The Ki Truck: Museveni’s annoying guard vehicle

Is the Ki Truck there? This has of late become the new way of exchanging pleasantries both online and physically. It is like a violent evil spirit that they fear to mention, the caution with which everyone expresses themselves about the truck yet at the same time trying to be jocular about it is enough to give one insight, that it has for some time attracted hate and debate in equal measure.

For one who is yet to swing with the debate, the Ki Truck is a green van which is used by the Presidential Security team to cut off access to roads leading to a venue where President Museveni is anticipated to host or be hosted.

Baptised the Ki Truck, particularly for its size, credit really goes to the driver for his meticulous parking skills. One would wonder how the truck of that size manages to cut off the whole road, leaving no space for even a Boda Boda to squeeze through or even the tiniest of bikes.

Many times, the truck is moved to allow the staff of President Museveni to access the roads to the venue after several investigations and back-to-back radio call conversations between commanders and the deployed officers, however, the truck is later placed back in its position as if it never moved an inch.

The truck is a dominant sight and now a complete signal that the President is expected somewhere. It is a press release on its own, a radio announcement, and most importantly a warning to those who love taking careless strides. It is a traffic jam alert, and many would love to ascertain its presence before they can engage gears towards Kampala town.

While the truck moves ahead of the President wherever, it is known for making mobility in the city cumbersome by imposing itself around Kololo areas, cutting off traffic supply to most vital roads and businesses for a good amount of time.

Forum for Democratic Change spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju is the first person to publicly make an outcry regarding the truck.

Ssemujju while in parliament this week asked the Prime Minister to find a compound for the First Family so that they can stop parking military trucks in the middle of the road.

“I have spent a whole hour to reach here, there are military trucks that have sealed off Kololo roads. I am told the president is holding meetings there,” Ssemujju lamented.

“We have roads in Kololo but these days when coming to Parliament, there are trucks that seal the roads when the president is having meetings, even the KCCA roads near Nakasero State House. Maybe we should procure a compound for the president because if it’s not……him, it’s the wife or son. I use the banks in Kololo and sometimes I go without money for a whole week.”

Ssemujju's concerns are the same for everyone, but like everyone else, we can only continue with the debate since the security needs of the President are better left to his security team.

The president is bound by law to be secured and the team charged with that role can go to extremes to ensure their job is done and executed better.

The truck is not the only Museveni security car that has caused heated debate. At a recent session of parliament in which they were to vote the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Members of Parliament demanded that a security detail car belonging to President Museveni be shifted from its position.

The car which according to sources is occupied by Museveni’s convoy overseer is installed with cameras which are able to capture images at a distance and send them to a satellite.

The MPs argued that the cameras were looking into their pre-ticked ballots and were making them uncomfortable.

Museveni’s security tactics have become a talk recently, one-time Daily Monitor Journalist lamented about the heavy deployment of Special Forces at different junctions along the road throughout the day, wondering why the President would be heavily guarded.

Nile Post understands that the president’s security has since been revised following the Arua debacle in which a group of rowdy people from a rally organised by Bobi Wine intercepted the convoy with the president on board.

The interception resulted in one of the convoy cars close to the Presidential official vehicle being stoned.