KAMPALA —In a scathing rebuke, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin M. Haji has dismissed allegations by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that the service provided false intelligence to the President regarding the ongoing national protests.
Haji’s statement was a direct response to Gachagua’s comments, which he described as “reckless” and “motivated by personal interest.” The intelligence chief reiterated that the NIS reports directly to the President, and therefore, the Deputy President would not be privy to the service’s findings.
“The NIS DG reports directly to the President as Commander in Chief. The role of the President as CIC has no deputy, so the DP wouldn’t know what the service presents to the President in its reports,” Haji said.
He also took aim at Gachagua’s alleged attempts to deflect attention from his own potential involvement in the protests, stating that the Deputy President’s “actions and words suggest a personal interest in the intelligence briefs revolving around the protests. Could it be that he is worried that the NIS may have pinned responsibility at his doorstep?”
The Director General further addressed Gachagua’s allegations of tribalism, stating that the service has removed individuals who were sabotaging the President, including some from the Deputy President’s own tribe.
“The DP is still bitter that many of his tribesmen who were serving in the NIS but sabotaging H.E. President William Ruto were removed from the service. It can only mean that the DP’s desire is to sabotage the President in the hope that if the President falls, he can benefit from it,” Haji said.
In a veiled warning, Haji suggested that the service has damaging information about the Deputy President but has chosen not to disclose it. “The DP should be aware that this service has files and extensive information about him that are damaging to him but we have kept it under wraps. We invite him to shed off the DP tag so that this service can show him what a personal fight looks like.”
The statement marked a rare public spat between the intelligence service and the Deputy President’s office, with Haji making it clear that the NIS would not be drawn into Gachagua’s “tribal politics of division.”
“We shall not fall prey to the DP’s tribal politics of division. Neither will we tailor our intelligence to fit into the DP’s power-hungry designs. Whatever his problems are, the NIS is not party to them and he must carry his heavy cross,” Haji concluded.
