Opinion: Abiriga was killed to cover up for Kaweesi’s killers

The lawmaker’s assassination came at a time when information about who the killers of Kaweesi are was becoming an open secret amongst the public in Kampala.

Ugandan Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abiriga, was assassinated on Friday evening in a gruesome manner that has a lot of similar hallmarks with that of AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

The lawmaker’s assassination came at a time when information about who the killers of Kaweesi are was becoming an open secret amongst the public in Kampala.

This website has been reporting updates on this story including the revelation by different crime investigation experts who unanimously say that the Special Force Command (SFC) assassinated Kaweesi. Immediately after the publication, President Museveni blamed Kaweesi’s murder on the ADF rebels.

The question is, why kill Abiriga and why now?

President Museveni called the murderers idiots and ordered security agencies to find the killers who he said are part of “urban criminality.” Astonishingly, even before investigations he has ordered begin Museveni seems to already know who the killers are!

Museveni’s characteristic of assassinations as due to urban criminality is suggestive that he knows who the killers are and that the investigation into the murder of Abiriga is likely to end in a similar way as that of Kaweesi.

In both cases the killers are known. They are security agencies, the same organs that Museveni is pleading with to conduct the investigation. What is clear is that the same precision that was used to eliminate Kaweesi was used to remove Abiriga.

 

Back to the question, why would Museveni kill his loyal servant, a man who was not a political threat to anyone?

Abiriga’s flashy popularity made him the perfect target in efforts to conceal what had become an open secret. Someone popular enough to garner public attention and also someone perceived to be loyal to Museveni in order to place the blame elsewhere. Enter the yellow man and his yellow Beetle.

Abiriga was the perfect diversion. Kill him in similar fashion as Kaweesi, mislead the public from closing on who killed Kaweesi, and do it in a way that suggests a motive of “senseless urban killings” that are carried out by “idiots.”

Both Kaweesi and Abiriga were hyper loyal towards Museveni. It seems Museveni has his way of rewarding loyalty that goes all the way back to Brigadier Noble Mayombo and most recently General Aronda Nyakairima.

Once the public starts to close in on Abiriga’s killers someone else among Museveni’s most loyal servants will be gunned down to conceal that information from spilling into the public.

And the cycle will continue. Only Museveni is safe.