The commander-in-chief of the military, Gen Yoweri Museveni issued a warning to his soldier Brig Gen Kasirye Ggwanga over issues of alcohol and cigars. This was after he was discharged from a specialized rehab in the US where he was admitted with acute breathing problems, among a cocktail of ailments traced to his long history of alcohol abuse and chain smoking.
The top general did not communicate the warning verbally to his junior. Our informers in the military confide in us that Museveni simply summoned the commander of the defense forces (CDF) Gen Edward Katumba Wamala and spoke out his word over Kasirye’s risky alcohol and cigar habits.
‘He first sought to be updated on the progress of Kasirye recovery. He then asked to know whether Kasirye had not returned to his ‘reckless’ old habits of romancing the bottle and cigars,” our sources offer.
The chief military officer then moved to his main issue for which he had asked for an audience with Gen Wamala.
He warned sternly:” If you see Kasirye Ggwanga help me to tell him that I will never ever again pay the Americans to remove alcohol from his body. Tell your friend also that I have told you that I will never intervene again if he burns his lungs with cigarettes again, ”the commander-in-chief briefed his general who was shaking heavily with laughter by now.
Before he could take leave of Gen Wamala, the president is reported to have lectured him for some time on the dangers posed by alcohol and chain smoking especially among the military fraternity.
“I didn’t mean to be hard on your man. I simply want to save his own life,” our sources quote Museveni explaining to Gen Wamala.
Museveni wondered loudly why an old man such as Gen Wamala cannot mind“drinking and smoking himself to the grave.”
“ If alcohol and cigarettes were to be food and medicine I would help it, but why should Kasirye drink to the point of requiring experts to remove alcohol from his body system?,” Museveni wondered as Wamala listened intently.
The commander-in-chief continued to probe for answers, “could did it be that Kasirye being an old man like me wants to drink and smoke as fast as possible before we can join our creator?
Museveni told Wamala to get him very well. “I love Kasirye so much. We have fought hard battles together for many years. I don’t want to lose him to alcohol and chain smoking because he cannot stop those habits which have even dragged him to the edge of the grave already,” he took leave of Kasirye.
We have not been able to establish whether Wamala has seen Kasirye to pass on the big man’s message. What we know is that Kasirye has told sections of the press already that he won’t t drink again because doctors in the US narrated to him how the bitter and smoking had nearly taken his life.
“The doctors told me to the face to risk drinking and smoking again and then wait for my imminent death,” Kasirye joked in a press interview upon his discharge from the US rehab.
Museveni used the audience with Gen Wamala to remind him to tell soldiers under him to learn from Kasirye’s bad experience.
“You know very well my friend how we are running the army on the shoe string budget. If we get problems of people trying to commit suicide through reckless consumption of alcohol and smoking where shall we get the money to take them to the rehabs,” Museveni.
A celebrated teetotaler, Museveni is at his best toughest when it comes to the topic of reckless consumption of alcohol and chain smoking.
Whereas Gen SalimSaleh is his fond brother, his highly regarded fighter and a trusted confidant, Museveni did not waste time firing him from government when he discovered that he was drinking alcohol, like the fish drinks water, and smoking like a chimney.
Saleh’s ‘reckless lifestyle’, as his big brother called it, annoyed Museveni so much that the president went public about it and mocked his brother.
The commander-in-chief has devoted several hours lecturing soldiers and at numerous occasions to kick the bottle or else be ready to be kicked by the bottle itself.
Museveni says alcohol and smoking impairs the body and the brain which he says are key spare parts for the body.
