The State Minister for Regional Cooperation, Dr Philemon Mateke, 75, has revealed that he used to talk to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Mateke, a power broker from Kisoro, South Western Uganda, has in recent months been accused of supporting Rwanda National Congress (RNC) dissidents in the region.
It all started in December 2019 with Rwanda’s Junior Minister for Regional Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe alleging that militants who attacked Kinigi, Rwanda on October 3, 2019, were in regular contact with Mateke.
“One Ugandan telephone number appeared to have been in contact with the attackers both before and during the attack. And this number has been found to belong to Hon Mateke Philemon, Uganda’s Minister of State for Regional Cooperation,” alleged Nduhungirehe during bilateral talks in Kampala.
The attack on Rwanda’s tourism hub was launched from eastern DRC, close to the Ugandan border and the Volcanoes National Park.
State House Meeting
However, during a high level security meeting at State House Entebbe on February 24, Mateke revealed to President Museveni that “I used to talk to President Kagame. This is not a new thing. These people (Rwandans) want to blackmail me.”
He further stated that “Kagame knows my telephone number very well because I used to talk to him using it.”
An official, who attended the meeting, described the mood as “very tense”.
In the meeting were Chief of Defence Forces, Gen David Muhoozi, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, State Minister for Regional Cooperation, Philemon Mateke, Internal Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odong among others.
Responding to accusations from Kigali, Mateke said “the telephone number Kigali is using against me as the one used to coordinate with Kinigi attackers, is my usual number which I have been using since my time as Kisoro LC 5 chairman.”
“It’s the same number I used to talk with President Kagame and therefore there is nothing unusual with this telephone number and it’s not surprising that they use it in their propaganda against me since they know my number very well,” he emphasised as Museveni looked on in shock.
“My number had nothing to do with Rwandan rebels or any of the Kinigi attackers,” he emphasised.
There was pin drop silence in the room as Mateke, the respected elder and most influential political leader in South Western Uganda, spoke his mind.
Mateke is known for calling a spade a spade.
ChimpReports understands Mateke last year reported to president Museveni a possible plan by Rwanda to eliminate him.
Mateke rarely travels to his hometown of Kisoro, which shares a border with Rwanda, in fear of his life.
Whenever Mateke visits the area, the military deploys heavily at his home and in the township to secure him.
Kigali claims Mateke was a close associate of former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana hence his alleged support for dissidents fighting the government of President Kagame.
Nduhungirehe alleged that Mateke was working closely with a one Governor, a Rwandan dissident, to destabilize Kagame’s government.
But Mateke dismissed the accusations as “rubbish” and “totally untrue.”
“It’s not true, rubbish. Am I a Rwandese? Am I going to be a mercenary? Do I have capacity? Those people are very malicious as they have always been. When they want to eliminate a person, normally these are the excuses they give, you know their job is to eliminate people, but I am not their citizen,” charged Mateke.
During the meeting at State House, Mateke wondered why Uganda is “giving in too much” for Kigali and Kagame.
“Mzee (Museveni), are you giving in our sovereignty?” he wondered.
The Ugandan leader insisted that “there is no single person who can destabilize us. Uganda? No one. No one can dare us.”
He, however, urged calm, saying Rwanda and Uganda must work closely to resolve their bilateral challenges amicably.
The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was also attended by Museveni’s special envoy to Rwanda, Adonia Ayebare and his brother Brigadier Abel Kandiho – the head of UPDF military intelligence among others.