By Our Reporter
NATIONAL
The Military Court Martial sitting at Makindye has today 30th August acquitted former Police Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura of all charges.
The pronouncement was made by the Court’s Chairman, Brigadier General Freeman Mugabe who told Kayihura, “You are now a free man, the State has withdrawn all the charges. You are accordingly free.”
Kayihura’s problems before the Court Martial started on August 24, 2018, when he was arraigned to plead to charges of failure to protect war materials, failure to supervise police officers and abetting kidnap.
It is alleged that between 2010 and 2018, on various occasions, Kayihura issued firearms to unauthorized persons specifically members of Boda-Boda 2010 under the leadership of Abdullah Kitatta, who has since been found guilty of similar crimes.
Kitatta’s group was severally accused of disrupting events of people opposed to Museveni’s leadership in several parts of the country.
The court also heard that by commission and omission, Kayihura aided and abetted the actions of subordinate police officers to kidnap and illegally repatriate Rwandan exiles, refugees and Ugandan citizens to Rwanda.
Kayihura was also accused of failure to supervise and ensure accountability for firearms and ammunition issued to specialized units in the police such as the Flying Squad Unit, Crime Intelligence and Special Operations Unit and Witness Protection Unit.
However, in 2020, President Museveni promised elders in Kisoro that he was going to instruct military prosecutors to drop all charges against Kayihura during the Presidential campaigns.
Consequently, a group of 850 youths from Kisoro Development Network led by Michael Niyonsaba, two weeks after the January 14th 2021 elections petitioned the Court Martial chairperson Lt General Andrew Gutti inquiring about Museveni’s promise to speak to military prosecutors to pardon Kayihura.
As such, on February 2nd 2021, Lt General Gutti wrote to the Chief of Defense Forces General David Muhoozi also inquiring about the President’s promise after the youth’s petition.
