Prime
When Mbabazi letter set stage for Sejusa’s 26-year fight to quit army
Gen David Sejusa (left) meets commander-in-chief Yoweri Museveni upon his return from exile in 2014. PHOTOS/ FILE
What you need to know:
Mr Mbabazi’s December 8, 1996, letter, which was written on the advice of the commander-in-chief, suggested that the General had channelled his resignation through a wrong platform. He advised him to seek his resignation through the Army Commissions Board. Mr Mbabazi’s letter was precipitated by a December 3, 1997, letter that Gen Sejusa had written notifying the army of his resignation.
Twenty seven years ago on Friday, the State minister for Defence, Mr John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, wrote back to Maj Gen David Sejusa, then known as Tinyefuza, declaring his resignation from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) null and void.
Mr Mbabazi’s December 8, 1996, letter, which was written on the advice of the commander-in-chief, suggested that the General had channelled his resignation through a wrong platform. He advised him to seek his resignation through the Army Commissions Board.
Mr Mbabazi’s letter was precipitated by a December 3, 1996, letter that Gen Sejusa had written notifying the army of his resignation. RO 00031 became the first high-ranking army officer to make the move.
He cited harassment from the top leadership of the army over remarks that he had made before a committee of Parliament which was probing the army’s execution of the war against the Joseph Kony-led Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The General had earlier told Parliament that the insurgency in the north was being fuelled by “corruption and inefficiency”, which did not go down well his bosses.
“…I feel I am unjustly being harassed over my testimony before that parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs. To require me to appear before the High Command so that action is taken against me is rather too high-handed,” he wrote.
He added: “It is, therefore, because of the above that I must resign from the army and subsequently it’s High Command. I find it unjustified to continue serving in an institution whose bodies I have no faith in or whose views I do not subscribe to.”
READ MORE: Sejusa letter: How we were closed, reopened
Stage set
Mbabazi’s response set the stage for what would later turn out to be an on-and-off struggle that would end in September last year when he was discharged from the UPDF during a function held at State House Entebbe.
The letter was the continuation in the same spirit of rebelliousness, independent mindedness and free speech that he had first exhibited during the making of the 1995 Constitution.
Opposing NRM
Sejusa had tried during the making of the Constitution, to oppose automatic extension of the Movement for another five years.
That was obviously against the wishes of President Museveni and other power brokers in the NRM. The General was practically dragged before the Movement’s Constituent Assembly Caucus where he was forced to retract his comments.
He was also forced to promise that “henceforth before expressing any opinion on any constitutional or political matter, I shall seek the guidance and authority of the appropriate organs of the army”.
He was nevertheless one of the two soldiers, along with the late Lt Col Sserwanga Lwanga, who abstained when the CA voted to have Uganda continue under a “no party rule” system. The vote culminated in the inclusion in the 1995 Constitution of Article 269, which barred parties from engaging in “any activities that may interfere with the movement political system”.
That meant that parties could not operate branches, hold public rallies or sponsor candidates for political office.
Legal battles
The former police officer responded to Mr Mbabazi’s letter by mounting a legal challenge in which he argued that he had ceased to be an army officer in February 1993 when he was appointed a presidential advisor on military affairs.
He sought a declaration that the rejection of his resignation and threats to subject him to disciplinary action were unconstitutional and a violation of his fundamental human rights.
Amama Mbabazi
On April 25, 1997, following three weeks of hearings that commenced on February 18, 1997, all the five Judges of the Court of Appeal, namely Deputy Chief Justice Seth Manyindo, Justice Galdino Moro Okello, Justice Mpagi Bahigeine, Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende and Justice Patrick Tabaro ruled in his favour.
“The minister had no authority to declare the petitioners resignation from the High Command,” Justice Engoda Ntende said in his submission, adding, “The petitioner’s resignation from High Command ought to be attended by the High Command, taking into account the fact that the petitioner cannot be compelled to belong to the army when he no longer wishes to be a member thereof.”
The General was awarded damages. “I would grant the orders of redress prayed for and declared that no organs of the State or authority can proceed against the petitioner. By virtue of my findings that taking action against the petitioner would be unconstitutional. I would find a restraining order unnecessary. I would award costs to the petitioner,” Justice Tabaro ruled.
Gen Sejusa, the court ruled, enjoyed an absolute privilege in his testimony to Parliament, adding that not even the President had the power to prosecute him over that.
Military Police officers subsequently collected army stores, including arms, uniforms and communication equipment from his home in Kyengera, but in May government filed before the Supreme Court a petition seeking to overturn the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
A deal was subsequently made. He publicly apologised to the President and returned to active service. That culminated in his appointment in 2005 as Coordinator of Intelligence Services, a post that he held until May 2013 when he penned a letter alluding to what he described as the “Muhoozi Project”.
In the letter addressed to the Director General of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), he claimed that Mr Museveni was reportedly planning to have his son, then a Brigadier in the UPDF, succeed him, adding that senior officials in both the government and military who were opposed to the project were going to be killed.
Gen Sejusa must stop politicking - army
He subsequently fled into exile in Britain from where he accused the government of plots to poison its political opponents. He named Cerinah Nebanda, the former Butaleja Woman MP, as one of those that had been killed by the State.
He also alleged that former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president and presidential candidate, Col Dr Kizza Besigye, had won the 2006 elections, but that results were altered to have Mr Museveni as the winner. He vowed to fight the NRM government, saying conditions prevailing in the country made “war inevitable”.
However, he in a surprise move returned to Uganda in December 2014 under a negotiated settlement. Details of the settlement have never been made public.
Gen David Sejusa, then known as Tinyefuza.
Renewing quit fight
Shortly after his return, Gen Sejusa once again sought to quit the army, but his application was rejected. That set the stage for another legal battle.
He filed a suit in the High Court on grounds that the withdrawal of his entitlements meant that he had been “constructively retired”, which court agreed with.
In October 2018, the army listed him as one of the 17 UPDF Generals that had been lined up for discharge from the army, but his name was in June 2019 taken off the list under unclear circumstances. It looked like the stage had been set for yet another legal contest. That did not materialise.
He finally got his wish on August 31, 2022. He was one of 34 Generals who were discharged during a function held at State House Entebbe.
