OP-ED: Gen Tumukunde is not a threat 

By Michael Woira

I have heard a lot about some senior soldier turned politician who wants to contest for presidency and to me I am very happy that there is freedom for everyone to join politics and this should be a plus to the NRM government because it shows how democratic the government is.

All governments that are democratic allow such competitions to happen and Uganda is one of them because many of its former senior soldiers have contested for various political positions including competing with their former Commander in Chief.

Tumukunde a former soldier who was relieved of his duties in unexpected reshuffle on 4th March is a qualified lawyer who served as the UPDF’s chief of personnel and administration, chief of military intelligence as well as serving as the commanding officer of the UPDF fourth division based in Gulu, Northern Uganda.

Tumukunde was promoted to the rank of major and appointed first secretary and military attaché at the Ugandan Embassy in the United Kingdom. Sent to Command and Staff Course at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, in Kaduna, Nigeria from where he emerged as one of the best students and later became the Army’s director of planning in Uganda. Tumukunde served in this role for many years and was very instrumental in the set up of formal military structures in the UPDF, which had until then been a rebel army.

He has also served as the Director General of the Internal Security Organization (ISO), That said, this presidential candidate was the Minister of National Security in the Cabinet of Uganda a position he was appointed to on 6 June 2016 and its after the two (Tumukunde and Gen Kayihura) started wrangles that our security was compromised in the country and the president saw it right to dislodge him from the cabinet.

There has been too much political excitement by this senior soldier and just last year everyone thought he was going to contest for mayor ship a position that he advertised allover to an extent of sponsoring twitter and Face Book posts just to have a large audience. And yes now it has come to pass and he has declared himself a presidential candidate for the forthcoming elections in 2021.

First of all, Tumukunde isn’t a new face in the eyes of Ugandans, he was on several times arrested and reprimanded on a number of counts, one being the time he was arrested and put under house arrest at the officer’s mess in Kololo for almost two years.

On the very first talk show he had on NBS television on Thursday morning, Tumukunde touched a number of issues that I will rebut briefly, he stated that this government has not been on the side of the people and he blames all the insecurity on the government yet he was a minister of security just a few years back and he is the very person who introduced safe houses in 1998 when he was appointed to head the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

Tumukunde also said that there has never been any fair election in Africa and I was wondering why he has decided to join an election that is not free and fair and in a country that he says is not democratic.

He also alleged that he was a force to reckon during the presidential campaigns of 2016 and to me I see that he was the reason the NRM never got good results because he was only being a problem to the other candidates for instance the day when he decided to land at the venue where Mbabazi was holding his campaign rally.

During the campaign time Tumukunde was well facilitated but there isn’t anything new that happened and I think he is very wrong to boast about having very good mobilization skills and Ugandans should be sure that this good soldier of ours doesn’t have those too many undercover supporters as he alleges.

We are watching all his steps and I am very sure that he will soon be so silent when he realizes that lies can not work at the current times in Uganda, Tumukunde can decide to join other forces to mobilize and have the change they want in Uganda but I just see it as a real lie because as long as they continue spreading lies to the public, no one can trust them with their votes.

I personally welcome Tumukunde in the race and urge him not to be defiant like comrade Kiiza Besigye, I encourage him to be cal and avoid being a populist like the people power jumpy politicians and all in all I request that he does his consultations in peace and Harmony.

The author is a Patriotic Ugandan.