Six charged with plot to overthrow government

Gen Sejusa’s leaked letter on assassination claims sparked a storm in May. Photo by Faiswal Kasirye.

What you need to know:

Suspects, who include four Tinyefuza aides and presidential guards, tried in court martial over treachery and involvement in subversive activities.

Kampala

Six soldiers, among them two junior officers of the elite Special Forces Command, have been arrested and charged with plotting to overthrow the government, an offence that attracts a death sentence on conviction. The other suspects are four men who worked in various capacities in the Office of the Coordinator of Intelligence Services headed by run-away Gen David Sejusa, originally known as Tinyefuza, now living in Europe.

Our investigations reveal that soldiers implicated in coup manoeuvres were arrested in early May and taken into Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) custody and arraigned before its Unit Disciplinary Court in Mbuya, a Kampala suburb, on May 10.

The case was, however, referred to the UPDF’s General Court Martial in Makindye, another city outskirt, where the suspects appeared on May 28 and were indicted for treachery as well as aiding and abetting a crime. Treachery attracts the death sentence on conviction, according to the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act, 2005. The General Court Martial presided over by Brig Moses Ddiba Sentongo had set today to hear the suspects’ bail application, but deferred it at the last minute over “administrative issues” facing the court.

Those charged with treachery are Lance Corporals Grace Nasasira Rwakyozi, 39, and Geoffrey Mwebaze Karuhanga, 36, attached to SFC’s Task force Battalion and two Tank Battalion, respectively, and 30-year-old Frank Ninsiima who was an operative in Tinyefuza’s office.

Allegations
Prosecution alleges that the trio and others still at large, in or around the months of March to May 2013, and while in the areas of Mityana and Kampala, “consciously failed to disclose to proper authorities vital information about the recruitment of people to engage into activities intended to overthrow the legitimate government of Uganda”. According to the charge sheet, the two SFC soldiers, then based in Mityana District, were procured by their co-accused to recruit colleague presidential guards into “subversive activities”.

Prosecution alleges that James Karuhanga Nayebale, Moses Nuwagaba Kakarugahi and soldier/businessman Abel Twinamasiko alias Rubanuma in two months from March this year, conspired with others to aid, abet, counsel and procure other persons to overthrow Gen Museveni’s government.

This newspaper understands that the suspects are represented by human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi and he has applied for their temporary release on bail pending trial, arguing that they are still innocent until proven guilty and that “continued detention is a violation of the same right.”

Seeking bail
“The applicant has never absconded bail and will at all times appear at the hearing of the case until its conclusion,” Mr Nuwagaba, the military-civil relations officer in Gen Sejusa’s office, said in his bail application. It is not clear when the bail hearing will happen.

The suspects also aver that they are each a family head with fixed places of abode within the locality of the court and would not abscond. Gen Sejusa has been holed up in London since April after a letter he had written calling for investigations into claims of planned assassinations of top government officials leaked.

The government has dismissed the general’s claims that officials opposed to the idea of Mr Museveni’s son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, taking over from his father were targets of elimination, instead accusing the Bush War hero of harbouring his own presidential ambitions. Brig Kainerugaba, who commands the SFC, has also denied the alleged father-to-son power transfer talk, arguing that Uganda is not a monarchy.

What UPDF Act says about the charges

Treachery
A person subject to military law who, for any purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of Uganda—infiltrates the army of or is an agent of a foreign power or of any force engaging in war or warlike activities against the Government; consciously gives information to a foreign power or any force engaging in war or warlike activities against the Government or solicits information with a view to giving it to such power or force; consciously gives information to anyone without the knowledge and approval of the proper authority; or consciously withholds vital information from the proper authorities, commits the offence of treachery and is liable on conviction to suffer death.

Aiding or abetting commission of offence
A person subject to military law who— does or omits to do an act for the purpose of aiding any person to commit the offence; attempts to commit or abets any person in the commission of the offence; or (c) counsels or procures any person to commit the offence, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to the same punishment as the person who commits the actual offence.