Kutesa who was at the beginning of this month retired from active service in the UPDF, passed away on Wednesday in India.
Kutesa who was at the beginning of this month retired from active service in the UPDF, passed away on Wednesday in India.
“A soldier par excellence, a bookman and a generally, straightforward officer retires. My thoughts and prayers go to Dorah, family and friends,” Besigye said in a condolence message posted on his Twitter handle.
Before his retirement, he was Commander of the UPDF Centre for Doctrine Development and Synthetisation.
He also represented the UPDF in the 10th Parliament.
During his tenure at parliament, Kutesa boldly told the 10th Parliament cows were stolen from Northern and Eastern Uganda in the 1980s but, he said he was not sure who stole them following pressure from some of his colleagues.
He began his military career in 1976 when he joined FRONASA, one of the military groups formed to fight Idi Amin Dada.
Like other FRONASA recruits, he was trained at Munduli Military Academy in Tanzania. After the fall of Amin, Kutesa was deployed in Nakasongola Military Training School.
It was from here that he deserted the army in March 1981, aged 25, to join Museveni’s NRA rebels fighting to remove Milton Obote.
He joined FRONASA after completing S.6 at Masaka Secondary School.
After the NRA captured power, he joined Makerere University and graduated with a social sciences degree.
Kutesa was one of the senior officers who fought alongside their spouses during the bush war.
His wife, Dora, now a Second Secretary at Uganda’s High Commission in India, is also a veteran of the war.
