Mugisha Muntu

Gregory Mugisha Muntuyera, commonly referred to as Mugisha Muntu, is a Ugandan politician and retired military officer. He has been President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), an opposition political party, since 2012. He served as the Commander of the Army, the highest position in the Ugandan military, from 1989 to 1998. When the National Resistance Army was renamed the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), General Muntu became Commander of the UPDF.

In 2008, he unsuccessfully contested for the FDC's presidency, against Kizza Besigye. He was elected as party president in 2012.

History

Mugisha Muntu was born in October 1958 at Kitunga village in present-day Ntungamo District, Ankole sub-region, Western Uganda, to Enock Ruzima Muntuyera and Aida Matama Muntuyera. He had an affluent childhood as his father was a strong government functionary and close friend of Ugandan leader Milton Obote. He attended Mbarara Junior School, Kitunga Primary School and Kitunga High School. (Kitunga High School was later renamed Muntuyera High School, in memory of his father, by Obote.) Muntu later attended Makerere College School. He subsequently went on to graduate in political science from Makerere University where he was deputy president of the students union.

Military career

Muntu joined the guerrilla National Resistance Army of Yoweri Museveni the day he completed his university exams, to the chagrin of his family and President Obote, who considered him a son. Early into the rebellion he was shot in the chest but survived after receiving treatment in Kampala. Later he emerged as the head of Military Intelligence after the NRA victory in 1986. In military intelligence he had under his command personalities like Paul Kagame, who would later become the President of Rwanda.

Mugisha Muntu underwent further military training in Russia before becoming a division commander in Northern Uganda. He rose to the rank of Major General within the UPDF. His rapid promotion did not to go unnoticed by other senior officers in the Ugandan military. He was later to serve as Commander of the UPDF. That post was later renamed Chief of Defence Forces of Uganda. As army chief, he oversaw the demobilization of many sections of the army. Observers have attributed Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu's quick ascension to the pinnacle of the NRA/UPDF to his reputation as an incorruptible and loyal officer to the President of Uganda. This loyalty was rewarded by the support of the President during Muntu's many quarrels with sections of the army which accused him of trying to alienate them. Prominent among these were the so-called 'uneducated' officers, led by Major General James Kazini. Mugisha Muntu was accused of creating a schism within the army by showing preferential treatment to educated officers while sidelining those he considered uneducated.

Political career

Muntu was a member of the constituent assembly (1994–1995) and parliamentarian. After disagreeing with Museveni's approach to politics and the military, he was removed from the army command and appointed as a minister, a position he politely turned down.^[1] In November 2001, he was selected by the members of the Ugandan Parliament to serve as one of the nine Ugandan representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).^[2]

Personal life

Since 1992, he is married to Julia Kakonge Muntu, and together they are the parents of one son, born in 1993, and one daughter, born in 1996.^[3]

See also

• Uganda People's Defense Force
• Forum for Democratic Change
• National Resistance Movement
• Salim Saleh
• Elly Tumwine
• Jeje Odongo
• James Kazini
• Aronda Nyakairima

References

External links

• Mugisha Muntu Leads EALA Team to Kisumu, Kenya
• Narrative of Mugisha Muntu's Military Career