LONDON. The United Kingdom has named and sanctioned Gen. Kale Kayihura among its target of 29 other notorious people involved in corruption scandals, sex related crimes and human rights abuse.
He has been effectively stopped never to step a foot in the UK or even channel money through UK banks and or profiting from its economy- a scenario meaning all his available wealth, if any in the UK has been frozen.
The UK is now the second major super power to sanction Gen Kayihura after a similar action by the United States.
To Ugandans, especially opposition members, General Kale Kayihura,who served as Uganda’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) for 13 years from 2005 to 2018, was seen as a notorious police chief who left a grim legacy.
President Museveni fired him in 2018 and later on he was arrested, and court martialed for failure to protect war materials, failure to supervise police officers and abetting kidnap.
In 2019, former secretary of State Mike Pompeo while sanctioning Gen. Kayihura, said that they had credible information that the former IGP was involved in torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Pompeo claimed Kayihura committed the crimes through command responsibility of the Flying Squad; a specialised unit of the Uganda Police Force that reported directly to him.
The charges were/are that as the IGP for the UPF, Kayihura led individuals from the UPF’s Flying Squad Unit, which engaged in the inhumane treatment of detainees at the Nalufenya Special Investigations Center (NSIC).
Pompeo’s statement on Kayihura alleged that Flying Squad Unit members used sticks and rifle butts to abuse NSIC detainees and officers at NSIC are accused of having beaten one of the detainees with blunt instruments to the point that he lost consciousness. Detainees also reported that after being subjected to the abuse they were offered significant sums of money if they confessed to their involvement in a crime.
In a statement issued by the UK foreign office on December 9, it was said that while Kayihura was in charge as IGP, he oversaw multiple units responsible for human rights violations including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
“Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has today (9 December) announced a new wave of sanctions that targets corrupt actors, and those violating and abusing human rights, as well as perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict,” the statement reads.
The target individuals and entities, according to the UK foreign office, involved in a wide range of grievous activities – including the torture of prisoners, the mobilisation of troops to rape civilians, and systematic atrocities.
Many detainees were maimed and some even died under te tenure of Gen. Kayihura. The Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago had his balls squeezed in one of the several arrests while opposition politicians including former FDC President Kiiza Besigye were detained illegally in their homes.
“It is our duty to promote free and open societies around the world. Today our sanctions go further to expose those behind the heinous violations of our most fundamental rights to account,” the foreign office said.
The implication of the sanctions against Gen. Kayihura mean that he will never step a foot in the UK or even channel money through UK banks and or profiting its economy.
Dark legacy
Although Kayihura enhanced the Police in terms of recruitment, training, and its budget allowance his legacy is dark.
His “Crime Preventers” were criticized by rights organisations for violence, extortion, and lack of accountability. Crime Preventers oppressed opposition members and their supporters.
Under Kayihura, we saw the Kiboko Squad, notoriously remembered for battering Ugandans even during peaceful protests.
According to africanarguments.org, Kayihura’s at the helm, saw widespread allegations of harassment, brutality and torture by police officers themselves. Between 2012 and 2016, the Ugandan Human Rights Commission received over 1,000 allegations of torture related to the police. The African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims received almost double this in same period.
The Centre for Constitutional Governance, said in 2018 that opposition members and supporters were the most common victims of police brutality in Uganda. And Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch found use of excessive police force to disperse opposition gatherings in the lead up to the 2006, 2011, and 2016 presidential elections as well as numerous unlawful arrests and torture.
The age limit removal bill –in December 2017 saw excessive force resulting in injuries and death. Journalists were also targeted, not for the first time under Kayihura. In 2016 alone, the Human Rights Network of Journalists Uganda (HRNJ-U) reported 83 violations against reporters committed by the police
Gen. Kayihura’s name was mixed among other Prominent notorious figures including Mian Abdul Haq, a Muslim Cleric from Pakistan, Sadrach Zelodon Rocha and Yohaira Hernandez Chirino, the mayor and deputy mayor of Matagalpa in Nicaragua who have been involved in promoting and supporting grievous violations of human rights.
Others include Andrey Tishenin, a member of the Russian Federal Security Service in Crimea, and Artur Shambazov, a senior detective in the Autonomous republic of Crimea. The pair tortured Ukrainian Oleksandr Kostenko in 2015. Valentin Oparin, Major of Justice for the Russian Federation, and Oleg Tkachenko, Head of Public Prosecutions for the Rostov region. At least 10 other Iranian officials connected to Iran’s judicial and prison systems, have been sanctioned.
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