Tinyefuza, the fearless Lt. General
Jul 01, 2003
To Lt. General Tinyefuza, the deployment to co-ordinate operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) in the north is just another assignment
By Joshua Kato
To Lt. General Tinyefuza, the deployment to co-ordinate operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) in the north is just another assignment. Tinyefuza has been in the thick of action for the most part of his adult life.
He is a person who loves challenges. He is never afraid of being called rude or tyrannical or even a coward, as long as he feels he is on the right track.
Seated on a tiny stool in the jungles of Luweero in 1982, senior officer David Tinyefuza puffed away at a cigarette. He raises his head as he releases the smoke towards the sky. Near him are several of his men, plotting their next move. The Uganda National Liberation Front had just launched another of their offensives to try and defeat the National Resistance Army(NRA). This was a trying moment.
“It is a dangerous game, this thing called war. To live, we have to struggle through pain and inconveniences. Perseverance is the only way for survival,†he tells his men. A food convoy was yet to return. As a senior officer, he had a few pieces of cassava in his hut. He shared them with his hungry men.
A year before, he had deserted the Uganda police force and joined the new rebel group. Tinyefuza heroically commanded many battles. He is still rated as one of those commanders who lead from the front, share the little they have with their men.
But on the other side, he is a serious disciplinarian. “You never messed up near him. Bad behaviour was his number one enemy,†Sgt(rtd) Edward Ssewankambo of Luweero explains. His favourite weapon was a stockless commando AK 47 assault rifle and a berretta pistol.
Twenty-one years down the road, he is a Lt. General of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces. He has gained a reputation of one who speaks out his mind. He loves to dance in the jaws of confrontation and controversy. He, however, says that all he does is speak his mind plainly.
In 1991, Tinyefuza was deployed to contain the war in northern Uganda. His adoption of what his detractors called a scorched earth policy brought him lots of enemies, but also friends. He closed the entire northern Uganda from the rest of the country. He was accused of committing atrocities, in order to end the war.
He denies these accusations. In an interview early this year he said, “You can never bring any single witness to say that for instance Tinyefuza committed this or that atrocity. I never committed any,†he says.
Tinyefuza points out that he was deployed in the north at a very trying time. Rebels had captured several areas in the north, while the NRA remained only on the high ground. He closed off the north and in the process arrested several politicians including Omara Atubo. The drastic actions he took were intended to stop rebel actions. Is he going to adopt the same tactics?
Sources say he has been appealing to the commander-in-chief to be deployed in the north. “He told him that he had new ideas that he thought can be applied to the northern conflict,†the sources say. His wish has been granted. By the time he left the north, peace had gradually returned. “Operation north was a great success, no matter what people are saying,†he says.
In 1994-95, he came out as Tinyefuza the politician. This is when he spoke out on controversial issues like Federal and political parties, during the Constituent assembly. This was despite the fact that army representatives were not supposed to comment on controversial issues. His presentations rank alongside those of the late Sserwanga Lwanga and retired Dr Colonel Kizza Besigye.
The effects of the northern operation took some toll on him. The following year, he was not happy with the government establishment. A committee to probe the northern war was set up.
“He spoke with a lot of zeal and sometimes anger. He was like a man who was trying to relieve himself of a big load,†says a fellow officer. The country watched in shock. Opportunists, especially in the multiparty ranks laughed. They even tried to lure him into their camps.
Moments later, he asked to retire from the army, but he was stopped by the high command. He then said. “It is my constitutional right to withhold my labour,†the next moment, he went to court to fight for the withholding of his labour. He won the court case, but lost the appeal.
In between, President Yoweri Museveni lost his patience. “Tinyefuza cannot hold us at ransom. The army will stay here even if he leaves. We should not kneel down for his services,†the President said.
On the other side, Lt. General Salim Saleh played the arbitration role, “We still need him in the army,†Salim Saleh said.
He remained un-deployed until 2001, when he was appointed army member of parliament. “All of us thought he would never come back into active service. He surprised us when he came back,†a colonel in the UPDF says.
Of why he rejoined, he explains, “I am a law abiding army officer. When the courts decided that I should not leave the army, I respected the decision and stayed,†he says.
In between his battles with the state, he undertook a law degree at Makerere University. That he is among the less than 20 Ugandan soldiers to reach the rank of Lieutenant General says a lot about his military prowess. Recently, he was deployed to take charge of the operations in Ituri.
His private life is another lane filled with controversy but also love and care. He has been involved in quarrels over houses. In one of these quarrels, he removed a window from a house he was fighting for with an Indian.
Early this year, he was said to have occupied a UEB house illegally, although in this case he was in the right. In Kyengera where he lived for many years, residents say they had an air of safety as long as the General stayed around. “We rarely had insecurity as long as he was here. He gave our village an identity,†Sarah Nalubwama, a resident says.
However, his stay was cut short by noise from a nearby mosque. He says, he did it in the name of somebody he loves most, his over 100-year-old aunt. “She was sick and these people were making a lot of noise for her,†the General says. As a family man, he is said to be a loving father.
“Discipline is part of his doctrine. Expect to be punished if you misbehave. That is why we are growing up as disciplined children,†one of his children says.
To Lt. General Tinyefuza, the deployment to co-ordinate operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) in the north is just another assignment. Tinyefuza has been in the thick of action for the most part of his adult life.
He is a person who loves challenges. He is never afraid of being called rude or tyrannical or even a coward, as long as he feels he is on the right track.
Seated on a tiny stool in the jungles of Luweero in 1982, senior officer David Tinyefuza puffed away at a cigarette. He raises his head as he releases the smoke towards the sky. Near him are several of his men, plotting their next move. The Uganda National Liberation Front had just launched another of their offensives to try and defeat the National Resistance Army(NRA). This was a trying moment.
“It is a dangerous game, this thing called war. To live, we have to struggle through pain and inconveniences. Perseverance is the only way for survival,†he tells his men. A food convoy was yet to return. As a senior officer, he had a few pieces of cassava in his hut. He shared them with his hungry men.
A year before, he had deserted the Uganda police force and joined the new rebel group. Tinyefuza heroically commanded many battles. He is still rated as one of those commanders who lead from the front, share the little they have with their men.
But on the other side, he is a serious disciplinarian. “You never messed up near him. Bad behaviour was his number one enemy,†Sgt(rtd) Edward Ssewankambo of Luweero explains. His favourite weapon was a stockless commando AK 47 assault rifle and a berretta pistol.
Twenty-one years down the road, he is a Lt. General of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces. He has gained a reputation of one who speaks out his mind. He loves to dance in the jaws of confrontation and controversy. He, however, says that all he does is speak his mind plainly.
In 1991, Tinyefuza was deployed to contain the war in northern Uganda. His adoption of what his detractors called a scorched earth policy brought him lots of enemies, but also friends. He closed the entire northern Uganda from the rest of the country. He was accused of committing atrocities, in order to end the war.
He denies these accusations. In an interview early this year he said, “You can never bring any single witness to say that for instance Tinyefuza committed this or that atrocity. I never committed any,†he says.
Tinyefuza points out that he was deployed in the north at a very trying time. Rebels had captured several areas in the north, while the NRA remained only on the high ground. He closed off the north and in the process arrested several politicians including Omara Atubo. The drastic actions he took were intended to stop rebel actions. Is he going to adopt the same tactics?
Sources say he has been appealing to the commander-in-chief to be deployed in the north. “He told him that he had new ideas that he thought can be applied to the northern conflict,†the sources say. His wish has been granted. By the time he left the north, peace had gradually returned. “Operation north was a great success, no matter what people are saying,†he says.
In 1994-95, he came out as Tinyefuza the politician. This is when he spoke out on controversial issues like Federal and political parties, during the Constituent assembly. This was despite the fact that army representatives were not supposed to comment on controversial issues. His presentations rank alongside those of the late Sserwanga Lwanga and retired Dr Colonel Kizza Besigye.
The effects of the northern operation took some toll on him. The following year, he was not happy with the government establishment. A committee to probe the northern war was set up.
“He spoke with a lot of zeal and sometimes anger. He was like a man who was trying to relieve himself of a big load,†says a fellow officer. The country watched in shock. Opportunists, especially in the multiparty ranks laughed. They even tried to lure him into their camps.
Moments later, he asked to retire from the army, but he was stopped by the high command. He then said. “It is my constitutional right to withhold my labour,†the next moment, he went to court to fight for the withholding of his labour. He won the court case, but lost the appeal.
In between, President Yoweri Museveni lost his patience. “Tinyefuza cannot hold us at ransom. The army will stay here even if he leaves. We should not kneel down for his services,†the President said.
On the other side, Lt. General Salim Saleh played the arbitration role, “We still need him in the army,†Salim Saleh said.
He remained un-deployed until 2001, when he was appointed army member of parliament. “All of us thought he would never come back into active service. He surprised us when he came back,†a colonel in the UPDF says.
Of why he rejoined, he explains, “I am a law abiding army officer. When the courts decided that I should not leave the army, I respected the decision and stayed,†he says.
In between his battles with the state, he undertook a law degree at Makerere University. That he is among the less than 20 Ugandan soldiers to reach the rank of Lieutenant General says a lot about his military prowess. Recently, he was deployed to take charge of the operations in Ituri.
His private life is another lane filled with controversy but also love and care. He has been involved in quarrels over houses. In one of these quarrels, he removed a window from a house he was fighting for with an Indian.
Early this year, he was said to have occupied a UEB house illegally, although in this case he was in the right. In Kyengera where he lived for many years, residents say they had an air of safety as long as the General stayed around. “We rarely had insecurity as long as he was here. He gave our village an identity,†Sarah Nalubwama, a resident says.
However, his stay was cut short by noise from a nearby mosque. He says, he did it in the name of somebody he loves most, his over 100-year-old aunt. “She was sick and these people were making a lot of noise for her,†the General says. As a family man, he is said to be a loving father.
“Discipline is part of his doctrine. Expect to be punished if you misbehave. That is why we are growing up as disciplined children,†one of his children says.