President Yoweri Museveni has fired senior spy Brig Gen. Ronnie Balya as Internal Security Organisation boss following the much circulated rumour that was set to replace Gen Kale Kayihura as Inspector General of police.
Balya, born 1961 in Kabarole District, joined the National Resistance Army in 1985, has been forced to hand over the leadership of the powerful intelligence outfit to Rtd. Maj Kaka Bagyenda and appointed ambassador but to a yet to be revealed foreign mission.
Brig Balya is said to have been fired after failing to tell the President that his agency had forewarning or had made enough investigations of last year’s attacks on Police and military installations in the Rwenzori region.
But an insider told TheUgandan that Balya said he had gotten enough intelligence though it did not specify where the attack would take place and he had passed it on to the “relevant authorities” (read, Special Forces Command), adding that his powerful agency’s role was only to collect information.
To Museveni, the firing of Brig Balya was very much necessary because he had failed to defuse the tensions between the security forces and loyalists of King Charles Wesley Mumbere thus classified as an under performer.
His agency is also blamed for having poorly handled the case of an Eritrean billionaire who was kidnapped and murdered in Kampala. ISO has also failed to crack the ring of assailants who have killed several Muslim leaders under similar circumstances in just less than a year among others cases.
Recent trends shows that, for Museveni, ejecting an officer from a command position to the “unclear” position of Ambassador or Senior Presidential Advisor is either a soft landing for cadres capping of a career in the forces that he wants to keep on a salary, a sign of displeasure with officers he wants to keep on a leash, or errant poor performers he cannot fire anyhow because they are close to him. Indeed, that is what happened when the president’s younger brother, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh, fell out favour.
Tuesday’s decision comes several days after a major UPDF reshuffle that saw high ranking army chiefs redeployed in which almost all of Brig Gen Balya’s compatriots but Kale Kayihura were fired or demoted to lesser positions.
It’s said he was not at good terms with Gen Kale Kayihura who was allocated a big chunk of funds for espionage in the wake of the 2010 Kampala terror attacks.
Powerful ISO bosses
The agency was founded in 1986 and took over the duties first performed by Military Intelligence.
The first Director General was Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, who led it until 1996, before Brig. Henry Tumukunde took charge up to 2003. ISO has trained intelligence officers recruited from all over the country. Upon recruitment, the operatives are trained at the Institute of Intelligence and Security Studies at Makajo. On July 27, 2010, Balya was appointed director general of ISO, replacing Amos Mukumbi but he seems not to be living any legacy.
