OFWONO OPONDO: ECWERU IS A FADING POLITICIAN, HAS NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO FIGHT GEN. ELWELU

By Musa Rwamigoye 

 

Former Government Spokesperson and current Member Of Parliament for Elderly Persons from Eastern Uganda, Ofwono Opondo, has described former minister and defeated Amuria County MP Musa Ecweru as a fading politician who has no moral authority to command Teso-wide operations against Gen. Peter Elwelu.

This comes as Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba maintains that Gen. Elwelu has gone rogue and must be demoted to the rank of Private.

The confrontation escalated on October 27, 2026, when Gen. Muhoozi announced on X that “The traitor Peter Elwelu is hereby stripped of his ranks. He is demoted to Private”. 

Gen. Muhoozi claimed that security forces had recovered a cache of firearms and ammunition from one f Elwelu’s homes in Teso and arrested over 20 former soldiers who served under him. He also said the officers were cooperating investigators and urged the retired commander to surrender to save his life. 

PLU spokesperson Andrew Mwenda went further to allege that Elwelu used Christian fundamentalism to mask plans for an armed rebellion against President Museveni and was planning to assassinate Gen. Muhoozi to seize power.

Gen. Elwelu, who served as Deputy CDF from June 2021 until March 2024 when President Museveni replaced him, has not publicly responded in detail, and his whereabouts remain unconfirmed. He is known for commanding the 2016 operation on the Rwenzururu palace in Kasese and retired into farming and church ministry. 

Meanwhile, former Arrow Boys commander Musa Ecweru last week demanded that Afande Elwelu surrender within 24 hours and announced that former Arrow Boys would join security in a manhunt, warning that poor options may be applied if Afande Elwelu fails to comply with security agencies hunting him.

Ecweru’s remarks have drawn condemnation from a section Of prominent lteso leaders who castigated him over threats to have Gen. Peter Elwelu killed if cornered by security forces.

While appearing on Capital Gang talk show, Hon Ofwono Opondo, the Eastern Elders MP says it is such threats that show Ecweru lacks the moral authority to lead any operation in Teso.

Opondo responded by accusing Ecweru of opportunism and of being a man suffering from lack of what to do. 

On the same talk show, Opondo said Ecweru must find something to do as opposed to trying O hijack the work of the IGP and CDF, who respectively head the Police and Army. He said Elwelu’s press conference was about fortune-hunting and was unnecessary. 

He demanded to know the capacity in which Ecweru was commenting about things he knows nothing about. He said Ecweru should be arrested and locked up for conducting himself like a militia leader, yet militia operations are illegal and prohibited under Ugandan law.

Opondo suspected that Ecweru saw the anti-Elwelu tweets the CDF put out as an opportunity to create relevancy for himself, now that he suffers from lack of what to do having lost his position as Minister and MP. 

He said that as a big-time farmer in Kapelebyong, he knows about the ongoing realignment in the politics of Teso, which is why Ecweru is in a hurry to realign himself.

He said the sycophancy that was displayed at that Soroti news conference totally repudiated the Ecweru he knew, and he was intrigued to the extent of immediately ringing him after details of his Soroti news conference went viral social media. He wanted to know if his old friend was okay. 

Opondo says he was unable to speak to his old friend because his calls kept being diverted. He said Ecweru must have done this deliberately after anticipating calls from concerned friends who would be ringing to disapprovingly react to his anti-Elwelu press conference.

Ironically, Opondo, renowned for taking no prisoners, was speaking after the CDF Gen. MK, whose approach to public affairs he has lately been very critical had published tweets commending and amplifying Musa Ecweru for the decisiveness with which he contradicted his Teso brother Peter Elwelu, whom the President’s son had sometime last year declared a buffoon.

“Knowing what has been going on between Gen. Elwelu and Gen. Kainerugaba even before Kainerugaba became the CDF, I think there is a continuous beef between the two.

Because if it was professional, Vou don’t announce on Twitter. I expect the CDF to know procedure. You don’t: announce have stripped him’. I expect the CDF to be a person of restraint even in extreme anger, because that’s what marks credible leadership”. Oondo said .