Ex-Uganda’s military envoy to South Sudan dies mysteriously

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Paul Lokech has died, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) said in a statement on Saturday.

In 2019, President Museveni sent the UPDF Air Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen.Paul Lokech to South Sudan on a special assignment before he was promoted as Deputy Inspector General of Police.

He was to oversee the integration of the armed forces, the assembling, screening, demobilization and integration of the armed forces of South Sudan.

President Museveni is one of the guarantors of the transitional agreement.

Maj. Gen.Paul Lokech was confirmed dead at his home at Kira Kampala suburb at around 9 a.m on Saturday.

“He was not complaining of anything until this morning when he entered into the bathroom, preparing to go and attend to his injured leg. He called his wife and said: “I am losing breath”, the wife ran very fast and sat him down. They then called another person a medical person who tried to examine him but they failed,” said Uganda peoples Defense Forces Spokesperson, Brig.Flavia Byekwaso, on Saturday.

“I have never heard Maj.Gen.Okech is sick, I have only Gen. is working,” she added

Kitgum District MP Lilian Aber eulogised Gen.Lokech as a ‘man of the people who devoted his life to serve humanity’ and that Uganda had lost a great personality.

Kitgum Municipality Member of Parliament, Denis Onekalit Amere said that: “this is a person who East Africa and Africa will miss. As Acholi in northern Uganda, we have been talking a lot and asking ourselves: why?  [It is] because it has been rough on our side.’’

Who is Maj.Gen.Paul Lokech ? 

Maj.Gen.Lokech has been described as the most humble soldier who remained focused on his job and avoided unnecessary sideshows.

He served as Chief of Staff of Uganda People’s Defense Forces [UPDF] Air force for five months from July to December 2019, and as the Commander of Repeat Deployment Capacity Centre in Jinja in 2018.

Shortly after his duties in Somalia, where he twice led Ugandan troops, Gen.Lokech briefly served as Uganda’s UPDF chief representative attached to Russia. His most prominent assignment was between 2011 and 2012 where he worked as the Commander of Ugandan troops in Somalia as part of the African Union Peace Keeping Mission (AMISOM) where he weakened and degraded Al-Shabaab fighters ejecting them from the Mogadishu- Somalia Capital. Here, he earned a nickname the ‘Lion of Mogadishu’.

“In 2011, 2012 we splashed out Al-Shabaab from the city, we even pursued them to where we ended them, that is an indication that when we were holding the town, they were nowhere to be seen,” the Late Gen. Lokech said in an interview with NTV-Uganda recently before his death.

“Whatever happened to the soldiers I have to explain to the government, to Commander at home and the family and that is why I am the Commander,” he added.

Gen. Lokech also served as Commander of UPDF second division in Mbarara and the Commander of the operation in RDC that neutralised the rebels allied to the democratic forces and later became the Chief of police operation in general election 2021 in Uganda.

Some locals are now calling for an independent investigation into the cause of his death.

Former Leader of Opposition in Parliament Betty Aol Ochan has questioned the recent death of top security officers, saying the government must publically reveal the cause of these deaths.

However, unconfirmed reports indicate Maj Gen Lokech died of a blood clot.

The family said he had been nursing injuries sustained in the line of duty.

However, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Martin Okoth Ochola said: ”I have tasked the Director of Medical Services, Dr Moses Byaruhanga to carry out a post-mortem to establish the cause of death.”