Talk of a military coup that President Yoweri Museveni and Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga triggered a few weeks ago — and later amplified by Chief of Defence Forces Gen Aronda Nyakairima — has unveiled the disharmony within the army leaving observers worried about the country’s future.

The disharmony is caused by a feeling that there is an army within an army in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, the most effective being the Special Forces Command — leaner, more educated, better equipped in arsenal, training, clothing and remuneration — which President Museveni’s son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, oversees.

The coup talk gains more significance this week as the country marks 32 years since the first armed attack that was launched by National Resistance Army (NRA) guerrillas on February 6, 1981, Tarehe Sita. Led by Museveni, the NRA fought a five-year armed struggle and captured power on January 26, 1986.

READ: Is military coup Museveni’s last line of defence?

Still in charge 

Some members of that triumphant force have since died, retired, or faded from the public scene, but most of them, including their leader President Museveni, are still calling the shots.

It seems the army never quite left. A coup today would simply be a change of guard at the most.

For the National Resistance Army — later renamed Uganda People’s Defence Forces upon promulgation of the 1995 Constitution — active politics is familiar territory that it had occupied until 1996, when Uganda held its first general election in 16 years.

Even then, Museveni only shed off the military fatigues in exchange for civilian clothes, but he occasionally dons his military wear to get his message across.

“The military is the one keeping the state together. Civilian politicians are merely there to legitimise the regime, but it is the army in charge,” said Mr Mwambutsya Ndebesa, who teaches history and development studies at Makerere University.

Most veterans of the bush war, like Museveni, still wear their uniforms, and some represent the army in parliament even though they retired from active duty. 

Last October, Lt Gen David Sejusa, [formerly Tinyefuza], who co-ordinates intelligence services, delivered a handwritten letter to the Daily Monitor complaining that the “country is witnessing a lot of violence, disruption of social life and general apprehension.”

“The population is beginning to feel unsure about the future and generally insecure. This is a complete reversal of the feeling and belief which our people had when they defeated dictatorship,” his letter, which was widely construed as expressing long held frustration, reads in part.

There are claims that although Lt Gen Sejusa heads intelligence services, the constituent organs under him report directly to the president.

Sources told The EastAfrican that talk of a coup could not have come at a better time, when politicians “are trying to find their voice to test if they can call the shots at the army’s expense.”

Hence, the army in full military gear will use Tarehe Sita on Wednesday, to drive home what its chief has already said.    

“We are going about our normal business. The message was well taken for those to whom it was intended. Stand warned. Stand advised. Should you not change course, other things will be brought into play. Let no one return to the past. We have seen enough,” Gen Nyakairima said last month.

A mere presidential guard a few years ago, the Special Forces Command today comprises two units and controls key military installations that include the Air Force, the motorised, the mechanised, the artillery, the infantry and special operations brigades.

It is also in charge of securing oil wells, and the police routinely consult with the force over matters deemed to threaten national security.

As with Brig Kainerugaba’s meteoric rise through the ranks — getting to the level of a one-star general in 12 years while others take 20 — this realignment in the army has stirred internal discontent among senior officials who feel that they should have been involved in the changes.

“On paper you have one army but in reality you have two armies. Most historicals [original guard that fought in the war that brought President Museveni to power in 1986] have been edged out and the few that remain are on their way out,” said Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, an opposition MP who, while he was a journalist, wrote extensively about the army.

Some of the so-called bush-war heroes that have publicly rubbished the coup talk include Gen Elly Tumwine, Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire, Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, Brig Kasirye Ggwanga, Col Fred Mwesigye and Maj John Kazoora.

Sources close to the military claim that senior ranking officers, particularly those who helped propel Museveni to power are unhappy about being sidelined, as well as being denied retirement from the army.

“Look at [Brig Henry] Tumukunde, look at [Lt Gen David] Tinyefuza, look at even [Maj Gen. Pecos] Kutesa. Do they look like happy people, as people enjoying the army? And they are not the only ones,” the sources said.

Brig Tumukunde, former head of the Internal Security Organisation, is battling charges of spreading harmful propaganda over statements he made in a radio interview eight years ago. He potentially faces a long jail term.  

Maj Gen Kutesa, who heads doctrine in the army, told The Independent news magazine last month that the current political tensions, endemic corruption and “other leadership problems show that the government has veered off the track of fundamental change that they promised in 1986.”  

But army spokesperson Col Felix Kulayigye denied any suggestion that the army was not at peace with itself.

“There is no disunity because we never spoke of a coup. If you look at the text from the press conference, there is not a single word of a coup. Whoever imagines we spoke about a coup is being driven by the Daily Monitor headline,” Col Kulayigye said.  

Reported by Gaaki Kigambo and Julius Barigaba