By Our Reporter
NATIONAL
Senior presidential advisor on political affairs, Rtd Maj Kakooza Mutale has condemned the raid on his farm by the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) soldiers.
On Tuesday night, 8th November, 2022, residents of Matembe village in Kamira sub-county, Luwero district were thrown into panic when a military helicopter was seen hovering above Mutale’s farm. Moments later soldiers were seen at the farm.
Later on Wednesday, a senior high-ranking military officer drove to Mutale’s farm and grilled him on accusations of training over 100 youths at the farm. Sources said that the officer told Mutale that the training was a security threat because neither the resident district commissioner nor the district internal officer was aware of it.
Mutale defended the training, saying the district leaders and the office of the president were aware of the activities at the farm. Sources say that the angry Mutale picked up his phone and called an unidentified person who immediately ordered the soldiers off the farm.
The LC I chairperson of Matembe village, Stephen Sekidaali said that he informed the military officer that Mutale had alerted leaders in the area about the activities at the farm. Today Thursday, Mutale driving his official vehicle, reg no. UG 2166C went to the office of Luwero resident district commissioner Richard Bwabye demanding to know why he disowned the training yet he officially wrote and delivered a letter informing him about it. However, Bwabye was not in the office and didn’t pick calls.
Mutale said that the raid on his farm was uncalled for and time and resource-wasting because he can’t engage in illegal activities. Mutale explained that the youths are being trained in modern agriculture and he has invited the Omukama of Bunyoro Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I to pass them out.
“If President Yoweri Museveni visited the farm and donated 100 heads of cattle, can that now be used as a rebel training camp, where is the country going?” Mutale questioned.
Brig General Felix Kulayigye, the army spokesperson said he wasn’t aware of the presence of the army at Mutale’s farm. He however questioned why Mutale was furious if he wasn’t arrested.
Kakooza Mutale is best remembered for training and commanding Kalangala Action Plan, a paramilitary that shot to the limelight during the 2001 polls after its members were accused of electoral violence in several parts of the country.
However, the group went underground following wide condemnation from the public, opposition politicians, and civil society. A parliamentary probe report in the 2001 polls accused Mutale and the group of being responsible for most of the violence that marred the polls.
The raid on Mutale comes a day after the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) raided and arrested the 10 family members of former minister Without Portfolio Alhaji Abdul Nadduli over a stolen gun from Busiika police station. They were later released without charge after the search for the gun yielded nothing.
-businessfocus.co.ug
