THE FORGOTTEN CONVOY: The Rubanda Driver Who Ferried Guns for the Museveni’s NRA

By Wilfred Arinda Nshekantebirwe

You will not find his name on any monument in Kampala or in the Kigezi region. A hero was quietly laid to rest at Hamurindi, Rutooga Village, Nyarurambi Ward, Rubanda Town Council, Rubanda District. You have never heard his name on Liberation Day, but the name John Tukahirwa Rwakiseta still carries the weight of a war that built a nation and forgot its driver.

The living hero today is his widow, Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa, who kept intact the NRA rebel movement’s secrets for smooth operations. Opposite Rubanda District Hospital is the home of the man who, for years, dared to drive lorries full of hidden guns from Sudan and other neighboring countries to various destinations within Uganda, to feed Yoweri Museveni’s then rebels.

Mrs Rwakiseta with the president a year ago

As the National Resistance Army marked over 40 years since it launched the bush war, Rutooga village is asking a painful question that the government in Kampala has not answered: Who will remember our hero?

The Man Who Drove Through Death

John Tukahirwa Rwakiseta was not a man with a gun. His gun was his lorry. During the UPM elections, he chose to focus on cargo delivery and instead fronted his late brother, Dr. Enoch Tumwine, on the UPM ticket, who contested against the likes of the late Justice William Kanyehamba.

Family members and elders in Nyarurambi Ward who knew him in those years say his journey started during the most dangerous period in Uganda’s history – the brutal end of Idi Amin in the late 1970s and the bloody return of Milton Obote from 1980 to 1985.

Mrs Rwakiseta at her home

In those days, a lorry driver from Sudan, Tanzania and Kenya to Uganda was a moving target. Every roadblock manned by Amin’s State Research Bureau or Obote’s UNLA soldiers meant you could be searched, tortured and executed on suspicion.

The widow narrates how he once survived death. After soldiers realized he was carrying ammunition, an army personnel was instructed to escort the vehicle to an unknown destination with the goal of eliminating him and seizing the goods. Using his bush war instincts, he instead pushed the armed soldier from his fast-moving trailer, which gave him a second chance to live.

Rwakiseta’s lorry carried more than beans and merchandise. Under sacks of produce, under timber, under charcoal, he hid ammunition and rifles destined for Museveni’s underground network, an operation the family says was under the direct supervision of Emeritus Rt Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

“He was a very brave man. Not once, not twice, he tasted death on that road,” says a relative in Rutooga Village. “From Sudan, through Acholi, down to Kigezi. If they had opened his cargo properly even one day, we would not be talking about him. He would have been killed there and then. But he never tired.”

In the family archives lies a termination letter from his employer, Transition Uganda Ltd, which owned a fleet of trailers. He had once refused to stop at a roadblock fearing for his life, and his employer terminated his contract. He was later exonerated after it was realized he was helping in the fight against the bad regime then.

Mrs Rwakiseta at her home with some guests

History confirms that the NRA rebellion, which started with only 27 guns in Luwero on February 6, 1981, survived because of such secret supply lines. While the fighters were in the bush, civilians – peasants, traders, drivers – formed the lifeline. Weapons coming from outside had to be moved silently across the country. Kigezi and the greater Kabale area, including what is now Rubanda District, was a critical corridor and safe haven.

Rwakiseta knew those back roads. He knew how to bypass a roadblock in Gulu, where to sleep in Lira, which murram road to use to enter Kigezi without being noticed.

 From Driver to UPM Coordinator in Kigezi

Because of his courage and knowledge of the ground, the late Rwakiseta did not remain just a driver. Elders in Rubanda say he became one of the top coordinators of Museveni’s Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) in Kigezi in the early 1980s.

UPM was Museveni’s party after the disputed 1980 elections that returned Obote to power. In Kigezi, being a known UPM coordinator meant you were marked.

“He was not looking for money. He was looking for a new Uganda,” says an elder from Nyarurambi Ward who worked alongside him. “He told us that this government of Obote was killing our people under the error of ‘Katimba’. He believed in Museveni’s promise of a fundamental change. That is why he risked his family.”

His widow, Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa, sitting outside her house in Rutooga Village, remembers those nights.

“Many nights I would stay awake, waiting,” she says, translated by her son Innocent Rwakiseta. “He would leave Rubanda for months. We did not have phones then. I would just pray that he passes the soldiers. He did this for our future. Now that future came, but it did not come to us.”

He Died Just After Victory

When the NRA rebels finally took power in Kampala on January 26, 1986, there was ululation across the hills of Rutooga.

But John Tukahirwa Rwakiseta did not live long to enjoy the peace he had helped bring. Worn out by years of dangerous driving and stress, he embarked on using rightful means to claim his position on the NRM high table. This was in vain.

He later passed away in 1993 in Masaka while enroute to Rubanda in what the family describes as an accident. According to the family, they were denied access to the accident report and no post-mortem report was availed to the grieving family, a matter that has haunted them to date. They believe it was a stage-managed accident.

He died before he could be vetted as a veteran. Before he could be ranked. Before he could be given a medal.

He left behind a family in Rutooga Village, Nyarurambi Ward, Rubanda Town Council, that has lived in the legacy of supporting the NRM government.

A Promise Yet to be Fulfilled

During the President’s tour of the Kigezi region in 2025, the widow finally had a glimpse of H.E President Museveni in Rukiga District. She was introduced by the then Government Chief Whip, Rt Hon Hanson Obua, who confirmed to the President that indeed the late Rwakiseta worked closely under the supervision of Rt Hon Ruhakana Rugunda.

Mrs. Tukahirwa says the President promised to elect a remembrance structure in memory of the bush war hero.

“The President sent a State House team to visit the widow. The team came and inspected the site opposite Rubanda District Hospital, but since then everything has been mute,” says a local leader in Rubanda Town Council.

“The blood of their father was part of the blood that built this government. But 40 plus years later, Rwakiseta’s family has not benefited from the blood of their father,” the leader adds. “Countless warriors who played a part have benefited. This family in Rutooga remains forgotten.”

Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa does not demand a big house but an honour to her late husband. “I only ask the government to remember my husband, John from Rutooga. He also fought,” she says.

Government Should Remember Rutooga

This story is not an attack on President Yoweri Museveni. It is a reminder to him and to the Ministry for Luwero Triangle and the Reserve Force.

John Tukahirwa Rwakiseta of Rutooga Village, Nyarurambi Ward, Rubanda Town Council, Rubanda District, was one of those invisible hands who won the war without holding a gun.

His tracks are still there, from Sudan to Uganda to Kigezi. The elders who saw him load guns are still alive in Rubanda. The widow who kept his secrets is still alive in Rutooga.

A medal for the late Rwakiseta and a decent house for Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa is the least a government can do for a man who drove through death so that a new government could be born.

Appreciation to the President

The family appreciates President Museveni for keeping Uganda safe and respecting the principles of the guerrilla war veterans who liberated Uganda. According to Innocent Rwakiseta, the son of the fallen hero, they appreciate the cash support the President provided to the family, and they continue to wait for the promised remembrance structure.

For those who knew Mzee John Tukahirwa Rwakiseta of Rutooga Village, please reach the family through the LC1 Chairperson, Rutooga Village, Nyarurambi Ward, Rubanda Town Council, Rubanda District.

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