Gen Museveni Finally Retires Gen Sejusa

General David Sejusa, formerly Tinyefuza and Lt Gen Ivan Koreta are among top Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Generals that President Yoweri Museveni has cleared to retire from the army, the Nile Wires has exclusively established.

Other top UPDF officers the Commander in Chief has cleared for retirement include, Lt Gen Joram Mugume, Maj Gen Nathan Mugisha and Maj Gen Samuel Turyagyenda.

This is contained in the President’s instructions to the Chief of Defence Forces Gen David Muhoozi on Monday (October 29).

The army leadership will also retire twelve (12) officers at the rank of Brigadier while ten (10) Colonels are also part of the group set to retire next year in July.

The former coordinator of intelligence services, Gen David Sejusa came under fire from the UPDF for engaging in partisan political activities during the 2016 presidential campaigns yet he was a serving army officer.

Sejusa fled Uganda to UK in May 2013 after he wrote a controversial letter demanding an investigation into an alleged assassination plot against officials opposed to perceived presidential ambitions by First Son Maj Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

He returned in December 2014 and demanded to be retired from the army.

In 2015, Gen Sejusa dragged the army Commissions and Promotions Board to the High Court for allegedly refusing to retire him. He claimed that he ceased being an army officer on April 8, 2015 the day he applied to retire from UPDF.

In his suit, Sejusa claimed that the refusal to pay him his salary, withdrawal of his uniforms, housing and transport allowances and guns among others amounted to ‘constructive discharge’ from UPDF.

Sejusa who has served in the army for at least 34 years also sought for a court order to stop the army from deploying, arresting or molesting him after it failed to handle his retirement application.

Court first hesitated on making a ruling on Sejusa’s application but later dismissed it saying he was asking court to take over duties of the UPDF Commissions and Promotions Board which is unrealistic.

When contacted, Lt Col Deo Akiiki, the UPDF deputy spokesperson confirmed that Gen Sejusa is among the officers set for retirement.

“Every year, the retirement system considers those due for retirement over the next four to five years. He (Gen Sejusa) happens to be one of the Generals amongst others,” Lt Col Akiiki told this reporter through a WhatsApp message.

“There is no specific considerations for an individual but general considerations as per the retirement policy and guidelines laid down,” he added.

This is not the first time senior officers are retired from the UPDF.

Retirement in the UPDF has of recent become part and parcel of the service. In the past, some people feared that while entry was voluntary, exit was normally restricted.

Earlier this year, eleven UPDF Generals were retired, a move the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt Gen Wilson Mbadi said was evidence that the UPDF doesn’t keep officers in the army against their will.

“We are retiring 11 officers to demystify reports that we don’t retire senior officers,” said Gen Mbadi then.

Some of the officers that were retired this year include Maj Gen Hussein Adda, Maj Gen Kasirye Gwanga, Maj Gen Joshua Masaba, Maj Gen James Ssebagala and, Brig Yowasi Kizza.

Who is Gen Koreta

The 63-year-old trained in Mozambique under the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) led by Yoweri Museveni in 1970s.

He later joined Museveni in the bush in the 1980s.

Lt Gen Koreta was the commander of the UPDF 1st Division between 1986 and 1988 before he was sent to Liberia as commander of the Uganda peacekeepers in 1990s.

Later, Gen Koreta became the deputy Director of Internal Security Organisation (1988 – 2001) and was promoted to Major General. In 2004, he was promoted to Lieutenant General.