Henry Tumukunde is a politician and retired senior military officer of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). He ran as an independent for president in the 2021 Ugandan general election. He was the Minister of National Security in the Cabinet of Uganda, appointed to that position on 6 June 2016. On 4 March 2018, he was relieved of his duties in an unexpected cabinet reshuffle. He is also an advocate of the High Court of Uganda. He has served as the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) Director of Planning, Chief of Personnel and Administration, Chief of Military Intelligence as well as serving as the commanding officer of the UPDF Fourth Division, based in Gulu in the Northern Region of Uganda. He has also previously served as the director general of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO). Tumukunde was also a Member of Parliament representing the Army in the Parliament of Uganda between 1995 and 2005. Background and education He was born on 28 February 1959 in Rukungiri District in the Western Region of Uganda. He attended Bishop Stuart College Demonstration School in Mbarara for his primary education and Kigezi College Butobere (Siniya) and Kibuli Secondary School for his O-Level and A-Level education, respectively. Tumukunde graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1981. He obtained a Diploma in Legal Practice awarded by the Law Development Centre in 2010. He also holds an Executive Masters in Oil and Gas Management, awarded by the Graduate Institute of Geneva in 2013. Joining the NRA Guerrillas During his time at Makerere University, Tumukunde was involved in anti-government politics, which subsequently led to his joining of then rebels, the National Resistance Army, led by current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Tumukunde was hounded by the government security services during his last year at the university and on completion, decided to join the Ugandan Bush War, along with two of his friends at the time, Major General Mugisha Muntu and Colonel Jet Mwebaze. Obote's security services at the time caught wind of their impending departure for the bush and mounted an attack on the NRA's transit house, a shop in the country's capital city, Kampala. It is said that Tumukunde alongside Muntu posed as shopkeepers, surviving what would have been sure torture and death. In the early stages of the war, Tumukunde was a machine gunner and eventually went on to become one of the