Who is Gen Salim Saleh? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, early life, home, education and family of Gen Caleb Akandwanaho, a brother to the current President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.
Gen Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh is a retired Ugandan military officer who has served in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF), the armed forces of Uganda.
He is a brother to the current President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who has reigned for over 30 years, and an adviser to the President on military matters.
Saleh was part of a core group of ‘hardened’ fighters trained at Montepuez, like Late Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigyma, who was as daring as a devil. Others included Gen. Ivan Koreta, the late Chefe Ali and Ayeli Pipino.
Early Life and Education
Gen Salim Saleh was born Caleb Akandwanaho was born on 14th January 1960 to Amos Kaguta and Esteri Kokundeka in Mbarara District. He is the younger brother of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the current President of the Republic of Uganda.
Saleh attended Kako Secondary School in Masaka but his studies were cut short after he visited his elder brother Museveni in Tanzania.
“I was 16 years and when I went to Tanzania, I joined other colleagues to train in Mozambique,” he says.
By 1979, Saleh had already trained as a commander in Mozambique and fought in the war that uprooted dictator Idi Amin Dada in 1979.
When the war broke, Saleh stayed in Tanzania as a liaison officer between the Tanzanians and Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) forces, but later joined the war efforts and commanded a company to west Nile.
Later, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) was created from among the various fighting forces after the removal of Idi Amin Dada, former President of Uganda.
“We assembled in Mubende and since I had been a commander with good military and leadership skills, I was appointed army instructor. I did that for three months.”
Later, Saleh joined the prestigious Uganda Senior Command and Staff College at Kimaka in Jinja as a non-commissioned officer in 2003 and promoted to the rank of General in the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) in 2005. This was after he lost an opportunity to train in Munduli, Tanzania because only people with O’ Level and higher qualifications were considered.
However, in 2005 Saleh returned to school and obtained an A-Level Certificate the minimum requirement to become a member of parliament of Uganda before 2016 general elections.
Following the election, Saleh was appointed Minister of State for Microfinance serving from 2006 to 2008.
Military Career
In 1976, aged 16, Gen Salim Saleh left Kako Secondary School in Masaka to join FRONASA, a Tanzania-based rebel group formed and led by his brother Yoweri Museveni to fight against the regime of Idi Amin.
Together with his friend Fred Rwigyema and his brother Museveni, he trained in Mozambique with Samora Machel’s FRELIMO rebels.
It was there that he adopted Salim Saleh as his nom de guerre. In 1978, FRONASA merged with other anti-Amin groups in Tanzania and formed the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), who together with Tanzanian armed forces captured Kampala in April 1979 – sending Idi Amin into exile. Saleh was later made a platoon commander of a UNLA unit in Moroto District.
Following the bitterly contested December 1980 elections, Museveni declared an armed rebellion against the UNLA and the government of Milton Obote.
Gen Salim Saleh joined his brother’s National Resistance Army (NRA) and the guerilla war known as “the bush war” that would last until 1986.
In January 1986 when NRA current National Resistance Movement (NRM) the ruling party in Uganda, Salim Saleh commanded NRA’s assault on Kampala, which eventually led to the demise of Tito Okello’s regime, with Museveni becoming President.
NRA became the national army, with Salim Saleh as a commanding officer, General Elly Tumwine as the Army Commander, and Museveni as the Commander-in-chief.
Saleh proceeded to command an army division against rebel groups that were remnants of the UNLA, including Uganda People’s Democratic Army (UPDA), in northern parts of the country. He was instrumental in working out a peace deal with the UPDF.
Saleh succeeded Gen Elly Tumwine as Army Commander in 1987 and held the post until 1989 when he was sacked from the army by his brother, following accusations of corruption.
He later became the senior presidential advisor on defence and security (1996-1998), and the commander of the army’s Reserve Force (1990-2001), involved in resettling army veterans of the bush war.
Saleh recalled RPF leaders to Uganda, over the death of the leader of the RPF Fred Rwigyema. He arrested Peter Bayingana, who had taken de facto command of the RPF, and Chris Bunyenyezi. Both were executed.
Although he’s reluctant to talk about his daring escapades, one of his courageous acts in 1980 was rescuing Museveni, who had been arrested by government soldiers at a roadblock as he drove towards Kireka.
In her book, My Journey, Janet Museveni narrates out of the car with their weapons cocked and ready to fire. They out-numbered the soldiers manning the roadblock, Museveni and his family jumped into the car and sped off.
Saleh was in February 1981, posted to the 14th Battalion in Moroto and so he was not among the group that attacked Kabamba at the launch of the National Resistance Army Bush War. Nevertheless, he joined his colleagues.
One morning he was arrested and charged with murder in the civilian court in Moroto. For four months he remained on remand until one day, the magistrate freed him, citing no case to answer.
On return to the barrack, a new commander called Tibamuleka told him he had been posted to Moyo.
Journey to the Bush
Instead of going to Moyo where he had been posted, he was picked up by then 2nd LT. (now Lt. Gen.) Katumba Wamala and driven to a ‘safe house’ in Mbuya where combatants going to the bush used to converge. The group then journeyed through Buwambo to a link point Matugga.
This was in July 1981, five months after the start of the war. “It was like a reunion since I found many of my former comrades there,” he says.
Saleh met 50 or so soldiers in the bush, “I was not thinking about the future. With them, I felt safe. I was enjoying myself,” he says.
Saleh says once he saw the involvement of the civilians and the elaborate structures, he realized that the mission was possible.
Saleh soon became one of the toasts of the revolution, leading fighters into many successful battles of the guerrilla war.
He was appointed commander of the Mobile Force and specifically the decoy that was an element of the Mobile Force. In February 1983, he almost met his Waterloo at Bukalabi.
Saleh recalls, contrary to some reports, that the attack on UNLA soldiers in Bukalabi near Semuto was forced on the chairman (Museveni) by his commanders and was not well-planned. At the time, the NRA had secured a big swath of territory. The attack on Bukalabi was pushed for territorial gain.
“We commanders did not think that we could lose territory and yet the Museveni’s view was that we should have withdrawn,’ he says.
The last intelligence before the attack was wrong and Saleh’s unit entered the first enemy defences without realizing it. Saleh rallied his men to fight on, until he realized that many had been shot, some dead. Pondering his next move, he was shot three times in the arms.
He ordered the rest of the fighters to withdraw from battle. By that time, he had taken several bullets: his jacket had 18 bullet holes.
Saleh recalls: “That was bad. It was painful be it was the first time we left our dead in the battle field.”
To war survivors in Luweero, Saleh’s survival in Bukalabi was out of the ordinary. “He used his hands to stop the bullets. One of his hands produced a spear-like symbol whenever he opened it towards the UNLA soldiers,” one resident said. Others claimed that Saleh turned into a cat and escaped.
He might have lost that battle, but to the adoring NRA supporters, he remained a hero. “True, my jacket had 18 bullet holes. Only three or four got into my body. It was God’s plan. He wanted me alive,” he says today.
But Saleh had a reputation as a superhuman being because of his almost suicidal antics on the battlefield. Some described him as a man possessed in battle; that he had a “big insect’ in his head that scratched him to carry out suicidal missions.
Some claim that during the battle, he could disappear only to be seen standing on an anthill or even upon a tree, smoking away as he monitored the progress.
“His adage was ‘death before dishonor’,” says retired Capt. Godfrey Kangave, who was part of Saleh’s mobile unit.
In February 1984, Saleh led another big assault on Masindi barracks where he grabbed over 700 assorted weapons months later. During an attack on Kabamba, his unit seized an assortment of over 600 weapons.
Saleh says these daring fetes were eased by 50% enforcement of regulations and 50% ideological beliefs. “We had a strict code of conduct on one hand and a very strong ideology on the other,” he says.
Saleh was sometimes mischievous. In the third NRA attack on Kabamba barracks, for example, he engaged a UNLA soldier guarding the armoury in the cheeky talk – including a promise of promotion to the rank of major if he stopped his resistance.
“He walked with and carried this feeling and picture of invincibility, which with time, he transferred to his fighters. In many battles like at Kembogo, he made us feel invincible against better armed government soldiers,” Kangave said.
On his part, Saleh says: in all battles, I was just lucky, with very good training, very good commanders in charge and very good fighters.”
The Kembogo battle turned out to be the last nail in the coffin of the UNLA; a culmination of several weeks of a cat-and-mouse game between the NRA’s Mobile Brigade and the UNLA’s Special Brigade. Saleh humiliated the UNLA force commanded by John Ogole.
“Ongole believed that if you finally defeated Saleh’s mobile brigade, then the NRA would be no more,” recounted Maj. Gen. Kuteesa, who commanded the 1st battalion of the mobile brigade. However, Saleh triumphed.
Saleh was again in charge when NRA battled UNLA soldiers in Masaka, brazenly driving into the town ahead of his fighters who were following him on foot. Normally, the commander comes in last, but that was not for Saleh.
For the final prize – the capture of Kampala – Saleh says: “I was privileged to have drawn the plan for the attack on Kampala and it was fully accepted by the CHC.”
After the war
When the war ended, Saleh later served as army commander in 1988 and retired in 1989, although he often has periodic recalls in the army. In the 1990s, he initiated the failed peace talks with the LRA and was part of the team that revived dialogue with the rebels in mid – 2000.
In the 1990s, Saleh returned to Bukalabi and tried to start a coffee business. Today he engages in maize farming and processing in Kapeeka, Nakaseke district. “I am happy I remained so that I can contribute to social-economic transformation of the Luweero triangle,” he says.
Controversies
Saleh has featured in controversies regarding corruption, including being implicated by the UN Security Council for plundering natural resources in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
While still in the army, Salim Saleh ventured into private business and philanthropy setting up a string of businesses ranging from real estate to aviation, and becoming one of Uganda’s wealthiest businessmen, but also getting involved in several corruption scandals.
Ndeeba church demolition
Gen Salim Saleh, the coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), was reported to have had a hand in the demolition of Ndeeba church in August 2020, but he came out and denied involvement in the demolition of St. Peter’s Church, Ndeeba.
Gen Saleh made the remarks while addressing a group of Anglican Bishops at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) headquarters in Kawanda, Wakiso District during an engagement on Wealth Creation.
He asked the public to keep him out of land evictions and grabbing in Kampala.
“I don’t have any property in Kampala, the only one I have is the one in Mbuya, a house. I sold everything in Kampala, when I was chased from the army. The house in Mbuya is still there because my wife stopped me from selling it. I am in Kapeeka, but I am hearing Saleh, you are grabbing church land, am I mad to do that?” Gen Saleh wondered?
“In the name of God, want to swear to you that I am not involved in breaking churches. That is crazy for one to think that Saleh can break a church. Those saying so don’t know me,” Gen Saleh said.
Gen Saleh said he would have no interest in church property, saying that he respects God.
“I swear before you in the name of God that I am not involved in the church demolition issues,” he said.
Several media reports alleged that Gen Saleh acted under Dodovico Mwanje, the man behind the razing of a 45-year old Anglican Church that happened on Sunday 9th August 2020 night.
But the President’s younger brother said the public had been trading baseless rumours and has not allowed him to respond to the allegations.
Initially, the land on which the church was seated was registered in the names of Evelyn Nabachwa and she willed on August 2, 1980, that her son John Kajoba would take it over.
The church had been on said since 1981. In 2007, the children of Nabacwa raised concern over their mother’s land.
In the church’s defence in court, they acknowledged that Nabacwa was registered owner until March 3, 1981, but the ownership later shifted to the church.
But on June 6, 2019, High Court judge Mr Eudes Keitirima ruled that the Church of Uganda trustees fraudulently acquired the land where the demolished church sits.
The House of Bishops led by the Archbishop Stephen Kazimba visited the Naro offices in Kawanda to discuss OWC with Gen Saleh and other government officials.
The Bishops asked the government to give them Shs50 billion to facilitate church projects across the country.
Gen. Saleh said he had Shs60 billion budgets for all the faith-based organizations in the country but awaits approval from the Finance Ministry. He also said the government would pump Shs50 billion in Operation Wealth Creation projects for the Bishops.
The church also asked for 37 tractors for all the dioceses across Uganda, 37 milling machines, protection and security of church land.
Gen Saleh assured the House of Bishops that the government was going to bring to book all the culprits behind the demolition of St. Peter’s Church.
“All of these culprits will be arrested; they will be brought to book. I always hear people saying that Saleh, the President, Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) and others being involved in the grabbing of land. These people just hide behind these names and they shall be got and brought to book. I want to assure you that I can never destroy a church,” Gen Saleh said.
The 45-year old church was demolished in the wee hours of Sunday night.
Uganda Commercial Bank
In 1998, Salim Saleh resigned from his post as a presidential advisor, following allegations that Greenland Investments, a company in which he was a major stakeholder, had used the Malaysian company, Westmont, to illegally purchase shares in Uganda’s largest bank, the now-defunct Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB).
His brother, President Museveni, later said he sacked Gen Salim Saleh, not for his involvement in the scandal, but for “indiscipline and drunkenness” in the army.
His involvement in the purchase of the Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) also tainted his person. He explains: “In this case, I could not just look on as a Ugandan bank was being taken over by foreigners. I went in because I thought it was purely a national cause.”
Junk Helicopters
In 1998, Salim Saleh’s company purchased helicopters for the army, for which he received a commission of $800,000. The helicopters turned out to be junk.
The general was linked to one of the most haunting scandals in the army, involving the purchase of used helicopter gunships. He explains that although the suppliers gave him ‘a cut’ to get the contract, he informed his superiors and returned the money to the Government.
“I was being a good Christian by confessing, but things turned around,” he says.
Involvement in Congo (DRC)
Salim Saleh was specifically implicated in a UN Security Council report for being involved in the illegal exploitation of natural resources from Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War.
The government of Uganda dismissed the report, and no punitive actions were taken against those involved.
Gen. Salim Saleh’s achievements
Credited for being a shrewd commander and military strategist, Gen Caleb Akkandwanaho aka Salim Saleh left active military service in the early years of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) regime, taking on non-combat roles at different times.
He led the veterans and reserve force, became minister, senior presidential advisor and recently, he was appointed the commander of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), a scheme expected to fight poverty out of Uganda.
Not many years ago, Gen Salim Saleh publicly declared that he had quit his portfolio as a minister in charge of microfinance.
Gen Saleh is a Ugandan minister quitting voluntarily? And confessing to an unauthorized commission and then surrendering the money to the Government. This act confused many because a typical Ugandan minister is either reshuffled out of the cabinet or censured. If they must resign, it is usually a result of a scandal or after getting an international job.
However, Salim Saleh did seemingly unusual. The former state minister for Micro-Finance publicly declared he had quit his portfolio, citing frustration with the bureaucracy in the system, which delayed his efforts to lift the poor out of poverty.
Saleh had a dream of serving as a Minister that’s why he went back to school to attain an A’ Level certificate. The minimum qualification.
One time at a campaign rally, Saleh revealed his dream to be a minister. He appealed to the electorate to return Museveni to power, saying he might be lucky to get a cabinet post the reason he returned to school to achieve an A ‘Level certificate.
“Nze ndifa sibadeeko minister, (will die without ever being a minister).” In 2006, Saleh’s dream came true.
However, he realized that his dream of fighting poverty among the Ugandans could not be easily achieved because of the bureaucracies in the government.
“When I joined the ministry, I thought that all that I needed to do was to make money available to the poor people, but that was not the case,” he said. He resigned his post after 3 months. He now concentrates on personal efforts to empower farmers.
Gen Salim Saleh compensates Makerere students
Twenty-one students of Makerere University whose property were destroyed by security personnel during protests against the 15 per cent tuition increment in 2019 were compensated by Gen Salim Saleh.
At the time, UPDF soldiers together with military and regular police officers broke into halls of residence and destroyed students’ properties.
Patrick Nsamba, the Guild Representative Councilor (GRC) for Lumumba Hall said that during a meeting with a presidential advisor Gen Salim Saleh, and 15 student leaders at his Kapeeka industrial area in Nakaseke District on October 7, 2019, the affected students were compensated with 21 million shillings.
“Out of goodwill, the General condemned the act of brutality by the military and sympathized with the victims of this act. It was this spirit that he decided to make a personal compensation up to a tune of 21 million shillings to these students,” Nsamba who also doubles as the Guild Finance Minister said.
The students lost Television sets, utensils, mobile phones, laptops, rice cookers, and among others.
The students who received compensation were Derrick Nyamuhaki, Albert Lotyang, Patrick Nsamba, Emmanuel Cherotich, Patrick Ssenyonga, Ivan Kanabo, James Ssebidde, Nelson Mugisha, Joseph Owomugisha, Elvis Omoit, Joseph Marta Muzinda, Philip Winner Byonaniwe, Godfrey Kamukama, Michael Tayebwa, Amold Arinaitwe and Nicholas Kwesiga.
Others included Joseph Mukama, Alfred Taremwa, Michael Maganda, Tadeo Nyakoojo, Abiney Kitooke and Ivan Oyesigye.
According to Nsamba, whereas there were calls for compensation of students with medical bills arising out of brutality, the money offered by Gen. Saleh could not handle both property and medical bills.
The students meeting with Gen. Saleh and the subsequent compensation for the victims of vandalized property were received with mixed feelings amongst the student community with some accusing the student leaders of betrayal.
David Fredrick Nyanzi, a 3rd-year law student and the President Makerere Law Society wonder where the relevant stakeholders in the education were to warrant the intervention of General Salim Saleh.
“Salim Saleh, I don’t want to believe he is trying to buy off the students but maybe that is also another thing that should be debating about because that compensation was not publicized. Why didn’t they say it in the open that Salim Saleh is compensating, why didn’t they come to Lumumba and ask the students because also compensating through some students’ leaders may not be effective,” Nyanzi observes?
Nyanzi also wonders why students’ compensation was not institutionalized and only handled by an individual.
But Joshua Lawel Muhwezi, the 85th Guild Information Minister insists that the student’s leadership is still as determined as it was on the very day they set out with the students’ demands.
“Our demands shall not and shall never be compromised until they are responded to. The management is making all efforts to divide us using those that are among us (fellow students) and many have bowed to their favors and chosen to be administrations channel of propaganda,” Muhwezi noted.
He urged the students with compensatory issues to register with their leaders with proof of vandalized property for the guild to lobby for compensation.
“I would like to congratulate guild leaders from Lumumba Hall who effectively managed the process of compensating their residents whose property was vandalized. We encourage all those who were not captured to register with their respective guild representative with evidence for compensation.” Muhwezi adds.
Family and personal life
Gen Salim Saleh is married to Jovial Saleh and they have children. Some of his children are young adults who have made Saleh a dotting grandfather.
Like many parents, he goes through the usual headaches with the younger children who are still in school. When he was away soldiering, Jovial was cast into the role of head of the family, moulding her into the pillar she is today.
It is hard to know what is behind Saleh’s relaxed appearance, but he often looks calmer when puffing at his favourite pack of cigarettes. At his side will always be a pen, a notebook and a cellphone.
He keeps scores of scrapbooks and can quickly find notes he wrote five years ago in an unmarked notebook at the flip of a page, perhaps a trait he could have carried from his days as a commander.
He chooses his wardrobe carefully and yet he is not that fancy if you consider that his cellphone is one of the older Nokia models.
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