Four Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) soldiers will face the Military Court for unprofessional behavior after they were found to have been involved in manhandling Mityana LC V Chairperson, Joseph Luzige.
According to the UPDF Spokesperson Brig. Richard Karemire, L/Cpl Anguria Simon Peter, Pte Odeke Simon, Pte Musundi Caroline and Pte Okello Isaac have been arrested pending prosecution in the military court.
Yesterday on July 7, 2020, a security patrol squad on routine duty in Mityana Municipality manhandled Mr Joseph Luzige, an incident that has since attracted attention from the members of the public. The circumstances are yet to be established.
“The UPDF regrets this gross act of indiscipline that is not characteristic of the UPDF as a people’s army” Brig. Karemire said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
“We wish to restate that discipline remains a core value and bedrock on which the UPDF was founded. Anyone who deviates from this will always be punished according to the established laws. There are examples to prove this in the recent past like a soldier in Kasese was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment and an LDU personnel was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment all because of unprofessional conduct. We therefore strongly condemn this act meted out against one of our senior civilian leaders” Brig. Karemire said.
On Tuesday night, a group of UPDF soldiers and LDUs pushed and shoved Mr. Luzige while he was trying to stop the security operatives from harassing residents in the area leaving him taunted and embarrassed.
According to Mr Luzige, he was on his way to Mityana General Hospital when he found a woman being brutalized by security operatives.
Luzige claims he was saving a woman who had a fractured leg and seriously bleeding after being brutalized by UPDF soldiers when he was assaulted.
“I moved out of my car and told the soldiers that what they were doing was wrong only to be shoved and manhandled,” Mr Luzige earlier told this website.
The soldiers reportedly told Mr Luzige that since he didn’t deploy them, he had no authority to stop them from what they were doing.
He said, investigations have also commenced and the Chief of Defence Forces has sent a team of senior leaders including; Maj Gen Sam Kavuma, the Deputy Commander Land Force (D/CLF), Maj Gen Sam Kawaga, 1Div Comdr and Maj Gen Henry Masiko the Chief of Political Commissar (CPC) to Mityana to make an on spot assessment and confer with both the district leaders and the district security committee.
“The UPDF wishes to reiterate its full commitment and loyalty to the people of Uganda and will always remain subordinate to the civilian authority as provided for under Article 208 of the Constitution” he said.
