Salim Saleh’s letter to Lord Mayor Lukwago refuses to be fake

Dear Brother Erias Lukwago, Lord Mayor, Kampala City – Caleb Akandwanaho, famously known by his rebellion moniker Salim Saleh, starts off penning a one-paged letter to Forum for Democratic Change Vice President for Buganda. 

In this letter, written on a notebook page titled Namukenkera Rural Industrial Centre, Saleh reveals what many pessimist political commentators have been saying about Uganda’s opposition politicians – eating from the hands of their oppressors. 

“Am very offended about what you have said about me and the power that am misusing,” Saleh, in fine handwriting, using black ink, wrote to Lukwago.   

That Saleh is offended by Lukwago’s political utterance during the United Forces of Change bogged End of Year prayers and takes off time to pen a personal private missive vindicates what the public has been saying about the regime compromising the opposition. 

In the same letter, Saleh writes: “I have withdrawn all the support I have been giving you in your political fights (political) until you apologize,”

“Otherwise Like Archbishop Ssemwogerere said obulimba nobukyaayi bwenkurabye nabwo – Uganda yakusabira,” Saleh concludes the letter in a mixture of English and Luganda. 

Even when it has been referred to as a regime propaganda ploy by the inner circle of the Lord Mayor, the emergence of this letter has startled Ugandans, especially those in the opposition and those who believed in what the likes of Lukwago are doing in the opposition. 

Just when Ugandans were starting to believe that the said letter is ‘fake news’, Ofwono Opondo P’Odel, the Executive Director of Uganda Media Center and a government spokesperson, hinted at it being truthful. 

Cryptically, on Twitter, Opondo reminisced how he ‘saw on numerous occasions a Kampala top politician then having troubles at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) meeting Saleh in the period 2016/17 at Serene Hotel in Mutundwe.’

This letter turning heads; l saw on numerous occasions a Kampala top politician then having troubles at @KCCAUG meeting Gen Saleh 2016/17 at #SereneHotel in Mutundwe. I can give evidence in a court of law. @skaheru @nbstv @MKarekye @DuncanAbigaba pic.twitter.com/wG95ib313N

— Ofwono Opondo P'Odel (@OfwonoOpondo) January 4, 2023

Many Ugandans have read between the lines to insinuate that the said troubled top politician at KCCA was indeed, Lukwago, who at the time was an embattled Lord Mayor having run-ins with government through the KCCA Minister.

The Investigator News, an online publication, in this article, details how Lukwago and Saleh met at Serena Hotel in Mutudwe giving credence to what Opondo cryptically said.

“It was during those days when the General had pitched camp at Mutundwe-premised Serene Suits. It is public knowledge, that whenever and wherever Gen. Saleh camps, it automatically becomes the Defacto centre of power,” the publication wrote on Wednesday. 

“Mayor Lukwago`s 2011-2016 term was a nightmare to him. It was marred with battles between him and the then KCCA iron Lady Jenifer Musisi, Kampala Affairs Minister of the time Frank Tumwebaze and at the helm, the main man himself, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni,” it further wrote.

Political pundit, Charles Rwomushana in trying to understand ‘the confusion surrounding the Lukwago Saleh Axis’ says he has ‘known for a long time and raised it publicly that the entire so-called opposition you see today is a construct of Gen Salim Saleh, manned by the Museveni Deep State for strategic security reasons.’

Understanding the confusion surrounding the Lukwago Saleh Axis part One.
I have known for a long time and raised it publicly that the entire so called opposition you see today is a construct of Gen Salim Saleh, manned by the Museveni Deep State for strategic security reasons. pic.twitter.com/aJkZKmWr98

— CHARLES RWOMUSHANA (@rwomchechen) January 4, 2023

Rwomushana, previously worked for the spy agency Internal Security Organization and was a member of the Constitution Assembly, the ‘parliament’ that formulated the current constitution in 1995. He can be reckless with words but you can’t shrug him off as just deceptive. 

There hasn’t been much of talking to own or disown the letter from the Saleh camp while the Lord Mayor camp has threatened legal action but not much has been said or done. 

For now, the public will find comfortable seats and continue to guess the authenticity, purpose and impact of the letter in black ink on a luxurious notebook white page and whose photo capture was taken while the paper was still intact in the booklet.