Prime
Gen David Sejusa: The man who will never leave UPDF
Author: Asuman Bisiika. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
...let Gen Sejusa leave the UPDF. Even with his acerbic rhetoric, the man had no influence on the 2016 and 2021 elections.
The Court of Appeal recently determined that Gen David Sejusa was still in the service of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Attorney General who was challenging a High Court ruling in which Sejusa was declared to have been constructively out of the UPDF.
Gen Sejusa was a police officer before he joined Mr Museveni’s rebel National Resistance Army. In the rebel army, he rose to be the director general of military intelligence and a member of the high command (the apex body of the rebel army).
But Sejusa (formerly David Tinyefuza) has had a troubled relationship with the military. Even in the bush, he is said to have been imprisoned for some infraction or other. In 1986, the rebel army took over state power.
They installed a government and turned themselves into the national army. They later gave themselves formal service ranks. Sejusa was made a Brigadier. Given the fact that there was only one Lt General and four Maj Generals, being a Brigadier was up there.
Then there was a some kind of reorganisation in 1988 or thereabouts. Maj Gen Salim Saleh, the Army Commander was fired. For his replacement, Mr Museveni is said to have suggested Brig Tinyefuza (as he then was) but asked Gen Saleh to suggest a name for his replacement. Bombshell: Saleh suggested Col Mugisha Muntu.
Museveni then promoted Col Muntu to the rank of Major General and appointed him Army Commander. The joke is that Gen Sejusa never forgave Gen Saleh (and Muntu?).
And by the way, the recent Court of Appeal case was not the first in which Gen Sejusa sought to leave military service. In the late 1990s, his case reached the Supreme Court (I am not sure about this though). Noteworthy, both the 1990s case and the recent one are back-grounded with his fallout with the establishment.
In the tradition of the ‘original’ national resistance, departure from military services catapults soldiers in the political realm. And Sejusa did just that. But there was no political avenue at the time that could accommodate him.
As coordinator of intelligence services, Gen Sejusa alleged that there was a plot by the establishment to enable Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba (Mr Museveni’s son) to succeed his father as President. He fled into exile and made himself very political.
A very articulate fellow, the Uganda political opposition was excited. The only party that he could join was the FDC. And at that time, it was led by Gen Muntu. The FDC leader made it clear: he would not touch a serving military man with a very long stick. But those who can read letters from sealed envelopes thought otherwise. It was the original sin: Sejusa and Mugisha are said to have had their own issues relating to the appointment of Army Commander in the late 1980s.
Dr Kizza Besigye, the doyen of FDC, was cozy about Sejusa but he was not the FDC party president. Dr Besigye had his limitations. Even then, public perception was against Gen Sejusa becoming one of the party leaders. And so, in Sejusa, Ugandans have a very politically articulate and highly self-regarding aging general with no political space to occupy. And oh yes, in Gen Sejusa, Ugandans have a man in a military service unwilling to serve.
So, we make an appeal to Mr Museveni: let Gen Sejusa leave the UPDF. Even with his acerbic rhetoric, the man had no influence on the 2016 and 2021 elections. Is Museveni making Gen Sejusa the man who will never leave the UPDF?
Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]
