Museveni feared I might sell UPDF guns - Gen Saleh recounts financial hardships

General Salim Saleh, younger brother of President Yoweri Museveni, over the weekend recounted his past financial woes from two decades ago that nearly saw him lose all his property.

The general, who had stepped down as Senior Presidential Advisor on Defence and Security in 1998, revealed that he approached the President in 2003 seeking urgent help to resolve crippling personal debts. 

At the time, Gen Saleh admitted, his financial ruin stemmed from his own “reckless” handling of money, specifically citing heavy losses incurred through lending to individuals who subsequently defaulted. 

“I was in financial troubles. I had lost money because of lending to people who couldn’t pay,” he recalled.

Facing bankruptcy, he travelled to Moroto to meet the President, who was, at the time, residing in a tent. 

Gen Saleh says he sought to ask for a way back into military service, believing that a return to the army was the only solution after commercial projects—including those linked to Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) and the Coffee Marketing Board—had collapsed due to his personal “mistakes.” 

He felt his career outside the armed forces had entirely failed.

However, the General’s request for a military posting was met with an unexpected rebuke from his older brother. 

President Museveni, according to Gen Saleh, viewed his financial state as a security risk. 

“He told me, 'Saleh, the way you are today, you are likely to even sell guns,’” the President reportedly warned him. 

“I asked him, ‘Have I really reached that level?’ He told me, ‘bankrupt people can be very dangerous.’

As such, he said, the President refused a military position, instead advising him to seek cash from elsewhere.

Saleh says the president advised him to liquidate his assets to settle his debts. 

He however instructed him to retain the land in Kapeeka, which was to be reserved for a future plan to transform it into an industrial park—a vision that has since materialised, leading to the development of the successful Kapeeka Industrial Park.