IJCentral: International Justice Central

The statement is longer than what we have given you but there are parts which are not clear from the fax which is now too old, almost 13 years.

But we wish to make a some comments. The NRA captured power in 1986, not 1987. And from what we know, Mukura massacre happened in 1989, not 1988. Whoever typed the fax was not good at dates or English, or unless it was just a typing mistake.

Also, Radio Katwe is of the view that Banyankole are Ugandans, and depending on the case, some Banyarwanda are also Ugandans. So it is not clear what the gentlemen meant when they say that “government is retrenching Ugandans only to be replaced by Banyankole/Banyarwanda”.

Besides these mistakes, Itongwa and his three officers are some of the first people to go on record and say that they were personally involved in the violent chaotic scenes of Uganda from the late 70’s and early 1980’s even before Museveni came to power. We noted this as an important thing which should be looked at by all Ugandans.

You might remember a time during the Lule and Binaisa regimes of the UNLF in 1979-1980 when many prominent Ugandans and other people were gunned down in mysterious killings mostly in Kampala. Up to now no one has known who was behind the wave of killings. Doctors of Mulago Hospital were not spared. It was a terrible time of insecurity and you could not sleep. No wonder when “sleep” finally came, people just slept and forgot even to wake up.

Now some of us heard rumours around that time that then minister of defence Mr. Yoweri Museveni was the man behind the killings of the Mulago doctors and prominent businessmen. But we thought these chaps did not know what they were talking about.

Later on when he was in exile, former president Obote also insisted that he had information that it was Museveni who masterminded these killings so as to make Lule and Binaisa and the Military Commission look weak and discredit them. The problem was that Obote was by then very much hated so people were not interested to hear what he said. And worse of all he did not produce this information for all Ugandans to see, so up to now it remains like just a rumour of a man who wants to tarnish his political opponent.

There was talk of that bus of death by the names “Mpaawo Atalikaaba” (means “there is nobody who will not cry” or mourn).

Now Itongwa’s statement is coming out to say yes, it is Museveni who organised his thugs and hit men to terrorise Kampala and I was one of them.

Itongwa is also on record saying that Museveni was behind the massive killings in Luwero Triangle so that Obote is discredited. Radio Katwe has written on it many times so we shall leave that one.

Itongwa is saying also that it was Museveni’s direct order which got Dr. Andrew Kayiira. He implies that he personally took part in the operation of this murder.

We come now to what some people have been hearing but they find it difficult to believe it. Radio Katwe has written on it before. Some of our security boys talk and they say they were involved in operations like this. But it seems some readers cannot believe it. And it is not easy for someone to come out and say in public because they still fear. But Itongwa’s statement talked clearly of his personal knowledge of orders and maybe even he took part in mutilating our Acholi brothers and sisters in the north.

Itongwa claims directly that it is Museveni who came up with the idea of maiming and cutting lips and hands of Acholi. With the motive that it is a deterent against supporting rebels.

Major Itongwa also talks about the incident at Mukura where many civilians were roasted alive in train wagons. People were saying that it was just indisciplined Banyarwanda officers in charge of Teso who burnt the Iteso alive in the wagon. When you read this statement, Itongwa says no, they were only following “orders from above.”

Another point which is interesting is to see Itongwa saying he has copies of letters which Janet Museveni the First Lady wrote to secure jobs for Bahima in the foreign service. If true, it means that at first, Itongwa had some contacts in the government or army and he was not a renegade officer as we were being told.

It shows us that from the beginning Janet was a super First Lady and while she was hiding behind the banner of being a moralising “born again” agent, she was part and parcel of the corruption and manipulation of the system to advance Museveni’s cause. You can also see Jacqueline Mbabazi, the wife of Amama Mbabazi mentioned by Itongwa (he spelt her first name wrongly as Jacline.). These problems started long time ago. It is just us who are too lazy to realise quickly what our “liberators” were up to.

When Itongwa’s men took Lawrence Kiwanuka, a reporter with a DP publication called Citizen to meet Itongwa in the forest, Museveni summoned Kiwanuka to meet him at the International Conference Centre. The then Director General of the Internal Security Organisation Brig. Jim Muhwezi was in that meeting but he did not say much.

Museveni was interrogating Kiwanuka himself and he was listening very, very carefully to hear what if anything Itongwa had told Kiwanuka.

He wanted to see who was giving Itongwa information in the government and how many troops he had. Museveni was also very interested in knowing if Itongwa had told Kiwanuka anything more than what was in his press statement.

Museveni was serious in that meeting and he kept on looking hard at Muhwezi as if to see what Muhwezi was thinking. It was clear that he wanted to suppress what Itongwa was saying and did not want the Ugandan public to see it.

State agents were sent to quickly make sure that no media house published the statement by Itongwa. That is why up to now most people did not know that Itongwa and his men had issued this statement with its very serious allegations. They have been thinking that Itongwa just woke up one day high on marijuana and picked up a gun to fight Museveni.

Also the way in which journalist Kiwanuka escaped from Uganda indicates somebody must have tipped him off that Museveni was going to have him murdered to make sure there is no trace to Itongwa.

From what we hear, Museveni had given orders to his hit men for Kiwanuka to be eliminated. Kiwanuka fled and went to the American embassy which was on Parliament Avenue in the mddle of town at that time. The Americans understood the danger and promised him political asylum.

When the time came, an American airline TransWorld Airlines touched down at Entebbe International Airport at 1:00a.m.

The US embassy put Kiwanuka in their small vehicles which used to carry American diplomatic mail. These are the small cars like a tri-cycle which used to be seen in Kampala with three wheels two of them behind and one in front.

Under international law, diplomatic bags are immune from being searched by any country. So Kiwanuka was squeezed into that tiny car and taken to Entebbe airport straight to the runway and the TransWorld Airlines plane.

That is how he ended up in America. Now the big question is why the government would want to hunt down Kiwanuka when he had no connection to Itongwa. He was just a reporter who was taken to interview Itongwa after Itongwa’s statement was suppressed by the state.

For us we take it to mean that maybe Museveni was very worried that when he met Kiwanuka, Itongwa must have told Kiwanuka the details of how Museveni orchestrated a reign of terror in Uganda from 1979 as a way to discredit his opponents and set himself up as a man who came to usher in peace. If Kiwanuka or somebody who knows is out there maybe he can enlighten Ugandans on this topic.

The newspapers of Uganda in 1995 carried quotes from NRA officers which tried to show Itongwa as a madman and no one should waste time believing him. But Museveni’s behaviour shows that he knew it was a different story.

Radio Katwe urges Ugandans of goodwill to print out this page or email the website link to the International Criminal Court which wants to try the LRA and Joseph Kony for atrocities in northern Uganda including cutting off the lips of Acholis. The point we are saying is that since to the best of our knowledge, Itongwa is still alive. Surely can’t he be called as a witness to say in court that “president Museveni ordered us to cut off people’s lips, ears, noses and limbs”? This is a very serious thing which must be investigated properly.

We ask Ugandans to keep this story for future use when Museveni or his family must be brought before international law. These are charges that deserve to be answered.

We ask Ugandans to send us any details they could have on the murders which were rampant in 1979 - 1980/81 in the UNLF regimes. There were names like Dr Jack Barlow, Dr. Kamulegeya and his wife, Kaija Katuramu a rich consultant, we had Bob Odong Naenda of Uganda Television, we had Lt. Col. John Ruhinda of the UNLA, Mr. James Aryada a very brilliant mathematician with a first class degree from Oxford University and top cadre civil servant, and many other prominent people. They were all murdered by unknown gunmen in a way which makes no sense at all. Ugandans if you are old enough to remember that was a time of terror worse than Amin.

Now here Itongwa is telling us that this was orchestrated by Museveni. If you can remember, former president Milton Obote in one of his writings on the UPC website said the same thing. Okay, some may say these are people who have their motives to tarnish Museveni, just as Museveni had his reasons to tarnish other leaders. But fellow citizens the time is now to stop depending on vague claims and counter accusations.

A kind reader sent us information indicating in 2004, Itongwa was tried and convicted in Denmark for abducting former Health minister Dr James Makumbi in 1995. But some reports say he suffers from a mental illness called “paranoid schizophrenia (leaving in fear)” so he is now committed to a psychiatric institution.

But is there any way Maj. Herbert Itongwa or others can come forward and substantiate these claims once for all? We must know the truth, For God and our Country.

Another thing which we are wondering about is what other prominent people who were present during these events know. For example, what are Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye’s view on this? For us we think it is a good thing Besigye has come out to oppose and criticise Museveni because it was high time someone did it openly. But we don’t hear Besigye telling Ugandans his opinion on what happened in Luwero and the story of how NRA was killing innocent civilians so that Obote and his UNLA are blamed. Not only him but many other people were there and they must have seen or at least heard something but now they don’t talk. What is the reason? This is a big question mark on the minds of many Ugandans.

These former senior officers in Luwero must come out and explain clearly to the people so that at least we stop depending only on rumours and vague claims. Otherwise we could be condemning Museveni but one day we welcome another “genocidaire” to power. At least someone should write some small book or just a pamphlet with concrete evidence.

If journalist Lawrence Kiwanuka reads Radio Katwe, we would welcome his correspondence. Kiwanuka could be important in telling us about Itongwa and any other thing Itongwa told him about Museveni’s dark past.

Ugandans, The days of automatically embracing the latest “revolutionary” who claims he wants to “liberate” us are over. We must demand answers and ask tough questions to these people. That is the only way the truth will come out slowly by slowly.