Army High Command meets over Besigye

The UPDF High Command began a meeting on the morning of February 7, 2006 in Gulu with the discussions expected to focus on what ways can be found to make sure that Colonel Kizza Besigye does not become president.

Within minutes of the meeting starting, at 8:23 a.m. Ugandan time (1:23 a.m. New York Time), Radio Katwe had received a call from sources close to the meeting giving details of the meeting.

As Radio Katwe reported last week, an opinion poll conducted jointly by the New Vision, Stedman & Associates (the local agent of the world-famous Gallup organization), put Colonel Besigye ahead of Museveni.

The New Vision poll confirmed what the de facto second-in-command of the Museveni election task force, Brigadier Noble Mayombo, presented President Museveni in a report two weeks ago.

That report dismayed Museveni when it showed that Besigye has wiped out Museveni's political legacy, leading in popularity from Arua, to Masaka, Mbale, Mbarara down to Isingiro township near the Tanzanian border.

Museveni became despressed and angry when he realized that his aides like Moses Byaruhanga, Ofwono-Opondo, Amama Mbabazi, Mike Muluka and others had not been giving him an accurate picture of how popular Besigye is.

Last week at State House, Museveni's food handlers expressed concern that Besigye's very strong showing has affected Museveni so much that he is no longer eating his meals.

"Why don't you finish him off?" one of the food handlers joked, referring to Besigye and meaning Besigye should be eliminated by any means if Museveni is to regain his appetite.

Reports say that Museveni has ordered an intelligence probe into General David Tinyefuza, whom it is suspected is working from within the government to sabotage it.

It was Tinyefuza who gave the order to the squad commander of the Black Cobras (commonly known in Uganda as the "Black Mambas"), Lieutenant Bob Drani to storm the High Court on November 16, 2005, an action that has cost the NRM government huge international credibility.

It is believed by some analysts that Tinyefuza has never forgiven Museveni for humiliating him when Tinyefuza criticised the army and the case ended up in the High Court in 1997.

At the wedding in Mbarara of Tinyefuza's daughter in 2003, Museveni was the chief guest and he intentionally came six hours late to humiliate Tinyefuza.

Tinyefuza knows he is being suspected of being secretly loyal to Besigye, that is why he went into tough talk last week on the "Andrew Mwenda Live" radio show, blasting the High Court and judges to give the impression of being a no-nonsense Museveni loyalist.

Besigye was the Bestman to Tinyefuza on Tinyefuza's wedding day in 1987.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports say that Museveni's son Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba has taken his family out of the country ahead of the election on February 23.

It is not clear why Kainerugaba took this decision, but speculation is rife that the situation might become fluid after the election and he does not want his family to get caught up in the storm.