Col Mande: I want to return But army warns he faces treason charges For Col Samson Mande, a renegade UPDF senior officer who lives in Sweden, life in exile has not been easy. Col Mande insists he would love to return home but he is afraid of ending up in jail. He also believes that national dialogue and comprehensive political, social economic reforms are the way forward for Uganda. “Unlike ordinary Ugandans there are reasons why I fled my motherland. It hurts me and my motherland as well. That (is the) situation that made me flee. It all emanates from the political management of Uganda and we think we cannot do much to change the situation without discussing it However, the army spokesman, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, said Mande was likely to face treason charges if he returned because he declared war against an elected government. Mande, soldier number RO 0069 in the National Resistance Army that shot President Museveni to power, fled the country in 2001 and is now living in exile in Sweden. He claimed he was in touch with the former coordinator of intelligence services, Gen David Sejusa, who also fled the country and is exiled in the United Kingdom. Mande is said to be pushing for dialogue with President Museveni. He told The Observer that his coming back as an individual was but a minor issue. “Let me remind you that I am a member of the Uganda Diaspora, the third biggest foreign exchange earner for Uganda after coffee and tourism. The money we send to our country has made a huge impact on the country`s GDP and to the welfare of the common man in particular,” he said. Mande argues that Ugandans abroad send over $1bn every year in remittances and they intend to increase this flow of income 10 times more by calling on investors and tourists to invest in Uganda. “That should inform you that we have not left the development of Uganda in Museveni’s hands only,” he said. “What matters at the moment is not where we stay but how much we can help the suffering masses many of whom we are already helping to change!” he said. He added that although it was prudent for him to be in Uganda so that he could physically push for change, he feared to be jailed. “Our country must transition from patronage, corruption oriented management to a democracy where all Ugandans are free to enjoy equal rights, equal development opportunities and unite as one nation,” Mande said. He believes that Uganda can achieve democracy through discussions in a meeting of minds of all regional representatives in the districts that form the country. Who is Mande? But Ankunda advised Mande to apply for amnesty, if he is serious about returning home. “The policy of government is very clear. If you renounce violence, you apply for amnesty such that you can participate again in national development,” Ankunda told us. Uganda’s Amnesty Act was enacted in 2000 as a tool to end rebellions by encouraging rebels to lay down their arms without fear of prosecution for crimes committed during war. Mande began his military career at the time a group of Ugandan exiles backed by Tanzanian forces were about to launch a final assault on Kampala to topple Idi Amin in 1979. He was attached to an intelligence agency where he remained until the 1980 general elections when he joined Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM). It is said that Mande was forced to join NRA to save his life because UPC youth wingers were hunting him down after UPM leader Yoweri Museveni declared war on the Obote II government. As his military number suggests, Mande joined the NRA bush war during its infancy in 1981. Brig Matayo Kyaligonza, who headed the NRA operations in Mukono, says in his book, ‘The Agony of Power’, that he recruited Mande on April 13, 1981 together with Ahmed Kashilingi, now also a colonel. His group operated in Mukono until December 1981 when it joined the main NRA force in Matugga, along Kampala-Gulu highway. Mande was part of the NRA force that broke off from Luweero in March 1985 to open up a second front that came to be known as the Western Axis which was under the command of the late Maj Gen Fred Rwigyema. In 1996, Mande, then a military attache in Tanzania, was recalled because he had failed to account for $2million meant to procure military hardware through Tanzania. Around August 1996, he was arrested together with his former ADC, Capt Kabali Masembe, and charged with terrorism. The army said then, that Mande and Kabali were in possession of seven illegal sub-machine guns and bullets.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 21:37:12 +0000
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