Army Court sentences soldier to 8 years in jail
“Accordingly, this court sentences you, Ojok, to 5-years imprisonment on count one, and 3 years imprisonment on count two, both sentences to run concurrently,” ruled Col Kangwamu.
RA/252419 Pte James Ojok, a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier attached to 139 Battalion, Battle Group XLIV (B444), was sentenced to 8-years imprisonment for losing a gun and 30 bullets. (Credit: Douglas Mubiru)
KAMPALA - In a bid to tame gun violence and the vice of soldiers losing guns to rogue elements that later terrorise society, the General Court Martial (GCM) at Makindye in Kampala has sentenced a 33-year-old UPDF officer to 8 years in prison.
The sentence came after RA/252419 Pte James Ojok, a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier attached to 139 Battalion, Battle Group XLIV (B444), admitted to losing a gun and 30 bullets.
In the particulars of the offence, prosecutors led by Captain Alex Mukhama, and 2Lt Anthoney Phillip Olupot told court that on or around April 13, 2025, while at International Peace Support Operation Training Centre (IPSO TC), Singo in Nakaseke district, Ojok lost SMG rifle No. TN 1853, and 30 rounds of live ammunition.
Sentencing the convict, the GCM panel, chaired by Col Frederick Kangwamu, alongside Col Nasser Drago Igambi and Maj Abubaker Nyombi, said Uganda continues to face internal security challenges due to military-grade firearms and live ammunition into civilians or criminal circles, which poses a direct threat to public safety, thereby warranting the convict a substantial custodial sentence.
“Accordingly, this court sentences you, Ojok, to 5-years imprisonment on count one, and 3 years imprisonment on count two, both sentences to run concurrently,” ruled Col Kangwamu.
He added, “This court deducts the period of ten months and twenty-one days already spent by the convict in lawful custody, and you have a right to appeal this sentence before the Court of Appeal within 14 days.”
Ojok, who court said will serve his sentence from Kitalya Government Prison, went missing from his work station on April 13, 2025. That was when officials checked in his tent, his gun (AK-47 No. TN 1853, and 30 bullets were missing.
Subsequently, he was arrested in Omoro district on June 25, 2025. “The gun was later recovered by police from a civilian in Semuto with only four rounds of ammunition remaining, meaning 26 rounds were unaccounted for,” Kangwamu said in his ruling.