Otafiire Calls for End to Brutal Militarism

The outspoken Interior Minister, General Kahinda Otafiire has slammed his own ruling party for alleged cases of illegal arrests and the abduction of opposition politicians.

The Ruhinda MP, who previously served as the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, warned against the suppression of the citizens and urged Museveni and his cadres to listen to the cries of the oppressed.

He was speaking at the Inaugural Sam Kalega Njuba Memorial Lecture. The lecture was organized by the Uganda Law Society on Thursday.  

Politicians and academics have observed that Uganda has drifted into militarism characterized by abduction and torture of civilians by the military. There have been complaints about torture, disappearance of opposition figures, among others. 

The abductions by state security agencies have been compared to the reigns of Idi Amin and Milton Obote. The two regimes were known for detention without trial as well as abductions by the state research bureau and the Special Forces.     

General Otafiire said the emergence of radical elements yearning for a change in the status quo should be a cause of concern to the NRM leadership “When your own successors radicalize, and they are radicalizing against you, it means things have been going wrong,” he said.

“There are few a disheartening events that have taken place in this country. And I don’t want this as the minister responsible for internal affairs. I have made myself loud and clear that certain things that are happening are unacceptable because I was here during Amin’s time,” he said. 

Otafire went on to recount the dictum of the German preacher, Martin Niemölle during the Second World War.   

“When they came for the socialist, I kept silent. Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the gays. I kept silent because I was not gay. Then they came for the trade unionist. I kept silent because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews. I kept silent because I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was nobody to speak on my behalf,” he stated.  

His statement is a powerful warning to those in leadership and generally the citizens who may be witnessing some of the violations and injustice but have remained silent due to indifference or personal convenience.

“I was here during Obote I and Amin’s regime — and I can tell you, some of the things happening today are simply unacceptable. Ladies and gentlemen, do not die in the sin of silence.” said Otafiire. 

He said while the governed maybe wrong sometimes, the duty of those governing is to patiently explain to the governed where they have gone wrong. “But more often than not, the governed are right. Those who are governed. When you see them crying, when you see them jumping up and down, don’t suppress them. Feel their pain,” he cautioned. 

He revealed that he has recently heard of episodes of people being arrested and held in detention for long periods without being presented before the courts. 

“How can a man big as I am disappear without a trace? Because these fellows called me and said if he is dead, give us the body to bury. Listen. Families are now beginning to call on us to give them bodies to bury? We who fought Iddi Amin for the very reason? Excuse me”  

He then bluntly told the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, who was attentively listening, that he was crossing the Rubicon.       

One of the cases at hand involves the arrest and detention of Sam Mugumya, a former political aide to Dr Kizza Besigye. 

He was abducted by suspected security operatives. He is believed to be held in military detention facilities. The High Court in Kampala ordered the government and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to produce the opposition politician in court. But there has been no action on the court orders issued at the beginning of September. 

Sam Mugumya, who is allegedly being held in military custody, was to contest for the Rukungiri Municipality Parliamentary seat in the coming general election.   

On Kiiza Besigye

The NRM bush war fighter did not mince his words while commenting on the prolonged detention of Dr. Kiiza Besigye and Obeid Lutale, who have been in detention for over three hundred days since they were abducted from Kenya by state security operatives.

“Besigye should be tried. Tried in a court and condemned or absolved. It is a right. Bwana Kiwanuka. The department falls under you. DPP is under Kiwanuka. Honestly, keeping a man in jail for eight months. And you have not told us what it is. Tell us. Yes, I know he could be guilty as hell. But for as long as we don’t know what he has done and not done. For us as laymen in the court of public opinion, he is innocent.”  

Responding to Otafire, the Attorney General , Kiryowa Kiwanuka agree with him that Uganda should not return to the dark day of the Amin regime or what many have described as the dark days of the seventies and mid-eighties, characterized by disappearances, detention without trial and extrajudicial killings among others.

“None of us Ugandans need to get back to where they found us. So we need to work together to get to where we want to go. Of course. Hon Otafire is the chief criminal. Because in the Constitution they told me that everyone who wants to sue the government sues the Attorney General. I think we should make an amendment to say sue the Minister of Internal affairs represented by the Attorney General,” said Kiwanuka. 

Some of the excesses like torture, abuse of judicial processes, abductions by state security agents among others was documented in the late Sam Njuba’s book “The Betrayal –  a story about all the political governments in Uganda and their leaderships.  It describes how political leaders in Uganda since independence – from Dr.Apollo Milton Obote to Yoweri Museveni blatantly raise the people’s hopes, and at the end shatter the same hopes using all sorts of opportunistic illusions, suppression of the people’s freedoms and rights, and intrigues to the chagrin of the trusted populace. 

The late Njuba’s wife, Retired Major Gertrude Njuba, a Museveni loyalist and an NRA bush war fighter, used the lecture to call for unity. 

“As Africans, we must stop destroying ourselves like nsenene trapped in a kaveera—while our tormentors, the former colonial powers, stand by watching, laughing, and waiting to finish us off. We need unity and love for one another, even when we belong to different political camps. It’s time to come together and protect our continent. We need to be fighting imperialism instead of ourselves.”