The demised Maj. Gen. Julius Oketta died a day after UPDF sent a military message that all officers under the Operation Wealth Creation should go for medical tests.
He was deputizing Gen. Salim Saleh the Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation, a UPDF led agricultural project intended to eradicate poverty in Uganda.
According to the military message, all the officers including General Saleh were supposed to go for medical tests to know their health status.
Sources say President Museveni is getting tough on the officers who distributing seedlings and animals like cows, chicken and pigs.
A statement issued by the army on Saturday says the body of Gen. Oketta had been transported to Mulago Hospital for autopsy to establish the cause of death.
The Late Gen. Oketta had a rich working experience since his enrolment in the armed forces in 1979. He was among others the Operations and Training officer of 32 Battalion from 1984-1985 which resisted and stopped NRA for three months to capture Masaka barracks.
After joining NRA in 1985, he was appointed Second in Command of 25 Battalion from 1986 – 1987. The late was appointed the Commanding Officer of 23 Battalion and later 31 Battalion in the same year.
He was then elevated to serve as a Brigade Operations and Training Officer of 151 before taking up a higher command position as brigade Commander of 310 Brigade in 1989.
A year after, he was again elevated to a senior command position of a Division Commander of 6th Division in Eastern Uganda.
In 2001, the Late Gen. Oketta served as the Acting Chief of Logistics and Engineering of the UPDF before he was transferred to be the Head of Procurement of the Ministry of Defence and UPDF in 2003.
In 2006, Gen. Oketta was elected a Member of Parliament Representing the UPDF where he served for ten years. Gen. Oketta was also attached to the Office of the Prime Minister in 2007 where he held an appointment of the Director of National Emergency Coordination and Operations.
In 2013, the Secretary General of the United Nations endorsed Maj. Gen. Oketta to join the advisory group of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
In 2014, Gen. Oketta worked with the Africa Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) and in 2016 he was appointed the Deputy Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation.
The nation has lost a person whose contributions to national peace and development were enormous. The UPDF extends its deepest condolence and stands with the family of Late Gen. Julius Oketta at this difficult moment.
