Who are the new UPDF MPs?

On Friday, nine out of the 10 UPDF Members of Parliament were dropped from the national assembly by the Defence Council.

Officers including Gen.Elly Tumwine , Lt.Gen.Ivan Koreta, Maj.Gen.Pecos Kutesa, Col.Francis Takirwa, Brig.Flavia Byekwaso, Col.Felix Kulayigye and Capt.Evelyn Asiimwe didn’t return to the August House as eight of these, save for Tumwine were not even nominated for re-election.

Contestants for the 10 UPDF slots in parliament are nominated by the High Command and later sent to the Commander in Chief for approval and the Defence does the voting.

Of the 10 slots, three UPDF representatives must be female.

The Nile Post looks at the new army MPs.

Gen.David Muhoozi: Born 56 years ago in Mbarara district, he joined the army in 1985 and was commissioned in 1989 and he then served as a Defence Counsel for the General Court Martial.

Muhozi was in 1997 assigned to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), as a Staff Officer General Duties, serving in that role for the next four years.

He has over the years served as the Base Commander, Entebbe Air Force Base, Chief Of Staff, UPDAF, Commander of Air Defense Division at the Nakasongola Air Force Base, Commander of the Armored Brigade in Masaka and Brigade Commander for the Motorized Infantry Brigade in Nakasongola as well as the commander Land Forces among other deployments.

The trained lawyer currently serves as the Chief of Defence Forces in the UPDF, a position he assumed in 2017.

Lt.Gen.Wilson Mbasu Mbaddi : The 58-year-old born of Kasese is the current deputy Chief of Defence Forces, a position he assumed in 2017 to replace Lt.Gen Charles Angina.

Joining the army in 1986, Mbaddi has served as a junior instructor at Kaweweta and Kabamba Recruit Training Schools, officer in charge of career planning in 1991, Director of Supplies between 1997 and 1998 and Armoured Brigade Logistics Officer and Brigade Administrative Officer in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

In 2001, Mbaddi served as the Directing Staff, at the Uganda Junior Staff College in Jinja before becoming 503 Infantry Brigade Operations and Training officer in 2001/2002, the Armoured Brigade Operations and Training Officer before commanding the Armoured Brigade, in an acting capacity between 2002 and 2003.

In 2005, he took full command of the 507 Brigade before becoming the Principal Air Staff Officer at Uganda Peoples Defence Air Force Headquarters in 2006.

In 2007, the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and Maxwell Air Force Base , US-trained officer became the Aide- de- Camp to President Museveni, a position he served in until 2012 when he was appointed the commander of the fourth infantry division in Gulu.

He was a year later appointed the Joint Chief of Staff of the UPDF.

Lt.Gen. Peter Elwelu; The no-nonsense man who joined the army in 1987 is currently the Commander of the Land Forces.

He was posted to Kabamba barracks and in 1995 he was sent to the Gaddafi military barracks at Jinja at the Cadet Officer School but he later served as the commander during the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and later in Northern Uganda during the Kony war.

He was one of the first commanders of the UPDF troops serving under the AMSIOM that were deployed in Mogadishu in 2007 and is credited among those who dared to serve on a mission that had been declared dead on arrival.

Elwelu later commanded the UPDF second division in Mbarara and it was during his time in 2016 that Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace in Kasese was attacked.

He was later transferred to the UPDF third division in Mororo, from where he was appointed the Commander Land Forces.

Lt.Gen.James Mugira; The 57-year-old Managing Director of the National Enterprises Corporation, the business arm of the UPDF is a law graduate from Makerere University and a master’s degree in law from the University of Manchester as well as a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Ghana.

Mugira, who concurrently serves as the Managing Director of Luweero Defence Industries Limited, the small-arms industry, owned by the UPDF previously commanded the UPDF Armoured Brigade in Masaka and also the Chieftaincy of the Military Intelligence director, among other deployments in the Ugandan army.

Maj.Gen Sam Kavuma; The current Deputy Commander Land Forces was the first person to serve in that position created in 2017 and has remained in the position since then.

Earlier in 2011 at the rank of Colonel, Kavuma commanded the UPDF firth division in Pader but later that year he was promoted to Brigadier and having graduated from the National Defence College of Kenya, he was appointed the commander of the regional task force against Lord’s Resistance Army rebels commanded by Joseph Kony in South Sudan and Central African Republic.

He has also previously served in Somalia under the AMISOM.

Kavuma while serving as the UPDF deputy commander of the Air Force in 2017 was promoted to Major General before he was appointed as the deputy commander Land Forces.

Maj.Gen Henry Masiko; He is currently serving as the Chief Political Commissar for the UPDF, a position he assumed in January 2017.

Col Dr Victoria Nekesa; The trained pathologist currently works as the State House doctor.

Lt Col Charity Bainababo; She is the commandant of the Presidential Police Guard

Maj. Dr.Jeniffer Alanyo ; She is a medical doctor currently deployed in the UPDF Directorate of Medical Services.

https://nilepost.co.ug/2021/01/30/museveni-warns-army-mps-against-defying-him-as-he-lists-priorities-for-new-term/