28.06.2010

By Timothy Nsubuga 

The shooting of renegade Rwandan General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa appears to have caused more than just a few ripples.  For a start, it seems to have occupied political analysts and commentators since the incident took place in Johannesburg-South Africa on Saturday 19^th June 2010.  Gen. Kayumba, an exiled senior Rwandan military officer, was shot in the stomach by a lone gunman as soon as he entered the confines of his apartment block in Sandton, a posh Johannesburg suburb. 

Kayumba was early this week discharged from Morningside Clinic where he had been rushed for emergency treatment.  It has also been reported that South African authorities have now charged four people with Kayumba “attempted murder”.  Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper reported that “court officials named the four suspects, all male, as Amani Uriwani, Hassan Nduli, Francis Ewakerere and Issah Mohameddi”.  The four suspects are due to appear in court again for on 29^th June.  Their nationalities however, remain unknown at this stage of the investigation. 

Johannesburg is known for its above average crime rate.  Inevitably, some analysts have since argued that Kayumba’s shooting could merely have been a robbery gone wrong.  Just like the one that claimed the life of South African reggae star Lucky Dube.   Others have been quick to link Kayumba’s shooting to his political troubles with the Kigali regime that he fell out with; a regime that accused him of “running away from accountability”.  Authorities in Kigali have of course, been quick to dismiss any claims of an assassination attempt by Rwanda as “preposterous and far-fetched”.

A Kampala based Ugandan analyst who talked to Uganda Correspondent on condition of anonymity however introduced a totally new analogy to the Kayumba shooting incident after reading Daniel Kalinaki’s “inside story” of the General’s shooting.  Kalinaki’s inside story had chronicled the violent physical struggle that had ensued between the wounded and bleeding Kayumba and the gunman.  That struggle caused this analyst to ask some very interesting questions about the late Kazini’s alleged murder by his girlfriend, some even say, “real wife”; a one Draru.

“Both Kayumba and Kazini held very senior positions in their respective armies.  They were both very well trained military officers and experienced fighters at that.  Kayumba’s fight with the gunman who tried to kill him must therefore be seen as an instinctive reaction that we should expect from well trained military officers.  I would have expected Kazini to have put up a similar fight in self defence.  But he didn’t.  That raises very serious questions about the circumstances under which Kazini’s died.  Draru, the alleged killer, looked like she had just come out of a beauty salon.  Is that normal for a “woman”, not even man, who has just been involved in a life and death fight with a seasoned fighter like Kazini”, he asked.

But why should the shooting of a foreign national, in a foreign country, be something that one Ugandan wants us to use to use to question the circumstances of Gen. Kazini’s death?  The answer, it seems, may lie in the fact that in the eyes of many, Kazini’s death had all the hallmarks of a well planned job.  Perhaps by an assassin who might have been hired by some unknown individual or authority in the land! 

Secondly, a perception exists among members of the public that investigations into Kazini’s death were, for whatever reason, badly botched up by the investigating CID officers.  For example, the crime scene was never properly secured.  Ordinary people, including photo journalists, came in and out as they pleased.  So there was a very real possibility that vital evidence could have been contaminated in the process.  And you can be sure any defence Lawyer worth his salt would cling to that to try and get his client [the accused] acquitted. 

The conspiracy theorists believe this is exactly what those who planned Kazini’s death wanted to achieve as their defence “Plan B”.  So in a strange way, General Kayumba’s recent shooting may have awoken the ghosts of Kazini’s suspicious death.  Perhaps there is some truth in the belief that “a man who dies bitter never rests”.  You just never know!