Uganda’s security forces are grappling with a growing scandal after one of the country’s most senior intelligence officers was arrested over allegations that some terror threats and bomb scares may have been staged or exaggerated.
Maj Gen James Birungi, former head of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI)—now renamed Defence Intelligence and Security (DIS)—was detained on Friday and is being held at Makindye Military Police barracks in Kampala. His arrest follows weeks of investigations ordered by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Allegations of staged threats
The probe began with the detention of Col Peter Ahimbisibwe, CMI’s former counterterrorism director, and Lt Col Ephraim Byaruhanga, who oversaw special operations. Their testimonies reportedly pointed to Gen Birungi’s involvement in suspicious operations.
Among them were incidents in which women described as suicide bombers were killed in Munyonyo and Kaleerwe last year. Officials at the time linked the women to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist rebel group, but subsequent investigations found no evidence of ADF activity in the areas.
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Sources close to the inquiry suggest junior soldiers arrested in connection with those incidents traced orders back through the chain of command to Birungi himself.
A sensitive arrest
Gen Birungi’s detention has unsettled the military establishment. For years, terror alerts have justified security crackdowns and reinforced public fears of the ADF. If it is proven that incidents were exaggerated or manufactured, it could undermine public trust in the government’s counterterrorism efforts.
He had already been moved from DIS earlier this year, first to head the Mountain Division in Fort Portal and later appointed as Defence Attaché to Burundi—a transfer that some insiders now describe as an attempt to ease him out of sensitive positions.
On 29 August, he was summoned to army headquarters in Mbuya, disarmed, and interrogated before being taken into custody.
Military justice in limbo
UPDF spokesperson Maj Gen Felix Kulayigye confirmed that Birungi was arrested to “assist with investigations” but stressed that no formal charges had been filed.
“The decision on whether he will face trial depends on the outcome of the inquiry,” Kulayigye said, noting that the dissolution of the General Court Martial by the Supreme Court had delayed proceedings against several officers.
He added that, in some circumstances, military suspects could be tried in civilian courts, but only if the cases fell under civilian jurisdiction.
Wider review of past scares
Investigators are now examining other incidents from recent years, including bomb scares at churches, abandoned explosives in city neighbourhoods, and threats in Kampala markets. The aim is to establish whether these were genuine threats or operations orchestrated from within security agencies.
Analysts warn that the stakes go beyond the fate of one officer. Repeated false alarms risk eroding public confidence, making citizens less responsive to genuine warnings in the future.
“You can only raise the alarm so many times before people stop believing,” a retired officer told the BBC.
Credibility at stake
Gen Birungi’s arrest is the highest-profile development yet in a widening inquiry into Uganda’s counterterrorism apparatus. For some observers, the case raises uncomfortable questions about how fear has been used as a tool of governance.
As one Kampala lawyer put it: “This is not only about whether bombs were real or not. It is about the credibility of the state itself.”
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