BM TV Africa
Barely twenty years ago, Major Roland Kakooza Mutale was the most feared and discussed political enforcer in Uganda, having assigned himself the duty of ensuring nobody diminished President Museveni’s hold on power. Today, the once-untouchable powerbroker has fallen on incredibly hard times, living quietly and struggling in his old age in Namere, a small village just off Gayaza Road.
At the peak of his influence, Kakooza Mutale was virtually a state unto himself. His notorious Kalangala Action Plan (KAP) paramilitary group operated with impunity, moving in yellow buses with a brass band to intimidate, beat, and crash the skulls of Dr. Kizza Besigye’s supporters. His actions were so brazen during the 2001 and 2006 elections that the Edward Ssekandi-led Parliament established a commission of inquiry to investigate the state-orchestrated violence. The resulting report, pushed by figures like Winnie Byanyima, contained testimonies so traumatizing that Speaker Ssekandi shelved it out of fear, ensuring it was never debated.
Mutale proudly defied parliamentary summons, the Police, and the IGG, boasting that he was only answerable to the President, whom he fondly referred to as "Omwana w’omulaalo" (the herdsman’s son).
The turning point that shattered his invincible aura came when General David Sejusa famously intercepted, overpowered, and disarmed Mutale’s escorts in the full glare of media cameras. Sejusa publicly interrogated Mutale, demanding his State House appointment letter and questioning his legal authority to torture citizens or mediate land wrangles when he was not a judge. Demystified and stripped of his power, Mutale was subsequently evicted by Sudhir Ruparelia from a Bombo Road building and taken away by Sejusa's men.
Since then, the mighty Major’s political fortunes have continued to plummet. Desperate to regain favor, he took his infamous yellow bus to Lira in 2011 to campaign for the President, only to be expelled for tainting the campaign with KAP’s discredited image. A later attempt to campaign against FDC’s Salaam Musumba in Kamuli saw him flushed out of Busoga, and his final bid for relevance leading villagers to clean a forest in Kalangalo cemented his exit from the corridors of power.
**Where is Kakooza Mutale Now?**
Recent years have only confirmed his complete isolation and fall from grace. In a stark reminder of his lost immunity, the military even raided his Luwero farm a few years ago over suspected rebel activities, which was a humiliating search that yielded nothing but left him lamenting the waste of time and resources.
Today, in 2026, the ailing former journalist remains a forgotten man. He struggles to pay basic medical bills at small clinics in Mperere near his Namere home. Living alone, frightened, and discarded, Kakooza Mutale now battles the haunting realization that he was used and dumped, left to be mocked by the very opposition supporters he once mercilessly persecuted.
