KAIHURA THE SMACK OB

General Kayihura groomed for priesthood but turned out a soldier Lt General Kayihura at Christ the King Church. Photo by Andrew Bagala By Andrew Bagala (email the author) Posted Sunday, August 5 2012 at 01:00 Even before Lieutenant General Edward Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, was born on December 26, 1955, his father John Kalekyezi commonly known as John Kale had already laid for him a firm foundation. John Kale was very instrumental in the fight for Uganda’s independence.Although Kale died in a plane crash on August 17, 1960 Kiev, Ukraine, before Uganda attained her independence, his mark on Uganda’s struggle for independence was a fertile ground for Gen. Kayihura’s career. An altar boy As an orphan, Kayihura started his primary education in Gasiza Primary School in Kisoro District, where his father hailed from. He later joined Buhinga Primary School in Fort Portal District where his leadership skills first came to a test when he was elected a school prefect. But during his childhood, Gen. Kayihura’s caretakers prepared him to be a catholic priest. “Daddy (John Kale) had bonded with the church so much. The values I have were from him. My relatives wanted me to be a priest and I was an altar boy in church,” he recalls. Share This Story Share His childhood friend, Reverend Father James Burasa, Regional Superior Congregation of Holy Cross, District of East Africa attests to this. “Your name is forever remembered in the Diocese of Fort Portal and Virika parish in particular,” Rev. Fr. Burasa once told him when the Congregation of Holy Cross was giving him an award in 2009. After completing his primary level, he was admitted to Mutolere Senior Secondary School in the same district. The high school years Fr. Burasa says Gen. Kayihura was a brilliant child and became the best student in his school after sitting the East African Ordinary Certificate of Education (EACE) examinations in 1973. Given his humble background, Kayihura chose Busoga College, Mwiri in eastern Uganda for his Advanced level education. But his aunty, the wife of the late Permanent Secretary, Francis Gasasira, rejected it. “I chose Mwiri because I thought that is where I belong, but she personally brought me to St. Mary’s College, Kisubi and talked to the headmaster so that I join a school where my father studied,” Kayihura says. Admitted in a prestigious school, he was allocated a bed in Kakooza House in which he was later elected the minister of Labour. “I was active in lawn tennis and in drama society, Debating Club and I was a member of the Young Christian Society,” he says. In 1976, he left St. Mary’s College Kisubuafter attaining the East African Advanced Certificate of Education (EAACE) and joined Makerere University.