Bare Knuckles: Why Kayihura’s report card looks good, for now

If Maj. Gen. Edward Kalekezi Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, had any illusions about the political correctness of his actions against the walk-to-work ‘hoodlums’ of the likes of Kizza Besigye, Mao and co., then he got the full approval of his boss on Tuesday. It is not often that President Museveni wakes up on a better side of his bed to shower praises on any of his front men, especially those in the Police Force.

Until now, Museveni has reserved any public show of faith in the Police. Instead, he has been one of the Force’s most unforgiving critics, blaming it for poorly handling issues of national security and corruption. But his ruthless criticism is also borne of a historical awareness that the Police are vulnerable to political manipulation that can change into a nucleus of mutiny or counter-intelligence against his regime.

In the days of retired IGP John Cossy Odomel, Museveni detested the Police almost as if it was an army of occupation and warned he would “sort it out” with time. Indeed Odomel was later to resign after a six-month inquiry found him in breach of the Leadership Code. He had not declared the full list of his wealth in 1997 and according to the then IGG, Jotham Tumwesigye, Odomel’s wealth was valued at Shs100 million more than what he had declared.

Odomel was an old school policeman, trained in the traditional norms and methods of policing. His undoing though, was that he had allowed under his watch the escalation of corruption in the Police Force. The peak of the revelation dawned during the Justice Julia Ssebutinde probe. The Force was rated the most corrupt as ‘evidenced’ by the huge number of potbellied traffic police officers and the directorate of investigation was a kitchen department – completely rundown and unable to carry out a single investigation to its end without the sniff of money. After his ‘resignation’, there was talk that he had filled the Force with his relatives and tribesmen who incidentally had resisted Museveni during his early years in power.

Fresh agenda
With his departure, Museveni set out to ‘sort out’ the Police. Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala took over the post with an agenda to transform the Force into a ‘loyal’ institution, weed out Odomel’s excesses and panel-beat ‘errant’ individuals into cadres. In the eyes of the appointing authority, Lt. Gen. Wamala was deemed to be too slow and soft, and as a result, he was quickly re-deployed where he has flourished as a professional soldier.

Maj. Gen. Kayihura ascendency came at a time when Museveni needed a more ruthless Police Force to deal with increasing public disorder. Indeed, under his reign, the Force has been more physical in restoring order.

Black Mamba
On March 1, 2007, the Black Mamba squad raided the High Court in Kampala. The group clocked in State secrecy, is really an outfit of military men in police uniforms. To-date, there is still little public knowledge about who the Kiboko squad boys really are and who are their sponsors.

But such an outfit would not last a day if it was deemed a threat to State power. The appointment of Lt. Gen. Katumba and Maj. Gen. Kayihura underscored Museveni’s long-standing belief in the militarisation of the State rather than create an effective policing institution - in which context he viewed the Police Force as an ‘uninitiated’ organisation that needed to be brought into the fold of the NRM.

IGP Kayihura is effectively achieving this mission through a revised re-orientation of the old-school boys, weeding out ‘misfits’, incorporating military training into the Police training syllabus, and bringing to the fore of the Force pure cadre cadets. But it has come at a price for the physically feeble public who have been cowed and traumatised by the sight of guns and military men on the streets.

Militarising the State, however, is a philosophical approach so it has not stopped at the Police Force. Most, if not all institutions of government and other private departments, have all been lined up with well calculated placements of men who wield guns.

Museveni’s wish
Maj. Gen. Kayihura’s apparent effectiveness to nip the demonstrations in the bud is therefore not an arrival, but a process that is expected to be seen at all levels of polity. And to IGP Kayihura’s credit, Museveni now wants “all other leaders” to emulate him.
Congs Afande Kale!

fmasiga@ug.nationmedia. com