Gregory Mugisha Muntuyera, commonly referred to as Mugisha Muntu (born October 1958), is a Ugandan politician and retired military officer. He is the current President of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), a political party he founded in March 2019. He previously served as the President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), an opposition political party, from 2012 to 2017. In September 2018, General Muntu parted ways with the FDC citing ideological differences with the new FDC leadership of Hon.Patrick Oboi Amuriat. On 27 September 2018 he announced in a televised press conference that he and some other leaders had begun what he called The New Formation which later became the ANT.
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.
He is now the Party President of Alliance for National Transformation (ANT)
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 attended Makerere College School and subsequently went on to graduate in political science from Makerere University, where he was deputy president of the students union.
Born in October 1958 in Ntungamo District, Maj Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu is described by those close to him as a principled and unwavering military officer and politician.
This description is premised on the decision he made to join the National Resistance Army (NRA) commanded by President Museveni in 1982 to fight the regime of Milton Obote, to the chagrin of his family because his father was a close friend of the late Obote.
His parents Enock Ruzima Muntuyera and Aida Matama Muntuyera being confidants of President Obote and being state functionaries, gave Gen Muntu an affluent childhood.
“President Obote knew General Muntu very well. He used to ask what Gregory wanted and would wonder why he became a rebel,” a retired army officer said.
His father, later died when Gen Muntu was in the bush fighting and he never returned to burry him.
During the early days of the NRA bush war in Luweero, Gen Muntu was injured and quietly brought to the former Kisekka Military Hospital located near Kisekka Market, in Kampala for treatment.
He was treated by the rebel collaborators who were working in the hospital and he later sneaked back to the bush after recovery.
Gen Muntu was in the same group of Maj John Kazoora, Maj Gen Benon Biraaro, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, Dr Kizza Besigye, Gen David Sejusa whose joining of the military was driven by political ideals and have continued to be key players in Uganda’s political history.
“These officers were politicians right from the start of the NRA war. They are not career soldiers,” says a UPDF Colonel who does not want to be named.
During and after the bush war, Gen Muntu was an intelligence officer until 1989 when he was appointed Army Commander of the NRA, now UPDF.
In military intelligence he had under his command personalities who included Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was deputy Director of Intelligence. Gen Muntu underwent further military training in Russia before becoming the Commander of the 4th Division in Gulu. President Museveni promoted him from the rank of Colonel to Maj General, jumping the rank of Brigadier and appointed Army Commander.
Sgt Tom Gitta, who retired from the army in 1999 after serving for 17 years, says Gen Muntu was a strict disciplinarian and that earned him enemies within the UPDF.
“He is the one who introduced Kateebe [being suspended from work] in the army. The undisciplined soldiers would be suspended from work and it made him unpopular in the army,” he says.
After one year of his appointment as the Commander of the NRA, Rwandan soldiers in the force defected and attacked Rwanda in 1990.
This left many ghost soldiers on the army nominal roll which in the end prolonged the wars in northern and eastern Uganda.
He was dropped as the Army Commander in 1997 and was replaced by Gen Jeje Odongo.
On the day of his sacking, Gen Muntu says he had taken his family to Murchison National Park for a holiday.
Political statements
In an interview with Daily Monitor in 2012, Gen Muntu said it was the first time he had taken a break since 1989 when he was appointed Army Commander.
After his sacking, Gen Muntu started making political statements that sent a signal that he was falling out with his former ally, President Museveni.
In 2008, he unsuccessfully contested for the FDC’s presidency, against Besigye before he was elected as party president in 2012.
He lost the party presidency to Patrick Amuriat in 2017. His supporters later accused Dr Besigye of frustrating him and that is when internal voices within FDC started calling for his exit to start a third force.
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.
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. 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. 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).
Personal life
Since 1992, he has been married to Julia Kakonge Muntu. They are the parents of one son, born in 1993, and one daughter, born in 1996.
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