UPDF corrects Lt Mabonga desertion timeline

Col Chris Magezi, the acting director of defence public information, initially said on October 1, 2026, that the army transferred Mabonga to the Mountain Infantry Division headquarters in April 2026.

Later that night, Magezi revised the date to November 2025, placing the transfer five months earlier.

“Point of correction: Lt Mabonga was transferred to the Mountain Infantry Division Headquarters for reassignment in November, 2025,” he wrote.

The correction concerns the transfer date. Magezi did not specify when the army declared Mabonga absent without leave (AWOL) or upgraded his status to desertion.

In his initial statement, Magezi said Mabonga previously served under the Chieftaincy of Defence Intelligence and Security. He said the officer failed to report to his new station and has since been on the run.

That account differs from Mabonga’s version, in which he claims he learnt of his transfer while in hiding and later discovered his AWOL status while detained by the Special Forces Command (SFC).

Mabonga alleges that colleagues hounded him out of office after the death of his boss, Brig Gen Tom K. Kabuye. He claims an embezzlement investigation report had implicated some colleagues, who wanted him removed so they could access and destroy it.

According to Mabonga, he fled his home around January, shortly after the elections. While in hiding, he learnt of his transfer and compiled another report intended for President Yoweri Museveni.

He says he later contacted former schoolmates serving in the SFC. They connected him to a senior commander, who called him on March 18 and promised to arrange access to the President.

Mabonga claims he was then driven to an SFC safehouse in Entebbe, where he expected to stay temporarily while awaiting the meeting. Instead, he says, officials booked him in as a detainee.

Weeks passed without the promised meeting. Mabonga says he later learnt that the army had declared him AWOL and removed him from its system and payroll.

He further alleges that the SFC failed to inform the defence ministry that it was holding him.

These claims remain unverified. Magezi’s statement did not address the alleged detention or embezzlement report.

Instead, the UPDF dismissed Mabonga’s allegations against the army, the Chief of Defence Forces and the President as forgeries, doctored images and fabrications.

Magezi also accused him of extortion, fraudulent land transactions and forging land titles. He said the army would arrest Mabonga and bring him before military justice.