Last night the Commander in Chief (CiC) of UPDF Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni transferred, appointed and promoted a number of top military officers.
Some of those who were affected are; the army commander Gen Edward Katumba Wamala who now occupies a political office as state minister for works and transport, Museveni’s son Maj Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who has been transferred to state house as senior presidential advisor on special operations and Lt Gen Charles Angina former deputy army commander now oversees operation wealth creation.
Land Forces commander David Muhoozi was elevated to a rank of Gen and replaces Katumba and will be deputised by Lt Gen Wilson Mbadi who previous served as Joint chief of Staff at a rank of Major General. Mbadi also worked as Museveni’s ADC until 2013.
Brig Peter Elweru who recently shot to limelight for heading an operation in Rwenzori region that saw Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere arrested is the new Land Forces commander as a Maj Gen.
A section of the public condemned Elweru for commanding the attack on Rwenzururu palace that left hundreds of civilians dead. They advocated for his prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at Hague.
While the military publicist Lt Col Paddy Ankunda described last night’s shake up as normal and healthy for the army, TrumpetNews has exclusively landed on information that could have compelled the President to make changes yesterday afternoon after gathering enough intelligence.
Military hospital stalls
Our security source who asked to be protected because of the sensitivity of the matter said that for a long time now under the command of Gen Katumba, UPDF planned to erect standard military hospital at Mbuya barracks to serve not only soldiers and their families but also civilians. “This is because lately the army has been running successfully projects extended to them like NAADS, ID project, operation wealth creation and many more. And the president was certain because of the discipline,” a source said.
But Museveni later learnt that Mbuya health facility project was failing to take off, he thus deployed his most trusted boys to gather intelligence. “The investigations showed that a number of senior soldiers were extorting money from bidders to win the contract and would share the money saying they were still looking for the highest bidder,” a source said.
This is a project that Ministry of defence has injected in a lot of money.
A source cited a one Barry Muhairwe a civilian who was used by these army officers to broker deals between them and the contractors. But not so much is known about Muhairwe.
On receiving this traumatising intel, Museveni who very much espouses discipline in the army summoned Katumba grilled him as to why he failed to manage the military establishment and why he never supervised the project to an extent that it stalled up to now.
Investigations further reveal that his army was involved in procuring fake UPDF water tanks meant to give to civilians in rural areas to boost the operation wealth creation
This intel comes high on heels of an arms deal scam in which high ranking officers conned a Polish firm of billions of shillings. The botched deal saw senior soldier Brig Leopold Kyanda who was involved sent to India.When contacted for a comment, UPDF spokesman Paddy Ankunda said, “you call me later on,” before hanging up.