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Mike Mukula first ventured into mainstream politics in 2001
Flight Captain Mike Mukula first ventured into mainstream politics in 2001 when he was elected the Member of Parliament (M.P) for Soroti Municipality in Teso region. Immediately after, Museveni appointed him Minister of State for Health. He came to the limelight when he became the patron of the Arrow Group – a local initiative of vigilantes from Teso region who helped the army to defeat the LRA incursion in that region in 2003. The group was mainly comprised of mainly former rebels of the Uganda People’s Army (UPA) that had abandoned rebellion and joined rebellion in 1991.
Intelligence reports reaching Museveni at the time indicated that Mike Mukula was nursing ambitions of vying for the presidency. In May 2006 Museveni dropped him from his cabinet and the following month the commission of inquiry into mismanagement of Global Fund to fight Malaria, TB and AIDS released its report with among other recommendations that the culprits (Mukula inclusive) should be prosecuted. The theft of 1.6b shillings had also involved the then Minister of Health, Gen. Jim Muhwesi, State Minister Dr. Alex Kamugisha, and Alice Kaboyo, who doubled as museveni’s in-law and Private Secretary. As Mukula’s presidential ambitions became more open, a year later Museveni decided to act on the report of the commission of inquiry. A combined force comprising of police, Military Police, and regular soldiers arrested Mike Mukula and dragged him straight to court that remanded him to Ruzira Prison on charges of abuse of office. Later on Gen. Muhwezi, Dr. Kamugisha and Alice Kaboyo were also arrested, charged and remanded and they were all granted bail by the High Court. Following a series of petitions in both the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, criminal proceedings were halted.
During this period Mukula went ahead with his presidential ambitions. He expressed dissatisfaction with the Museveni regime in a secret meeting with top officials of the USA Embassy. During the meeting he told the diplomats that Museveni’s popularity was dwindling within his party and that he was grooming his son as his successor. He went ahead to advise that he should not impose his son on the party and the country before warning that such a move would have a backlash. He went ahead to disclose that he was advocating for the restoration of presidential term limits and that NRM’s support in Buganda was dwindling.
In March 2012 the four accused big shots withdrew their appeal. The trial resumed in June 2012 before the Anti-corruption Court. Immediately upon resumption of the trial, on 12th June 2012 Alice Kaboyo changed her mind and decided to plead guilty for theft of 250m shillings. She was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an alternative of 20m shillings fine. She paid the 20m fine and was let off the hook. On 18th March 2013, court concluded the trial by acquitting Gen. Muhweezi and Dr. Kamugisha of any wrong doing but found Mike Mukula guilty as charged. He was sentenced to a mandatory four years imprisonment for theft of 261m shillings and made to refund it after it was discovered that out of the 263m shillings he had given the 54 million to the First Lady under unclear circumstances. Mike Mukula cried foul alleging that his conviction was politically motivated and that he was a victim of selective prosecution.
As had always been the practice, a high powered delegation from Teso region comprised of Bishops, M.Ps, elders, cultural leaders and others met Museveni and appealed to him to set free Mike Mukula. Museveni told them that he couldnt twist the law to grant freedom to the jailed Mukula. However, he promised to pay for his legal fees and indeed 100m of the tax payer’s money was given to Mike Mukula for his legal fees. During the same meeting, Museveni went ahead to lecture members of the delegation over Mukula’s luxurious lifestyle. He said “……..knowing the dangers of people who love who love soft life, the NRM made it a philosophy and enshrined it in its constitution, the distaste for people who love luxury as they often ignore people’s affairs.” At the time, Mukula owned six planes and a chain of business enterprises. Two months later, in March 2016 the High Court quashed Mukula’s conviction and he was set free from prison.
After realizing that his presidential ambitions were a matter of life and death, in May 2015 Mukula announced his retirement from politics. In an extensive interview with The Monitor, he indirectly attacked Museveni’s continued hold on power thus “…..it is always right to come out of politics when you are still popular, not to be chased by the people.” He bitterly and courageously confirmed the views over the Museveni regime that he had shared with the diplomats at the USA Embassy in 2001. He went ahead to declare that he had dropped his presidential ambitions thus “…….we agreed that we have one presidential aspirant that we would like to support as the NRM flag bearer and that is President Museveni”. In a turn of events, Mukula went ahead to retain the NRA Vice Chairmanship for Eastern region.
In November 2015, Mike Mukula offered his helicopter for Museveni’s election campaigns. During the early days of the elections campaigns in the eastern region, the helicopter would fly at all the Museveni rallies. By mid December 2015, Museveni’s campaign team and security detail were uncomfortable with Mukula’s dominance at the campaign rallies. His helicopter was was branded a security threat to the president. By mid January 2016, Mukula and his helicopter were totally absent from Museveni’s campaign rallies. When violence broke out in the Rwenzori region immediately after the elections, Mike Mukula self assigned himself as the mediator between the protagonists – Bakonjo and Bamba cultural leaders. He put himself in the line of fire when he contradicted the regime by publicly stating that the violence in the Rwenzori was not ethnically motivated. He was later accused of falsely claiming that he was sent by Museveni to organise national inter-religious prayers for the violence in the Rwenzori yet the regime was selling the ethnic version of events. It was later reported that Museveni had ejected Mukula from poking his nose into the Rwenzori affairs. During the regime’s Central Executive Committee meeting at State House, Museveni branded Mukula a conman for masiqurading as his envoy in the Rwenzori region violence. He reportedly advised Mukula that the Rwenzori violence was a security matter before advising him to leave it to the security people.
