KAMPALA. At 8am on Saturday, my phone rang. The caller was precise and to the point. She had a breaking story of national importance.
“I want you to break that story. You can take my word that no other journalist both here and outside Uganda has it, you are the only one I am telling and please don’t break my trust,” she said.
The anxiety and excitement that comes with breaking a story is one that sends the adrenaline surging; only one who has practised as a journalist can know.
What was the story? The source was not ready to share for now. She laughed and said, “It is a big one, I will call you later.” Up until the afternoon, every phone call that came through stirred immeasurable anxiety.
True to her word, she called in the afternoon, saying: “The story is that Gen Sejusa is coming back to Uganda tonight. I have done my part. Do the rest. He lands at 10pm.” The source, however, requested that the story is only broken after the general had landed. Anything short of that would be breach of trust.
As I briefed the news editor, I could see his excitement, albeit restrained. The idea was that Sunday Monitor would change its late edition after the general’s flight had landed.
“We shall be on standby so go to Entebbe and text us when you see him, and then we shall change the cover,” the editor said. As I struggled to fight the excitement of being the first to tweet and post on Facebook about the general’s unannounced return. I received information that there were changes in the flight arrangements. Gen Sejusa would land between midnight and 1am.
I tipped off a senior colleague and photojournalist, hopped onto a company car and cruised to Entebbe, having our dinner at Lubowa. We kept resisting the urge to inform colleagues from other media houses and praying this was no hoax. This was a high-level operation.
By 2am, we were at the airport’s arrivals lounge. There was no security deployment. Gen Sejusa’s sister, whose presence we had learnt about, kept pacing about and making phone calls. We also saw renowned human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi making endless calls.
We approached Mr Rwakafuzi, who told us Gen Sejusa was his client. We also learnt that the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala, was at the airport en route to Nairobi while the Police Director for Operations, Mr Andrew Felix Kawesi, was also around “positioned strategically”. Meanwhile, the presidential convoy had bypassed us at Zana on the Entebbe highway, at about 11pm headed to Kampala.
As we waited for the general’s arrival, I could not help but wonder. “Would he be arrested? Would it be smooth sailing for him? Will he speak to us? What if he does not turn up anyway?”
These were the questions I battled with when at 3.13am, information came that Gen Sejusa had landed and was at the VIP lounge. We could see Mr Rwakafuzi and Brig Ronnie Balya, the head of internal intelligence, at a distance. They were watching as Gen Sejusa’s sister hugged him.
My colleague Isaac Imaka and I were the first to tweet about what we were seeing. I also made the announcement on my Facebook and Daily Monitor walls.
We realised we would not be allowed near him. We called Mr Rwakafuzi asking if he could link us up. The general first accepted before declining and instead dictating a brief message through Mr Rwakafuzi, asking that we relay it on KFM, our sister radio station. It was a request we could not honour at the odd hour of 3am.
Even if we had not gotten a detailed interview, we knew we could wake up with a scoop of a photo. As our photojournalist, Faiswal Kasirye, positioned himself strategically at the VIP Parking yard, ready to take a shot of Gen Sejusa boarding the waiting car, something happened. In a split second, the general was whisked away—leaving Kasirye helpless. He had missed the shot of a lifetime!
Later, Mr Rwakafuzi would announce that the sleek jeep was taking Gen Sejusa to Sembabule. The clandestine mission was over. Our photojournalist was dejected but we encouraged him—saying we could still find solace in the fact that we had broken the news first. We had not braved the cold Entebbe in vain.

politicians react to gen sejusa’s return

‘He did nothing wrong, he just wants to express his opinion and there is nothing wrong with that. I like him. Everyone wants to live home. Those making noise on social media speculating that he could have fooled them are the ones with problems because everyone is free to speak their mind,’
Brig Kasirye Ggwanga, presidential adviser on security in Buganda

‘I woke up to the stunning news and it was like a dream. If it was April 1, I would have thought it was a fools’ day prank. His return is as dramatic as his exit was. It is too early to judge this enterprising development, so many things do not add up. Is he on amnesty? It is hard to tell what is happening,”
Erias Lukwago, kampala lord mayor

“I am very happy that he has returned to Uganda.We should live here and solve our issues in Uganda, especially those of us who went to exile once. We should not put other Ugandans in a situation where they have to go to exil,”
(Rtd) Col Amanya Mushega,
FDC Western region Vice president