New details emerge, contradict Museveni Mbale escape story

Mbale.

A relative of the late Jack Mukwana Maumbe, who was with President Museveni when Idi Amin’s soldiers surrounded Maumbe’s house on Plot 49 Maluku Estate, Mbale Town, has spoken out, contradicting Mr Museveni’s account of the events on the fateful day.

Mr Patrick Bukeni, who, according to his narrative – also corroborated by Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s book, Battles of Ugandan Resistance: A tradition of Maneuver, was in the house when Amin’s men closed in on Mr Museveni, says he is also angry that President Museveni has never mentioned him in his books or when talking about the events of the day of January 22, 1973.

Mr Bukeni also says it bothers him that Mr Museveni says he is the only man who slipped away from the house alive, yet he – Mr Bukeni – also sneaked out and witnessed soldiers give Museveni a murderous chase.
Deliberate omission?
“I am surprised that when he [President Museveni] was referring to the events, he asserts that he was the only one who got out of the house alive, forgetting me; yet we spent 30 minutes together in cordial conversation in the house before the attack,” Mr Bukeni said in an interview with Sunday Monitor this week.

When this newspaper reached out to Maumbe’s widow, Elizabeth, to corroborate the assertions by Mr Bukeni, she said: “I know him [Bukeni], but I am not at ease to speak about the events of that day. Please don’t make me cry now.”

The President, while recounting the events at Bungokho Sub-county in Mbale District during the burial of the late Maumbe last week, among other things, said he was the only fighter who left the house alive after his two comrades –Martin Mwesiga and Kazimoto – were shot dead at the house.

“When we were attacked at Maumbe’s home, I was the only man who managed to jump out of the house, ran through the trench to the forest in the thick grass, leaving behind my colleagues, whom I later discovered were shot by Amin’s soldiers and died,” he said.

As the President made the remarks, Mr Bukeni remained tight-lipped in the tent with his colleagues of the NRM Historical League.

Muhoozi’s book, published in 2010; 37 years later, admits that Mr Bukeni, a relative of Maumbe, arrived at the house and noticed the guest’s white Volkswagen Beetle 1600 parked outside before he entered the house. Muhoozi, now a Major General in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), is the son of President Museveni.

“Inside the house, he [Mr Bukeni] sat down in a seat that was immediately adjacent to the front door. He was immediately engaged in a conversation by a light-skinned man (Mr Museveni) of slight build, who wore outdoor type boots,” reads part of the book, on page 23.

Mr Bukeni, now in his early 60s, explained to Sunday Monitor that on the fateful day, he arrived at the late Maumbe’s house at 4:30pm. He found Mr Museveni, Martin Mwesiga and Waku Mpima Kizimoto, seated in the house.

“The late [Prof] Dani Wadada Nabudere and other Ugandans in Arusha, Tanzania, had sent me to bring money [Muhoozi’s book says it was $800 in traveller’s cheques and identification papers] and other items. I was supposed to handover to the late Maumbe, but unfortunately, he was not at home at that time,” he said.

Mr Bukeni says it’s at this time that Elizabeth Mukwana (Maumbe’s widow) introduced him to Mr Museveni and his two colleagues.

“Before we could start talking, Museveni sent her out of the house to go and buy sugar and bread to prepare breakfast. In her absence, we engaged in a cordial conversation,” Mr Bukeni says.

But Muhoozi, in his book, notes that Mr Bukeni arrived when President Museveni had already sent Maumbe’s wife to the market.

Mr Bukeni recounts that at about 5:15pm; deep into their conversation, Maumbe’s wife comes running, yelling and shouting that soldiers had surrounded the house.

“She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. She said since I had a Tanzanian identity card, there was no escape for me unlike my colleagues,” Mr Bukeni said. Maumbe’s widow remained in the house and witnessed the shooting to death of Kazimoto and Mwesiga, according to Muhoozi narrative in his book.

While in the kitchen, Mr Bukeni says he fidgeted about going back into the sitting room and retrieve his briefcase but one of the soldiers was already harassing Mr Museveni’s colleagues.
“Through the back door, I crossed to Maluku Road into the adjacent cemetery and hid in a cremation hut nearby,” he says.

Moments later, looking back in the direction of Maumbe’s house, Mr Bukeni says he saw a soldier pursuing Museveni and firing randomly.

“The entire estate was thrown into panic. It’s at this time that I stormed out and sprinted to mix with the crowd at the bus terminal, where I boarded a bus to Bududa,” he said.

Mr Bukeni says Mr Museveni could not have surely forgotten him and the events of that day so quickly given that as recent as August 10, 2008, the President sent for him to provide details of the episodes recorded in his son’s book, Battles of the Ugandan Resistance: A Tradition of Maneuver, at State Lodge in Mbale.

“Although many of the things were inaccurately recorded or left out, I provided all the information regarding what happened on that fateful day,” he said.

“I think that is how the President forgets people because even the late Maumbe suffered without much help,” Mr Bukeni said, adding that the members of the NRM Historical League were thrown into confusion when the President made the remarks.

The NRM Historical League currently plays an advisory role to the NRM establishment and sits in the NRM party’s Central Executive Committee.

Mr Bukeni, a resident of Butta parish in Nalongo Sub-county, says as members of the NRM Historical League, they needed to be recognised because they put their lives on the line as freedom fighters.

“Our deeds need to be appreciated. It was a collective responsibility, which we took on wholeheartedly so when our leader forgets us, it makes us regret,” Mr Bukeni concludes.