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Uganda:Government Denies Involvement in Kayira's Death


Uganda’s government has denied any involvement in the assassination of former rebel leader Andrew Kayira who was killed twenty years ago in his friend’s house outside the capital. This follows accusation by the opposition Democratic Party (DP) of the government’s complicity in the death of the former rebel leader. But the government has dismissed the opposition’s allegations. Kayira was the leader of the then rebel Uganda freedom movement, which fought former president Milton Obote’s regime in the 1980’s.

Amama Mbabazi is Uganda’s security minister. He reacted to the allegations by opposition leaders implicating the government in the death of the former rebel leader.

“This was in reaction to a statement made by other people, which was covered in the local media that there were some military officers that were involved in the murder of Dr. Kayira. I said that was no true and that there is no evidence of any kind that suggests that the army or the government was involved in his death,” he said.

Mbabazi said the government is trying to find a copy of the investigation into the assassination of the former rebel leader and make it public.

“For most of the twenty years, we had a government that was all inclusive and the political party that is now making a lot of noise about that report was actually in charge of the report and in charge of the police at the time when the investigation was made. So we are trying to find out exactly what happened and we hope anyway, we will find a copy of that report and publish it,” Mbabazi noted.

He dismissed as a blatant lie a former internal affairs minister’s assertion, which sought to implicate the government’s in Kayira’s death.

“Do you believe him saying that twenty years on? Because he was the minister in charge of the police, he remained in government for an extra eight to nine years from the time that report was given. So he is speaking now because the issue has been raised, but he had every opportunity to do whatever he wished to do with that report,” he said.

Mbabazi said the government has requested a copy of the report on the investigation over the death of the former rebel leader.

“Fortunately, the investigation was done by the Scotland Yard Metropolitan Police of London and we’ve now asked them for an authentic report. As soon as we get it of course we would publish it. And as you know, if that report has conclusive evidence, pointing an accusing finger at anyone, criminal limitation has no time limitation. People can still be prosecuted twenty years after a crime was committed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the inspector general of police Major General Kayihura has been quoted by Uganda sources as saying that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had uncovered a copy of the Scotland Yard report. He, however, said that the report would not be made public until Scotland Yard authenticates it.

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