As Uganda marked 63 years of Independence at the Kololo Independence Grounds, a moment of political symbolism unfolded when President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni publicly received Col Samson Mande back into the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
The crowd watched as Museveni, in a gesture he described as rooted in the spirit of national unity, called the former Bush War commander to the podium.
“All the development that is happening in Uganda is on account of the peace that is available. This peace is lubricated by the longstanding NRM policy of reconciliation and forgiveness,” he said, before announcing Mande’s official return. He added, “I’m happy to welcome back into peaceful Uganda Col Samson Mande, who had fled into exile on account of internal intrigue. When our cadres contacted him in Sweden, he happily agreed to come back and disconnect himself from rebel activities.”
Col Mande, once considered one of the sharpest critics of the Museveni administration, stood before the cheering crowd and declared his homecoming not just to Uganda but to the political establishment he helped build.
“I am back home. Here in Uganda, I have two homes — the first home is my country; the second home is the NRM. I am a founder member of the NRM. It is in me and will remain in me until death puts us asunder,” he said.
To underline his change of heart, he reached for scripture: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”
The former NRA commander did not shy away from acknowledging his ideological shift. “I know the magnanimity of our dear leader, President Yoweri Museveni, would accept my change of behaviour. Thank you very much. I’m home to stay,” he said, adding that his return was grounded in purpose.
“I went when I was bitter, but now I’m better and loaded with solutions. I will not look in the past because I don’t live in the past tense. I’m looking forward to contributing to national development.”
Col Mande’s reappearance in NRM colours marks a full-circle moment in a career that began in the early days of the Bush War. Holder of UPDF service number RO 69, he was among the first 100 fighters to take up arms alongside Museveni.
He commanded critical NRA battalions — the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 9th — and led strategic Task Force operations in Kyadondo, Matugga, Bombo, Masulita and Mukono.
In 1984, his units merged with troops led by the late Brig Chefe Ali to form the 11th Battalion, which played a defining role in the Western Axis campaign. A year later, he oversaw the formation of the 15th Battalion — one of the specialised units that spearheaded the final offensive toward Kampala.
Beyond the battlefield, Col Mande was instrumental in drafting the Establishment document that transitioned the NRA into today’s Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
But his trajectory took a different path when he later clashed with the leadership, was detained, and eventually fled into exile — first to Rwanda, then to Sweden. Ugandan intelligence would later accuse him of associating with the People’s Redemption Army (PRA) and facilitating Dr Kizza Besigye’s escape into exile in 2001.
His return on Independence Day, framed by Museveni as an act of reconciliation, signals a new chapter for a man once branded a dissident — and now re-embraced as a founding cadre coming “home to stay.”