Walimbwa, the man who survived Museveni bullet

MBALE - The man, who survived President Yoweri Museveni’s bullet in Mbale 52 years ago, has relived the memories of the incident that nearly cost him his life. 

On January 26, 1973, Museveni was in the Elgon region operating as a rebel under the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), an organisation that was fighting then-president Idi Amin. 

Amin’s security got wind of Museveni’s presence at the late Jack Maumbe Mukhwana’s home in Maluku Estate, Mbale district, and attempted to arrest him. 

However, Museveni managed to flee. But as he fled, he met Charles Masolo Walimbwa aka Peke, who thought Museveni was a thief and wanted to intercept him. But what happened next is a story that Walimbwa, now aged 70, lives to tell.

The story  

“I thought the security men were chasing a thief, and I was determined to grab him and hand him over. I did not know that I wanted to grab a man who was a rebel. If I had done so, probably he would have been butchered with his colleagues,” Walimbwa told New Vision in an interview over the weekend. 

“He (Museveni) was tall and slender and running fast. I first heard gunshots and later saw a man running towards where I was standing. I thought he was a thief escaping arrest,” Walimbwa, who is now the National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson for Manafwa district, narrated. 

Walimbwa said the incident happened as he was preparing to join Senior One together with other students, and they had been gathered at a government guest house in Mbale town. 

“About 300 metres away from the home of the late Mukhwana, we heard gunshots. We all moved out to see what was happening. I saw Museveni running as soldiers gave chase. Of all the students, it is me who was determined to grab him and hand him over,” Walimbwa said. 

Museveni making a gesture of how he narrowly shot the Manafwa NRM district chairperson, Charles Walimbwa in 1973 when he tried to intercept him as he was being chased by Amin’s soldiers in Manafwa district last Thursday. Museveni was accompanied by his daughter, Natasha Museveni Karugire. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

According to Walimbwa, when Museveni realised that he was getting close to being captured, he stopped and pulled out a pistol. 

“To my surprise, instead of shooting at me, who was blocking him, he turned and shot at the approaching soldiers. At this moment, I dashed for my life, and the soldiers also fled.

He continued running into the forest, and I did not see him again,” Walimbwa narrated, adding that he later heard on radio that one of the rebel leaders escaped and disappeared into the forest. 

According to Walimbwa, that very evening, Amin deployed soldiers in the area, and they carried out a house-to-house search, hoping that the rebel leader was still hiding in one of the homes. 

“The soldiers beat up people asking them to reveal the whereabouts of the rebel,” he explained, adding that one student he only remembers as Namirundu was arrested together with two other men at Mukhwana’s home and were later killed by firing squad in Mbale town. 

Born on April 18, 1939, Mukhwana died on February 27, 2017. During his address to the people of Manafwa, Museveni started by asking people to thank God (Were) for having saved Walimbwa’s life. He corroborated Walimbwa’s story.

Walimbwa’s journey 

Walimbwa said he learnt from a newspaper article that the man who escaped (Museveni) was a rebel who had recruited a number of Ugandan students from Dar es Salaam University in Tanzania, and they trained in Mozambique to topple Amin. 

“From that day, I picked interest in following information about Museveni because I survived being killed. When he returned to Uganda and formed the Uganda People’s Movement (UPM) in 1980, I joined the party and I was elected UPM youth chairperson,” he said. 

At Kyambogo Technical College, Walimbwa said he was elected UPM vice-chairperson. He recalled that as a minister of defence under the Uganda National Liberation Front government, Museveni drove alone and met the students at Kyambogo who had joined UPM. 

“I am one of the young UPM cadres who have grown up with the party to date,” Walimbwa said. 

According to Walimbwa, when Museveni realised that he was getting close to being captured, he stopped and pulled out a pistol. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

He has served as the NRM chairperson for Mbale and later Manafwa district from 1997 to date. Walimbwa also served as LC5 chairperson for greater Mbale between 1997 and 2001 and was later appointed Uganda’s ambassador to India and Thailand between 2003 and 2005. 

He later resigned in 2005 and contested for the Manafwa district chairperson seat and served for two terms between 2006 and 2016.

In 2019, he was appointed a member of the Uganda National Metrological Authority, but last year it was dissolved. Walimbwa said he last met Museveni while serving as Uganda’s ambassador to India when the President made a stopover there on his way to Japan, and the two shared memories of the incident in Mbale. 

“The President told me that while I was away, he walked up to my village as he traced the route taken by his old friend, the late Musamali and he was told that a young man who tried to intercept him in 1973 lives on the village,” he said, adding that Museveni informed him that he escaped through Manafwa and Namisindwa to Kenya and later to Tanzania. 

“But ever since then, I have been trying to secure an appointment to meet the President again without success. I want to meet my old friend to share some issues, including re-deployment,” said Walimbwa.

Museveni’s take

“I was about to kill him (Charles Masolo Walimbwa aka Peke). In 1973, we were in Mbale in Mawumbe Mukhwana’s house in Maluku Estate, then Amin’s soldiers surrounded us. I jumped over the fence and started running. Walimbwa was a young boy, and I did not know him, of course. So, when they saw me running, they thought I was a thief,” President Yoweri Museveni told the people.

He explained that as he was being chased by Amin’s soldiers, Walimbwa and his group tried to intercept him. The soldiers were firing, but they could not target him because he was running in a zigzag way. 

“Now the danger came from Walimbwa and his group. Because they were going to intercept me. There was a eucalyptus forest there, but they did not know I had a gun. When I saw two dangers, the soldiers running after me plus Walimbwa and his group in front, I stopped and fired at the soldiers,” Museveni narrated, adding that the soldiers and Walimbwa’s group ran away. Museveni said he later learnt that he had injured one of the soldiers. 

“We have to thank God for saving Walimbwa and for saving me. Unfortunately, two of my colleagues were killed. I remembered the story when I saw him around,” the President said before asking Walimbwa what he was currently doing.