The commander of Land Forces of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces – UPDF Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has announced his retirement from the army.
Gen Muhoozi made the announcement through a post on his Twitter profile on Tuesday afternoon.
“After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement,” he tweeted.
“Me and my soldiers have achieved so much! I have only love and respect for all those great men and women that achieve greatness for Uganda everyday,” the first son added.
Recall that in 2013 General David Sejusa Tinyefuza wrote a letter in which he explained there’s a project with the intention of having Muhoozi succeed his father as president.
“Army officers opposed to it were at risk of being assassinated,” Sejusa told the BBC, adding that Uganda was being turned into a “political monarchy” which was denied by Kainerugaba.
The letter led to the government’s most aggressive attack on the media. The police laid siege to the Daily Monitor for more than 10 days, while many in Uganda were surprised about the silence of the international community. Tinyefuza spent over a year in exile in Great-Brittain before he returned. He was later arrested for insubordination in 2016. The term ‘Muhoozi project’ is no longer taboo and even used frequently by Muhoozi fans on social media.
As Kainerugaba’s (now 48) retirement is probably accepted, the Court of Appeal recently ruled in government’s favor in a case in which the Attorney General sought to have former coordinator of intelligence services, Sejusa (67) back into the army.
In 2016, 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.
The judge of the High Court declared that Gen Sejusa is no longer subject to military law and ordered government to pay him Shs750 million as damages for violating his rights when he was arrested, detained, prosecuted and denied bail by the General Court Martial.
However, following the judgment, the Attorney General ran to the Court of Appeal to challenge the finding.
A panel of three justices of the Court of Appeal including Christopher Madrama, Irene Mulyagonja, Monica Mugenyi quashed the High Court decision.
The justices said that having sought retirement from the army in November 2015 but got no response from the UPDF Commissions Board within the mandatory 90 days, Gen Sejusa ought to have waited for feedback from the board before petitioning the High Court.
“lt is debatable whether the failure by the Board to communicate a decision within 90 days should be taken as a refusal of the resignation or as consent. What is important is that the Board is required to communicate in writing. The requirement to communicate is mandatory. This is taken from the wording of section 66 (2) of the UPDF Act,” the court ruled.
The judges explained that the approval of the application to resign can be withheld on reasonable grounds and that the effect of not communicating the approval or disapproval of the application meant that Gen Sejusa continued to be a serving army officer.
“ln practical terms, he remained the serving officer of the UPDF after the statutory 90 days and this amounted in practicaI effect, for the intervening period before he receives his or her approval or refusal of the approval, a refusal.”
The Court of Appeal consequently overturned the judgment by Justice Margaret Oumo Oguli that had indicated that Gen Sejusa had been retired from the army.
