Police is set to summon Senior Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs Major Roland Kakooza Mutale and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago over the militia groups they formed.
Addressing journalists at the police headquarters this morning, police spokesperson Fred Enanga said that what the two were doing is in breach of the Uganda Constitution and the cop insisted that the mandate to recruit and train such groups is the preserve of certain government departments.
“The Constitution doesn’t allow this; we are monitoring them and who ever associates with them. Constitutionally, the mandate to form such a group or train it is given to an arms government organization,” Mr Enanga said adding: “The police have made arrangements to summon the two and any other person who associates with them.”
According to the promoters, the self styled civilian guards are being trained to monitor the 2016 elections, with both Maj Mutale and Lukwago claiming this will deter the rigging of votes accruing to their respective candidates.
Mutale is currently training militias whose mission, he says, is to ‘eliminate’ anyone who stands in Museveni’s way ahead of the 2016 general elections.
Similarly, Lukwago under his pressure group called Truth and Justice formed the TJ Solida Crew, which he says, is ‘to act as a shield but not the sword to protect the interests of the public’.
Previously, Maj Mutale was infamously linked to the Kalangala Action Plan (KAP), a paramilitary outfit formed in 2001. In 2007, he was also associated with the ‘Kiboko Squad, a ‘vigilante’ group which tried to suppress the riots against the sale of Mabira Forest.
The issue of Maj Mutale’s training of a ‘vigilante’ group has caused a stir in some official circles, with his colleague, one-star General Brigadier Kasirye Ggwanga, threatening to take on the elderly Maj Mutale in the jungles of Luwero. Other personalities who have spoken against Maj Mutale’s trainees include information minister Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi, a two-star General and veteran of the Bush War, and Colonel Shaban Bantariza, another Bush War veteran and current Deputy Director of the Media Centre.
