What could be driving James?

Last week, a powerful man in Musevenis government (henceforth "James") was in the news again. He was appearing before the commission of inquiry into how the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was misused in Uganda.

The swindling of the money led to the Fund cutting off more than 145 million dollars in funding in 2005 to Uganda.

The public has failed to understand this powerful man James. He has been removed from public office before but quickly bounced back. He has money and great wealth that cannot be easily explained, but he cannot be removed from the political scene.

When he faced Justice James Ogoola last week to testify his side of the story, Ogoola asked him, "Have you no sense of horror?" Justice Ogoola was asking the wrong question and addressing the wrong man.

In this intelligence briefing, Radio Katwe will briefly outline the public life of this man in the hopes of helping the public understand how he operates.

James was born into a Bahima family in Rukungiri in western Uganda, of the Bahororo sub-tribe (the same group of the Chief of Defence Forces, General Aronda Nyakirima.) His father was an Anglican Protestant Reverend and a staunch supporter of the Uganda People's Congress ruling party of Milton Obote.

Radio Katwe has not managed to find out the name of the secondary school he attended for his O'Levels, but he reportedly fled that school after he was accused of knowing something about a rape case of a female student there.

He completed his A'Level exams at Old Kampala Senior Secondary School. He joined Makerere University in the late 1970s where he studied for a Law degree. At that time, he also secretly joined FRONASA, the rebel group commanded by Yoweri Museveni.

Museveni found a way of getting him to join Idi Amin's State Researh Bureau, the intelligence service at that time. He was planted in the State Research Bureau to gather information that would help Museveni fight Amin better.

During his time at the State Research Bureau he saw something which shocked him. Some of the killings under Amin which were allegedly being committed by Amin's Kakwa, Lugbara and Nubian tribesmen were actually being committed by a few exilees from Rwanda recruited from refugee camps in Uganda (the Banyarwanda) on orders of Museveni as part of the covert/sabotage operations against Amin.

The purpose was to commit these heinous crimes and have the world blame them on Amin who we might add, roundly deserved it. That was when he developed an intense hatred for the Tutsi.

After Amin fell, this powerful man joined the Uganda police force while still a Museveni sympathizer. He was arrested in 1981 after Museveni started his bush war and he was detained by the UPC government at Jinja Road Police station.

He escaped, he claims, with the help of Hope Kivengere, the daughter of the late Bishop Festo Kivengere.

In the bush, Museveni appointed him head of intelligence after the then head of intelligence, David Tinyefuza, misbehaved so many times. He continued in that role when the NRM came to power in 1986.

In 1987, he married a pretty girl who we shall call Susan. Part of their wedding was hosted at State House.

According to some reports Radio Katwe has, like many of his fellow NRA officers he left no skirt unturned, resulting into incidents like the one where he fathered a child with a woman who worked with the UNDP (in Nairobi or Kampala office), which woman is said to have turned out to be a relative (cousin).

He also loved the flashy life and used to siphon off money from the classified security agency budget for his extravagant lifestyle.

Some relatives who have lived in his home say he is once too often vain and self-conscious, sometimes spending as much time as his wife in front of the mirror each morning.

One day at Kisementi in Kampala around 1997 or 1998, he was trying to impress a certain woman at the Just Kickin' sports bar. He pulled out a ward of U.S. dollar bills from his wallet and was running his fingers through them.

He had an affair with the Kampala lawyer and socialite named Candy.

But although he has that pimp-ish character, under his watch as a security chief until he was replaced in 1996, there was no coup in Uganda or too much instability to threaten the centre of power, Kampala.

Rumor has it that in the late 1990s, the Ssabagabe of Uganda started sleeping with this mans wife. He was humiliated but as a serving officer he could do nothing about getting even with his top commander.

In 1998, president Museveni told a meeting at State House of Ankole members of parliament that he had information that this man James was plotting against him.

Even recently in February, Smart Musolin reported that he had refused to give rooms in his Rukungiri hotel for the Elect Museveni task force.

In the early 2000s, he wooed a girl called Kandehura, aka "Kande". Kande is related to his wife and was invited to their home as guardians.

Kande's father, as Radio Katwe has reported, was Mr. Sabiti, a Muhima civil servant resident in Entebbe whom the State secretly ordered murdered in 1983 near the Lake Victoria Hotel so the blame could be put on the then Vice President Paulo Muwanga and also get the angry Bahima to hate the UPC government and support Museveni's NRA.

James started being very intimate with Kande and even put her up in a flat in Bugolobi at his expense but it seems his wife did not suspect anything.

But one day, his wife picked up James cell phone and noticed that there were many SMS messages from Kande. She wondered what was going on and kept track of her husband.

Susan realized that these two were having too intimate a relationship and she went mad. She called her brother Kabonero and they called for a wider family meeting to put James to task.

It was decided that Kande, who at that time was in London, should be summoned also to the family tribunal. James was at the airport to receive Kande and they came walking hand in hand.

At the family meeting, James told his wife Susan point-blank that she was his "third wife" and Kande was now his fourth wife, so Susan should leave him alone.

James asked the assembled family members one question: "What moral authority did Susan have to question his relationship with Kande?"

The family members were quiet because they knew he was hurt and humiliated and he was indirectly talking about Susan's escapade with the Ssabagabe.

The other way he took revenge for the Ssabagabes trespass with his wife was to go where it hurt most, by sleeping with a favourite princess who we shall call Natasa.

So that is James for you. The man you see in public flashing money about and dressed in sharp suits has many unhappy moments in his private life.

The way he was answering Justice Ogoola, the head of a commission appointed by President Museveni, told a lot. By trying to dismiss Justice Ogoola, he was indirectly daring Museveni to sack or publicly discipline him. He was not really attacking Justice Ogoola. He was hitting at Museveni.

Also, he knows that Ssabagabes fears him for a number of reasons. He is the one man in Kampala who knows the Ssabagabes most petty and embarrassing weaknesses better than almost anybody in the world. After all, it is he who has acted as his pimp for many years.

When the Ssabagabes appetites needed to be whetted by housemaids, cooks, office secretaries and women secretly included on the entourage on his trips abroad, it was James who used to make the arrangements.

James also knows the Ssabagabes personal record of massive corruption and theft of state money and assets, so he knows that by being accused of embezzling Global Fund money, the real culprit is being let off the hook.

James also knows the inside story of who did what on the shooting down of the plane carrying Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994 and the genocide that followed.

That is why he knows he is untoucheable. He knows who the Thief-in-Chief is in Uganda. These are things that only Radio Katwe can bring you in Uganda. We give you sketches of the political, money, and sexual forces that operate behind the scenes in the regime.

Uganda Telecom and the First Family's role in the company

Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) was formed in 1998 to take over the telecommunication operations of Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (UP&TC), the state owned corporation.

It underwent a comprehensive financial restructuring program, which included Government assumption of long term debt and other liabilities, waiver of past corporation tax liabilities, revaluation of fixed assets, write-off of uncollectible receivables.

In June 2000, Uganda Telecom was given to a consortium code named UCOM which comprised of companies namely Detecon of Germany, Telcel and Orascom of Egypt at U.S.$ 33.5 million whereby they were supposed to own 51 percent of the shares and the 49 percent was supposed to be floated on the Uganda Stock Exchange.

According to the agreement, Detecon was supposed to provide management.

The working relationship between Mr. Mpore the current Managing Director and the German Managing Directors got so difficult that it went beyond repair. He was eventually appointed MD of the company, and right away started hiring some people in total disregard of the recruitment procedure. Some of the new staff were related to or recommended by State House.

People hired included, Donald Nyakairu as Company Secretary, Geoffrey Kamuntu, who is now married to Diana Museveni, and Istha Asiimwe, daughter to the Foreign Minister Sam Kuteesa, among others.

Because of the irregular recruitments some of the new dubious managers took advantage of the confusion and mismanagement and started victimizing other staff.

Some former staff members complain that they were kicked out only because they were perceived as a threat to the current Marketing Manager Hans Paulsen (real names: Hans Paul Ssentongo) who they say was particularly intolerant and vindictive towards them.

Before it was sold off, UP&TC Makerere exchange call data under the leadership of senior staff like a Miriam Kawuma lost the company colossal sums of money under circumstances that were unclear. Some staff lost their jobs as a result.

Susan Muheirwe Kitariko was appointed a Customer Care Manager. Some staff who think they dont get along with her or are in some way a challenge to her have reported that they have had to be particularly careful lest they leave the company under duress.

Recently, MD Mpore successfully wooed the board of directors and got an approval without question on the issue of a corporate change, making UTL and Mango one entity, something that was supposed to have been done at the time of privatization. The Board went ahead and approved this expenditure where colossal sums of tax payers money has been lost.

Everyday, there is retrenchment in Uganda Telecom. Staff in UTL stopped working and instead wait for either the salary pay slip or the retrenchment letter. The Government has not bothered to find out why the current management is carrying out a retrenchment exercise which is endless.

The fact that the extended First Family is deeply and personally involved in Uganda Telecom contrary to due process could be one of the sources of all this mismanagement. Reliable sources tell Radio Katwe that Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Museveni's son is in charge of the First Family's interest in Uganda Telecom.

More details on Amelia Kyambadde

Since we ran the story on the Principal Private Secretary to the President, Amelia Kyambadde, we have managed to piece together more facts on her from our own findings and from contributions sent in by some of our readers.

Most people who read the Radio Katwe story on Mrs. Kyambadde were surprised at how "balanced" it was. Most people think Radio Katwe is a strictly Hate Museveni platform.

A contributor wrote: "I got to know Ms. Kyambade quite well in the early 1980's, while she and her children lived in Sweden. She's a gem! She was so generous to us Africans in Sweden, that we nicknamed her 'Mama Africa'. Students and exiles from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other places always found home at her three-bedroomed flat."

'Mama Africa' spent a lot of time helping a run-away former Mayor of Nairobi, Andrew Ngumba, set up a grocery store in Stockholm.

Amelia's mother is a great friend of the Swedish Royal family, and she has parlayed that closeness to benefit every African Amelia brought home.

In Stockholm [Editor's note: Stockholm or Gottenberg? It seems more accurate that the Kyambadde family lived in Gottenberg, not Stockhom] the family had a great friend named Anna Lindh, a young, promising City Council woman, who would later become Swedish Foreign Minister. Ms. Lindh, unfortunately, was killed by a mad man at a supermarket in 2004."

One contributor wrote in giving another opinion to Amelias public life saying, "Due to my position I was able to witness her part in a questionable affair. A personal (private) bank account in the names of "Tailor One" was maintained in Nile Bank [in Kampala]. The still strange thing about it was that the sole signatory of the account was Amelia Kyambadde. Between 1998 and late 2001 more than 27 billion shillings sailed through this account (it was so much money that Nile Bank employees even started to give themselves loans from the account without her knowledge.)"

Money used to be deposited only in cash. One of the prominent beneficiaries was [Brigadier] Noble Mayombo. The 500 million shilling cheque drawn from Standard Chartered Bank which hit the news headlines sometime back was from this Nile Bank account. It was thought that this money was being taken out of government classified accounts, for example, accounts for ISO, Ministry of Defence and the External Security Organization.

We could not establish the reasons why or the end point of the transactions for some cases but from studying the money flows some of the other major beneficiaries of "Taylor Ones" largesse included the then NRM Vice Chairman Moses Kigongo who took 140 million to pay Uganda Revenue Authority which was putting him under pressure for unpaid taxes, Museveni's nephew Kwame Ruyondo who took 40 million, Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi who took 85 million to pay off Development Finance (DFCU).

Others were Inspector General of Police Major-General Edward Kale Kaihura who took 21 million, former Local Government Minister Jaberi Bidandi Ssali who took 200 million, First Lady Janet Museveni's nephew Hannington Karuhanga who took 630 million to pay off a debt he owed Tamari of Switzerland, Susan Muhwezi (Jim Muhwezi's wife) who took 210 million which went to Gold Trust Bank.

Some of the money was used to buy foreign exchange and the contributor to Radio Katwe believes the money was later sent abroad.

Another contributor writing on March 17 said that Amelia Kyambadde has a luxurious country home at Najjeera near Ntinda, with a farm which has "hundreds" of exotic cows.

Elsewhere, reports also reaching Radio Katwe on March 17 say that the title deed for Kisozi ranch thought to be president Museveni's property was allegedly registered in the names of one Amber Kyabade.

When Museveni's son Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba learnt that the treasured "bihogo" (or inheritance in Runyankore) was not his, Muhoozi stormed into his father's presence demanding an explanation, only to get one of those blank stares which Museveni gives people when he has been cornered. The resulting row could have been the cause for Ambers brief retreat into exile to let things cool down.

Makerere student tortured over ‘spying’ for Rwanda

By Andrew M. Mwenda

According to reliable sources, Kasekende was subjected to brutal interrogations during which he was asked about his links with the PRA rebel group, the Rwanda government and opposition politicians in Uganda, especially those in FDC

Kampala

MR Ronald Kasekende, a student of Urban Planning at Makerere University, has been under military detention since last October.
His detention follows his arrest on allegations of selling intelligence information to Rwanda.

Sources told Daily Monitor that Kasekende, who was arrested on October 3 by the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB), has been under constant torture, mainly through beatings.

He has been subjected to torture at the hands of the PGB, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and later Military Police at Makindye barracks.
According to smuggled notes from prison, which are collaborated by leaked information from within the PGB, and information from his father Tony Musisi, Kasekende can no longer stand or walk unaided.

Sources said the PGB leadership was aware of Kasekende's case, but Col. Leopold Kyanda, who was Commanding Officer of the elite brigade at the time, did not return Daily Monitor's telephone calls.
Kyanda is now CMI chief.

‘Injured legs’
Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told Daily Monitor yesterday that Kasekende was not tortured, but injured his leg while he was trying to escape from detention.
Kasekende has not been charged with any offence, but Dr Rugunda said he would soon be produced in court and charged according to the law.

IMPLICATED: Mwenda

SPY? Kalyegira

The minister said Kasekende was in detention for spying and selling information to another country.
PGB sources told Daily Monitor that Kasekende was found in possession of confidential Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) documents.
PGB claimed he was passing on secrets to Rwandan intelligence services.

According to reliable sources, Kasekende was subjected to brutal interrogations during which he was asked about his links with the rebel Peoples Redemption Army (PRA), the Rwanda government and opposition politicians in Uganda, especially those in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

He was also reportedly asked about his links with journalists; Andrew Mwenda, Timothy Kalyegira and Blake Lambert.
According to information smuggled out of jail, Kasekende's interrogators tried to force him to sign a confession claiming that Mwenda, Kalyegira and Lambert were the ones providing him information to give to Rwanda, British and American intelligence services.

After a 10 days' detention inside a room in the President's office at Parliamentary Buildings, and an illegal detention facility run by PGB on Mutungo Hill, Kasekende was transferred to Kololo.

There, he was placed under another illegal detention facility run by the Joint Anti Terrorism Taskforce (JATT).
In Kololo, he found over 30 other suspects arrested on allegations of terrorism - some accused of being members of what the government claims to be a dead organisation, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group.

Other suspects were accused of being members of PRA or Rwandan spies.
Among the suspected Rwandan spies under detention was Pte Francis Kato, a staff of CMI under the Directorate of Counter Intelligence, who had worked with Col. Edson Muzoora in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Escaped
Muzoora later escaped from Uganda and, according to the government, went to Rwanda where he allegedly joined hands with other renegade colonels Samson Mande and Anthony Kyakabale in PRA.
Kato refused to confess that he was a spy for Rwanda and PRA.

Intelligence sources said the arrest, illegal detention and torture of Rwandan nationals or Ugandans allegedly working for Rwanda has been orchestrated by a special desk for Rwanda at CMI codenamed Kirandi.

Kasekende made a daring escape by jumping over the wall of the detention facility in Kololo and landing into the compound of Danish ambassador Stig Barlyng (see related story on page 1).

However, a joint PGB-CMI squad invaded the ambassador's residence, overpowered his police guards and recaptured Kasekende who was returned to the detention facility.
Kasekende's ordeal is said to have worsened following his re-arrest.
He was beaten and subjected to several forms of torture.
Today, he cannot walk or stand unaided.
However, Kasekende's attempted escape exposed an illegal detention centre to a western ambassador.

A few days later, on February 22, all the detainees were transferred to different illegal detention centres around Kampala and the country.
Kasekende, a civilian, was transferred to Makindye Military Police barracks for continued detention.

A February 21 letter from Maj. Abdul Rugumayo, the Deputy Chief of Military Intelligence, to the Commanding Officer of Military Police, said that Kasekende, Kato and one Corporal Kidamba should be detained incommunicado.
The letter is titled "High Profile Prisoners".
Rugumayo claimed that the three should be held that way because President Yoweri Museveni had an interest in the matter.

At Makindye
At Makindye Military Police, Kasekende was held at the main quarter guard where they have notorious special detention rooms.
As had happened on December 30, 2005, the ICRC came visited the prisons at Makindye on March 7.
This time, the three (Kasekende, Kidamba and Kato) were transferred to CMI headquarters for the whole day.

They were brought back to Makindye late in the evening in a blue Delica omnibus, impeccable sources said.
On March 9, the three were taken away blindfolded, this time to an unknown illegal detention facility.
Kato and Kasekende were reportedly tortured after they refused to appear at a press conference to implicate now deported Canadian journalist Blake Lambert in intelligence gathering.

Now at Kigo Prison
They are currently detained at Kigo Prison.
Kasekende's father Musisi first heard the ordeal of his son when this reporter first read it out on the radio show, Tonight With Andrew Mwenda Live on 93.9 KFM.
He went to Makindye three times to see his son, but Military Police refused to grant him access.

Instead, he was threatened with arrest if he continued going to the barracks.
Musisi contacted the ICRC.
The ICRC went to Makindye twice and the Military Police denied them access to Kasekende. Finally, Musisi met his son at Kigo Prison on Monday.
He was told Kasekende would be taken to the unknown Uganda Disciplinary Court in Mbuya military barracks where he would be charged with treachery.

Government had no fuel for President Kikwete visit

Reports reaching us say that the government faced an embarrassing situation with the visit to Uganda by Tanzania's leader, Pres ident Jakaya Kitwete on Wednesday, March 22.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala say that the ministry's executive limousines did not have fuel.

The government is said to have asked Ugandans with Mercedes Benzes to lendt hem to the government for the occasion.

This is Kikwete's first visit to Uganda as head of state.

Meanwhile, reports also reaching us say that work on the renovation of State House at Entebbe has come to a standstill.

The standstill is because the Chinese company doing the renovation pulled out after a dispute with State House.

Uganda is supposed to host the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting next year and there is still a shortage of accommodation for the 52 heads of state expected in Uganda.

The pullout by the Chinese company has been kept a secret for fear that it will raise concern at the Commonwealth secretariat in London.

Maybe that could make the Secretariat think of changing the summit to another venue.

The government has been quietly approaching wealthy Ugandan Indians like Sudhir Ruparelia and others to convince them to fund the completion of the renovation.

This is not the first time reports are circulating in Kampala that the government does not have money.

During the recent presidential election campaign, there were complaints by NRM officials that there was no money at the headquarters of the party at plot 10, Kyadondo Road.

Police quizzes Red Pepper editors - truth behind the story

The Red Pepper, a tabloid newspaper in Kampala, reported on March 14 that two of its top editors, Arinaitwe Rugyendo and Chris Obore (Managing Editor, deputy Managing Editor respectively) were summoned by the police on March 13 for questioning over a story they published in their Sunday Edition, March 12.

In that Sunday story, the Red Pepper reported that President Yoweri Museveni had drawn up a list of his proposed new cabinet and it had Maria Mutagamba, the minister of state for Water, as the new Vice President.

According to the Red Pepper, the director of the NRM Government Media Center, Robert Mukholi Kabushenga, rang up Rugyendo at 11 p.m. that Sunday night ordering Rugyendo to go and meet Kabushenga immediately.

When Rugyendo told Kabushenga that he was "already asleep", the deputy director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Okoth Ochola, told Rugyendo and Obore to report to the CID headquarters first thing on Monday morning, March 13 where, according to the Red Pepper, the two editors were questioned for 12 straight hours.

At the CID headquarters, the two editors also found Major-General Edward Kale Kaihura, the Inspector-General of Police who said the story on the proposed cabinet had been false and said, according to the Red Pepper, the President wanted to know the source in State House of that leak to the Red Pepper.

The Media Centre forced Red Pepper to publish a brief clarification on page 2 which reads: "The Media Centre wishes to clarify that President Yoweri Museveni has not drafted any list of people to be appointed to cabinet positions. The story...is therefore speculative and untrue. No appointments to cabinet have been considered and therefore this story has no basis and should be ignored."

The last sentence was aimed at the foreign diplomats whom State House knows were taking note of the details in the story and sending them to the attention of their home governments.

Red Pepper and the other Kampala dailies have published more sensitive stories in the past than this. It does not make sense for these two editors to be questioned for 12 hours.

But Radio Katwe has managed to piece together from the Red Pepper incident the the real issue behind these two gentlemens ordeal was that President Museveni wanted to know who leaked the cabinet details to the Red Pepper.

If he could find out who, it could possibly help him get leads to a much bigger problem - who it is within State House and the intelligence that is feeding Radio Katwe all these stories on Museveni and his family.

Radio Katwe has been informing its readers that the main source of these very damaging leaks and tips is the many disgruntled people in State House and security agencies.

Most of the secrets which were of course known by a few but largely kept away from public knowledge about his personal life and his family and how his corrupt state works are now freely available to a local and international readership daily. This has caused some discomfort for the Museveni regime.

Museveni's security which used to be feared and admired in the region has so far appeared helpless, having failed to stem the damaging revelations from Radio Katwe.com

Sources have commented that even his wife Janet Museveni did not know one or two of the details that she is now hearing about her husbandfs conduct via Radio Katwe.

Recently, Museveni met Uganda's ambassadors accredited in America and Europe and urged them to look out in the European capitals and U.S. cities for the fellows publishing Radio Katwe. It is of course to be noted that for many years now, Uganda's missions abroad have been so dangerously neglected that a good number of them do not even have enough working computers or staff.

The many ESO agents in North America whom Museveni would have used to pin Radio Katwe.com down are probably right now more concerned about their own security, given the legality of their activities in those foreign lands.

The Red Pepper story of March 14 revealed valuable information on the crisis in the NRM.

Major-General Kaihura could not even tell Chris Obore that he was doing his job as Inspector General of Police. Instead he charged at Obore saying several times "Obore, don't undermine me!"

He did not say "Obore, you are endangering the country!" No. It was "Don't undermine me!" when Obore stood by his story.

For a senior governt official like General Kaihura, that choice of words seem to indicate more a desire to save his own skin or reputation, than Museveni's image or the government image.

That a top government offiicial personally interrogates two editors over a relatively mild story that could have been ignored and died its own death speaks volumes about the mindset (possibly panic) that has gripped Musevenis inner court. People in the top positions in the NRM government are not working for Museveni but to protect their positions and out of fear of their top boss.

Red Pepper thought that being so pro-NRM and pro-Museveni would give them special "protected" status in Uganda. Now they see that a man who could so quickly kick out long life friends like Eriya Kategaya whom he knew since early childhood and other people who have done so much for him, cannot treat Red Pepper differently.

For the unrestrained mudslinging and free publicity they did for the NRM party during the presidential campaigns, their reward is a visit to the CID.

Radio Katwe stands by story on CMI phone-tapping in Uganda

The NRM government has denied a story published by Radio Katwe that it is using Military Intelligence to tap the phones of subscribers in Uganda.
( Click here to see story on CMI tapping.)

The refutation was contained in a story published on March 15, 2006 by the Daily Monitor a private newspaper based in Kampala, Uganda.

The Ugandan army spokesman, Major Felix Kulaigye, told the Daily Monitor that "all the allegations on that website [Radio Katwe.com] are false."

Let us state here and now that the story on phone tapping in Uganda was true and was carefully crosschecked. Major Kulaigye was saying what he is expected to say as a government spokesman.

If you look at the Daily Monitor story, you will realize that Celtel is not mentioned as one of the networks mentioned as tapping phones.

It is commonly known down here in Kampala that the First Family has business interests in MTN and UTL.

Celtel is a different story. In fact, if you want to check these three phone companies online, you will see that the MTN website is mtn.co.ug and the UTL website is utl.co.ug, but the Celtel website is celtel.com

MTN has a major switch base station located across the road from the Bugolobi flats and the UTL switch station is integrated with the old Post Office system.

That is how the Uganda government has control of the tapping and monitoring of phones, because they can plant CMI engineers there on site to coordinate with the CMI technicians who illegally tap the phones from a system based at Okello House in Nakasero.

With Celtel, the back entry into the mobile phone system is not located in Uganda, but in the United States, so the Uganda government has not way of controlling Celtel and illegally tapping people's phones.

Phone calls on the Celtel network are re-routed through switches located outsideUganda, as most of the e-mail in Uganda is routed.

This makes Celtel the only phone network in Uganda which you can regard as generally safe from Ugandan intelligence eavesdropping.

In recent years, the European Union delegation offices in Kampala complained about phone-tapping, that is why they switched from MTN and UTL Mango to Celtel.

The American embassy and the British High Commission in Kampala, in addition to other European embassies and consuls all use Celtel.

This is not because of lower call costs at Celtel (European embassies could afford any costs in Uganda), but because of the crucial fact that the western embassies feel a little safer using the Celtel network which the Uganda government cannot so easily tap.

Someone wrote a letter or an article in one of the Ugandan dailies recently asking why the FDC national mobiliser, Major-General Mugisha Muntu, always uses public call boxes to make politically sensitive phone calls.

Can the Uganda government explain that?

Radio Katwe therefore stands absolutely by its story and insists that the MTN and UTL networks are tapped by ISO and CMI.

The story of Amelia Kyambadde

Radio Katwe brings you the story of the powerful Principal Private Secretary to the President, Mrs. Amelia Kulubya Kyambadde.

Being so close and personal with him for nearly 30 years now, she is one of the few people who could if she wanted, write an authoritative biography of Musevenis rule.

According to the modest database that we have pieced together plus the contributions from some of our readers, Amelia Kyambadde was born into a well-to-do Baganda family sometime in the late 1950s.

She is the eldest child of the late Serwano-Kulubya of Kulubya and Company Advocates, a law firm. Her father was a well-connected and influential person in the 1960s UPC government.

According to this information, Amelia's mother is related to Museveni's mother and that is where the "Hima" connection comes in. (With Museveni the confessing "non-sectarian", blood relations seem to be the rule rather than exception.)

Amelia's mother now lives in Sweden where she is a naturalized Swede.

Amelia Kulubya attended Nakasero Primary School in Kampala in the 1960s. At that time, it was an elite school for Europeans and only privileged elite Ugandans went to that school.

Amelia used to tell her friends at Nakasero that she had ever been to Europe, which given the times then, we can take as further evidence of her prominent background.

She then went on to Sacred Heart Girls' Secondary School in Gulu from 1969 to 1971. She did her O'Level exams and passed well but did not for some reason want to go back there for her A'Levels.

Some of the classmates of Amelia Kulubya were Jennifer Kalimuzo, Florence Kikira, Joy Kanyike, and many more who were a year ahead of Amelia Kulubya.

A former schoolmate of hers told Radio Katwe that Amelia Kulubya "spoke very good English and that was her highest score in O' Level exams" While in Sacred Heart "she had everything a young girl could want."

This former schoolmate (who seems to be have known Amelia in Gulu) told Radio Katwe that Amelia was quiet at school, "friendly to most girls, she did not have the contempt some Southerners showed towards the Northerners."

It is something to note that these people from Northern Uganda who have faced a bitter and hellish 20 years of the Museveni rule have this view of Amelia. In the many comments we recieved, they spoke well of her. The bitter resentment sometimes (understandably) shown any westerner or "Southerner" close to Museveni for abandoning them to the dogs these past two decades is remarkably absent.

She was attractive and many soldiers liked her. One story goes that while at Sacred Heart Girls', she used to arrive in Gulu in a family chauffer-driven car around a week before school opened for the term and spend time with soldiers in their Officers' Mess in town.

But Amelia one of those rare NRM Bantu who is as much liked by the southerners as the northerners.

Somewhere in the mid 1970s, Amelia Kulubya got married to Wilson Kyambadde.

After the fall of Idi Amin in 1979, Amelia worked as a personal secretary to the new Defence Minister, Yoweri Museveni.

When President Godfrey Binaisa transferred Museveni to become the Minister of Regional Cooperation, the man who does not respect institutions somehow moved Amelia with him there to work under him.

And Amelia's apparent partiality for soldiers since school at Sacred Heart had not expired because according to impeccable sources, during that time in 1979 or 1980, Amelia got pregnant with a child by Museveni.

Among her children are Peter, Ivan, Ishta, Kenny, Amber and Mike. One of her children (Amber?) today is actually a child of Museveni.

When her boss went to the bush in 1981 to launch his "fundamental change" rebel war, Amelia fled to exile in 1983 and stayed with her children in Gottenborg, Sweden, in some lower middle class flats not far from where the Museveni family was also staying.

When the "fundamental change" that 20 years on has left Kampala in darkness began in 1986, Amelia resumed her job of working under Museveni.

What Radio Katwe is not sure about is when Janet Museveni first came to know the full significance of her husbands "working" position in relation to Amelia. It seems that was recent, when Amelia had to flee to London for a brief "vacation" until Janets wrath came under some control.

In 1994 or 1995 when Natasha Museveni was sent to London to study fashion (what a waste of tax payers' money, when you look at the poor quality of dresses produced by the now, thankfully, defunct House of Kaine!), State House was worried that Natasha would be lonely.

So the state arranged for scholarships for Amelia's daughter, Ishta Kyambadde and Josephine Wapakhabulo, a daughter of the late NRM heavyweight James Wapakhabulo, to go and study in the UK but some speculate that one of the intended side-benefits of these two was to keep Natasha company.

In 1996, Amelia went to Makerere University to do a Bachelors in Business Administration. One contributor to Radio Katwe claims that in 1998 during her third year "she had as many as 24 retakes." Whereas anything is possible, one wonders at the credibility of that abnormally high number of retakes.

As PPS to the President, Amelia is tough toward the staff around Museveni. Reports from State House say that Amelia has on ocassion treated people like Presidential Press Secretary Onapito Ekomoloit and Media Centre Director Robert Kabushenga like small children, shouting at them in front of their colleagues.

So that is Amelia for you. By all accounts professional and a generally nice person. A rare thing to say about anyone so close to Museveni.
O how one wishes some of her would have rubbed off on her boss of all these years...!

NRM government fakes "evidence" of Besigye-Opoka links

Last Sunday, March 12, the Sunday Vision paper in Kampala published a feature on how Opoka was killed.

The article was written "By Our Reporter", whom Radio Katwe easily identifies as either the Sunday Editor himself, David Mukholi, or Emmy Allio, a staff reporter.

As the Ugandan public now knows, both of these New Vision employees are ISO agents.

That Sunday Vision article was coordinated by intelligence and was commissioned as a way of preparing the public to believe that Besigye was involved in terrorism by his "links" with Opoka.

Radio Katwe can now publish the pre-emptive bombshell it promised its readers last week. This revelation has a major bearing on the Colonel Kizza Besigye terrorism and treason trial.

We got impeccable information before the recent presidential election that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) had come up with a devious way of concocting "evidence" that the FDC President Colonel Kizza Besigye was in league with the late James Opoka.

Opoka who was at one time Besigyes aide was allegedly killed a few years ago by the LRA rebels. Opoka campaigned for Besigye in his 2001 presidential bid before reportedly joining Kony. The State claims that Opoka is the proof that Besigye was working with Kony.

The source said that an officer of the Joint anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT), one Lt. Michael Kanyamunyu had been given orders to go to Makerere University, where Opoka was a student, and find a way of obtaining any academic transcript or document where his signature appears.

Kanyamunyu wrote a letter on JATT headed paper, with his name undersigned on it and dated "Feb 06." We shall give you the reference number on this letter should the state try to refute our claims. Radio Katwe has not yet established if Lt. Kanyanunyu actually took his letter to the Academic Registrar's office to get a copy of Opoka's academic papers.

What the letter clearly shows is that the state desperately wished to find some or any piece of "evidence" that could show the slightest connection between Besigye and the late James Opoka.

The academic document with Opoka's signature was to be scanned and pasted onto a fake piece of correspondence, which would then be produced in the High Court by the prosecution to "prove" that the two men were in contact.

This means that we are about to see another of the state's efforts at pinning false charges against the FDC President fall apart, and the state still does not know how all its moves and secrets are coming out into broad daylight for the curious public to see. All we can say is there are still a lot of good, honest upright people who love their country more than money. Citizens who are sick and tired of the dirty games, deceit and depravity that the Museveni NRM regime represents.

This is yet another example of how devious this government is and what measures they will take to pin false charges on anyone who opposes them.

Stay tuned to the trial which starts tomorrow, March 15, and see how this "evidence" is produced by the prosecution. See how the state starts to panic and fumble as its one vital piece of "evidence" is exposed as a hoax.

Western diplomats forced Museveni to drop Besigye court martial

As soon as the presidential election was over and after the High Court declared that the FDC party president Colonel Kizza Besigye was not guilty of raping Joanita Kyakuwa, the head of the military court martial, General Elly Tumwine, started making hardline noises.

Tumwine angrily dismissed the constitutional court ruling that Besigye could not be tried concurrently in the High Court and Army Court Martial and ordered Besigye to report to Makindye Military Police barracks where the court martial sits. Besigye refused.

President Yoweri Museveni was the driving force behind the idea of trying Besigye being tried in both courts and the contempt the army generals were showing for he High Court was derived from Museveni's own contempt of civilian courts (or any institution where he does not have absolute control for that matter).

But last week, the army abruptly dropped its insistence that Besigye had to appear before the Court Martial. The reason for this will give us an inside look at how Museveni is starting to lose his grip on power and how donor pressure is biting him hard.

What happened was that last week, around Tuesday, a number of European ambassadors, diplomats, and the American embassy charge d'affairs went to State House at Nakasero as a group to hold talks with the President.

That morning, sources at some of the western embassies have told Radio Katwe, these diplomats as usual checked through the reports on Radio Katwe.com. They agreed on a common position which was to pressure Museveni to drop the ridiculous idea of a dual trial venue for Besigye.

At State House, the meeting (which was frosty and tense, according to sources who attended it) quickly came to the issue of the Besigye trial before the Army Court Martial.

The man whom former President Milton Obote once called a "consummate liar" immediately told the diplomats that he was not aware of a process underway to try Besigye before both the High Court and the Court Martial.

According to Museveni, there were just rumours being reported by the Ugandan media.

Of course, this "consummate liar" who knows no shame did not tell the western diplomats what they knew, that the media were not generating those "rumors" but were actually quoting General Tumwine and the army spokesman Major Felix Kulaigiyes' public statements on that issue.

The diplomats listened calmly but the times had now changed; Museveni's habit of taking them for a ride all these years and they are fooled, had now reached its end.

(One cannot be totally sure but, could it be that thanks to the regular intelligence briefings availed to the public by Radio Katwe.com, the western diplomatic community which previously had an optimistic view of Museveni, are beginning to take a second, harder look? Could it be that some are coming to the shocking realization that they have been backing a very cunning but dodgy character for more than 20 years?)

Next, the diplomats asked for a commitment. They asked Museveni to make it categorical to them if Besigye was going to be tried by the Army Court Martial and if so, to put it in writing to them.

Museveni, looking uneasy and cornered, said Besigye would not be tried in the Court Martial.

The diplomats then asked Museveni to issue a written statement on this. Museveni called in his Principal Private Secretary, Mrs. Amelia Kyambadde, and asked her to draft a statement and have it printed out.

The tough-talking diplomats went a step further: they knew Museveni's cunning mind and this time the pressure from the West on Museveni demanded that these games stop.

The diplomats insisted that this statement to them by Museveni be issued also as a press release and issued to the Ugandan and foreign media and the statement bears the same words and comments in both versions, the one to the diplomats and the one to the media.

That was when seething with resentment and humiliation, Museveni realized that he had been cornered and the statement was issued.

The "Red Pepper" newspaper in Kampala made a slight error in its report on the statement from State House, when it claimed that Museveni had come under pressure from the Commonwealth.

It was actually the American and European Union governments which seem to have begun getting tired of the intrigueand games at State House.

When it reported the story, the government paper, the "New Vision" made it a small story as a way of downplaying Museveni's humiliating back down.

That is the inside story, true to the last paragraph and comma, that State House could not refute even if they tried.

Who is the real father of Joanita Kyakuwa's daughter?

The story of Joanita Kyakuwa was a major news event in late 2005. According to what most of the public knows, Kyakuwa was staying at the home of Colonel Kizza Besigye and Winnie Byanyima in Luzira 1997, having been brought in by Byanyima.

In November 1997, the allegation goes, Besigye who had taken a sexual interest in Kyakuwa, approached her and raped her.

State House learnt of Besigyes alleged terrible deed from the "Uganda Confidential" newsletter and saw an opportunity to create fake charges against Besigye.

Most of the public also knows that Kyakuwa has a four year old child with Nick Wavamuno, a Kampala businessman.

That is what the public knows. In the following report, Radio Katwe brings you nothing less than a bombshell that we have just got and crosschecked.

Who is the real father of this child?

The child is a girl and is now four years old.

According to this source, who has connections deep inside State House, that child belongs to Museveni himself. He fathered her not long after Kyakuwa began living in State House in 2001.

This story on the fact that President Museveni is the biological father of Joanita Kyakuwa's daughter is going to break the hearts of the people at State House, because it has been one of their most closely guarded secrets ever.

Those who have seen the child say that she resembles Museveni so much that it could as well be written all over her face.

This story sounds too crazy to be true, that is why we are asking our readers to crosscheck it with their sources in Uganda.

But before you even begin asking second and third parties, here a few disturbing questions that you can ask yourself. At all times, keep this fact in mind, that Kyakuwa has no known blood relationship at all with Museveni. She could have as well been any girl walking the streets of Mbarara or Kampala.

So, if it is true that Kyakuwa was raped then "threatened" by Besigye and needed to be protected and that is why she was housed in State House Entebbe, why did she have to live specifically in State House for five years now and counting to be protected? Why not anywhere else, maybe in a private house with servants and guards?

How powerful and dangerous is this man Besigye, that when he "threatens" someone, they not only have to live in State House to be safe, but also have to take trips abroad? (we shall play naive and suggest that maybe it was to loose her trail on Besigyes hitmen? For Kyakuwas passport is full of visas to the UK, Australia and other countries. Your tax money hard at work fellow citizens).

The Presidential Guard Brigade is roughly 12,000 men and women in size.

To completely protect the endangered pretty damsel Kyakuwa, State House would only have needed to deploy about four male PGB soldiers and maybe four female soldiers, and that would have been not only enough, but even though a misuse of our money, would have appeared somewhat above board.

The reason she was living in State House is because she had become the President's mistress.

Nick Wavamuno, who is part of the fairly well-to-do Wavamuno family, could not have failed to support the child, if she was his. Even if he failed, his family members could easily have afforded an air ticket and money to have the child sent to London.

Could it be that Nick Wavamuno who has been sliding down the social ladder was, in his weakened state taken advantage of by the Museveni regime and the fatherhood pinned on him?

Some members of the Bahima community in Uganda have been insisting that Kyakuwa's daughter has no trace of Baganda (Wavamuno) blood at all, but is fully Museveni's child.

As we have just said: because this story sounds impossible to believe, we urge our readers to crosscheck it with the best sources they know of in Uganda. If possible, talk to your Bahima friends because some of them know this deeply embarrassing story.

Museveni has had a history of sexual relations with all sorts of women and girls. Here is another one that will throw more light on to the Kyakuwa story because it fits a known pattern.

There is a girl who was brought to State House to work as a cook. She was a light-skinned girl and today is in her early 30s or late 20s.

As of the time we published this article, Radio Katwe was trying to establish her exact names. She is a Muhima from the Bahororo community of Rukungiri in western Uganda.

She is distantly related to Major-General Jim Muhwezi and more closely to Kam Karyegesa, a staunch UPC leader from the 1960s generation.

Anyway, she was a beautiful girl and Museveni took an interest in her. He began sleeping with her and she had a first child with him, then a second. One source says that she has a third child with Museveni, but Radio Katwe cannot definitely confirm this third child.

As this matter became known in the Karyegesa family, they began to demand dowery or some form of bride price from Museveni for their girl. Museveni was silent about it, because he was afraid of what his wife Janet would do if he got to know about it.

As the children were growing, there came the complication of their baptism in church and how Museveni would go about it, because again, it had to remain a secret. Radio Katwe is not sure how they ended up doing it.

That cook and now a Museveni mistress was first housed at State House for some time but Museveni later rented a house for her in Entebbe. The house belonged to the late Mr. Bubulo who was a Uganda Airlines Station Manager in Dubai. It is located near the top of Nsamizi hill not far from the old State House.

That is the house where Lt. Colonel Moses Rwakitarate, the Commander of the Airforce base at Entebbe stays when he spends nights in Entebbe.

Museveni later moved her to Kampala but Radio Katwe could not readily establish where she stays in Kampala.

What we know is that her children go to school at the Aga Khan primary school in Kampala. They and their mother are driven about wherever they wish to go in army vehicles and Landrovers.

When Smart Musolin first wrote in his August 2005 email article "Museveni and Janet to Divorce" about the strains in the Janet-Museveni marriage, he mentioned that two children fathered by Museveni with a girl he met while visiting the home of Jim Muhwezi's brother in Jinja had been attributed to General Salim Saleh. It seems to be Museveni's trait to name another man as the father of his children, to protect his presidential image and of course avoid the wrath of his wife.

But a person from Kigezi who we shall leave nameless has taken it upon himself to keep track of Mr. Casanovas seed and reports that by 2005, Museveni had fathered at least 21 children from several different women.

That is the rather exciting other life of our president, H. E. Yoweri Museveni.

Though we are not exactly holding our breath, we will publish in full any statement from State House or any of Museveni's spokesmen and women who will directly or indirectly deny that Museveni is the father of Kyakuwa's daughter.

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Readers Comments (unedited):

By Anonymous Mar-13-06

The cook in question who gave birth to Museveni's children is the daughter of the late Mzee Nyindombi of Kebisooni subcounty Rukungiri district. She is the sister of the Jinja RDC Mugisha Muhwezi and it is true they are Bahima.The baptism in quesion took place in Kebisooni in 2005 and Salim Saleh was the chief guest but all people in Kebissoni know who the father of the children is.

The woman is now staying at a Bungalow on Luthuli Avenue in Bugolobi near the former Palestinian Embassy.Word has it that a plot to harm this cook and her children (Museveni's children) orchestrated by the first lady Janet with the help of the embattled ISO chief Brigadier Tumukunde was foiled in its advanced stages hence the worsening of the relations between Tumukunde and Salim Saleh and ofcourse Museveni.

Museveni is said to have also fathered a child with the wife of Major General Koreta.

Sematimba's campaign was funded by Janet Museveni

Information obtained by Radio Katwe on Sunday reveals that the runner-up in the Kampala mayoral race, Peter Sematimba, received the bulk of his financing for the campaign from the First Lady, Janet Museveni.

The election was won by the former Mayor, Nasser Ntege Sebaggala. But in an interview with the Sunday Monitor of March 12, 2006, Sematimba sounded confident that he will be Mayor - soon.

If Sematimba's confidence is anything to go by, Sebaggala had better watch his back because the state is going to maneouvre events to make sure that he is ousted again.

Sematimba, who is in his late 40s but does not like to give his age publicly, returned from the United States in 1993 and staying there for 14 years.

He became a popular DJ and music producer in Kampala with his "Dungeon Studios." He now owns Super FM, a mainly Luganda language station based in Rubaga.

Many people, more so the elite of Uganda, saw him as the most progressive candidate when he announced that he would contest the Mayoral seat. From a purely technical point of view, Sematimba was the better man to lift Kampala City out of the "dungeon" it is in now, but his political choices seem to have him on the "dodgy" side of the political divide.

Most analysts believe that Sematimba would have beaten Sebaggala, but because of the massive rigging that retained President Yoweri Museveni in power for another term, the public in Kampala was so disgusted that they voted in protest against anything NRM by voting for Sebaggala.

But now that they find out who really financed the Sematimba campaign, many will feel vindicated they did not vote for Sematimba.

Sematimba took the position of an independent when he contested the race. Sebaggala was definitely opposition/DP and there was an NRM candidate, Wilson Kyambadde, the husband of Amelia Kyambadde, the Principal Private Secretary to President Museveni.

It would have been natural for Janet Museveni to fund and support the NRM candidate for Mayor, not so?

But then, as Radio Katwe reported in the second week of February, there are other issues here. Amelia Kyambadde is more than Museveni's long-term aide and Principal Private Secretary today. The President sleeps with Mrs. Kyambadde.

This is something that drives the First Lady mad but she can't do anything about it. The only time she acted that we know, she hatched a plan to murder Amelia but Amelia fled to exile in London, only to return a few years ago.

So as soon as it was announced that Amelia's husband would be the NRM candidate for Kampala Mayor, Janet Museveni had to do everything to see that Wilson Kyambadde was not elected, but she could not support Sebaggala the DP man.

Could Janet Museveni have funded Sematimba as a way of hitting back at Amelia Kyambadde?

At any rate, Sematimba, the "born again" but crafty man with a sometimes questionable ethical record (the sordid details of which radio Katwe.com has chosen not to reveal now) became Janet Museveni's choice.

Janet Museveni is going to use her power and connections to try and bring Sebaggala down. That is the reason why Sematimba is so confident he will be Mayor very soon.

Can Smart Musolin's reports be believed?

Some people have written to Radio Katwe dismissing Smart Musolin's credibility.

His latest report listing the ESO spies planted by the NRM to monitor Ugandans in America and Canada has sent shockwaves throughout the 100,000-strong North America-based Ugandan community. It is being taken very seriously.

The question is, how credible are Smart Musolin's dispatches? Let his record as desribed below be the judge:

Smart Musolin told Ugandans some months ago around the time of Colonel Kizza Besigye arrest on November 14, 2005, that Brigadier Henry Tumukunde had escaped during the arrest. It later transpired that Tumukunde was still in jail.

Did Smart Musolin get it wrong this time? The answer is no.

From cross checking information received and its own investigations, Radio Katwe has concluded that Smart Musolin was right. Tumukunde had indeed escaped.

From what we have uncovered so far, the escape plan was not well-coordinated and eventually flopped. Tumukunde that afternoon escaped in the boot of a white Toyota Carina car (or Toyota of a similar type Corona/Corolla etc) and he was being driven at high speed toward Masaka, maybe heading for the Tanzania or Rwanda border.

The people who were part of the escape plan failed in their coordination of information and the car was intercepted by Military Intelligence at or around Nateete, along the Kampala-Masaka road. Tumukunde was re-arrested.

The question is, why was he re-arrested and taken back to the Kololo Officers' Mess to continue to live in relative comfort and not punished by being sent to a dark cell at Luzira Upper Prison or Makindye Military Police barracks?

You would expect Museveni to have had Tumukunde given harsh treatment after his attempted escape, but now we are reading on the Daily Monitor website that in these days of punitive power cuts, Tumukunde has been agressively asserting his "right to light" and has been allowed to use a generator to light up his room, and watch TV. So, why the kid gloves?

The answer to that question is something very, very few Ugandans know (until now, as they read this.)

There was once a rumour doing the rounds quietly in Kampala that Tumukunde had attempted to overthrow the Museveni government. Radio Katwe can confirm to the reader that this rumour is true. For those of you with the access, any senior intelligence officer can confirm that.

But interestingly, whereas coups in governments dominated by the military are nothing to marvel at, what makes this one remarkable is that Tumukunde was going to stage the coup in full conjunction and cooperation with none other than the First Lady, Janet Museveni.

Mrs. Museveni is related to Tumukunde. That is the connection and that is one of the real reasons why Tumukunde was arrested in the first place, not because of what he said on CBS FM radio protesting the state of the army. And that is also what makes his "crushing" or "we will defeat them" as Museveni is wont to say, a very delicate matter.

So Radio Katwe, like many Ugandans, ar first didnt understand Smart Musolin's report in mid November that Tumukunde had escaped, because on checking, the man was still a prisoner - until more light emerged on this foiled escape.

Secondly, there is something Smart Musolin wrote recently about Military Intelligence Director Colonel Leopold Kyanda being Museveni's son. Many people wondered if Musolin was beginning to lose his sharp edge.

Radio Katwe wrote a note asking Smart Musolin to clarify on this issue, since it was well known that Kyanda is a son to the late UPC secretary general John Kakonge. See that story here

But just last week, on Thursday February 2nd, Radio Katwe received information from two sources deep inside the intelligence service which gave the picture that Kyanda's true father is not as clear as we thought.

It is known in certain circles of the Bahima community that Museveni has had or once had a long-standing relationship with Violet Kakonge, the widow of the late John Kakonge. Mrs. Violet Kakonge is a Muhima, but her husband was from Bunyoro.

She is the mother-in-law of Major General Mugisha Muntu the former army commander and now senior FDC official.

It is not known whether or not this relationship between Museveni and Mrs. Kakonge ended because these days Mrs. Kakonge lives in Canada.

Leo Kyanda was born in 1963, at a time Museveni who was reportedly born in 1944, would have been 19. But there are other reports that insist that Museveni has been hiding his age all these years. Whereas Radio Katwe cannot confirm Musevenis real age yet, we would bring the readers attention to an interesting event. A book in the United States Information Service library in 1987, when its was still located at Mackinnon Road near Nile Hotel, said that Museveni was born in 1942, not 1944. One day, that book disappeared mysteriously from the shelves. It would be of great interest to locate it and source the information.

John Kakonge was a brilliant politician but also had a well earned reputation for chasing one skirt too many, perhaps like former US president John F. Kennedy.

Maybe while he was out with other women, the then firebrand UPC youthwinger Museveni got to "know" Mrs. Kakonge the UPC leaders wife really, really well and out of that Kyanda could have been conceived. Given the sexual mores prevalent in that part of Uganda, there is nothing strange about this.

After that tip-off from the intelligence informer, Smart Muolin's version of Kyandas paternity gained serious credibility.

But it all shows that you dismiss Smart Musolin's reports at the risk of remaining in the dark. With the Museveni regime, truth is indeed stranger than fiction. You cant make this stuff up.

The connection between the late Ben Etyang and Museveni

In "The connection between Fox Odoi and Museveni", the other day we left FRONASA leaders, Yoweri Museveni , Odoi Chwale and three others, holed up at the home of one Pius Okoth Magara, in Okwira village, West Budama, in Tororo District.

Museveni and company had the previous day sabotaged the Tororo-Kampala railway line in Kirewa Parish, which caused a major derailment and introduced us to local chief, Mzee Oywelowo, who is the father of President Museveni's legal aide, Fox Odoi.

According to their sabotage plan, after the train had derailed, the rebels were to load sugar, salt, soap, clothes and other items off the train and into a lorry , which was to be stationed at Odoi Chwale's sister's home, and take the contraband to Morikatipe primary school, outside of Tororo township. A well know smuggler and double agent, named Ben Eyang would meet them there.

Etyang was a well-known agent of Idi Amin's State Research Bureau, but he also worked for FRONASA, having been recruited to the rebel group by his childhood friend, Odoi Chwale.

But the get-away lorry had burst a tire and there was no spare. The guerillas were now stranded in Okwira village.

At 7:00 AM, Odoi Chwale sent two of the other three men to report to Etyang about their misadventure. Coincidentally, Etyang had spent the night in Teso, Kenya, at the home of his cousin and fellow smuggler, Stephen Achiya Echakara.

(In 1987, after a "raw deal" between the two cousins, Etyang, with the help of Uganda's High Commissioner to Kenya, Charles Katungi, arranged for Echakara's murder. After an evening at the famous Carnivore Restuarant and Club in Langata, Nairobi, Echakara, who was an Assistant Minister in President Daniel arap Moi's government, was confronted by six armed men and cut into pieces. After Echakara was murdered, Kenya's foreign minister, Zackary Onyonka, expelled Katungi from Kenya. Museveni sent Katungi to Brussels as Ugandas ambassador to the European Union, but he died of Aids shortly thereafter.)

Etyang arrived at the destinated place around 9:00 AM (to receive the contraband), only to learn from his "employees" that Museveni and Odoi Chwale were stranded in Okwira village, in the heart of West Budama. He knew that he could not just drive into Okwira village and rescue his friends. He needed to stop somewhere first.

Etyang, driving his sleak blue Datsun 160, went to Kisoko, the county seat of West Budama, to see his godfather, a man he had relied on for protection throughout all his smuggling career: Saaza Chief Opondo, the father of NRM spokesman, bad boy Ofwono Opondo.

Saaza Chief Opondo was a formidable figure in West Budama. He was a personal friend of former president, Milton Obote, and in 1969, he had played a leading role in convincing a fellow village mate in Mulanda, then Bukedi MP, James Ochola (RIP), to cross from DP to UPC. After he crossed the floor, Ochola was appointed minister for Local Government, a position that enabled him to bring about major developments in West Budama.

Like most men of his generation, Saaza Chief Opondo had many wives and dozens of children. And although his position in society was glamorous, it did not pay him enough to cater for his ever-expanding family. Thus, when a hustler like Ben Etyang knocked with a bagful of money, Mzee Opondo would listen. That way, he had offered protection to some of the worst criminals in society: smugglers, murderers and rapists included.

Etyang was the dean of smugglers in Tororo district during that period. Coffee and cotton smugglers, some coming from as far as Kaliro, Busembatia, Busolwe, and even Bulemezi in Buganda, were made to understand that in order to cross the border to Kenya or make a successful trade, one needed to be in good books with Ben Etyang. He controlled smuggling points from Malaba to Lwakhakha in Bugisu.

Saaza Chief Opondo was readying his county headquarters for a rally to be addressed by the acting Eastern Provincial Governor, Lt. Col. Farouk Minawa, the next day. The governor was coming to assure the people that the train derailment two days earlier was an accident, and not a sign that rebels were operating in West Budama.

Etyang told Mzee Opondo that "Obote's boys" were involved in that train sabotage, and that they were in Okwira village, some four miles away.

Back in Okwira, Museveni and Odoi Chwale were getting uneasy. Odoi inquired around and found that a local resident had a motor scooter. Arrangement was made and the scooter owner, a man named Alecho, agreed to take two (Museveni and Odoi Chwale) Tororo town. But, the scooter broke down at Gwaragwara primary school.

As they awaited repair works on the scooter, Ben Etyang, accompanied by a County Askari, showed up. Etyang took the FRONASA rebels to Mzee Opondo who quickly dispatched them to his official residence for the day.

[ The author is kindly requested to clarify how Mzee Opondos' encounters with the FRONASA saboteurs as narrated in the above 4 parapgraphs fits in with the previous account "The connection between Museveni and Ofwono Opondo" of Mar-09-06 ; where we had Saaza Chief Opondo "sentencing" the rebels Museveni and Odoi Chwale who had just been brought to him by Oloka Omeja -Ed]

At the residence, 16-year old Ofwono Opondo was nursing serious wounds: a deep cut in the forehead, a fractured left arm and a bleeding right elbow. He would not tell the visitors how he got injured! That night, Mzee Opondo gave his rebel comrades shs. 10,000 each. Ben Etyang drove them to Tororo town.

During the 1980 general elections, Ben Etyang was the paymaster for DP candidates in Tororo district. After Etyang died in a suspicious accident in Mabira forest in the early 90s, Museveni became romantically involved with his widow, a young woman called Felicity Etyang, who today is Assistant to the President for (Domestic) Protocol. And in keeping with his tradition, Museveni has a nine-year old daughter with Felicity.

Robert Kabushenga --- the NRM's barking dog

On Thursday, March 9, 2006, the confrontation between the Canadian journalist Blake Lambert and the head of the NRM government Media Centra, Robert Kabushenga, reached a head when Lambert was deported from Uganda to Kenya.

Andrew Mwenda, who used to ask Lambert to sit in for him when he was a way from his "Andrew Mwenda Live" show, condemned the expulsion of Lambert during the show on Friday.

Lambert was on phone for an hour from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. At the end of the show, Lambert's last comment would be no hope for Uganda "without regime change."

Why did Kabushenga cause this expulsion when he very well knows the impact that it can have on Uganda's international image?

We have pieced together a dossier on Kabushenga based on submissions to Radio Katwe by various readers and concerned Ugandans.

Robert Kabushenga was born in 1968. He grew up much of the time in Kampala and in the late 1980s he used to live with his late mother and family in the KCC flats at Naguru.

In his early years, he was known as Robert Mukholi. His parents separated before he was a teenager and he adopted that name from his mother's tribe, the Bagisu.

His father lived for many years in Sweden.

Kabushenga seems to have coped with the break up of his family by developing a studied unsentimentality (some would even say callousness), and by chanelling his energies into pleasing authority and becoming successful.

His father returned to Uganda in the early 1990s and there was tension in the family. Kabushenga tried to identify with his father but there was too much distance between them, leading to more feelings of rejection in him.

He has tried hard to compensate for this deficit in family life by associating with the rich and famous, trying to cut off his links with people who knew him before the 1990s, and being a social climber.

At Makerere University, Kabushenga read Law but finished with only a pass degree. It was the second time in major exams for his image as a bright guy to fail him.

In 1996, Kabushenga together with the former Miss Uganda Linda Bazalaki and the lawyer Candy Wekesa and others formed Promoz, a company to organize the new stage of the Miss Uganda beauty contest.

Wekesa and one of Kabushenga's friends, Geoffrey Bataringaya (a son of the late UPC minister in the 1960s, Basil Bataringaya) were the Masters of Ceremony.

It was a successful event and it gave Kabushenga the public acceptance he had always thirsted for.

The contest produced the most famous of the recent Miss Uganda faces, Sheba Kerere, but it also left Promoz with a large debt. That debt made Kabushenga feel financially insecure.

(Incidentally, Candy Wekesa reportedly once had an affair with ISO director-general Brig. Jim Muhwezi; they used to meet openly near the swimming pool at the Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala and other places. The question is, was this just an ordinary adulterous affair, or was Muhwezi debriefing Wekesa? Is Candy Wekesa an ISO agent? But that is a story for another day.)

During a party to mark Winnie Byanyima's 40th birthday, which was held at the Viper Room nightclub at Hotel Equatorial in Kampala, Kabushenga was the Master of Ceremonies and turned out dressed in blue denim overalls. But these days he pretends to be more NRM than Museveni himself. Kabushenga does not normally talk about the rest of his family.

When he got married in 1999, he tried hard to make his wedding a social event by inviting prominent public figures like Angelina and James Wapakhabulo and others. Kabushenga's wife has a Ugandan father and her mother is Tanzanian.

Not long after they got married, it emerged that Kabushenga's wife was a cheat. She was secretly having an affair with his friend Geoffrey Bataringaya.

Word has it that one morning, Kabushenga left his Bugolobi flat for work. Soon after, Bataringaya sneaked into the flat after Kabushenga's wife tipped him off that it was safe to come.

It seems that Kabushenga forgot something at home or he was trying to prove the rumour of his wife's adultery, but after an hour or so, Kabushenga returned home unannounced, only to catch his wife and Bataringaya "in the act." This rumour is widely known in the circles of Kabushenga's friends and it will not surprise them to read it on Radio Katwe.com

It seems that humiliation of seeing his wife in his own bed with another guy hurt Kabushenga so much and as usual he turned to over-compensation to gain back his self-esteem.

But this would not have not turned Kabushenga into the hated figure that he is becoming these days. He still had many friends and many people still tuned in to his Saturday morning show on Capital Radio, "The Capital Gang" which he was hosting.

In 2004, the New Vision, the company where Kabushenga was Corporation Secretary, began to renovate and upgrade their whole premises. The bill came to 3.5 million dollars.

But somewhere somehow, there seemed to have been something improper with the way Kabushenga brought in or tried to influence the bringing in of a small sub-contractor or supplier to be part of the project.

When the New Vision did its auditing of the renovation, it discovered certain financial over-expenditure and it seems the trail led to Kabushenga, and he knew it. He had to jump before he was exposed and publicly humiliated as a thief and crook.

According to sources in Kampala, he had got to know that Uganda was trying to host the 2007 Commonwealth summit. He tried to lobby and manoeuvre to be appointed the director of communications and media for the summit, but it did not work out.

Next, he heard about the proposed new NRM Governent Media Centre. Again, he tried to lobby, this time with an urgency borne of desperation.

According to a Radio Katwe source, Kabushenga begged and begged Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa and Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi to influence his appointment as Media Centre head.

Apparently, he found more sympathy from Mbabazi and that is how he came to be Media Centre head, and that is why in the early days of his job, he used to hang around Mbabazi as if Mbabazi was his godfather.

During the presidential campaigns when FDC president Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye was meeting huge crowds during his visit to West Nile and Ajumani, President Yoweri Museveni called a meeting at State House. Museveni demanded to know why Besigye was getting so much publicity in the newspapers and on radio and Museveni's presense in the media was relatively insignificant. "Why do I pay you?" Museveni roared in anger looking at a shaken Kabushenga.

Kabushenga had never been as shaken as that in his life. He immediately began to visit various media houses in Kampala to press and beseech editors and programme directors to give Museveni more prominent coverage.

Fortunately for him, his colleagues in the media who saw how shaken he was, decided to save him and that was when you began seeing more photographs of Museveni addressing small groups of people in Luwero but which even papers like "Daily Monitor" were terming "crowds."

Now that Kabushenga has opened a war with the media by pushing for the deportation of Blake Lambert, he can expect no more sympathy. All his dirt and failings will come out.

Already, the foreign media has started a quiet and well-coordinated campaign to have Kabushenga black-listed around the world as an official who is leading the repression of press freedom.

Confidential documents between the Media Council headed by Fr. John Mary Waliggo and the NRM Media Centre found their way to the Ugandan press.

One of the Media Council officials, Paul Mukasa, tried to take a principled stand as far as Lambert's deportation saga was concerned. He tried to argue Lambert's case.

Kabushenga believes that it was Mukasa who leaked the documents to the media. According to the documents, which Andrew Mwenda read on air on March 10, Waliggo sensed that the government was determined to deport Lambert and Waliggo was afraid of confronting the state.

To appease the state, he tried to advise the state to circumvent the Media Council (which is the legal body that monitors Uganda's media industry. Not to be confused with Kabushengas Media Center, an NRM government creation -Ed), and instead wait for Lambert's visa to expire and then when he tries to reapply to stay in Uganda, deny him an entry visa.

From this saga, it seems that Kabushenga, who is still shaken by the way Museveni blasted and humiliated him in front of his colleagues, has been trying to justify himself as a loyal NRM man.

According to a source familiar with the Lambert case, the original plan by the ISO intelligence agency was to come without warning at night, pick Lambert from his flat at Blacklines House in downtown Kampala and then whisk him off to the airport at Entebbe.

It seems ISO was advised against that.

Is is thought that the Israeli secret service Mossad have taken an interest in the case of how Blake Lambert, who is a Jewish, could have been harassed and treated so badly by a Ugandan government which claims it is friendly to Israel.

Israel has never forgotten how an Israeli citizen, Dora Bloch, died mysteriously in Uganda in 1976 during the Israeli raid at Entebbe.

Uganda's old MiG-21 planes were overhauled in 2002 by the Israeli Defence Industries.

Museveni and Ofwono Opondo

In yesterday's article, the connection between Fox Odoi and Museveni, we left FRONASA rebel leader Museveni, his colleague, Odoi Chwale and three others at the home of one Pius Okoth Magara, in Okwira village, West Budama, in Tororo district. The year was 1976.

Attending to them were two two sisters; Maria, who is the mother of Labour Director, Claudius Olweny, and Mary owor, the current RDC for Kaberamaido.

Museveni was understandably nervous throughout the night, despite assurances from Odoi Chwale and Mary owor that the family was safe and highly respected. Mary Owor told him that it was common for the family to accommodate strangers, because her eldest brother, Catholic Priest, Fr. Adolf Owora, was known to bring home destitute children from Teso and Karamoja regions where he was based.

Mary further told the rebels that there was a young man from a nearby homestead, Stephen Oloka Omeja, who was home from his studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. Oloka Omeja was brought in around 8AM, and that seemed to ease the rebels' anxiety. Museveni asked Oloka Omeja to help arrange for transportation to the border, some nine miles to the east.

Omeja had known Odoi Chwale while in Dar es Salaam, but neither knew nor believed Museveni when he professed his admiration and loyalty to exiled President Milton Obote, who was also based in Dar es Salaam. Odoi Chwale pleaded with Oloka Omeja to "just help us cross back to Kenya."

After consulting with his family, Oloka Omeja took Museveni, Odoi Chwale and one other rebel to the West Budama county headqaurters in Kisoko, about four miles away. Oloka Omeja's father had preceeded them to make arrangements with his friend, the Saaza Chief, Mzee Opondo, the father of the current NRM spokesman, Ofwono Opondo.

The other two rebels were left behind and the Magara family finally took them to a Munyankole farm boy who was working for then Permanent Secretary, Othieno Adioma, in Nagongera.

Mzee Opondo was a strong UPC leader and personal friend of Milton Obote. He had played a major role in persuading then DP MP for Bukedi, James Ochola (RIP), to cross over to UPC in 1969 which culminated in Ochola's being appointed Local Government minister.

Though Saaza Chief Opondo was open to helping the young rebels, there was a hitch: following the railway line sabotage of the previous day, soldiers were all over West Budama, conducting impromptu road blocks and checking IDs. To make matters worse, the Eastern Provincial governor, was expected at the Saaza headquarters the following day to address a public rally aimed at allaying public fears that rebels were operating in the area.

With Museveni, Odoi Chwale and Oloka Omeja still in his office, Mzee Opondo received word from his secretary that two senior Uganda Army officers from Rubongi Air and Seaborne battalion, wanted to see him immediately.

As the soldiers were ushered in, Mzee Opondo begun "sentencing" Museveni and company. "You will slash the whole compound from corner to corner. And I'll inspect your work me myself..now, go wait outside, let me finsh with these officers." It was the best acting role of his career that might simply have saved the FRONASA boys.

After getting rid of the soldiers, Saaza Chief Opondo summoned his "prisoners" back to the office and offered them accomodation as he planned how best to transport them to the border.

It's that gesture by Mzee Opondo that Museveni is paying back by keeping his son, Ofwono whose character and conduct, would make the Mzee turn in his grave with shame.

How State House corrupted Ugandan Pentecostal pastors

Last year before the kick off of the presidential election campaign, Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral came out and said God had shown him in a sign or vision the destiny of Uganda in 2006.

At that time there were six presidential candidates after the nominations --- the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, the main challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye, the Mayor of Kampala John Sebaana Kizito, the former major of Kampala Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, the widow of the late President Milton Obote, Miria Kalule Obote, and a veterinarian and Pastor, Dr. Abed Bwanika.

Kayanja said that one of the candidates would drop out of the race, another would die before it was over, and the eventual winner would score 62 percent of the vote.

In this intelligence report, we show you the behind-the-scenes dealings between the Pentecostal movement in Uganda and State House and how it has brought disgrace and divisions among the born-again flock.

The same way Museveni has corrupted all institutions in Uganda, he has felt no shame in dealing with the evangelical churches.

The moves to use the influential Pentecostal pastors to sway their flock towards Museveni began in 2002.

A number of meetings were held between State House officials, the First Lady Janet Museveni, and one of those participants was Museveni's son-in-law, Odrek Rwabwogo, who married Patience Kokundeka Museveni.

Information secretly obtained from a State House insider showed minutes of meetings at which he was the coordinator.

It was agreed that certain Pastors be approached (maybe because they knew how much these pastors love money.)

They were to preach certain sermons in a certain way and they were instructed to influence their flock that God had shown them in visions or messages that Museveni was God's anointed leader for Uganda.

One of these men was Robert Kayanja, a brother of the recently enthroned Bishop of York in England, John Sentamu.

Before he became "born-again", Kayanja used to be a shady gold dealer in Kampala and his shady ways and character seem to be "a sturborn stain that the blood of Jesus has failed to wash away" as a concerned member of his flock commented.

His love for flashy materialism is well known, a tendency common among Pentecostals, especially the leaders. As they have become more established, the Pentecostals or "balokole" as they are commonly known seem to have cultivated a very high respect, or we could say lust, for money and material things ( "blessings" as some of them say). Perhaps to demonstrate Gods uncommon fondness of and "blessings" on him, Kayanja insists on flying First Class or where not available, Business.
At well over 5 million shillings, a return ticket to London could easily bankrupt most of his flock for life.

The Kampala staff and ticketing agents of his favourite airline, British Airways, privately express surprise and unease that while religious leaders like the Canadian Pastor Gary Skinner of Kampala Pentecostal Church fly British Airways in any class available, Kayanja who pastors a church of ordinary struggling Ugandans can splash large amounts of money on First Class travel.

State House reportedly paid out "facilitation" to the tune of 50 million shillings (about 27,000 dollars) to each of Pastor Kayanja, Pastor Simeon Kayiwa, and Pastor Joseph Serwadda the owner of Impact FM radio station in Kampala.

The three pastors gathered 1,000 Christian opinion leaders from all around Uganda and convinced them that God has instructed their people to vote Museveni. Radio Katwe could not by press time establish the venue of this meeting but it could have been Miracle Centre Cathedral or Namboole Stadium.

This is why the Pentecostal pastors in recent weeks and months had turned to preaching a lot about Ugandan politics and the election. They had been given money and the state helped then clear equipment they were importing at little or no cost, so they had to pay Caesar his dues.

You might recall from reading our news that Radio Katwe reported that Museveni, Salim Saleh, and the chairman of the Electoral Commission Badru Kiggundu agreed that the Commisison would announce a 63 percent win for Museveni, which was about the same as Kayanja had "prophesied."

Mrs. Museveni and Odrek Rwabwogo had settled for the figure of 62 percent and it seems Museveni and Saleh made a slight error and told Kiggundu to announce it as 63 percent.

When Radio Katwe got this tip off, it published details of this secret meeting, forcing State House to change the figure to 59 percent.

Further still, State House, as is common knowledge in Kampala, had paid Sebaggala 45 million shillings for his campaigns and knew that he would drop out of the race after some weeks.

Kayanja was briefed about this too and that is why he could confidently issue a "prophesy" saying one of the presidential candidates would pull out. According to some of our strict "balokole" friends, Kayanja has already established himself as a certified false prophet because all his prophecies did not come true as is required by the Christian faith.

That is how far the Museveni regime has gone in its effort to hold on to power at all costs.

Right now, there is a serious crisis within the Pentecostal churches, with many supporting Museveni based on these faked prophesies and many believers disillusioned with their leaders who have turned into false prophets.

State House knew that Pastor Skinner of Kampala Pentecostal Church could not be dragged into these bogus schemes and that is why he does not feature in any of the State House-staged "prophesies" and propaganda.

SPECIAL REPORT - CMI increases tapping of incoming foreign phone calls

Radio Katwe has just received information that the CMI, Uganda's Military Intelligence, has began a campaign to intercept phone calls from abroad into Uganda, as a way of gathering intelligence on what the Ugandan Diaspora is thinking and saying.

A Radio Katwe informer said that the tapping of the phones, using Canadian-made equipment, is taking place at the building across the road from State House called Okello House.

State House owns Okello House and it is the electronic and communications centre of CMI.

The main offices of CMI at Kitante Courts near the Mulago roundabout and opposite the Ministry of Health headquarters are used as an intelligence gathering centre.

That is where the Chief of Military Intelligence and his staff sit. That is also where CMI operatives come in to deliver intelligence reports, receive briefings, and leave on operations.

Many Ugandans also believe that the tapping of Ugandan phones is done using the facilities of the South African mobile phone giant MTN at its switching centre in Bugolobi outside Kampala.

How are phones tapped and who does intelligence listen in on?

Through a local MTN Uganda director, Charles, State House made sure that when MTN was starting its operations in 1998 in Uganda, MTN committed at least one of its employees to work with a CMI engineer who sits at MTN's Bugolobi switching centre.

MTN is the largest mobile phone provider in Uganda, so it is the one where much of the intelligence attention is given.

Currently, CMI can only tap and record 12 lines at a time. This is what they term a "Level 1" report.

Every two days, the recorded phone calls are taken to CMI headquarters at Kitante where they are tallied manually by a sorting team to search for call patterns and filtering for most suspected calls on these computer print outs.

The UTL-Mango network is the second most subscribed to service and is owned by the First Family, with partners like Kampala Casino boss Bob Kabonero and others.

CMI systems engineers sit at switchboards and generate Level 1 reports to the same sorting team at CMI headquarters.

Celtel is the smallest mobile phone network. As of 2005, no CMI engineer was sitting at the Celtel House operations switchboard. CMI, however, requests special reports from Celtel once in a while.

The Civic Communications Monitoring (CCM) section of CMI monitors the mobile and fixed phone traffic in Uganda.

The CCM section at CMI is made up of 12 students from Makerere University, all of whom are Bahima from Nyabushozi county in Mbarara.

Then there is a Calling Team made up of two boys and two girls. These are stationed there to place calls to certain people, to try and identify and interest them using tricks and fake stories.

The third team is the Tracking Team, made up of two people who man the machine that tracks and records conversations of any 12 high risk telephones.

Then there is a fourth group, the Communications Engineers, which is made up of five people who sit at the network operators switch boards and filter from the calling log all foreign and domestic Level 1 reports to be sent to the sorting team.

At present, the countries where CMI and by extension State House has the greatest interest in are Rwanda, South Africa, Kenya, Britain, Sweden, the United States, and Japan, in that order of priority.

A "Level 2" report is based on phone calls from countries of main interest and are selected on the basis of the following:

(a) How often in a week has a foreign number called? Anything more than three times a week is picked up and followed
(b) What time of the day is the foreign number calling? Interest is taken in numbers that call to Uganda at late Ugandan time hours.
(c) Where is a foreign number calling to which area of the country? A foreign number calling politically sensitive parts of Uganda like Gulu, Kitgum, and Kizza Besigye's home area of Rukungiri are made into a "Level 2" report.

The "Level 3" report, category A is about phone numbers from a database that has been created and is constantly being updated.

Category A number are numbers of high damage risk personalities that have been compiled clandestinely (without owners knowing from friends and relatives of the suspect being monitored).

Currently the "Level 3, Category A" comprises all army officers from the rank of Lieutenant to General, all vocal anti-NRM opposition Members of Parliament, all police officers from the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police to Inspector General of Police, all cabinet ministers and all key media editors and reporters, and all major players and officials in the Buganda kingdom.

Any foreign number that calls Category A is picked and put in the "Level 3" report for monitoring.

One expert advised that one of the possible ways of realizing that your phone is tapped is when you are speaking and you hear too much noise echoing in the background or you hear your voice own bouncing back as a pronounced echo. But these are of course not 100% reliable methods.

Since Radio Katwe began publishing highly secret and sensitive information on the Museveni regime and since the site was blocked in Uganda last month, the Ugandan Diaspora has been reading things which most of them did not know about and things they would have dismissed as fiction and lies only recently like in 2005.

State House, using the CMI phone tapping facility, is trying to gauge how this new perception of Museveni as a dangerous, manipulative, and scandalous leader is influencing the Ugandan Diaspora and the diplomatic corps based in Uganda.

But as we caution Ugandans at home and abroad to be cautious in what they say during these international phone calls, we can also reveal that the tapping of phones is a very cumbersome and costly process.

It is not possible to tap all of MTN's 700,000 subscribers. The best they can do is tap a few selected phones at a time.

But the word here is, Ugandans should just take additional precautions, just to be on the safe side.