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GENERAL DAVID BUGOZI MUSUGURI: A great general, with a distinguished military career

GENERAL David Bugozi Musuguri alias General Mutukula is no more. The General sadly passed on at the Bugando Referral hospital in Mwanza on 29 October 2024.
MWALIMU Julius Nyerere with the then Chief of Defence Forces, General Abdallah Twalipo (left) and Major General David Musuguri during the Kagera War.

MWANZA: GENERAL David Bugozi Musuguri alias General Mutukula is no more. The General sadly passed on at the Bugando Referral hospital in Mwanza on 29 October 2024.

He will be buried with befitting full military honours at his birthplace Butiama, Musoma on Monday 04 November 2024.

To the majority of the members of the TPDF, the iconic name of General Musuguri, symbolised military bravery, integrity, professionalism, patriotism and a sense of duty, putting duty before self. The General was every inch a soldier, with an enviable illustrious military career.

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He was a great General, patriotic and undoubtedly one of the gallant sons of our country. General Musuguri was well remembered during his military service and after his retirement. He will also continue to be remembered even after his death.

Like General Douglas MacArthur’s famous dictum, “…old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away…” General Musuguri has just faded away, leaving behind a good legacy of excellence which will be remembered for a long time to come.

During his military service, General Musuguri meteorically rose through the ranks having served in the Kings African Rifles (KAR), in the short-lived Tanganyika Rifles (TR) and to the highest rank and office in the TPDF.

Very few matches this colourful military career which span for 45 years from the time he joined KAR on the 09 August 1943 up to when he ceremoniously retired from the TPDF on 01 September 1988. When he served in the Kings African Rifles, Musuguri was among the few African soldiers from 6th battalion KAR from Tanganyika which was part of the East Africa Command, to be promoted to the rank of Warrant Officers Platoon Commander (WOPC), the highest NonCommissioned Officer rank at the time.

Few others promoted to that rank from Tanganyika whose names readily come to mind included Abdalah Twalipo, Guido Kusiga, William Chacha. After attending a sixmonth Effendi course at the 5th Battalion KAR training wing in Nakuru -Kenya, he was promoted to the newly created rank of Effendi.

Effendi was part of the KAR initial plans of africanisation launched in 1952 for most promising warrant officers and sergeants. DT 13814 WOPC David Bugozi Musuguri suitably qualified.

Like in most colonial armies, the command structure of KAR was colonial in outlook. Africans were restricted to the rank and file of the army and the duties of Effendis were therefore restricted to the company level.

Effendis, originally a Turkish word meaning a title of respect or courtesy, was a former Indian Army’s Viceroy Commissioned Officer rank. It was not a Queens Commission in accordance with the British Army regulations and standards. Actually, it was a Governor’s commission.

In Tanganyika the Effendi Rank was scrapped after independence as it was realized outstanding officers like Musuguri should have been Commissioned straight away. After it was abolished, the nomenclature Effendi (now commonly pronounced as ‘Afande’) became the standard form of salutation and respect used by the militaries in East Africa.

The late Gen Musuguri was Commissioned in 1962. Among his many notable appointments after independence included Officer Commanding 2nd Battalion Tanganyika Rifles, 1st Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion TPDF, Chief of Personnel TPDF, Brigade Commander, 20 Division Commander and CDF from 1980-1988. General Musuguri is very well remembered as one of the heroes of the Kagera War.

He took over command of the 20 Div from the late Gen Tumanieli Ndelanguso Kiwelu in December 1978. At this time Idi Amin forces were already repulsed out of the Kagera salient.

His entry into the war theatre gave the campaign a new vigour and impetus. His task was to push further to Kampala City. Kampala fell to the TPDF forces on 11 April 1979 and this also signified the end of Idi Amin despotic regime.

From the front line, the TPDF officers sent a cable to the President saying ‘Kazi mliyotutuma tumeimaliza.’ So, when on 02 November 1978 at the Diamond Jubilee Hall the Late President Julius Kambarage Nyerere declared war against the invading Idi Amin forces saying that “… we have only one task. To hit him. We have the reason to hit him, we have the ability to hit him and the intention to hit him…”, Mwalimu had full confidence of the TPDF soldiers and their commanders’ ability to carry out the task at hand.

It is interesting to know how Gen Musuguri got his popular nickname ‘Gen Mutukula.’ Colonel (rtd) Stephen Isaac Mtemihonda, a Kagera war veteran himself, having commanded the 21 battalion of the 205 Brigade during the Kagera war, in his book titled Vita vya Kagera recalls how all this started.

On 22 January 1979, at dawn, 207 Brigade under Brigadier John Walden and 208 Brigade under Brigadier Michael Marwa were for hours heavily pounding enemy positions with artillery fire in the areas close to Minziro and Mutukula trying to flush out the entrenched enemy, until when Brigadier Marwa announced over the radio the word ‘MUTUKULA’.

This was a pre-arranged codename signifying victory of the fierce battle of Mutukula and Minziro.

Meanwhile, Maj Gen Musuguri, who was watching the unfolding battle situation not far from the forward edge of the battle area, came down from Kabweba hill towards Mutukula. On arrival, Brigadier Michael Marwa smartly saluted his Division Commander and said ‘Karibu Jenerali Mutukula’. Since then, the nickname of General Mutukula beautifully stuck.

Gen Musuguri was promoted to the rank of a four star General and appointed as CDF after the Kagera war. (His promotion to the rank of a Major General was officially on 19 January 1979, three days before the battle of Mutukula).

During his 8 years at the helm of the TPDF, he superbly spearheaded the reorganization and reorientation process of the army which was just coming from a major war and this enabled the TPDF to continue being a formidable multi-mission force. It was also during his time as the CDF that TPDF troops were deployed in the central province of Zambezia in support of the Mozambique government fighting against the rebellious RENAMO forces which almost overran the country.

The TPDF soldiers put up a good fight and the operation, codenamed as Ops Safisha, ended successfully in 1988. The late Gen David Bugozi Musuguri’s immense contributions and exemplary service to the TPDF and the nation is a successful military story, a story of exceptional loyalty, a story worth remembering. Rest in eternal peace General. You fought well and finished your battles.

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