As a boy in secondary school in the 1980s, I read many little novels from the Pacesetter Books series, as I’m sure did many of my contemporaries.

Most of the authors had Nigerian-sounding names like Kalu Okpi and Agbo Areo. They were the equivalent of today’s Nollywood movies.

A particularly memorable one went by the title The Wages of Sin. The moral of the story was that whatever you choose to do, beware the consequences.

It is years since those riveting thrillers last crossed my mind; but one day at the end of September, I was strongly reminded of them by the peculiar incident involving General David Sejusa.

One of Uganda’s most senior military officers, Gen Sejusa has a history of trouble making stretching back to his student days.

He is also the only army officer known to have officially changed his surname, at least in recent times. Formerly he was known as Tinyefuza. And his new name, Sejusa, is not particularly innocent. It mean, “I have no regrets.”

Over the last weekend of September, Gen Sejusa, whose official position is Co-ordinator of Intelligence Services, handed the Daily Monitor newspaper a handwritten statement in which he tells off some high-ups in “the state” over their “creeping lawlessness, impunity, primitive arrogance and insensitive behaviour.”

Since Sejusa himself stands accused of behaving with the same impunity he was now so angry about, the common reaction was the derisive, “Look who’s talking.”

For President Museveni and the army leadership, however, this was no laughing matter. Soon enough reports emerged that there was “a lot” of “anger” and “concern” in military circles, and there was talk of Sejusa being investigated.

Now, the good general is not the only uncontrollably talkative officer in the army, let alone the only one who has said things disciplined officers shouldn’t utter in public.

Some have protested about tribalism in promotions and selection for courses abroad. Others have told opposition politicians they will never salute them if ever they defeat Museveni in a presidential election.

Yet others have criticised Museveni’s longevity in power and his decision to change the Constitution to prolong his stay.

In an army, where discipline is supposed to be rigorously enforced regardless of rank or status, all these things should have invited some kind of punishment.

In the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, however, only in some of these cases have people been punished. Others have been left to continue strutting about like peacocks, as if nothing had happened.

Ugandans like criticising the late president Milton Obote for dragging the army into politics and therefore being to blame for the chaos that dogged Uganda for much of the early post-colonial period.

Curiously, during his entire stay in power, President Museveni has supported the army’s involvement in politics and defended tooth and nail the presence of military officers in parliament, one of whom is Gen Sejusa himself, where they side with the ruling party on every issue.

Those who have dared to express independent or neutral views or refused to toe the official line have been replaced.

Many Ugandans have argued against army officers getting mixed up in partisan politics in this kind of way. It is in this context that Sejusa’s missive to the Monitor reminded me of the little novella of my boyhood years with the title The Wages of Sin.

Clearly, Museveni and his party are now reaping what they have sown all along. If you allow your dog to bite your neighbour’s children, one day it will bite yours. It is silly to complain when it eventually does.

Frederick Golooba-Mutebi is a Kampala- and Kigali-based researcher and writer on politics and public affairs. E-mail: [email protected]