Twenty one survivors of the multiple chopper crashes in Kenya returned home to a heroes’ welcome on Friday.
State Minister for defense, General Jeje Odong led the top army leadership to receive the Air Force servicemen at Entebbe airbase.
General Jeje Odong while receiving the bodies hailed the surviving 21 servicemen for their commitment to the nation and passed his condolences to the families of the seven other servicemen who died in the crashes. He said the army will reveal all the identities of the dead after post-mortems have been carried out as some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.
The dead include Captain Spear Letti from Arua and Lieutenant Patrick Nahamya from Kiruhura.
The seven servicemen perished after two MI-24 attack helicopters crashed in the Mt. Kenya wildlife reserve due to yet to be established causes. The helicopters, four in number including an MI-17 transport plane, were heading to Somalia to provide offensive cover for the African Union forces in their final assault on the port city of Kismayu.
Their bodies were however not returned on Friday morning as earlier communicated by the army leadership. UPDF spokesperson Col Felix Kulayigye said a new date will be communicated.
They were destined to land at Garissa air base for re-fuelling after making a re-fuel at Nanyuki airbase but only the MI-17 chopper landed safely in Garrisa.
Later on, the other two were discovered to have crashed in the Kenya mountain wildlife reserve by the Kenyan wildlife authorities.
While receiving the survivors, Major General Jim Owoyesigire, the Air Force commander told them to be strong and push on with the struggle against the al Shabaab militants in Somalia. He said the war was at a point of “no retreat, no surrender.”
He however took time off to rubbish the media for labeling the helicopters as junk.
He noted that the particular helicopters had earlier on been assigned missions that went successfully in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Northern Uganda among others.
He further added that the deceased were to be accorded state burial and that they were getting in touch with the families of the deceased to convey their condolences.
A probe led by Gen. Salim Saleh has been instituted to investigate the cause of the crash.
Members of Parliament on Friday criticised the government’s move to appoint General Saleh to head the probe. Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo and his Buyaga counterpart Barnabas Tinkasiimire also questioned why a commission would be set to investigate the crash yet the 2001 Ssebutinde Probe into the purchase of junk helicopters had not been acted on. Ssekikubo observes that the same people accused of shoddy deals have never been brought to book. General Salim Saleh, the man who confessed during the Ssebutinde probe that he got a bribe of 800,000 US dollars, is the same person government appointed to head the latest probe.
The Justice Ssebutinde report in 2001 recommended the prosecution of Salim Saleh and former rally driver-turned businessman Emmanuel Kato. The report stated that General Saleh being a senior member of the UPDF and influential person in the decision to purchase the Mi-24 helicopters, agreed to receive for himself 800,0000 US dollars from Kato as an inducement for ensuring that the contract to supply aircraft was awarded to Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC).
