BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE BITANUZIRE MWESIGWA

In June 1979, I went home to Kebisoni, Rukungiri to see my parents and let them know I had been admitted to Makerere University. When I arrived home, I was hit with the news that my younger brother George Mwesigwa had run away from home, and it was rumoured he had joined the army.

Immediately I set out to look for him. I eventually found him at Kyamate, Ntungamo where he had been recruited into the Ugandan Liberation forces that had come with the Tanzanian Peoples Defence Forces to fight Field Marshal Idi Amin. Mwesigwa was only 17 years old. My purpose was to persuade Mwesigwa to quit and come back home and resume school.

I laid out all manner of arguments and tried to scare him about being a soldier. The danger of possible early death was real. His answer was: “Kwoyehanga okutega oyehanga okushuura” (If a hunter lays a trap, he must be prepared to check if it caught anything). In other words, if you join the army you must accept the fact that you may die in battle. And with that my effort to take Mwesigwa out of the army ended.

Move forward 43 years later, Brigadier General George Bitanuzire Mwesigwa has retired from the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) after a long-distinguished career in the military. He fought in the war that overthrew Field Marshal Idi Amin; he spent five years in the bush fighting in a Guerilla war led by Yoweri…