Today in History: General Pecos Kuteesa Laid to Rest

What the report says

Uganda bid farewell to Lieutenant General Onesmus Pecos Kuteesa, a veteran commander in the National Resistance Army and later the Uganda People's Defence Forces, after his death in India on August 17, 2021 at age 65. According to Nile Post, his body was flown back to Uganda on August 21, arriving at Entebbe International Airport before a funeral service at his home in Buziga, Kampala. He was then buried on August 22 at his ancestral home in Kabula, Lyantonde District, with full military honours.

The report says Kuteesa was remembered as a key figure in Uganda's liberation struggle and postwar military leadership. He joined FRONASA in 1976, later switched to Yoweri Museveni's NRA, and rose through the ranks during the 1981-1986 bush war, including command roles around Kampala as the rebels took power in 1986. After the war, he held senior positions in the army, including brigade and division command, and later worked in training, recruitment and doctrine development.

Nile Post also notes that Kuteesa served in public life beyond the military. He represented Kabula County in the Constituent Assembly that helped draft the 1995 Constitution and later sat in Parliament as a UPDF representative. His wife, Dora Kuteesa, paid tribute at the funeral, and fellow officers described him as both a fighter and an intellectual. Parliament also planned a special session to honour his contribution. The article adds that Kuteesa wrote a memoir on the NRA war, offering his own account of the conflict and its aftermath.