Gen. Muhoozi asks President Museveni to forgive Gen. Kayihura

In a tweet shared earlier, Gen. Muhoozi, who is also the Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations, said Kayihura is one of the “special cadres” of the National Resistance Army/ Movement (NRA/M) that inspired him to serve the nation. 

“Gen. K. Kayihura was one of those special cadres in the early 1990s who inspired us to serve our nation. Others were late Generals Mayombo and Kazini. If he made mistakes, let us use revolutionary methods of work to rectify them. I request the CIC to forgive and rehabilitate him,” he tweeted.

Gen. Kayihura has had a checkered past, not only was he slapped with sanctions by the US government for violating human rights but he is suspected to have been trying to overthrow the Museveni regime with the aid of Paul Kagame’s Rwandan government. 

Once regarded as the most powerful general in Ugandan internal security circles, the former Inspector General of Police General Kayihura was subsequently dropped from the police as President Museveni snidely referred to him and his ilk as ’weevils’.

In August 2018, Kayihura was arraigned before the General Court Martial on three damning charges; failure to protect war materiel, aiding and abetting the kidnap and repatriation of Rwandan refugees in Uganda. 

Gen. Kayihura was then released two months later on an sh10m bond after presenting three sureties; Lt. Gen. James Mugira, Maj. Gen. Sam Kavuma and former Entebbe Municipality MP, Rosemary Tumusiime. His three sureties were bonded for Ush5 million each.

After the Kisoro community petitioned Museveni during the 2021 general elections pardon Gen. Kayihura, who they described “their son”, President said: “You have told me that Kale Kayihura is a good mobiliser in this area and has done a lot for the party and that you want him pardoned. Since you have asked me to pardon him like I have always done to other people, I will talk to the military prosecution to see what to do with the charges. I will personally follow it up.”

It remains to be seen whether Kayihura will go from persona non grata to the son of the NRM once more.