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.