The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) is set to exit a total of 34 Generals who have reached retirement age. The group has largely served since the 1986 National Resistance Army liberation war under now President Yoweri Museveni .
The exercise happens at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Mbuya, in the Chief of Personnel and Administration boardroom, between Monday 16 and 17. After-which, a ceremony will be conducted to send off the Generals in honour.
Among the prominet Generals to be retired include; Gen Elly Tumwine, Gen David Sejusa, Lt Gen John Mugume, Lt Gen Proscovia Nalweyiso,Lt Gen Andrew Gutti, Maj Gen Stephen Kashaka, Maj Gen Phinehas Katirima, Maj Gen Elly Kayanja, Maj Gen Michael Ondoga, Maj Gen Gavas Mugyenyi and Brig Stephen Kwiringira among the notable ones.
Some of the longest and most prominent Generals leave the dance floor officially , after achieving years of success and growth in ranks.
Gen David Sejusa
He was the coordinator of intelligence services and a senior presidential adviser to the President . He served as army commander and also a member of High Command UPDF, the UPDF defense council and a member of parliament representing the Uganda People’s Defence Force. He had a falling out with Museveni and formed the Freedom and Unity Front in exile in the United Kingdom.
In Febuary 2022, the Court of Appeal ruled against Gen Sejusa in a case where he wanted to be compensated for being withdrawn from the army while still a serving officer.
Sejusa had asked the court to declare that he ceased to be a UPDF officer on April 8, 2015, when he applied to retire. In his suit, Sejusa explained that the refusal to pay him his salary, since April 2013, the withdrawal of his uniforms, housing and transport allowances and guns among others, tantamount to constructive discharge from the army.
He asked the court to order the UPDF Commission and the Attorney General (AG), to hand him a discharge certificate as a sign that he has retired from the army.
His case stems from 2016,when Justice Margaret Oguli Oumo ruled that Gen Sejusa was entitled to constructive discharge by issuing him with a discharge certificate since he had ceased to be a serving officer in the army from the day his employer withdrew his salary, allowances and other benefits.
But the army through Senior State Attorney Max Kalemera argued that Sejusa was still an active serving officer, a status that remains unchanged until one gets a discharge certificate.
The decision of the High Court was however challenged by the Attorney General. It’s against this background that a panel of three Court of Appeal Justices comprised of Christopher Izama Madrama, Irene Mulyagonja and Monica Mugenyi quashed Oguli’s orders ruled in favour of the government.
To the Justices, Sejusa ought to have waited for feedback from the board before petitioning the High Court seeking to be discharged because there were pending correspondences between his lawyers and the President.
Gen Elly Tumwine
He is the former Security Minister in the Cabinet of Uganda, between 2019 and 2021.
He served as commander of the National Resistance Army from 1984 to 1987. He is one of the highest-ranking members of the Ugandan military.
He is an assuring General who is known to have directed police to shoot at protesters, this was after NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine was arrested on 18 November 2020 in Luuka, protests broke out which were met with excessive violence. Tumwine during a press briefing warned the public that the police have the right “to shoot you and kill you.”
Shortly after handing over office of Security Minister to his successor, Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi, Tumwine said that his inital role as a Senior Presidential Advisor would be to advise his Bush War comrade and former boss, to prepare for a smooth transition of power for “long-term stability of the country”.
Gen Andrew Gutti
Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti was appointed the chairman for General Court Martial in 2016, replacing the late Maj. Gen. Levy Karuhanga who passed on.
Between May 2012 and December 2013, he was the commander of the (AMISOM) in Somalia.
Before his deployment to Somalia, he was the commandant of the Uganda Commadant Senor Staff College. He served in this role between 2007 and 2011, having served as the Deputy to the Commanding Officer of the college, before that.
He is among the longest serving army court chairmen since its inception.
Joining the army in 1986, Gutti has risen through the ranks to reach the rank of Lieutenant General that he is on currently but has also held several assignments in the UPDF.
Gen Elly Kayanja
In September 2014, he was appointed as the Head of Operation Wealth Creation Programme, whose objective is to improve the standard of living of rural citizens, through farming.Previously, he served as the Deputy Director of National Intelligence, under General David Sejusa. Prior to that, he served as the Director General of the Internal Security Organisation(ISO).
Lt Gen Proscovia Nalweyiso
At her rank, she is the highest ranking female officer, in the Ugandan military. In 1983 a unit of female NRA fighters was formed and Nalweyiso was appointed as its commandant.
In 1985, the unit Nalweyiso commanded, participated in the NRA forces that attacked Mbarara military barracks. In 1986, when the NRA captured power, Nalweyiso was given the rank of captain and appointed the commandant of the 800-member women’s wing in the army, at that time. She steadily rose through the ranks and by 2000 was at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
For over a decade prior to her promotion to Major General, she had worked at the Uganda State House as an aide and military adviser to the president of Uganda.
In February 2019, in a promotions exercise that involved over 2,000 men and women of the UPDF, she was promoted from the rank of Major General to Lieutenant General.
Lt Gen John Mugume
He has been serving as the General Manager of Defence Forces Shop Limited, the duty-free commissary of the UPDF. In February 2019, in a promotions exercise involving over 2,000 men and women of the UPDF, he was promoted from the rank of Major General, to that of Lieutenant General.
