By John Stephen Katende

9^th Jan 2012:

Accused: Former CMI Chief Brig. James Mugira

The government’s main intelligence agencies, namely, the Internal Security Organisation [ISO] and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence [CMI] have been accused of recruiting teenagers from secondary schools in and around Kampala to serve as informers for “specific missions”, Uganda Correspondent can exclusively reveal.

In a month-long investigation conducted by this newspaper in Kampala schools following a tip off from a concerned mother of one of the newly recruited “Child Spies”, our two-man team of investigative Journalists found that even 16 year old children who have not yet attained the majority age of consent [i.e. 18 years] are being targeted.

Sylvia, [who requested to only be identified by her first name] a distraught single mother of one of the Child Spies recruited by ISO told our reporter that she only found out that her 16 year old daughter [who used to study at Naalya Secondary School] had been lured into the ISO following a domestic burst-up with the girl who she says had started returning home late from school.

“…About a year ago, my daughter started returning home late from school, saying she is doing drama classes.  I believed her for some time.  But things got worse.  One day she came back at 9:30 in the night.  We had a very serious argument.  When I tried to cane her, she refused to lie down and told me that she can arrest me if I joke with her.  She then told me that she works for ISO.  I couldn’t believe that these people [government] use child spies to do their work.” Sylvia said.

Pregnancy adds more insult to family injury

Sylvia’s relationship with her young daughter took a turn for the worst when she discovered a few months later that her daughter had become pregnant.  “…I almost fainted when I found out.  It really hurt me.  She was doing well in school and I had high hopes in her.  Now all that is gone.” Sylvia said with a sunken voice.

Unfortunately for Sylvia, that was not the end of the bad news.  For the entire duration of her pregnancy, Sylvia’s daughter refused to reveal who had made her pregnant.  The girl later gave birth to a baby boy, but the father of the baby still never showed up.  When the baby fell sick and her father still didn’t show up, Sylvia threatened to kick both her daughter and grandson out of the house.

It was at that point that Sylvia’s daughter dropped the bombshell.  She told her mother that the father of her baby boy was in fact the same intelligence officer who had recruited her into ISO.  “…I cried for almost two days until I couldn’t cry anymore.  I wanted to kill myself just to stop the pain.  Up to today, I have never seen the man.  He told my daughter that he will lose his job if his bosses find out.” Sylvia said.

Child Spy recruitment pattern emerges

It appears however, that Sylvia’s trouble with her teenage daughter was not an isolated one.  A source in the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence confirmed to Uganda Correspondent that they were indeed recruiting a few Child Spies but denied that it was a widespread practice.  “…We do it but not all the time.  We only use children for specific missions and when the job is done, we discharge them to continue with their studies.” our source said.

But that was no consolation for Ibrahim Katongole, a 47 year old resident of Bwaise whose 17 year old son was recruited from Makerere College School by the CMI to monitor and report opposition activities next door at Makerere University.  “…It is true that they [intelligence services] let them go after they have used them.  But by the time they set them free, the children will have lost interest in education.  That is exactly what happened to my son.” Katongole said.

Katongole said his son left school and decided to buy a motorcycle with the money he got from CMI.  He now works as boda-boda taxi cyclist in Bwaise.  END:  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.