Reports carried by The Daily Monitor that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, Brigadier Charles Bakahumura told a closed session of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee that it is Power10, a campaign vigilante group of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, that is responsible for the Kasese incidents, is laughable and has little or no bearing whatsoever to modern intelligence gathering.
In fact the revelations beg a number of questions: with all the resources at his disposal, what would lead to the Kasese incident if the country had a credible intelligence network? Why would Brig. Bakahumura make such a revelation when he knows he is charged with gathering military intelligence for the country?
Is Brig. Bakahumura trying to run away from his responsibilities and trying to heap blame on another person or agency? And in this case, there is no person/agency that has found P10 as an excuse?
Nobody disputes his ratings as a seasoned intelligence operative, having worked at Internal Security Organisation (ISO), but why would Brig.Bakahumura wait for P10 to cause havoc in order for him to come out and make such claims before Members of Parliament?
In fact Brig Bakahumura’s revelation could easily match allegations made by the FDC party and Dr. Kizza Besigye, all of who aver that the Kasese bloodshed was a result of a ‘protracted struggle’ between the FDC and government after the general elections in February in which the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party lost miserably at both the presidential and local government elections in Kasese. This, the FDC and Dr Besigye argue, prompted a witch-hunt by the defeated NRM local politicians in the now restive Kasese area.
So, as country is yet to realize what the cause of the chaos was, let those charged with running sensitive sectors like intelligence and security pay attention to their jobs and leave politics to the politicians. And anyway, what is the intention of Brig. Bakahumura’s making such revelations when the case is before court?
That noted, all Ugandans should not use the Kasese incidents to further their ambitions.
