David Sejusa

General David Sejusa (born 13 November 1954) (ne David Tinyefuza) decorated with the DAMU Medal and the Luweero Triangle Medal is a Ugandan lawyer, military officer and politician. He was the coordinator of intelligence services and a senior presidential adviser to President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni. He was also a member of High Command UPDF, the UPDF defence council and a member of parliament representing the Uganda People's Defence Force. He had a falling out with Museveni and formed the Freedom and Unity Front in exile in the United Kingdom following being charged for plotting a coup^[1] where he has been allegedly planning anti-government activities by the Museveni government.^[2]

Early and personal life

Tinyefuza attended Nyakasura School. He holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws Honours (LLB) and Master of Laws (LLM) from Makerere University. He also attended the Law Development Centre for the Diploma in Legal Practice where he left after a clerkship for cadet training in Tanzania. He was also a student leader at Makerere University. He has obtained the senior command qualifications of PSC from the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College at Kimaka, Jinja, Uganda. He also holds a Certificate in Information Technology from an institution in Canada. He also attended the Police Cadet Course in Tanzania and Senior Command Strategic Course.^[3]

He is married to Juliet Tinyefuza.^[4]

Name change

On 17 February 2012, David Tinyefuza officially changed his name to David Sejusa. He said that Sejusa is a family name that is also reflected on some of his academic documents but that he had abandoned it "around secondary school level" but that he would re-claim as "everybody back home" refers to him as such. He added: "There is nothing in reverting to my original name. It is comrades like you who didn’t know it was my name but those elder comrades have always referred to me as such. And I suggest that from today you quote me as Gen. David Sejusa."

The Sejusa name is a Lugandan rendering that is loosely translated as "I have no regrets;" it also has the same meaning in the Ankole rendition of Tinyefuza, which he said was a reason to take a new identity. The Buganda Kingdom minister in-charge of Royal Travels and Palace Affairs Kabuuza Mukasa, said that the Ssejusa name does not belong anywhere in the Gganda 52 clans and has no meaning. Instead he added that "in Buganda, someone else should name another unless when it's a nickname."^[5]

Military career

Prior to 1981, David Tinyefuza was a policeman with the Uganda Police Force serving as Assistant Superintendent of Police. In 1981, he became a combatant in the Uganda Bush War between the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) of Milton Obote and the National Resistance Army (NRA) of Yoweri Museveni, from 1981 until 1986. For a period of 10 years following the victory of the NRA in 1986, he served as a member of the National Resistance Army Council (NRAC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC). Between 1989 and 1992, he served as Minister of State for Defense. In 1993, he was appointed Presidential Adviser on Peace and Security, serving in that capacity until 1997. He was appointed Senior Presidential Adviser and Coordinator of Intelligence in 2005, a position he held until 2013.^[3]^[6]

Politics

The party was founded in November 2013^[7] with an official announcement later made in London, United Kingdom, where former General David Sejusa is in exile. Sejusa said of President Yoweri Museveni: "He's had enough time. He can leave and go, and we start a new process of national healing. And we are organising ourselves, we are establishing a constitutional rule which he destroyed." Sejusa denied seeking the presidency and said that it was "a waste of time" to run against Museveni within the structures of the current system. Two months earlier, Museveni challenged S jusa to try to overthrow him, but added that whoever uses violence would be stopped. "If Sejusa wants to use force, let him come." In turn, Sejusa responded to questions of whether he would use force to bringe change and said: "It's not so much that we want to do so. But if he continues to unleash terror on the population ours will be self defence."

Following a rift with the established in May 2013 about Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, over allegation of nepotism and that he would eventually simply replace his father as president, a motion Kainerugaba denied, he founded the Freedom and Unity Front.^[8] Sejusa had earlier called on Ugandans to "build alternative capacity" and remove Museveni. He added, the week following his departure as a MP representing the military, that "no one should imagine that Museveni will be removed through elections."^[9]

Sejusa serves as patron and organiser of the Uganda Youth Platform (UYP) which seeks to organise disaffect youth against the Museveni government.^[10] The UYP has engaged in subsequent public relations campaigns alleging corruption within the Museveni government,^[11] promoting the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 saying: "It was a life-saver, one of the most patriotic laws Uganda has ever had."^[12] and voicing opposition to allowing field trials of GMO crops.^[13]

References