By Nathan Etengu
A UPDF junior officer was recently sentenced to six years in prison for deserting his unit.
Lt. Myers Mushabe was sentenced by the UPDF Third Division Court Martial.
He was found guilty of deserting the Force between February 23 and April 6, when he was arrested.
The Court Martial, chaired by the Division Operations and Training Officer, Lt. Col. John Baptist Mulindwa, said Mushabe’s plea would not be considered because of his rank.
Mushabe said although he had deserted the unit, he still loved his job.



accepted had fallen sick while on a pass leave.




and extended the leave by seven days.

ought to have behaved like an officer in the army.
“If it was an ordinary soldier, your plea would be understood, but for an officer of your rank...” Lt. Col. Mulindwa told a visibly shocked Mushabe.
Mushabe had in mitigation said that he fell sick while on a pass leave. He said that he extended his leave by seven days, but later opted to communicate to his operations and training officer by phone.
“I do accept my mistake of deserting, but I still had the heart of reporting back to my unit. I love the job. I have been working with some members of this division court martial panel and they know my conduct. I request this court to be lenient tome and forgive me,” Mushabe said in mitigation.
He however said that he did not have the medical documents with him at the time he was arrested at Nakapelimoru UPDF detach near Kotido town.
“I had traveled to Kotido to pick money from one of the businessman who owed me over sh2 million,” Lt. Mushabe said.
He said that he also lost touch with his unit after it was taken to the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
He however said that he would report to the unit within 36 hours if the court exercised leniency on him.
A nine member Divison Court martial included the Commanding Officer of the UPDF 405 brigade, Lt. Col. Patrick Kiyingi, Major Akena and the 3rd division legal officer, Capt. John Baguma.
Ends