Mugisha Muntu ordered for my arrest — Okurapa

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Former Makerere University guild president GEORGE OKURAPA passed on January 11, 2025, from Ontario, Canada where he has been living. Before fleeing Uganda, Okurapa was arrested under unclear circumstances when NRM/A captured power in 1986. He later escaped from detention at Republic House in 1987, fled into Kenya and later Canada. After several attempts initiated by President Yoweri Museveni for him to return, Okurapa returned in 2022 after 35 years in exile. New Vision Online is republishing the interview he had with DAVID LUMU when he returned to the country in 2022.

Q: After 35 years in exile, you recently returned home. Why did you leave Uganda at a time when the current National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) had just ushered in what many political observers described as a new dispensation in 1986?

Let me, with your permission, take off my mask so that you are able to hear me and see me properly. Anyway, my name is George Okurapa. I fled the country on January 22, 1987. That was the day I was supposed to graduate from Makerere University. I was a Guild President at Makerere University, but I was arrested shortly after taking my last exam at the university. I was locked up in military detention at Republic House for six months until I escaped.

Who locked you up?

At that time, the person who was responsible and oversaw my ordeal in military detention was Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu (current leader of opposition political party, Alliance for National Transformation). While I was in military detention, I was given the impression that my arrest and torture were directed by President Yoweri Museveni. It was only after I escaped from military detention that I discovered the whole story.

I was given asylum in Kenya. I escaped in January, and six months later, the President reached out to me when I was in Nairobi through Jim Muhwezi (current security minister). That was the first time I found out from Muhwezi that the President didn’t direct my arrest, and that he was not behind the ordeal I suffered at Republic House for six months.

How did you escape?

You are asking a very difficult question, and I have to tell you that I was under a 24-hour guard. Mugisha Muntu had his soldiers. I was at the quarter-guard for 24 hours with soldiers surrounding me, but my escape was made very easy. The reason for that was mainly because there were many people within the military and the system who were not happy that a guild president was arrested and locked up for six months. They knew that I had committed no crime.

I had not worked in Dr Milton Obote’s government or that of Tito Okello Lutwa. I had not worked in intelligence or the military. I was just a student leader. I got arrested, and during my so-called interrogations by Mugisha Muntu, he kept referring to me as a member of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and kept on saying it that a crime and even if it was a crime, why should he not charge me in a court of law. Anyway, to go back to your question, I think I had a lot of sympathisers from within and that is why my escape was easy.

Who were these sympathisers?

I am not going to give you names. However, what I can say is that my escape was also an act of God because, by the time I left, there was no breaking of any doors. However, through the act of God, somebody opened the cell for me and I was escorted up to the border, and by the time they realised I had escaped, I had already crossed the border and I had also already requested political asylum in Kenya.

When the President sent Muhwezi to meet you in Nairobi, what was your reaction at first?

At first, I could not believe it. I had just escaped from detention, and now they want me back. I thought it was a trick to lure me back, and that is the reason why I was very hesitant. I thought it was one of those tricks to lure me back home and then be put back into detention. So, I was scared.

What did the President ask Muhwezi to tell you when he sent him to reach out to you in Nairobi?

At that time, the President requested to meet me in Paris, France, and an air ticket was bought for me, and sent to me by Muhwezi. You can imagine after escaping from military detention, I agreed to fly to Paris to meet the President.

So, how did Muhwezi manage to convince you to meet the President given the frosty relationship you had with his regime at the time?

I wanted to hear it from him. Unfortunately, when I reached England, they didn’t grant me a transit visa to go to Paris. So, I came back to Nairobi. However, there were three other leaders from Teso that the President had wanted to meet at the time. That was the late John Ateker Ejalu and the late Eng. Paul Etiang.

The two met with the President in Paris, and when they came back to Nairobi, they told me that the President was disappointed that I didn’t make it to Paris and that he wanted them to travel with me from Nairobi to Uganda because he felt bad about what happened to me in military detention. However, I was very hesitant to come back because I had been tortured and humiliated.

I had been dehumanized. So, I hesitated. I didn't take the offer to return even though Ateker Ejalu and Etiang told me that if I returned with them, the President was willing to create room for me to join the Government. Even before meeting Muhwezi in Nairobi, he first sent Ateker Ejalu and Etianga, and because I respected these elders so much, I allowed meeting Muhwezi.

What happened when you refused to travel back to Uganda after meeting Ateker Ejalu and Etiang?

I didn’t think I would come back to Uganda. So, I left Kenya and went to Canada. I was fortunate enough because of the story of my torture and humiliation in military detention, the international media was all over the story, and the Canadian authorities were very familiar with my name.

So, when I needed to move out, they were the first to come and say that I should settle in Canada. I was lucky that the Canadian authorities granted me permanent residence before I even left Nairobi. So, I didn’t have to go there as a refugee. I went there as a permanent resident, and I was given a job right away when I got there. I worked with the Canadian Government.

Currently, I work as a manager for the community and labour market for the city of Toronto. This means that I am one of the managers of the city’s welfare programme. So, in a nutshell, that covers the story of my 35 years in exile.

When you left Nairobi for Canada did the regime continue to pursue you or cajole you to return?

Even after I left for Canada, there is not a long time passed before I got somebody from the Government to say to me that the President had nothing against me and he wanted me to come back home. I received emissaries, from leaders, including church leaders such as my own Bishop, who was sent by the President to come and convince me to return.

So, what has changed and made you return home this time round?

However, I still had some hesitation until the President, this time, sent somebody I know very well, Kwame Ejalu. He is somebody I knew during our youth days. So, when Kwame approached me and said that the President wants me to come back, I took it seriously. However, I expressed my fears and reasons for my hesitation, but the President gave me assurances.

Which assurances?

Assurance number one is that the President made it very clear to me through Kwame that if I accept to come and visit the country, he will make sure that I have security for the duration of my time in Uganda. I have to admit that he kept his word. On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, I was received at the VIP lounge. When I left the VIP lounge, I was given a team of security. That promise was kept. 

I didn’t get the time to bury my parent, so, I needed to go home to Teso for the memorial service of my dad. Also, my wife is from Bushyenyi, I needed to go to Bushenyi for another memorial of her father and mother and sisters. They died, and we couldn’t come for the burial.

So, the second thing that the President promised me was that I would be given transport to move around the country. And this promise has been kept. The third promise was that all expenses for my father’s burial will be catered for. The President promised that he would facilitate, and that has happened.

So, to me this is huge, especially considering the circumstances through which I left the country. The President has kept his word. There is nothing that I was promised that has not been fulfilled. So, I must say thank you to the President and Government because it was a very bold decision for me to come back considering what happened to me.

In his book, Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner says that the past is never dead, it is not even past. So many things have happened in the past 35 years. Even the man, who you say, ordered your arrest has since crossed to opposition. Have you buried the past?

It is very interesting that you ask that question. Mugisha Muntu came to Canada at the time when he was the leader of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). When he got to Canada, the people working with him sent me a message for a meeting.

I didn’t hesitate. I went for the meeting. I met Mugisha Muntu, and on my first encounter with him, which was in a banquet hall, we hugged. The very first words that came out of my mouth when I hugged Mugisha Muntu were ‘I forgive you’.

What did Mugisha Muntu say?

He looked at me. I think he was in disbelief, I could see emotions. I meant it. I have always believed in forgiveness and reconciliation. The rest I cannot say. However, when I crossed the border upon escaping from military detention, I started praying to God to forgive whoever was involved in my ordeal. I prayed for forgiveness.

I prayed for reconciliation because that is what has shaped my life. So, I told Mugisha Muntu in Toronto that I had forgiven him, and I have no grudge whatsoever against him for what he put me through because I believe in reconciliation. That is the way I have been brought up.

Now that I am here, all I can say is that I should have allowed the offer to return home a long time ago. I think I missed quite a lot because everything that the President promised me has been fulfilled. I feel at home. I feel at ease. I think the country wants me back. The President has kept his word. So, that scary part of me is winding away right now.

What is your assessment of Uganda in 1986 and that of 2022?

Uganda has changed, and I can tell you Uganda has changed for the better. Let me tell you, when I got off the plane, and was driven from Entebbe to Kampala, I saw a lot of change. I saw so many things that were not there 35 years ago, and I said maybe that is not enough. So, I drove all the way to Teso.

All I was seeing is change. Permanent houses, factory buildings and I got to my village, there was electricity. We didn’t have that. Then we went to Bushenyi, all I saw on my way, was change for the better. When I came to Kampala, I was lost. There is a lot of change, a lot of new buildings.

What scared me a bit was that there are many boda bodas in Kampala, but I look at it as a big change for the country in terms of movement. There is this thing called mobile money. That is a big change for me. It is so easy for me to send money. These are all changes.  So, 35 years later, I think the country is headed in the right direction. The changes are big, and the country is moving on well.

You said you have a scheduled meeting with the President soon, if he asks you to advise him, what message would you give him ahead of the January 26 NRM/A day celebrations?

If there is one key message that I want to give as the country celebrates the NRM/Army liberation, it is the message of reconciliation. As Ugandans, we need to reconcile with each other. I would not be here if I was not willing to reconcile. So, we should desist from picking animosity and fueling hatred against Government.

I would be saying that this is the same Government that tortured me and locked me up for six months, but I was able to overcome that because of reconciliation. Even for the President to send emissaries to me, believe it is from the spirit of reconciliation. For Teso, for example, for me I was a student leader, but some people were in the UPC government, who fled the country, and some of them have returned in coffins.

I am lucky that for me, I have returned through this spirit of reconciliation. Sometimes, we intend to allow conflict to override our reasoning. Don’t pride in hatred towards each other. I have lived in the western world for some years. The elections are heated, but for us in the western world, once the elections are over, those who feel that they were cheated, they go to court and the country moves on. I think as Ugandans we have to come to terms with the fact that we can only have one President and one Government.

Once elections are over, let’s all work together and with whoever has been elected as leader of the country. It only through working together that we can all build this country called Uganda. Hatred will not build the country. And, of course, let’s maintain peace because no development can happen without peace. That is why I am so happy to see the prevailing peace in the country.

Some opposition members, quoting from black metal band Impaled Nazarene lyrics, argue that absence of war does not mean peace?

For development to happen, you need peace. I have heard comments to the effect that some people feel they are not part of government, and that whatever government does is bad. I don’t think there is any part of the world where you will find that everything that the government is doing to good or everything that the government is doing is bad.

We should be able to give credit to government where it is doing something good and be able to support it. We should also be able to criticize the bad things. It is only through working together that we shall register the desired changes.

In Canada it happens to be very easy for us because people respect the government. The same people are able to speak up when it comes to service delivery, and are able to articulate their issues, and the government is able to respond. 

However, when I look at the way things have been happening in Uganda, and when I listen to comments from some opposition leaders, it is almost like a taboo to say anything good about government. This is not good for the country. For example, when we were in Mbale, we passed an area where there was a group of hooligans that attacked my convoy.

We later found out that whereas it was not directed at me, we were told that the area is notorious for being anti-government, and when they see police, they start to throw stones. That is wrong. That is not how you transform the country. You cannot build a country through violence. If you have issues against the government, you can’t start throwing stones at armed police officers. They are armed. My police escorts were so disciplined. They could have shot the hooligans.

So, there is an urgent need to accept that this country is large enough for all of us. Let’s accept that there is one government, and work with that government to build this country. That is the only way we can transform this country. We think about country first, it minimizes conflict. We need to work together to build this country.

Let’s work with the government to build our country. It is only through working together that we will be able to see our country progress. Let’s support the President. I have seen it myself that he is a man of his word. He made promises to me when he offered me to come back. He has fulfilled those promises. He is very genuine. He kept his promise and I trust him. That is why I feel that I should have accepted the offer to come back earlier.

You have come at a time when the ruling NRM has re-captured Teso sub region, your home area, from the opposition, with several politicians such as the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, enjoying the front bench seats in the President’s cabinet. If Museveni offers you the vacant position of justice and constitutional affairs minister, will you take it?

You have asked a very important question. First of all, I don’t know how you knew that the government has offered me dual citizenship. They told me that this should be finalised soon. I had a meeting with Muhwezi, so dual citizenship is already on the table.

In terms of an offer from the government, Teso is doing well in terms of government positions. We have a Vice President; we have a deputy Speaker and eight ministers. This is something that we people from Teso should be thankful to the President for. I don’t recall a time when Teso has had that much in terms of their role in the influence of power. I want to thank the President for remembering Teso.

You asked if there is an offer, will I take it. I can tell you that this visit was intended for me to come and see the country, and decided what I want to do. I can tell that I have seen the country.

I am impressed with the change that I have seen in the country. I am totally impressed with the development that I have seen in the country. I am impressed with the peace that I have seen in the country, and because of that I am keeping my options open. If the President says come work with me, I am keeping it open. When I fled this country, I fled on the day of my graduation.

What that meant is that I completed my university education, and left the country. I was always looking forward to the moment when I would finish university and serve the people because districts educated us. We were on government scholarships, but I didn’t get the opportunity. So, serving my country in capacity, 35 years later, would be an honour. I will consider it even though I am not a desperate man. I am well established in Canada, but home is always home. So, if there is such an offer, I will consider it.