Roads close again for Gen Tumwine

The first time roads in Kololo were closed for Elly Tumwine was 1986. He was commander of the National Resistance Army (NRA), which had just taken power after a five-year guerrilla war. Half of Windsor Crescent, a narrow street abutting the Uganda Golf Course, was closed to all traffic except that to the soldier’s house, and the few neighbours.

Such closures were not uncommon in those days. Armed crime remained rampant and the victorious rebel army had mop-up operations to conduct as it secured its grip over the country. The city would become more peaceful and Gen Tumwine’s role would change, from army commander to Junior Defence minister, then to head of the external intelligence agency but for 10 years the road remained closed, until just as suddenly, the armed soldiers at both ends disappeared sometime in 1996.

Yesterday, the roads in Kololo were closed again for Gen Tumwine. This time he lay in a casket draped in the national flag at the Independence Grounds. The great and the good, led by President Museveni and the army top brass turned out to pay their respects to the four-star general who died of complications arising out of lung cancer on the morning of August 25 at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. He was 68.

In the days since his passing was announced, social media has become the morbid norm, been awash with a mixture of heartfelt tributes from those he loved and loved him, and critical comments, some so vile as to be printable, from those who did not.

Much of it gravitated around comments made in November 2020 when security forces shot dead scores in and around Kampala during presidential campaigns. Those who are older or had longer memories referred to Gen Tumwine’s time as chair of the General Military Court Martial, and its controversial role in trying civilians, including the government’s political opponents.

None of that was on display at Kololo where his daughters tearfully but bravely spoke of a father’s tender love, where his son, Daudi, spoke stoically of 35 years of being trained for this moment – ostensibly to manage the family – and where his widow, Jolly, expressed the family’s gratitude with a firmness of voice and clarity of thought.

A common theme in the speeches was of a man who knew what he wanted, and defended his views stubbornly. 

In a speech littered with more references to biblical scripture than to military strategy or doctrine, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Wilson Mbadi, recalled Gen Tumwine commanding the listener to “liiisteeeen” to his point of view.

The children speeches

The children reminisced about their father refusing to wear a suit and tie to Parliament and, after being sent away, returning with a T-shirt on which he had printed a tie.  They also spoke of his love for his cows, including prized bulls that died of old age, rather than from the butcher’s cleaver, and which were accorded burials. Eccentric, defiant, and even funny.

It was left to the President to eulogise the soldier and his famous role as the soldier who fired the first shot of the NRA rebellion, during the attack on Kabamba Military Barracks on February 6, 1981. 

Gen Museveni, who in his A-Level vacation briefly taught the young primary schooler Tumwine, was in fine story-telling form. He easily recalled events from 50 years ago, as well as the fiasco of the first attack on Kabamba, and more successful subsequent attacks on Masindi and then on Kabamba itself on New Year’s Day 1985. The President was philosophical and generous in his praise of his fallen soldier.

Many things were left unsaid, including Gen Tumwine’s last public comments in which he called for a political transition, and for leaders to be more open to the views of others. Friends and allies said at the time that it showed a man who was reflective and whose views had been tempered by time and experience. Critics said it was too little, too late. For a brief moment yesterday it did not matter. The warm and tender words were said. 

On Friday, when his body was returned from Nairobi, combined security forces had sealed off the section of Nakasero Road, between the Nigerian High Commission to the Nakasero Hill Road intersection, where Gen Tumwine’s home is situated. On Monday, as soon as the cortege left for Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, the barricades and soldiers were removed.

At Kololo on Monday, when the speeches were done, Gen Tumwine’s casket was carefully  hoisted into a waiting military helicopter for his final journey to his home in Kazo, western Uganda. As the dignitaries departed one by one, the soldiers who had closed off the roads around Kololo removed their barriers, dismantled their guns, and left the roads to the usual traffic. It felt like 1986. It felt like 2022.