The head of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II’s security detail, Captain Edward Ssempijja has vanished from duty. His disappearance was confirmed by the head of Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, the Director for Communications at the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF).
Cap. Ssempijja vanished at the time when Kabaka went overseas for medical attention. Kabaka has been out of the country for four weeks. Cap. Ssempijja went missing 10 days ago.
According to Gen. Kulayigye, for now, UPDF is counting Ssempijja as absent from duty. After 21 days of disappearance, he will be declared away without official leave, and he will now be the suspect.
He noted that for now, UPDF has given him a benefit of doubt because he may come back with an issue that has taken him a long way. After 31 days, UPDF will institute a Board of Inquiry to establish what happened to him. Did he run away? Was he kidnapped?
“If it is found that he went on his own, what was the cause? Was it to do with the workstation or family issues, or was he a security threat to the person he was protecting? Capt. Ssempijja was on special duty protecting a VVIP. So why do you disappear? Could there be reasons why you would endanger the principal? If so, we must get you to the bottom of the case,” Gen. Kulayigye said.
He noted that any officer leaving on his own must appoint somebody to act; if he vanishes, just like Ssempijja did, the institution appoints somebody to act in that position until the substantive one is identified.
“This is a special deployment. You don’t deploy any officers; the person must be of proficient discipline and others. There is a captain who has been appointed to take charge of the unit until a substantive is appointed,” he noted.
He will be considered a deserter if he fails to appear before the inquiry team within a month.
