Uganda’s military intelligence investigation has widened with the detention of two retired generals who once headed the country’s top military intelligence organ, raising the stakes in a probe into allegations of false intelligence and treachery.
Maj Gen (rtd) Abel Kandiho and Brig Gen (rtd) Charles Bakahumura were detained on Wednesday morning, according to military sources familiar with the developments.
The two officers are former chiefs of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), which has since been reorganised and renamed Defence Intelligence and Security (DIS).
Their detention comes less than three weeks after they formally retired from the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), having been among 19 generals retired on August 20.
Kandiho took charge of CMI in January 2017, initially as a colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general later that year and subsequently rose to the rank of major general.
Bakahumura led CMI between 2012 and 2017 before moving to the position of Chief of Logistics and Engineering, where he served for seven years, becoming the longest-serving officer to hold that office.
Intelligence probe
The arrests are reportedly connected to an investigation into alleged production or dissemination of false intelligence reports, a case that has already ensnared several senior military intelligence officers.
Military sources said the inquiry was sanctioned by Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, with investigators examining a wider network of officers linked to the allegations.
More people connected to the investigation are reportedly being sought.
The latest detentions follow those of former DIS chief Maj Gen James Birungi, Col Peter Ahimbisibwe, who served as Director of Counter-Terrorism, and Lt Col Ephraim Byaruhanga, the former Director of Special Operations.
Birungi and Byaruhanga have since been charged with treachery before the Court Martial and remanded at Makindye Military Police Barracks.
Birungi was arrested after appearing before a board chaired by Deputy CDF Lt Gen Samuel Okiding, which had been established on the orders of Gen Kainerugaba.
The investigation therefore reaches deep into the military establishment, involving officers who previously occupied some of the most sensitive positions in Uganda’s intelligence and security architecture.
‘Dancing Generals’
The arrests also follow a public controversy that began after videos emerged showing retired generals dancing and waving their military caps during their farewell ceremony at State House Entebbe.
The ceremony was presided over by President Yoweri Museveni.
Gen Kainerugaba reacted angrily to the footage, questioning why senior officers appeared to be celebrating their departure from the army.
In a post on X, he warned that the officers would be investigated and arrested.
“I think from now it’s forbidden for generals to dance too much next to State House. We are investigating all the generals who were dancing too much. They will be arrested soon,” he wrote.
In a separate post, he described the conduct as “NONSENSE” and said those involved would be arrested.
He later questioned whether the officers were dancing because they were “happy to be free of UPDF”.
On Wednesday, the CDF appeared to signal that the warnings were being acted upon, posting that one of the “dancing Generals” had been captured and that another would follow.
It remains unclear, however, whether the arrests of Kandiho and Bakahumura are directly connected to their conduct at the farewell ceremony or solely to the wider intelligence investigation.
The UPDF had not issued an official statement on the detention of the two retired generals by press time. Acting Defence spokesperson Col Chris Magezi could not be reached through his known telephone contacts.
The investigation is ongoing, and the military has yet to publicly disclose the specific allegations against Kandiho and Bakahumura.
