Gen. Ali Fadhul.
Senior military officers of the 1970s have come up to set the record straight, saying they have been maligned to long and a lot of lies repeatedly told about them yet they have remained highly disciplined and have not engaged in any subversive activities against the Yoweri Museveni government.
The aged veterans spoke during the funeral of their fallen comrade, Brigadier General Ali Fadhul, who passed on this week aged 81 years.
General Fadhul, one of the closest confident of former Ugandan President Idi Amin, was laid to rest on Thursday evening in a Muslim ceremony inhis home at Bulumagi village in Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District.
Since the announcement of his death on Wednesday morning, people started flocking his home to pay their last respects. Fadhul succumbed to diabetes and kidney failure.
The fallen soldier who was forced into the King’s Army riffle in 1953 at the age of 13 years, later served his country in various capacities not limited to commandant Simba Battalion at Mbarara, Magamaga Barracks, Governor Northern Province and Minister for Provincial Administration in 1974 before it was changed to Ministry of Local Government.
Abdul Magid Alule, Fadhul’s son and the family official spokesperson says their father championed the operation of sharing and ensuring smooth running of properties and businesses that had belonged to mostly Indians, among Ugandans after they had been expelled from the country.
According to him, after President Amin making up his mind on the move, his father championed the process which saw many Ugandans repossessing power to trade from foreigners.
Fadhul was arrested in 1986 after President Museveni taking over power, charged with murder of the former Administrative Secretary of Ankole, Xavier Tibayungwa in 1972.
“The army surrounded our home at around 5pm in 1886, handcuffed our father and took him to unknown place before they later charged him.” Alule recalls.
Fadhul was sentenced to life imprisonment until 2009 when he was released after a pardon from President Museveni. Returning to his home where he stayed until his life weakened, Fadhul maintained his innocence throughout the entire trial and accused the courts of twisting the law against him.
He was charged with Tibayungwa’s murder on two separate occasions which he always kept arguing was a breach of the Double Jeopardy principle which prohibits trying a person twice for the same crime basing on the same set of facts.
Both trials took place at the High Court in Mbarara. In the first trial, he was found innocent by Justice Seth Manyindo but later was taken back to Mbarara where the same witnesses and same evidence was presented and he was found guilty.
Lt Col Francis Itabuka, the Intelligence chief during Idi Amin’s reign, notes that people like General Fadhul should have been given special recognition and care before their last days by this government but they have been completely disregarded.
“Regardless of the regimes they served, they remain soldiers who protected their country during that time,” he said. “As soldiers who served during Amin’s time, we have been the most disciplined and not involved in any offense during Museveni’s rule.”
On Thursday, Sheik Muhammad Ali Waiswa, the second deputy Mufti of Uganda applauded the government for pardoning and releasing Idi Amin’s soldiers who had been detained for many years over different accusations.
Meanwhile, the community of Njeru is grateful for the contributions of social and economic developments rendered by now the late Fadhul.
Kassim Mulumba, one of the residents says he contributed towards education of many children, building mosques and supporting other religious activities.
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Patriotic.