Brig Bekunda is among the latest high-ranking officers targeted in Gen Kainerugaba’s ongoing anti-corruption crackdown within the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has ordered the arrest of Brig Gen Cyrus Besigye Bekunda, the Joint Staff Chief Engineering, alongside other officers from the Engineers Brigade over corruption and financial mismanagement.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) platform, Gen Kainerugaba stated:
“Yesterday, I ordered the arrest of Brig Bekunda Besigye and other officers of the Engineers Brigade. They poisoned, contaminated, and desecrated a sacred principle we have always embraced as UPDF—that we can be self-sufficient and efficient. They received money and misused it! Let their punishment serve as a lesson to others.”
Brig Bekunda is among the latest high-ranking officers targeted in Gen Kainerugaba’s ongoing anti-corruption crackdown within the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
In February 2024, during the closing ceremony of a logistics and inventory management retreat at the College of Logistics and Engineering (COLE) in Magamaga, Jinja, the CDF issued a stern warning to corrupt officers.
He emphasized that corruption and mismanagement undermine the UPDF’s combat readiness and troop welfare, noting:
“Any individual or group with selfish interests—whether corruption, misappropriation of resources, or mismanagement of any kind—must reform immediately or leave our cherished UPDF before they are exposed.”
This latest arrest reinforces Gen Kainerugaba’s zero-tolerance stance on graft within the military.