The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) is the professional head of Uganda’s armed forces. This position was established after the National Resistance Army was reconstituted as the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) , three years after the NRA’s victory in the Ugandan Bush War in 1986.
The holder of this position is responsible for the administration and operational control of the Ugandan military.
On the 24th of this month, President Yoweri Museveni promoted Wilson Mbadi to full General before appointing him CDF. Gen Mbadi replaced Gen. David Muhoozi who was appointed state minister for Internal Affairs.
Mbadi follows several Generals that have led the UPDF with dignity, and here is the list.
1.Major general Mugisha Muntu (1989-1998)
Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntuyera, commonly referred to as Mugisha Muntu is the first CDF and he was appointed in 1989, Gen Muntu served as CDF for 9 years.
Gen Muntu joined the guerrilla National Resistance Army of President 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.
Muntu underwent further elite military training in Russia before becoming a division commander in Northern Uganda. He rose to the rank of Major General within the UPDF.
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. Muntu’s quick ascension to the pinnacle of the NRA/UPDF to his reputation as an incorruptible and loyal officer to President Museveni.
After disagreeing with President 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.
2. General Haji Abubaker Jeje Odongo (1998-2001)
Gen Jeje joined the army in 1979. He is one of the original twenty-seven combatants who, together with President Museveni, attacked Kabamba Military Barracks in February 1981 to start the Ugandan Bush War. Gen Jeje Odongo was captured soon after the first NRA operation and was imprisoned in Luzira Maximum Security Prison.
After the war in 1994, Jeje Odongo was one of the ten army officers who represented the Ugandan military in the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1995 Ugandan Constitution.
In 1996, he was selected to replace Colonel Sserwanga Lwanga as the Political Commissar in UPDF. Also in 1996, he contested the parliamentary seat for Amuria District in the Ugandan Parliament. He won and was appointed as Minister of Defence soon after he entered parliament.
After firing Gen Muntu in 1998, in that same year, President Museveni ordered Gen Jeje to resign his parliamentary seat plus his cabinet position and was appointed Commander of the Army, taking over from Major General Muntu. He served as army commander until 2001 when he was replaced by Major General James Kazini. He was later appointed as Minister without Portfolio, a position he occupied until 2004. In 2004, now at the rank of Lieutenant General, Jeje Odongo was appointed as Minister of State for the Environment. He has served in different ministries and currently, he serves as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
3. Major General James Kazini (2001-2003)
Unlike other CDFs, Maj. Gen Kazini is the only CDF Uganda has ever had that did not have formal education. Kazini at first was a member of the Uganda National Rescue Front, a rebel group which was headed by General Moses Ali, which was based in West Nile. In 1984 Kazini left that group and joined the National Resistance Army, headed by Yoweri Museveni, as an enlisted soldier.
In 2001 he was appointed CDF till 2003 when he and other senior officers were sent to the General Court Martial on various charges, especially creation and maintenance of “ghost” soldiers on the army payroll. Others included Brigadier Nakibus Lakara, Gen Henry Tumukunde (former director-general of the Internal Security Organization) and then Brigadier Andrew Guti, who was later pardoned and promoted.
Unfortunately, on the morning of 10th November 2009, Major General James Kazini died at the home of his girlfriend, in Namuwongo, after being struck on the head with a metal pipe during a domestic brawl. At the time of his death, James Kazini was 52 years old.
4. Gen Aronda Nyakairima (2003-2013)
He joined the NRA in 1982, soon after leaving Makerere University. After NRA captured power, he attended the basic officer’s course in 1989. He later attended a course in strategic studies at Fort Leavenworth in the United States. He also had further military qualifications from the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo.
He worked as an intelligence officer in the Ugandan military. He later was appointed assistant director in the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the UPDF. He was then transferred to the Presidential Protection Unit as an intelligence officer. From there, he served as the commanding officer of the Armored Brigade before his appointment of the CDF in 2003.
Gen Nyakairima was appointed to the cabinet as minister of internal affairs on 23 May 2013. And he was replaced with Gen Katumba Wamala on the same day. Unfortunately, on 12th September 2015, while travelling on official duties from South Korea to Dubai, Gen Nyakairima suffered a heart attack. He was later confirmed dead at the age of 56 years.
5. Gen Edward Katumba Wamala (2013-2017)
Gen Wamala at first was an officer in the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) when the National Resistance Army (NRA) defeated the UNLA in 1986. He transitioned into the NRA without incident.
Spent nine years at U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (1999-2000) Between 2000 and 2001, at the rank of major general, he commanded the UPDF forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2001, Gen Katumba was appointed IGP serving in that capacity until 2005.
When he was then promoted to lieutenant general and given the title of commander of land forces, based at Bombo Military Barracks, making him one of the highest senior officers in the Ugandan military. On 23 May 2013, he was promoted to the rank of four-star general and appointed Chief of Defence Forces.
6. General David Rubakuba Muhoozi (2017-2021)
Gen Muhoozi joined the army in 1985 and was commissioned on April 21, 1989. He then served as Defense Counsel for the General Court Martial. In 1997, he was assigned to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), as Staff Officer General Duties, serving in that role for the next four years.
Over the years, he served as; Base Commander, Entebbe Air Force Base, Chief Of Staff, UPDF Air Force, Commander of Air Defense Division – Nakasongola Air Force Base, Commander of the Armored Brigade – Masaka and Brigade Commander, Motorized Infantry Brigade – Nakasongola.
On 9th January he was appointed CDF replacing Gen Katumba a position he has served for four years and five months, till he was appointed as the Minister of State for Internal Affairs on 6th June 2021, replacing Obiga Kania.
7.Gen Wilson Mbadi
Gen Wilson Mbasu Mbadi is the current UPDF Chief of Defence Forces (CDF).
Gen Mbadi replaced Gen David Muhoozi who was recently appointed State Minister for Internal Affairs.
Before his latest appointment, Mbadi, 59, had been serving as Deputy Chief of the Defense Forces and Inspector General of the UPDF.
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