Tinyefuza is lying about the kind of advice he received from some circles- including myself. To the contrary, he often refused to take sensible advice. One night he spat back at me: “Do you think I do not know what I am doing?” That was shortly after Tinyefuza lost the final court battle to government.His official military police guards were withdrawn and most of Tinyefuza’s friends abandoned him. The general had instantly become a political leper and an untouchable to anyone who still sought patronage from the system. Even the few military friends who empathised with Tinyefuza did not dare go anywhere near his home in Kyengera. The one or two really daring ones only came by night.Tinyefuza felt completely naked in terms of personal security. He was afraid they would try to kill him in the night, especially now that the official bodyguards and arms had been withdrawn.We moved quickly and improvised.A friend in Makindye helped us to mobilise several LDUs armed with AK47s, who we irregularly deployed at Tinyefuza’s residence in Kyengera. Just in case.One night we sat with Tinyefuza by his swimming pool.I drank wine and whisky.Tinyefuza initially refused to drink but he later drank too.After midnight, we moved to the veranda. Tinyefuza asked me to do him one last favour as a friend and someone who has married our daughter.He wanted me to book a hall either at the Grand Imperial or any other downtown hotel for a press conference. He also wanted me to invite the journalists local and international. Why? I asked.“Because I want to denounce Museveni. It is time the whole world came to know who Museveni really is” I stopped the general in his tracks.“You cannot do that now. This is 1997 and Museveni has just been elected president (in 1996) under a new constitution. He is in his first year. He is still very popular. You can’t denounce him now. You will get nothing. You will get headlines for a week or two, then what next? You will be forgotten because you cannot take on Museveni now!” I counselled.Tinyefuza, as if possessed barked at me: “What? You mean I do not know what I am doing? You”The situation was getting tricky both of us had been drinking and were literally shouting at each other.Okay, okay, I told the general. “If you really want the press conference, give me the money tomorrow and I shall organise it. But you won’t get anything beyond headlines for a week or two. Why don’t you wait around election time in 2001? Then you can denounce Museveni and may be stand against him for president? That will be the right time”Tinyefuza was seething with anger and pain. But we did not fight. Instead he retired to the main house. I slept in his guesthouse.I did not see Tinyefuza in the morning. When I called him later, he was now hesitant about the press conference.But the general remained paranoid for several days. He kept saying they were planning to kill him. They were even tapping his phones. Some nights he would call me 10 or 20 times. He would demand to know where I was or why I was allowing them to tap my phone and thus spy on him in the process.Once, I lost my temper and asked him why he kept calling me if he thought I was a spy for the system that he had, in any case, helped to create. Tinyefuza apologised apparently because he realised I was one of the few real friends he still had.During those days, I came to learn about many sensitive things good and bad that happened between Museveni and his lieutenants like Tinyefuza during the NRA bush days and between the day they took power in January 1986 and 1996.Some of Tinyefuza’s complaints were about legitimate national issues. Some were really petty soldiering stuff like Museveni banning everyone else from having women in the bush except, allegedly, for three top commanders. Tinyefuza said that violating that ban was one of the reasons Museveni had arrested and detained him in the bush.About the same time in 1997, General Salim Saleh started wooing Tinyefuza back into the fold. But Tinyefuza remained stubborn and suspicious even of Saleh.He told me that, among other things, Saleh had offered him a capitulation package of Shs 800 million from the army veterans’ fund.Saleh once spent the whole night at Tinyefuza’s house, begging him to accept to be rehabilitated.Saleh finally won and Tinyefuza capitulated. There are many other things that Tinyefuza told friends back then when he was angry and wounded. In his anger, he remembered so many ugly things that had happened during the bush war and in the war in northern Uganda. Tinyefuza also complained about Museveni betraying allies and friends. In particular, he highlighted the arrest and detention of Lt. Gen. Moses Ali (now first deputy prime minister) after arms were allegedly planted on his premises. Some of the revelations about the system were so sensitive I decided never to put them in print and I shall forever honour that commitment to a former friend.But why do I revisit bits of the past now? It is because in his latest confession and apology to Museveni, Tinyefuza was so economical with the truth and is outright treacherous betraying friends who gave him good advice that he often rejected.It is of course good for Uganda that Tinyefuza and Museveni made up without spilling any blood. Tinyefuza must, however, accept full and personal responsibility for whatever happened. It is only the whole truth that will set Tinyefuza completely free again.Note: Article was published as an Opinion of Kevin Aliro in Weekly Observer of 16th December 2004. Trust me Museveni is a head of his opponents and Journalists in Uganda. Its now the Social Media that guides Journalists in Uganda. 10 years ago there used to be Investigative Journalists and Deep Analysis, yesterday a friend of mine in the Travel Industry told me that their was a Big Fish flying to Uganda on Saturday Night, i tried calling friends who are in Media houses to give them that Tip but no one seemed to care. How can all Media Houses fail to know that Ssejusa is flying to the Country, Simply because there mind is in Yellow Journalism and if the Opposition in Uganda cant know whats happening in State House, then there is a serious Crisis. Today, Sunday 14th December, I will be LIVE on WBS TV from 2pm to 3pm
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 09:30:50 +0000
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