By Kabagambe R. Ignatius

The former Commander of Land Forces of Uganda People’s Defense Force was a regular visitor to Rwanda last year. President Paul Kagame hosted him on each of the three occasions he came to Kigali for talks on Rwanda-Uganda bilateral relations.

Since the first of those three visits on January 22, 2022, the bilateral relations have significantly improved. Noticeable achievements gradually registered, include the re-opening of the Rwanda-Uganda border, and the end to harassment of Rwandans and Ugandans of Rwandan origin in Uganda. Also, Uganda is no longer the open ground it used to be for RNC rebel activities, thanks to the General’s direct hand.

General Muhoozi’s second of the three visits came on March 14, 2022 less than two months after the. Apparently, according to his tweet preceding that visit, his mission was “to solve all outstanding issues between Rwanda and Uganda”. Indeed, almost all outstanding issues were solved, but one.

Museveni hired a career insulter at some point

At the height of political tensions between Kigali and Kampala in the past, the more informed say President Museveni jointly with his sibling General Salim Saleh, hatched a strategy. It was to target the person of President Kagame and his immediate family for constant mud-sling. So, the two sons of Kaguta had to look for a willing skilled writer, with a belly full of hatred and a heart filled with anger towards their target. That is how they found Obed Katurebe. He was already a Kampala-based clandestine member of RNC, for which his late cousin Karegeya was co-founder.

Under the unifying factor of hate then, President Museveni and Obed Katurebe quickly got conveniently married, with Gen. Saleh as witness. Katurebe started working by opening a facebook page under the pseudonym of RPF Gakwerere.

Katurebe’s political allegiance is double-pronged. Besides President Museveni who also pays his bills, his relationship Rwanda National Congress is solid too. His facebook page’s permanent cover photo is of Patrick Karegeya. That is how deep in Katurebe’s psych the attachment to RNC and to his slain Kigarasha cousin particularly runs.

Katurebe has never stopped ever since he started. Not even when he was incarcerated for a few months, ironically for the offence of offending Rwanda. It is alleged that during Gen. Muhoozi’s otherwise fruitful visits to Kigali mentioned above, stopping the RPF Gakwerere page was among Kigali’s demands. Kampala has never manned up to take responsibility for the filthy page, and probably never will. From the corridors I hear it is because they think admitting to it would be permanently embarrassing. This is the reason they have until today opted for living in awkward denial.

In spite of that choice however, probably under pressure from Kigali, Kampala resolved to do something for rapprochement enhancement purposes. So, they took Katurebe into custody at the beginning of May last year in a botched attempt to confuse Kigali.

To ‘prove that RPF Gakwerere was after all not produced by Katurebe’ as alleged, his jailers ensured the scathing insults against President Kagame became even more intensive during the incarceration. Despite the game, today Kigali remains convinced beyond doubt that Katurebe and RPF Gakwerere are one and the same. Actually, the honest expectation is that President Museveni discards the RPF Gakwerere project. Whatever else they decide to do with or for Katurebe is entirely their business. Already, allowing him to continue writing while in jail looked foolery to me.

Stuck in it, hoping Kigali will remain helpless

As it increasingly appears, it seems President Museveni has made up his mind for staying put regarding his anti-Kagame mud-sling project. Analysts say, to President Museveni and Obed Katurebe, their RPF Gakwerere has become either like a drug to which abusers are addicted, or a kind of ‘Stuck on you’ affair, much like Lionel Richie’s song.

How else would President Museveni choose evil over good? Where his Rwandan counterpart expects genuine gestures to consolidate the visible gains so far, he gets from the elder statesman blatant insults hurled by a hired hater.

Keen observers of the dirty game wonder of what strategic benefit it is to President Museveni. While it is clear Katurebe has the motivation of earning a high salary for his uncultured job of insulting President Kagame on behalf of his paymaster as well as for RNC, what his president takes away as value for money remains a mystery!

This paid insulter, we will remind President Museveni, wrote an opinion article on March 11, 22. In it he vehemently denied being behind RPF Gakwerere, but said something eye-catching in the process. He confidently stated that “No doubt soon the real Gakwerere will be known”. CONGRATS GEN. KAINERUGABA FOR ENDING UGANDA / RWANDA STANDOFF | Uganda Media Centre. How soon did Katurebe mean, if I may ask, and who will ever hold him accountable for this undelivered promise?

Amid the dilemma which Kampala is faced with, I have said it in the past, and I will repeat it here today and tomorrow until President Museveni acts. It would be better for him to quietly discard the RPF Gakwerere dark project and risk being suspected of having all along been the sponsor. This is politically and diplomatically less costly than carrying on with it hoping Kigali will forever remain helpless. But if they are confident enough about their claims of having no business with Katurebe, below is a smart proposal for consideration.

Since Gen. Muhoozi might return to Kigali for further talks in future, how about he comes with Katurebe? He would then leave him behind after the visit, with the intention to allow Kigali separate him from any writing and internet facilities, as well as conduct own monitoring on him. That way if the RPF Gakwerere page remained the same three months down the road, we would conclude that Kigali all along was clueless.