TOP SOLDIER EXPLAINS ORDEAL WITH GUNMEN
ByRobert Owiny The New Vision 5th June 2008
& Caroline Batenga

"I have been in military battles and escaped death several times. It would have been very unfortunate if mere thugs had killed me."

This was the proclamation Lt. Col. Adolf Sserwadda, 54, made as he narrated his recent ordeal with armed robbers.

Sserwadda, the director of administration at the UPDF headquarters in Bombo, was on the night of May 26 attacked by armed thugs at Lungujja, Makamba zone in Rubaga, a Kampala suburb.

"The incident occurred at around 9:00pm and lasted for about 10 minutes. I was driving from Bombo to my home in Busega, but had to slow down at a muddy and slippery spot.

"Two men suddenly ordered me to stop. One of them, wielding an AK47 rifle, put me at gun-point and rudely ordered me to get out of the vehicle. After escaping the first shot, I quickly held the gun's barrel and tilted it downwards."

Sserwadda narrates that the second shot penetrated through the car's body, down to his left knee as he fell flat on the seats feigning death. Other two shots passed through the opposite door.

"The one with the gun kept watching me, while the other advanced to the left door, attempting to pull me out of the car," the soldier says.

"On realising this move, I charged and head-butted the man. As he staggered," Sserwadda narrates: "I abandoned the car and ducked into a trench."

He adds: "Fearing that I could shoot them, the thugs started keeping a distance. I then changed my position to the other side of the road and hid.

"The one with the gun tried to advance towards me, but before he could figure out my location, the other, who was fidgeting to start the car, called him back. They sped off."

Sserwadda recounts that he slowly got up and found his way to a group of people, who had gathered at a nearby trading centre.

He was rushed to Rubaga Hospital and admitted to the surgical ward where bullet fragments were removed from his knee and he was discharged the next day. The army officer believes the attack was not pre-planned.

"I don't think it was planned because Makamba is not my route. I reside in Busega and no one knew that I would pass there that night."

Sserwadda, who has served the army for 29 years, has received military training in Uganda, Tanzania, Cuba, China and the US.
Walking with a painful limp, Sserwadda, resumed work on Monday this week.

Army spokesperson Maj. Paddy Ankunda described the incident as "a-one-off" attack on a UPDF officer.