Ali Saloongo Kony, son of fugitive LRA leader Joseph Kony, says he’s given up on a military career after the UPDF failed to deploy him nearly two years after he completed formal training.
Saloongo, 31, defected from the Lord’s Resistance Army in July 2021 while holding the rebel rank of brigadier. He returned to Uganda in July 2023 with his mother and other family members following a fallout with his father.
In August 2023, he met President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe. By June 2024, he was enrolled in a seven-month Senior Non-Commissioned Officers course at Gaddafi Military Barracks in Jinja, alongside other UPDF personnel.
Saloongo said he has not been deployed or formally integrated into the army since completing the course.
“I did the course and I am at home at the moment. There is nothing happening, and it is like I never even attended any military training,” he said.
Saloongo said he has received no payment and no communication from the military for two years. The uncertainty, he said, has killed his interest in serving.
“At the moment, I am looking at what to do to help me survive. In fact, the training I did is no longer useful, and I also don’t intend to join the army anymore,” he said.
He questioned why others from the same training cohort have been assigned duties while he remains idle.
“How is it possible that I can stay two years without any message from the army and without deployment, yet I see others being deployed?” he asked.
During his time in the LRA, Saloongo rose to brigadier by age 27, largely due to his family ties. He served as chief of security and coordination commander for the LRA and allied groups operating in Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Saloongo now says he’s shifting to farming and other income-generating activities instead of waiting on government promises.
However, UPDF Fourth Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Felix Busizoori said the impasse partly stems from rank expectations.
According to Busizoori, Saloongo insisted on being promoted to brigadier after training — the same informal rank he held in the LRA — which the army could not grant.
