Former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen Kale Kayihura is set to retire from the army this month.
The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) confirmed that he is among nine other generals lined up for retirement from the military. Various sources on Friday intimated the army court officials met the commander in chief of the armed forces, President Yoweri Museveni over the criminal charges brought against Kayihura.
The former police chief was charged with failure to protect war materials, failure to supervise police officers, and abetting kidnap. Kayihura has been on bail since 2020. There have been unconfirmed reports that Museveni agreed to drop all the charges against Kayihura.
While the UPDF deputy spokesperson Col Deo Akiiki did not comment about the meeting between the president and the army court, he said whoever is asking about the status of Kayihura should know that he is set to retire this month.
“What I can confirm is that the general will be among the 10 generals to retire from the UPDF. We wish the general the best of his retirement time and we shall always consult him as one of the mentors of most of us remaining behind in active service,” Akiiki said.
At the rank of a four-star general, Kayihura is the most senior among the 10 retiring senior military officers. The list has major generals, Wasswa Mutesaasira and Joseph Arocha who are two ranks below Kayihura while brigadiers, Steven Oluka, Augustine Atwooki, and others are three ranks below the former IGP.
Kayihura was on March 4, 2018, sacked from the position of IGP which he had held for over 12 years, and was replaced by his then-deputy Martins Okoth Ochola. In June the same year, he was arrested in an operation spearheaded by then deputy chief of defence forces (CDF) Wilson Mbadi who is now the chief of defence forces.
In his last days as IGP, Kayihura proposed that suspects with capital offences like murder, terrorism, and robbery be held for at least 90 days before being taken to court to enable investigators to gather more than enough evidence for a successful prosecution.
After being arrested by the army he served, Kayihura was detained at military police headquarters at Makindye for 76 days without trial. He was later arraigned in the court martial where he was charged with three counts: The first count was the failure to protect war materials contrary to section 122 (1) (2) of the UPDF Act 2005.
The particulars of this count indicated that between 2010 and 2018, Kayihura allowed the use of arms and ammunition by unauthorized persons including members of militia outfit Boda Boda 2010 headed by Abdallah Kitatta who was jailed before him.
