The US government through its treasury department a week ago imposed sanctions on former Police chief General Edward Kale Kayihura for reportedly engaging in corruption and human rights abuses.
In a statement released on Friday, September 13, 2019, the US government claims that Kayihura directly supervised the torture of prisoners at the Nalufenya Police Special investigations facility in Jinja.
“As the IGP for the UPF, Kayihura led individuals from the UPF’s Flying Squad Unit, which has engaged in the inhumane treatment of detainees at the Nalufenya Special Investigations Center (NSIC).
Flying Squad Unit members reportedly used sticks and rifle butts to abuse NSIC detainees, and officers at NSIC are accused of having beaten one of the detainees with blunt instruments to the point that he lost consciousness. Detainees also reported that after being subjected to the abuse they were offered significant sums of money if they confessed to their involvement in a crime.”
One of the victims of Gen. Kayihura’s alleged torture; Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago on Monday said that former police chief carries a tag of a dangerous person and bound not to enter heaven.
“He now has a tag on his forehead: KABI! DANGER!; Lukwago said on Tuesday while appearing on NBS television.
Lukwago said with the magnitude of the challenges Ugandans are grappling with, one should be in a celebratory mood right now.
“If Kayihura tortured Ugandans and now by the grace of God there is a silver lining on the dark cloud, why not celebrate?”
Lukwago said he is one of the lawyers who dragged Kayihura to court and they were told they were wasting time.
He said Kayihura had taken a very low key profile and suddenly he comes out to pen a defense which he puts in the court of public opinion.
“Right now, Kayihura carries a tag of a very dangerous person globally. He is a social deviant. An outcast:’
He added: “I heard him (Kayihura) say he doesn’t own property in the USA but that doesn’t matter because maybe his children might want to go there. I have heard him cry foul about the right to a fair hearing. For the first time, I see Kayihura standing passionately to defend the right to a fair hearing.”
Lukwago said during his reign, suspects including the mayor himself had their private parts squeezed.
“He had us cry, restricted our movements. Which prison haven’t we been detained in? Unknown gazetted houses? He can’t say he was acting on orders from ‘above. He has to own up”
