KAMPALA, UGANDA: Five soldiers from the elite Special Forces Command- SFC accused of sharing sensitive security information with Rwanda have made another attempt at bail in the Makindye-based UPDF General Court-martial.
The suspects are Lt. Alex Kasamula from Makindye Military Police, Lt. Phillip Neville Ankunda, a pilot attached to the Special Forces Command, Private Nathan Ndwaine, a flight engineering and maintenance student at Nakasongola Air Defence facility, Private Moses Asiimwe, an aircraft’s mechanical engineer and Private Godfrey Mugabi.
The five were jointly arrested by military intelligence officers and police in May 2020 and detained at the Special Investigations Division in Kireka before they appeared in the General court-martial, which remanded them. On Wednesday, the suspects appeared before the UPDF General Court Martial Chairperson, Brigadier General Robert Freeman Mugabe.
The prosecution told the court that between February and May 2020 in various parts of Kampala, the accused soldiers and others still at large shared various security information with agents of the Rwandan government with the intent to prejudice Uganda’s security.
Court heard that the suspected created a Whatsapp group dubbed “Nyaruju WhatsApp Group” involving Rwandan spies, where they shared information injurious to the cohesion of UPDF and prejudicial to the country’s security. The suspects maintained their innocence and applied for bail through their lawyers led by Elizabeth Nyansingwa, arguing that the charges against them are available.
The applicants also argued that they have stayed long on remand and have made several bail applications without success with the exception of the court ordering an expeditious trial. Nyansingwa explained that since the military Court directed an expeditious in 2021, to date, only one witness has testified against them, arguing that there is a likelihood that the trial will suffer further delay.
The soldiers argued that they have fixed places of aboard within the jurisdiction of the General Court Martial and are ready to abide by the bail terms and conditions. They presented their relatives and friends as sureties and asked Court to find them substantial and release them on bail. The prosecution led by Lt Alex Rasto Mukhwana asked for an adjournment to allow them to respond to the application.
Accordingly, Brigadier Mugabe adjourned the matter to September 6th, 2022. The suspects were initially charged together with Benon Akandwanaho, a Community Liasion Officer from Kira Police Station, and Frank Sabiiti, a Police Counter Terrorism officer from Mutukula Border Post.
However, the police officers were granted bail some time back, leaving their co-accused battling the charges. According to sources privy to the case, trouble for the five soldiers started when it emerged that one of the members of “Nyaruju WhatsApp Group” had joined the UPDF and passed out a few months shortly after he was commissioned into the Rwandan army.
The sources say that security was puzzled about his motive since he carried valid pass cards for UPDF and the Rwandan armies where he even featured in both pass-out pictures. According to the UPDF Act, a person who is subject to military law and discloses by word of mouth or by document confidential information to the enemy or to authorized members of the defense Forces or the public …..commits an offense and upon conviction, he or she is liable to suffer death.
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