Rodney Muhumuza
11 November 2009
Maj. Gen. James Kazini was yesterday morning found dead in a two-bedroom house in Namuwongo, the apparent victim of an iron bar smashed against the back of his head. The former army commander was 52.
The suspected killer was a woman named Lydia Draru, his alleged mistress, who, before being arrested, is said to have told strangers arriving inside her gated compound that she was at peace with her decision. "I've done it. Now you can call the Police," she cried out loud, attracting the attention of another neighbour, who told Daily Monitor that she was bathing her child when she heard angry voices coming from the house's direction. The noises suggested that it was a case of domestic violence, she said.
Multiple sources, all of whom said they were among the earliest to arrive at the scene, described Ms Draru as "confused" in the wake of her alleged crime.
Ms Draru, whose name is the Lugbara word for "deathly," was sharing the house with her younger sister, a student. It was not immediately clear what the woman did for a living. "I had always seen Kazini entering the house," one neighbour, a woman in her 30s, told Daily Monitor. "But I thought that he had a relative there. I don't know much about them."
The neighbours requested anonymity, citing the need for privacy.
For over four hours, as police and security officers turned the house into a chaotic crime scene, Gen. Kazini's body lay in a pool of his blood, some of it flowing out of the door and into the compound.
A broken table inside the living room suggested that the couple had had a scuffle before Gen. Kazini took the fatal hit, an account that was corroborated by the immediate neighbour. "I woke up when I heard them fighting," said the neighbour, who has lived there at least two years longer than Ms Draru. "It was a big fight, but I could not tell what really was going on." Police investigators seemed overwhelmed by the crime, and there were no clear answers by the time the body was driven away in a police ambulance, at 9.45am.
Wife arrives
It was not long after Gen. Kazini's widow, Phoebe, had arrived at the scene, appearing firm as she entered the compound. But she was sobbing inconsolably as she left, her friends urging her to face the cameras with strength. Trade Minister Kahinda Otafiire, who was one of several army and intelligence officers to arrive at the crime scene, was heard telling police detectives to investigate whether the suspected killer "could have been assisted".
Police sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the killer's motive was unclear, and that any investigation into the case should consider the possibility that she was not acting alone.
Official police sources were not readily available for comment. David Kazini, the victim's nephew, said the former army chief was last seen at his Muyenga house at around 5am.
There, according to the boy, 23, Gen. Kazini proceeded to swap his UPDF vehicle for a luxury Land Cruiser, which was still parked outside Ms Draru's house by 11am yesterday. "It is possible that he had been drinking," the boy, who shares a house with the Kazini family, said yesterday. "He left the driver and took another car. It was about 6am when he left." The boy, a student, said the family knew about Ms Draru, and that it was commonly believed that they had a child together. It was not possible to verify that account.
In 2003, Gen. Kazini was replaced by Gen. Aronda Nyakairima as army commander at an emotional function in Bombo, ending his reign at the top of an institution that employed him since the early days of the Museveni administration. His departure from the top job also predated a series of disciplinary and corruption cases that seemed to cast him in a role against the establishment. Gen. Kazini's career had taken him to Congo, where he was accused of looting natural resources, and to northern Uganda, where he battled the Lord's Resistance Army but failed to capture Joseph Kony.
The Basongora leaders in Kasese have attributed the death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini to his redundancy. Mr. Wilson Okaali, the Chairman of the Basongora Group for Human Rights and Justice, said yesterday that Gen. Kazini, undeployed since June 5, 2003 when he was fired as army commander resorted to drinking because of his predicament.
"The General was idle and redundant and decided to associate with women and booze which has finally led to his death," said Mr Okaali, who blamed President Museveni for keeping Gen. Kazini, one of his formerly trusted lieutenants, in the cold. The Basongora are Gen. Kazini's kinsmen. The former army commander was a cult hero amongst his kith and kin who live in Kasese.
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