JUST IN!! Operative Who Misled Museveni on ‘Killing’ of ADF Commander Nkalubo Found Guilty

KAMPALA: The General Court Martial in Makindye this Monday afternoon convicted Hamza Lyavara, a former state intelligence source accused of feeding security agencies false information, including intelligence that led President Yoweri Museveni to announce that senior Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) commander Meddie Nkalubo had been killed.

Lyavara was convicted alongside fellow former informer Adiil Walusansa over murders arising from two controversial security operations in Kampala in June 2025.

The military court heard that the two men “supplied security agencies with false intelligence about purported terrorist attacks” when, according to the prosecution, “they were themselves involved in the plot and in bringing the explosives used in the operations.”

The incidents included an operation near the Catholic Shrine in Munyonyo during the June 3, 2025 Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations and another near Kalerwe Market later that month.

At the time, security agencies presented those killed as suspected ADF suicide bombers who had been intercepted before carrying out attacks.

The convictions mark a major turn in a wider investigation into how intelligence on ADF operations was collected, verified and presented to Uganda’s military and political leadership.

Nkalubo intelligence failure

Lyavara had previously operated as an intelligence source with claimed access to ADF networks.

Security officials said he gained the confidence of his handlers by providing pieces of information that could be independently verified.

Investigators, however, later concluded that he mixed genuine intelligence with fabricated information, allowing him to influence security operations while allegedly maintaining clandestine links with Nkalubo, one of the ADF’s senior commanders.

The most consequential episode came in 2023.

Military intelligence reported that Nkalubo, also known as The Punisher, Abul Jihad, Mohammed Ali Nkalubo and Punny Boy, had been killed in UPDF air strikes against ADF positions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Then military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. James Birungi subsequently reported Nkalubo’s purported death to Museveni.

The President later announced in a televised address that Nkalubo had been killed, while security agencies publicly celebrated what they considered a significant counter-terrorism breakthrough.

Then joint security spokesperson Fred Enanga described Nkalubo’s reported death as a “significant blow” to the ADF’s operational capability.

But Nkalubo subsequently resurfaced in intelligence reporting, prompting questions over how Uganda’s military establishment had wrongly concluded that one of its most wanted adversaries was dead.

Investigators later focused on Lyavara as a possible source of the misinformation.

Wider military intelligence probe

The discovery helped trigger a broader investigation into military intelligence operations ordered by Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

A Board of Inquiry chaired by Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Lt. Gen. Sam Okiding investigated allegations of fabricated terror alerts, falsified intelligence briefings, questionable counter-terrorism operations and misuse of operational funds.

The investigation eventually widened to senior officers, including Birungi, former Director of Counter-Terrorism Col. Peter Ahimbisibwe and former Director of Special Operations Lt. Col. Ephraim Byaruhanga.

Birungi was arrested in August 2025 and has since been charged before the General Court Martial with treachery and offences relating to security.

Byaruhanga, who is being prosecuted in connection with the wider case, has maintained his innocence.

The prosecution alleges that Lyavara and Walusansa were not simply unreliable informers but actively generated false intelligence while participating in the activities about which they were informing security agencies.

Their convictions could therefore prove significant in the continuing trials of the military officers who handled the intelligence, as prosecutors seek to establish how false reports passed through the intelligence chain and reached the country’s highest decision-makers.

The allegations against Birungi, Byaruhanga and the other officers remain unproven. They are presumed innocent unless convicted by a competent court.