The general who chairs a court that tried him

On December 1, 2003, President Museveni carried out one of the biggest purges in the military with a reshuffle that left 28 army officers sent on forced leave.

In his message sent to all army units, a furious Museveni ordered that all those officers be court-martialed over ghosts on the army payroll and indiscipline.

The commander-in-chief sacked all but two of the five division commanders – Col Poteli Kivuna (2nd Division in Mbarara), Col Andrew Gutti (3rd Division in Moroto) and Col John Mugume (5th Division in Pader) – and sent them on forced leave.

Only the late Maj Gen Levi Karuhanga [1st Division] and Maj Gen Nathan Mugisha [4th Division], now Uganda’s deputy ambassador to Somalia, survived.

Former army commander, the late Maj Gen James Kazini, who was then in Nigeria for a course, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, who formerly worked as the director general of Internal Security Organisation, were also to face the court martial chaired by Gen Elly Tumwine at that time.

Others who were sent on forced leave were Maj Gen Stephen Kashaka, the late Maj Gen Julius Oketta, who was chief of Logistics and Engineering, Brig Mark Kodil and Maj Gen Fred Tolit.

Col Gutti, now Lt Gen, was replaced by Col Silver Kayemba, now Maj Gen and Uganda’s current military advisor in New York. The purge followed a probe into allegations of intrigue and ghosts on the army payroll.
The probe team was chaired by then minister of Defence, Amama Mbabazi, Gen David Sejusa and the late Noble Mayombo, the former Chief of Military Intelligence boss.

According to some sources, the recommendations of the Mbabazi probe team were mainly targeting the officers who were seen as close friends of the late Maj Gen Kazini.

Gen Gutti faced the court martial in 2004 over allegations of creating ghosts on the army payroll in the 3rd Division, but he was cleared by the court while others remained battling their cases until 2010.

He was the first officer among those who were sacked to be cleared. After the court cleared him, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier and appointed chief of training.

Appointing him chief of training was the beginning of his steady rise in rank and work that included political, staff and command duties.

A year after his promotion in June 2005, he was elected a Member of Parliament to replace Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde who was removed from the House and arrested over insubordination. Gen Tumukunde, who was the former Military Intelligence and Internal Security Organisation chief, was arrested from his residence in Kololo, Kampala.

In 2008, Gutti was promoted to Maj Gen. A year earlier he had been appointed commandant of the Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka, to replace Lt Gen Ivan Koreta whom he had deputised since 2007.

Gutti served as commandant of Kimaka until 2012 when he was promoted to Lieutenant General and sent to Somalia to command African Union troops. He replaced Maj Gen Fred Mugisha.
Lt Gen Gutti went to Somalia at a time when the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom) force operations had been restructured and Somalia was divided into sectors. Uganda was handling Sector One, Kenya took Sector Two while Burundi was given Sector Three.

Another new requirement that was issued and still stands is that the force commander is supposed to be at the rank of Lieutenant General.

Gutti, who had been a Major General for four years, was promoted to Lieutenant General and sent to Somalia, becoming the first officer at the rank of Lieutenant General to command Amisom force.

He went to Somalia when al-Shabaab had been pushed out of some parts of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, but they were still running bases in the outskirts of the city.

With the coming of Kenya as the third country with troops in Somalia, Lt Gen Gutti was faced with a big task of commanding a multi-national force, with troops of different doctrines.

“But all the same, we started off, staggered forward, reinforced by resolution 2036 of the UN, increasing the forces of Amisom from 12,000 to 17,000. We were able to expand now into all the four sectors of operation area,” he was quoted as saying in the media after his tour of duty.

He was replaced by Lt Gen Silas Mtigurirwa from Burundi in December 2013. On return from Somalia, he was sent back to Kimaka as the commandant.

In September 2015, together with Gen Katumba Wamala, Maj Gen Levi Karuhanga, Maj Gen Nathan Mugisha, Maj Gen Francis Okello and Maj Gen Fred Mugisha, he was decorated with the prestigious Legion of Merit medal by the United States Armed Forces for exceptional conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. He was decorated in appreciation for “good command” in Somalia.

In May 2016, he replaced the late Maj Gen Levi Karuhanga as chairman of the General Court Martial. The late Karuhanga died in April 2016. His first term as chairman of the court martial was from May 2016 to May 2018. On July 3, President Museveni reappointed Gen Gutti and gave him a second two-year term.

As the chairman of the General Court Martial, Lt Gen Gutti has handled some of the biggest cases in the history of the court such as the trial of the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, senior police officers who were accused of kidnapping of Rwandan refugees, and the trial of Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine.

Big cases
As the chairman of the General Court Martial, Lt Gen Gutti has handled some of the biggest cases in the history of the court such as the trial of the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, senior police officers who were accused of kidnapping of Rwandan refugees, and the trial of Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine.