UPDF officer, relatives weep over trial

By Pascal Kwesiga and Faith Amongin  
                  
A somber mood engulfed the General Court Martial on Thursday when a senior army officer, Maj. Alex Kirabo, joined his relatives in weeping.

With tears rolling down their cheeks, Kirabo’s relatives said his (Kirabo) trial is a poignant reminder of murder of their parents by UPC government forces in 1985 after the accused joined the National Resistance Army (NRA) forces in 1982.

Kirabo, 50, and his relatives including his wife wept outside the court room after his case was adjourned to February 5.

Kirabo, who has been in detention at the Military Police headquarters in Makindye, a Kampala suburb, since his arrest in January 2014, is accused of having failed to carry out proper verification of accountability for fuel meant for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in July 2013.

But the head of the joint support operations center for AMISOM, Boucher Brian, recently told the General Court Martial where Kirabo is facing trial that the accused who served as the Ugandan troop contingent transport officer, was  “a better quality and professional UPDF senior officer” who demonstrated competence in his work.

He explained that there was no time when the Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia lacked fuel during Kirabo’s tenure and that the accused performed his duties with a high degree of superiority compared to his predecessors.

“As a matter of fact the major (Kirabo) was superior to his predecessors, efficient, competent, honourable and honest,” he added.

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Major Alex Kirabo (L) at the Court Martial Makindye. PHOTO/ Peter Busomoke

Boucher who was Kirabo’s witness said AMISOM engaged the accused to train the Burundian troops to account for logistics from UN because he demonstrated profound knowledge in accountability.

Kirabo defended himself against the charges before court chaired by, Maj. Gen. Levy Karuhanga.

He stated that he was called to a residential place in Ntinda by Lt. Col. Sarah Mpabwe from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) upon returning from Somalia on January 16, 2014.

Under examination by his defense lawyer, Eron Kiiza, the accused stated that CMI officials forced him to sign his charge and caution statement without reading it.

“I reached Ntinda at 8:00am and they asked me to give a detailed explanation of how I carried out my work in Somalia. I spent there a whole day and at around 11:00pm they handed me a statement, I wanted to read first but they arrested me and forced me to sign it,” he said.

Under the law, investigators are required to allow the suspect to read through their charge and caution statement to establish if the content recorded is a true version of the account given to the investigating officers before signing it. 

His maternal aunt, Esther Birungi, told New Vision that Kirabo’s trial reminds them of a devastating incidents during which her sister – Nakibuule Kasirye (Kirabo’s mother) and his father Yonasani Kasirye were tortured to death by UPC forces after learning that their son (Kirabo) had joined NRA guerrilla war that delivered President Yoweri Museveni to power in 1986.

His parents lived in Kisenyi village in Nakasongola district, one of the areas that bore the brunt of the five year NRA guerrilla war. 

“His father was tortured to death and his remains were found in Lubiri after NRA took over power. UPC forces went away with his mother on several occasions and she could come back with deep wounds on her, I nursed her until she died,” she said.
 
Birungi added, “When I see the pillar (Kirabo) in our family being framed like this I ask myself why his parents were killed. What did he and his parents sacrifice for?” 

Kirabo said he and his colleagues facing trial over a raft of offences reportedly committed in Somalia are being “brutalized” by their parent (UPDF). “We have nothing to do. Let them do what they want because we can’t get out.”
 
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