I AM NOT UNDER ARREST – KALE KAYIHURA
Former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen. Edward Karekyezi Kayihura aka Kale Kayihura, has dismissed rumours that circulated claiming he was under arrest.
Speaking to the press this morning from his farm in Lyantonde, Gen. Kale Kayihura says he got the rumours about his arrest through social media.
“Even if it happens, Am I the first person to be arrested,” he asked. The General also wondered why media houses keep on spreading rumours!
Ever since Kale Kayihura was sacked, the grapevine has been saturated with rumours of his arrest. The perpetrators of the rumour for Kale Kayihura’s arrest, allege that he had a hand I the killing of Andrew Felix Kawesi.
Yesterday evening social media was saturated with false news about Kale Kayihura.
One of the posts read, “Former IGP Kale Kayihura arrested from his Hotel in Lyantonde town by military. Now detained at officers’ ‘mess’ in Kololo – Kampala.
He was driven back to Kampala in van he bought to transport Besigye.”
Another post read:
FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE GEN. KALE KAYIHURA ARRESTED ON MUSEVENI’S ORDERS:
Former inspector general of police (IGP) has been arrested in an operation by the elite forces, Special Forces Command (SFC) that started on Tuesday morning.
The operation to arrest Kayihura started in Lyantonde at Country yard international hotel where Kayihura is said to be a regular client.
After being arrested in Lyantonde, Kayihura was then transferred to officers mess in Kololo where he’s currently detained. Kayihura was sacked as IGP by President Museveni in March this year. He was sacked alongside then Security minister Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde.
According to a source, President Museveni is said to have sanctioned Kayihura’s arrest after several intelligence reports suggested that the former police chief was behind the rampant kidnaps and killings across the country.
The once powerful top cop could face murder charges in Ugandan courts. Since last week, security forces have been planning the operation to arrest the former police chief and at the same time on how to dismantle the crime preventers force which is said to be an extension of the mafia network he had created in the police force.
According to a source close to the Presidency, by the time of his sacking, Kayihura had created a network of mafias within the police.
The arrest and eventual confession of a one Abel Kitagenda, a former Flying Squad operative over the murder of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi offered credence to the intelligence information that linked the former IGP to the murders, the State House source said.
Kitagenda was recently arrested by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) upon return from Canada where he’d reportedly fled to following the murder of Kaweesi last year.
Investigators established that at the time of the shooting, Kaweesi’s car was clearly put to a stop and the handbrake engaged, meaning at the time of the shooting, the car had come to a complete stop otherwise, naturally, the car would have veered off the road.
According to sources close to the Kaweesi murder investigations, the unsuspecting Kaweesi must have been waved down by someone he knew – hence asking his driver to stop. It is at this point that the shooting began may have taken place. Kitagenda reportedly tried to secure a new passport under different names, raising suspicions from the security agencies.
THE ARREST
When it was finally decided to get Kayihura arrested, SFC operatives first gathered information on Kayihura’s possible location before setting off for Lyantonde. Sources both in State House and Lyantonde said that the plain clothed SFC soldiers acted discreetly to avoid public attention.
At Sky blue hotel and Courtyard hotel in Lyantonde, the soldiers introduced themselves to the hotel staff but didn’t go into details of their mission.
While sources in Lyantonde say Kayihura was not at any of the hotels, a State House source said that the former IGP who once served as a military assistant to the president was picked from one of the hotels and driven to Kampala.