Where are the NRA commanders who were in charge of Birembo?

Gen David Sejusa, aka Tinyefuza
Gen Sejusa, who in the run up to the takeover of Kampala was charged with ensuring that fleeing UNLA soldiers got neither supplies nor reinforcements, has served in various capacities, including holding the office of Coordinator of Intelligence Services.
He has been an on-and-off critic of the NRM. During the making of the 1995 Constitution, he opposed automatic extension of the Movement system of governance for another five year, for which he was forced to apologise and retract his comments.
In 1996 after Mr Museveni refused to accept his resignation from the army, Gen Sejusa ran to the Constitutional Court, which ruled in his favour, but the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court. He later apologised to Mr Museveni.
Gen Sejusa fell out with the establishment in 2013 when he penned a dossier on an alleged “succession” plan. He fled to exile in the United Kingdom, but returned in December 2014. He often hobnobs with the Opposition.

Dr Kizza Besigye
In 1999, Col (rtd) Dr Kizza Besigye, who had earlier held several positions in government, including as National Political Commissar, wrote a paper, “An Insider’s View of How the NRM Lost the Broad Base,” in which he concluded that the NRM had gone off course. The paper nearly saw Dr Besigye who had been Mr Museveni’s Bush War doctor appeared before the General Court Martial.
The former president of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has since emerged as one of the biggest critics of Mr Museveni and the NRM. He has contested for the presidency four times against President Museveni.

Gen Joram Mugume
Gen Joram Mugume joined the NRA very early in the war.
He was commander of the NRA’s 3rd Division when Kampala was captured.
He later served as Chief of Combat and Operations (CCM) and Deputy Army Commander.
He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in May 2016 before being elevated to General in February 2019. He is retired, but remains the Chairman of the Board of the army’s trading arm, National Enterprise Corporation (NEC).

Maj Gen Steven Kashaka
Maj Gen Steven Kashaka was commander of the NRA’s 5th Battalion, which is credited with having annihilated the UNLA forces at Katonga.
The former primary school teacher also served as Chief of Personnel and Administration and was charged along with the late Gen Kazini for creating ghost soldiers on the army’s payroll. Failure to rein in on his temper has seen him appear in the news for slapping former Ngora County MP, Dr Francis Epatait, and a police officer, John Okecha.
He is retired, but remains Uganda’s Military Attache to Tanzania.

Maj Gen Pecos Kuteesa
He was one of Mr Museveni’s Bush War bodyguards and accompanied him several times on treacherous journeys across Lake Victoria and into Kenya in search of arms. The Munduli-trained officer was one of the first people to document their Bush War memoirs in the book, Uganda’s Revolution 1979-1986: How I Saw It.
Maj Gen Pecos Kutesa briefly fell out with his former Bush War leader, but has since been rehabilitated. He is the Army’s Chief of Military Doctrine and is one of the UPDF’s ten representatives in Parliament.

Gen Salim Saleh
Gen Saleh, who had several aliases, including Rufu (death), was commander of the NRA’s Mobile Brigade.
In 1987, he was given the rank of Major General and became the second Army Commander in 1987.
The man who coordinated the overall operation that brought Kampala under the NRA also served as State Minister for Defence and later Micro Finance. He is a senior presidential adviser on Defence and Security and coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation.

Brig Julius Chihandae
Brig Julius Chihandae is credited with having provided the NRA with 16 out of the 27 guns that the NRA used to launch the Bush War.
He was instrumental in the NRA’s success in June 1983 attack on Kiboga and served as the Deputy Commander of one of the NRA’s brigades.
In 1990, Chihandae was arrested and detained in Lubiri Barracks on accusation that he had a hand in the escape of Ahmed Kashilingi, who was facing treason charges.
When later acquitted by the General Court Martial, Brig Chihandae started trading in charcoal and tomatoes, forcing his former comrades to “rehabilitate” him.
He was later attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and posted as Uganda’s Military Attaché to Egypt and later Saudi Arabia.
He is retired.

The deceased

Three key officers of the revolution, namely Patrick Lumumba, Geoffrey Taban, Dr Ronald Bata, have since passed on.

Lt Col Dr Ronald Bata
Dr Ronald Bata joined the NRA in 1982 from Nakaseko Hospital where he had been one of the doctors.
During the war, he treated many ill and injured fighters, including President Museveni.
After the war, he became the NRA’s first Director of Health Services.
He died in the 1990s. The military hospital in Entebbe, which mostly caters for army, air force and Special Forces units, was renamed Dr Ronald Bata Hospital in recognition of his work.

Col Patrick Lumumba Ruyondo
The son of former Town Clerk of Masaka, Mr Nathan Ruyondo, who gave Mr Museveni the getaway car that took him to the jungles of Luweero, was in charge of the NRA’s 3rd Battalion, which besieged Masaka.
Col Lumumba later command the force that took Kampala’s central business district.
Initially, he was given the rank of Lt Col, but was later promoted to Colonel.
He passed on in a hospital in Germany in 1990.

Brig Geoffrey Kyabihende, alias Taban
The man who preferred to be called Taban, was one of the first 100 Bush War combatants.
He was one of Mr Museveni’s first seven bush war bodyguards under the command of the late Fred Rwigyema.
His last assignment was in the DR Congo as Uganda’s defence attaché.
He died in August 2017.