MK
Museveni appoints new court martial
By Frank Nyakairu
Dec 30, 2003
KAMPALA â The General Court Martial has been reconstituted to try military officers recently implicated in ghost soldier-related corruption.
The change has come about because three members of the court are also named in the ghost soldier scam and will very likely appear before the same court, army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said yesterday.
Because of that likelihood, the General Court Martial, led by Lt. Gen. Elly Tumwine, will now sit as a special court martial, without the three officers, to try those haunted by the ghost soldiers.
Bantariza did not name the three officers.
The new 10-member special court martial has been assembled with the approval of Lt. Gen. Museveni.
It will be chaired by Tumwine. Brig. Ivan Koreta, the new commandant of the staff college in Jinja, is a member.
The new team has a chairman, a judge advocate, a prosecutor and seven other members.
That, according to the law, is enough to constitute a quorum for the court.
âWe have three other reserve members of the court to ensure realisation of quorum at any time,â Bantariza said.
The court will seat at the GCM headquarters in Makindye in Kampala and it begins work âin a weekâs timeâ.
On Sunday, Lt. Gen. David Tinyefuza, who is chairing a committee that is making deeper investigations into ghost soldier-related corruption in the military, summoned several officers to appear before him.
The officers include former Army Commander James Kazini, former Internal Security boss Henry Tumukunde and former Chief of Staff Lakara Nakibus.
Museveni sent about 60 army officers on forced leave last month pending an appearance before the GCM after an earlier investigating team headed by Defence minister Amama Mbabazi submitted its report.
 2003 The Monitor Publications
