Thirty-one years ago, then Commander of the Reserve Force, Maj Gen Caleb Akandwanaho, alias Salim Saleh, declared that Maj Gen David Tinyefuza would be required to answer for supporting the Democratic Party (DP).
Gen Saleh, who is also President Museveni’s younger brother, made the comments while speaking at a press conference on June 14, 1995, to debunk newspaper reports that he had called for talks between the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and Maj Herbert Itongwa.
At the time, Maj Itongwa, a veteran of the NRM/A Bush War, who had fallen out with his former bush war colleagues amid accusations of theft and indiscipline, had in 1994 formed a rebel outfit, the Uganda National Democratic Alliance (UNDA) and declared war on the government.
Maj Itongwa’s rebels were said to have attacked several police posts and killed some police officers before making off with some guns. They were also believed to have kidnapped the Minister of Health, Dr James Makumbi, and held him hostage for five days in 1995.
Maj Itongwa’s rebel outfit was, however, crushed, forcing him to flee into exile in Germany via Kenya. He subsequently died in exile.
Bad light
According to a copy of The Monitor newspaper’s edition of June 16, 1995, Gen Saleh told journalists who attended the press conference that the press had portrayed him as being opposed to President Museveni.
However, he said it was impossible for him to oppose his Commander-in-Chief. He added that any soldier who went against the army’s line would face disciplinary action or be dismissed.
‘Like I hear in the newspapers, Maj Gen Tinyefuza is supporting DP. Sooner or later, he’ll have to sort that out,’ he said.
Gen Saleh’s comments were precipitated by comments Maj Gen Tinyefuza, now Sejusa, had made in a June 13, 1995, interview with The Monitor newspaper and were carried in the edition of June 14, 1995.
Ssemogerere resignation
Gen Tinyefuza appeared to be supportive of Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, who resigned from government on June 13, 1995, citing ‘ideological grounds’.
Dr Ssemogerere, who was also the President General of DP, had served as Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and later Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Service in the NRM government.
He announced his resignation during a press conference held at the party’s headquarters at City House in Kampala. He was flanked by DP’s Secretary General, Mr Robert Kitariko, and lawyer and party executive Henry Kayondo.
He said he would contest for the office of President in the next general election.
‘I have called you to inform you that I have tendered my resignation as a minister in the government. I have written to the President,’ he said before reading to the press the contents of his resignation letter.
‘Your Excellency, I am writing to tender my resignation with immediate effect as a minister from Cabinet for personal reasons, in particular because I have decided to contest as a candidate in the forthcoming presidential elections,’ the letter read in part.
On why it had taken him so long to resign, Dr Ssemogerere said: ‘I didn’t feel so before. [Now] is when I thought I had to leave. For instance, I want tomorrow to be in the CA unencumbered as a minister during the debate in the draft constitution, which affects the basic human rights of individuals.’
Tinyefuza’s position
After news of Dr Ssemogerere’s resignation broke, Gen Tinyefuza said there was a lot of division in the country. He added that if no candidate capable of uniting the people emerged in the forthcoming elections, he would not rule out the possibility of contesting for the presidency himself.
‘I am, however, satisfied with the timely action of Dr Ssemogerere and my view as Tinyefuza is that Uganda today needs a non-confrontational and long-standing democrat, and I view Ssemogerere as that, and I have no problem with his candidature,’ he said.
He, however, stressed that the remarks reflected his personal views and not the official position of the army. At the time, the outspoken General was well known in the Constituent Assembly (CA) for often breaking ranks with the Movement side and fellow National Resistance Army (NRA) delegates.
He frequently took independent and sometimes controversial positions on issues where his superiors were expected to hold a different view.
Misunderstood
During the presser, Gen Saleh said the comments he made during that year’s Heroes Day celebrations in Mukono District were that since Itongwa was familiar with the NRA’s way of operating, he should surrender and face the law. He added that the army would guarantee him a fair hearing and trial.
‘This thing of opposing; you should oppose somebody that you are better than. And for me, I know that he [Museveni] is better than me,’ Gen Saleh said.
He, however, dismissed speculation that President Museveni had directed him to retract the Heroes Day statements.
‘I haven’t even talked about it with him yet,’ he told the press.
Gen Saleh said he only wanted to correct a mistake, for which many senior army officers were strongly criticising him.
‘Yesterday Col [Peter] Kerim was here, and two hours ago, Col Pecos [Kutesa] came here because of this report,’ Gen Saleh said.
Gen Saleh said he could only hold different views from the President if he kept them private and accepted the President’s decisions, since the President was his superior.
‘For example, on a family level, I think that my mother deserves a Benz from the State House, but he doesn’t,’ Gen Saleh pointed out.
He quoted other instances, including his wish for Uganda to attack Sudan when Sudanese fighter planes were bombing Ugandans.
He added that he had earlier wanted the NRA to hit back at Kenya for causing trouble at the common border in 1987, but that he had accepted the High Command’s decision not to do so.
He scoffed at politicians who thought they could exploit the inaccurate press reports of his speech to divide the NRA. He described all politicians as leopards in sheep’s skins and that recent events had shown that some of them were already taking off their false skins to show their real spots.
‘All of them. I think they are the same,’ he said when he was asked whether he included NRM politicians in his description. He, however, said despite his personal views about politicians and politics, a military man at his level had to be interested in the politics of his country.
NRM downplays resignation
Meanwhile, top officials in the NRM were quick to dismiss as ‘baseless’ the view that Dr Ssemogerere’s resignation from the NRM government would strengthen the multiparty camp in the CA.
The Deputy National Political Commissar and Director of Legal Affairs at the NRM Secretariat, Mr Jotham Tumwesigye, said: ‘I don’t think the balance of forces in the CA is going to change because of that. All CA delegates are mandated to support certain positions, and that is not going to change,’ Mr Tumwesigye said.
According to The Monitor’s edition of June 14, 1995, Mr Tumwesigye said despite Dr Ssemogerere’s resignation from the government, it remained broad-based.
‘It is not only Ssemogerere who was making the NRM current Cabinet, NRM still has many ministers who are representative of many shades of [political opinion],’ he said.
Others argued that the resignation would teach the NRM to accept compromises and stop making ‘fictitious’ claims of being broad-based.
Mr Kitariko said DP was approached in 1986 to nominate people who were later appointed ministers.
However, he said after some of them were removed from Cabinet, the party was never again asked to provide names to replace those who had been dropped.
‘So, what seemed to be a broad-based government ended in 1988,’ he said, adding that even then, UPC was never asked to nominate its people.