Fresh from a 20-month exile in the UK, Gen David Sejusa’s return to freedom in Uganda has been cut short: His home was sealed off by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, and he was put under house arrest on January 2. Gen Sejusa ended his exile on December 14 last year, after allegedly negotiating his return with the government.

But government spokesman Ofwono Opondo confirmed his arrest on Friday afternoon. Since his return, the general appeared to be dealing with a crisis of credibility as speculation about the terms of his return and his relationship with the state mounted.

On Friday afternoon, the spokesman posted on his twitter account @OfwonoOpondo, “Renegade and bellicose Gen Sejusa has been put under confinement by the UPDF, and he is safer that way #UPDF disciplined force.”

“The days of naked impunity by military officers in Uganda is long gone, if Gen Sejusa had forgotten #UPDF disciplined force,” Mr Opondo added.

Both the government and army spokesmen delivered careful statements on the four-star general’s return to the country.

“The government facilitated him with a ticket. For now we consider him a free man as his cases are being looked into,” said Mr Opondo. UPDF spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said “The army is happy to have Gen Sejusa back in the country.”

Prior to his exile, Gen Sejusa was the co-ordinator of intelligence services. After his return, he used his contacts in the country’s security machinery to keep tabs on what the government was planning. On New Year’s Day, Gen Sejusa told journalists in Kampala of his impending arrest following his refusal to meet President Yoweri Museveni at his country home in Rwakitura, in western Uganda, on Friday evening.

READ: Sejusa return puts spin on NRM power struggle

“My lawyer told me that the president wanted to meet me tomorrow [Friday]. I told my lawyer to inform the president’s handlers that there were issues to be resolved. I am still an acting officer whose circumstances have changed, and he is the Commander in Chief. So in what capacity am I meeting him?” he said, adding that he could not meet President Museveni “before these issues are resolved.”

Gen Sejusa says the issues to be resolved were those that triggered his exile in April 2013. At that time, Gen Sejusa wrote a memo to the head of the Internal Security Organisation Brig Ronnie Balya, asking him to investigate allegations that there was a plot to assassinate high profile people in government who were opposed to the “Muhoozi Project” — a loose reference to the alleged grooming of President Museveni’s first son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba to succeed his father.

“The reasons for leaving must be resolved. You cannot pretend that it is business as usual; there is a fundamental contradiction between my legal and factual status in the army,” Gen Sejusa said on January 1.

According to UPDF spokesman Lt Col Ankunda, the army moved in to “give Sejusa protection.” Journalists were barred from accessing Gen Sejusa’s home in Naguru, a suburb of Kampala.

Through his lawyer Mr Rwakafuzi, Gen Sejusa asked the UPDF leadership to allow him to retire into civil life, citing long service and advanced age. He turned 60 last November. Gen Sejusa fought from 1981 to 1986, to bring President Museveni to power on January 26, 1986.