Of Uganda’s obsession with Rwandan spies

Ugandan authorities have for long been dumping Rwandan nationals at Gatuna and Kagitumba border posts after months, or even years, of illegal detention without trial. Before they are dumped at these borders, the victims are subjected to gruesome torture in secret detention centers, or ‘safe houses.’

In recent years, hundreds of Rwandans have been rounded up and arrested in various parts of Uganda on the allegation that they are spies. This practice by Uganda's Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) has been going on in spite of the existence of a memorandum of understanding signed in 2019 by both countries’ leaders, to restore normalcy in relations between Rwanda and Uganda.

Many Ugandans are living and working in Rwanda - most of them employed in informal jobs such as mechanics and foremen in the construction sector – but Rwandan authorities have not paid back in the same currency, arresting them enmasse and accusing them, falsely, of espionage.

There is a reason why Rwandans in Uganda are subjected to harassment and arbitrary arrests while Ugandans in Rwanda remain undisturbed even when some do not possess valid immigration resident permits.

“Rwanda is a civilized country that supports regional integration,” a foreign diplomat in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, who preferred anonymity said.  “Secondly, the intelligence organs in Rwanda are effective and can’t simply arrest anyone because he or she comes from Uganda, without evidence.”

For any intelligence organization to operate effectively, and professionally, first of all it must be led by people who are intelligent. This is the standard practice world over, except in Uganda. 

“The appointment of (Maj Gen. Abel) Kandiho as the Chief of military intelligence was a very big blunder and one of the biggest jokes in intelligence circles. This is a man who had been chased out of intelligence because of gross violation of human rights, torture, extortions, murder of suspects among other things,” a source within CMI said.

More information from other CMI sources indicate that the allegations against Kandiho had an effect on Uganda’s diplomatic relations with the neighbors and donors.

“The  former CMI chief, Brig Gen. Charles Bakahumura set up a committee to investigate these allegations and there was an overwhelming evidence against Kandiho. The committee found that he was not a fit and proper person in intelligence as a director and recommended that he should be transferred. Kandiho operated by eliminating those he thought stood in his way,” another source revealed.

All this, coming from people who are supposed to work under Kandiho, shows that he cannot trust them and therefore, he had to craft his own modus operandi. Kandiho opted to recruit the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) terrorist group’s operatives as his right hand men, to give him intelligence on Rwanda. The Ugandan government, through CMI, supports RNC’s activities including fundraising and recruitment of fighters to destabilize Rwanda.

These operatives arrest Rwandans - first targeting those who refuse to contribute financially to RNC, and those who refuse to be recruited for military training. This is how Rwandans from all walks of life;   businessmen, casual laborers, house wives, students, and others, are victimized.

“The word ‘spy’ has been grossly abused by Uganda’s intelligence. Every country has spies. But they are smart people and the job is not for every Tom Dick and Harry. This partly shows the weakness of the CMI,” the source said.

A search for the name Abel Kandiho on the internet, shows that he was born in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. The man with Rwandan blood is the one at the helm of things when it comes to arresting, torturing and killing innocent Rwandans, in Uganda.

Those who know Kandiho before he joined the UPDF, called him  “the death merchant.” He worked as a henchman to intelligence operatives especially in bloody deals like resells of drugs confiscated by security agencies; and passing on information to notorious gangsters in Kampala. Kandiho was imprisoned twice for high end heists and other forms of theft, a record that made security organs think twice about him. He was initially hired as their stooge but later was helped to join UPDF.

Being so heartless, uneducated and inhumane, sources say,  Kandiho attracted the attention of Museveni’s brother, Salim Saleh. The latter likes such unscrupulous characters, as errand boys in his endless dirty deals including fake gold scandals in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With Saleh as his godfather, Kandiho rose very quickly through the ranks to become the chief of Uganda’s highest military intelligence organization.

It is a known secret that Kandiho is a merciless hit man acting on orders of Museveni’s mafia. He, among others, executes the often deadly operations carried out by the so-called “pigs” to eliminate unwanted people.

The hit squads he uses, or the “pigs”, as they are called in Kampala, never get arrested and charged.