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Gen. Kazini, Tumukunde in big trouble
By Ogen Kevin Aliro & Frank Nyakairu Dec 2, 2003 KAMPALA â Brig. Joshua Masaba is the new Army Chief of Staff. Col. Benon Biraaro is his deputy. Masaba and Biraaro were promoted yesterday in a major shake-up that saw several top army officers, including Maj. Gen. James Kazini, Brig. Henry Tumukunde, Brig. Steven Kashaka and Brig. Nakibus Lakara sent on forced leave before they are investigated and court-martialed. Some of the officers shall be arrested and tried before Lt. Gen. Elly Tumwineâs General Court Martial. Kazini was the army commander until June this year when he was dropped and replaced with Maj. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima. Tumukunde is a former division commander and chief of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) â now under Col. Elly Kayanja. Lakara was the army chief of staff until yesterday. Masaba has been commander of the Air Force at Entebbe. Biraaro replaces Col. Fred Tolit who was the deputy chief of staff until yesterday. Tolit is being sent abroad on a military course. Brig. Julius Oketta has also been sacked as chief of logistics and engineering (CLE). Oketta is to be sent on a course. His replacement as CLE is Lt. Col. Jacob Musajjawaza. Col. Othieno replaces Col. Mark Kodil as chief of personnel and administration (CPA) at the Bombo General Army Headquarters. President Museveni, the Commander in Chief, yesterday also sacked all but two of the five division commanders. Col. Poteli Kivuna (Second Division in Mbarara), Col. Andrew Gutti (Third Division in Soroti) and Col. John Mugume (Fifth Division in Lira) were all sacked and sent on forced leave. Their deputies have taken over the divisions for the period the trio shall be under investigation. Col. Kayemba has reportedly taken over the Third Division from Gutti; Col. Hudson Mukasa has replaced Kivuna at Second Division, while Maj. Ruheesi has been promoted to lieutenant colonel and reportedly taken charge of the Fifth Division from Mugume. Col. Nathan Mugisha (Fourth Division in Gulu) and Brig. Levi Karuhanga (First Division in Kakiri) have, however, retained their respective commands. Others sacked and sent on forced leave include Maj. Bakirana who has been a director of military intelligence. He is the only officer affected from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) under Col. Noble Mayombo. Other officers reportedly in trouble are former Alpine Brigade commander Lt. Col. Dura Mawa Muhindo, Lt. Col. Steven Rwabantu, Brig. Steven Kashaka (a former CPA) and Lt. Kenneth Ayebare. In all, about 28 soldiers â from warrant officers to major generals â have been sent on forced leave, according to information available to The Monitor. New commanders Brig. Ivan Koreta is one of the beneficiaries from the latest changes in the military hierarchy. Koreta is the new commandant of the military college in Jinja. He replaces Biraaro there. Col. Arthur Musinguzi, a former deputy chief of logistics, has also been promoted to chief of records. Maj. Dick Olum celebrated his recent wedding with a promotion yesterday. He is now a lieutenant colonel and the director of manpower planning. The Monitor could not readily confirm reports that Olum is later likely to take charge of the proposed Sixth Division in Fort Portal. The officers sent on forced leave have reportedly been summoned from their stations to face an investigation and be court-martialed. That would mean that even Kazini, presently attending an elite military course in Nigeria, could be forced to cut short his studies to face the court martial. A top military source told The Monitor that some of the officers would be investigated in connection with corruption â especially the sensitive issue of âghost soldiersâ. âThose officers had to be removed in order to allow the investigation on ghost soldiers to go on smoothly without any undue interference. Some of them shall have to face the general court martial,â a military source told The Monitor. The source said that some suspects would be held under âhouse arrestâ for the duration of the investigation and the special session of the general court martial. News of the changes was first broken yesterday at 11:25 a.m. by 93.3 Monitor FM. Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza uncharacteristically refused to confirm the changes that were communicated to all army units yesterday as a military radio message. âWhat you are talking about is a command and administration decision. As of now I have no useful comment in the interest of the public,â Bantariza told The Monitor by phone. He added: âProgressively my minister or myself should be able to make useful comment for the public to know what you are inquiring about.â Asked whether officers such as Kazini, who is already on a course abroad would be recalled, Bantariza declined to discuss the fate of individual officers. âOrdinarily, if you are on duty and you are given leave to attend an inquiry, you are given freedom to make your submissions free of any official encumbrances,â he said. âWhen you have finished the inquiry then whoever gave you leave can again send you back to the course or re-deploy you accordingly â if you have not been found guilty. âI am saying this as a matter of principle and procedure in the army. It is not related to any individual or what you are inquiring,â Bantariza said. Ghosts in the army Defence MinisterAmama Mbabazi, Lt. Gen. David Tinyefuza and Mayombo have been investigating ghost-soldier related corruption in the army. The committee finished its work in August and its report, compiled by Tinyefuza, reportedly incriminates some senior army officers. According to military sources, Mayombo also separately investigated alleged âtreasonâ by some of the officers now on forced leave. It is not yet clear what form the said âtreasonousâ plots took. President Museveni, who is a lieutenant general in the army, has reportedly given an order to arrest and prosecute all the officers named. Kazini, Kivuna, Gutti and Tumukunde could now be court-martialed as reportedly recommended by Mayombo and Tinyefuza. The President, who is due to leave for Nigeria to attend the Commonwealth summit, yesterday met Army Commander Nyakairima and Mayombo in an âemergency meetingâ at State Lodge Nakasero. Museveni called the meeting after attending the World Aids Day events at Kololo Airstrip. The major shake-up comes only days after Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh, Museveniâs brother, resigned as one of UPDFâs 10 representatives in Parliament. Many of the officers sent on forced leave yesterday were said to be largely loyal to Saleh and Kazini. Some sources yesterday speculated that the new army commander (Nyakairima) is âcleaning outâ Kazini loyalists from key command structures in the military. Kazini is about four months old at the National War College in Abuja, Nigeria. It is not clear whether Museveni and Kazini shall meet when the President arrives in Abuja for the Commonwealth summit, which runs from December 5-8. - Additional notes by Alex B. Atuhaire & Angelo Opiaiya Izama Former UPDF Commanders - Ahmed Seguya (1981) - Sam Magara (1982-84) - Elly Tumwine (1984-87) - Salim Saleh (1987-89) - Mugisha Muntu (1989-98) - Jeje Odongo (1998-2001) - James Kazini (2001-2003) - Aronda Nyakairima (2003 -) -- UPDF Command Commander in Chief: Lt. Gen. Yoweri Museveni. Army Commander: Maj. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima. Chief of Staff: Brig. Joshua Masaba. Deputy CoS: Col. Benon Biraaro Chief of Personnel & Administration: Col. Othieno. First Division: Brig. Levi Karuhanga Second Commander: Col. Hudson Mukasa. Third Division: Lt. Col. Kayemba Fourth Division: Col. Nathan Mugisha. Fifth Division: Lt. Col. Ruheesi
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
