The most hated Ugandan - Besigye’s tormentor

The man in the picture
His name is Gilbert Bwana Arinaitwe. But a UPDF deserter, now living in Europe, who says they were bosom friends and classmates at Ogut Primary School in Tororo Municipality, insists today’s showy Arinaitwe was by 1986 a bare-footed Jackson Kirunda receiving whips from teacher Okwakol almost on daily basis for failing Mathematics and English assignments.

The contrast of his known humble beginnings, a supposedly prayerful life and an introvert’s posture were yesterday betrayed when the hitherto concealed evil in Arinaitwe erupted, shocking and galling his friends and mentors.

Not least lecturers at Uganda Christian University where he obtained a Social Work and Social Administration Bachelor’s degree in 2006.“He used to be a class captain and a quiet guy. I am embarrassed by what he did (in arresting Besigye),” said his former lecturer.

He sauntered at the Mulago roundabout in Kampala, pistol tucked to the waist line, after using it to knock down Besigye’s car windows, re-enacting alleged rogues committed by Idi Amin’s berated forces.

Without a gun, light weight Arinaitwe would unlikely stage an average fight, except blurt out words in a quarrel as he does while translating for a top city pastor. He reportedly participated in investigating an unresolved sodomy case.

Associates, appalled and galled by his yesterday’s conduct, or rather misconduct, say he is a man of devotion, who prays while speaking in tongues.

On the streets, in the church and at shops, he starts his conversation with a calm Mukama ye bazibwe (Praise God) Christian tone. His wedding photos on face book page, scrambled after his unprecedented assault on Besigye, show him smiling in the tight embrace with his wife.

It would be odd that he chose to introduce himself to Ugandan tax payers who buy his food and dress him by tormenting a man his senior in wealth, power and contribution to the country’s 1986 ‘liberation’.

In lawful times, Arinaitwe, a CID officer attached to the Kireka-headquartered Rapid Response Unit, would be operating under cover like all civilised detectives, identifying and preventing crime.