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GOOD BYE: Lt. Gen. Moses Ali has handed in his letter of resignation to the army chief |
BY ALFRED WASIKE
Lieutenant General Moses Ali has applied to retire from active service in the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces.
He said he wanted to retire �because I have been in the service of this country since 1968, a period of 36 years and I am still doing so despite being 65 years old.�
Sources at the UPDF Bombo headquarters said the Second Deputy Prime Minister/Minister for Disaster Preparedness, has asked the army�s Commission Board chairman, Major General Aronda Nyakairima to let him retire.
Ali copied his retirement application to the UPDF Commander-in-Chief, President Yoweri Museveni and Defence Minister, Amama Mbabazi.
Ali said, �On March 2003 I was officially allotted Army No. RO/10620 in accordance with General and Administrative Order No.17. Thereafter, HE Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces promoted me from Brigadier to the rank of Lieutenant General in accordance
with
General and Administrative Order No. 18.�
Ali recalled he joined the Uganda Army on May 16, 1968 and was first commissioned as an officer in the then Uganda Army in May 1969 as 2nd Lieutenant.
�However, my service in the army was interrupted together with that of others by the 1979 Liberation War against Idi Amin�s government. I left for exile as a refugee in southern Sudan,� he said.
He recalled that on July 16, 1979, the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) was formed under his leadership to struggle for the return of Ugandans exiled in the DRC, Sudan and Kenya.
�I led the organisation in that capacity for seven years, up to 1986 when I agreed with the president and joined the NRM/A Government.�
Ali also recalled that some of his forces were integrated into the NRA and he was appointed a minister on July 27, 1986.
�Unfortunately, my service in the NRM government was also interrupted on April 7, 1990 by my arrest and imprisonment for alleg
ed
treason. However, after three years I was acquitted by the High Court of Uganda on grounds that the allegations were malicious and false,� he wrote.
�In any case, the imprisonment was a blessing in disguise for it acted as a yardstick for the president to prove that I was actually innocent and a law-abiding officer who could be relied upon. That is why in 1994 he re-appointed me through the ranks of 3rd, 2nd and 1st Deputy Prime Minister,� he said.
Ali�s bid to retire from the army comes amid speculations of a Cabinet reshuffle. Rumours circulating in political circles in Kampala say a new cabinet list was last week withheld moments before release because it was dominated by Movement hardliners who would cost the NRM votes in 2006.
Published on: Sunday, 18th April, 2004 |
