On April 21st, a total of 485 newly commissioned junior officers of the 06/23 intake completed a one-month intensive post-cadet ideological orientation training course at the Oliver Reginald Tambo School of Leadership, Kaweweta, in Nakaseke District.
Maj Gen Don Nabasa, the Commandant Military Police, who represented the Commander Land Force, Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga, during the event, advised the officers to vouch for Pan-African integration for improved security and economic status.
“We have a lot of hope in you young officers who will soon take over leadership responsibilities of the UPDF so as to move the country forward. Defending the sovereignty of a country is do or die and requires solid ideological grounding. It is noted that the security of Uganda is still calm, but terrorism, cattle rustling, general criminality, and the effects of bad weather continue to threaten national security,” Gen.Nabasa said.
Maj. Gen. Nabasa noted that the security situation in Uganda is still calm, but that terrorism, cattle rustling, general criminality, and the effects of bad weather continue to threaten national security.
He further added that ADF and Al-Shabab elements still pose security threats in Eastern DRC and Somalia, respectively.
He also congratulated the UPDF/FARDC under Operation Shujaa in Eastern DRC and ATMIS in Somalia for a job well done.
According to Col. Okei Rukogota, who represented Maj. Gen. Henry Matsiko, the Chief Political Commissar (CPC),noted that participants were being trained to take over the reigns of the UPDF as the current leaders gradually retired.
“This achievement is yet another great milestone in the growth of this center of leadership training,” he said.
Col. Rukogota also encouraged graduands never to settle in self-complacence but rather seek greater and greater ideological glory to be able to acquire the capacity they require to undertake greater tasks excellently.
He called upon everyone, in their various capacities, to engage in ideological training and defeat the enemies of peace and development.
Lt. Col. Emmy Katabazi, the Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organization, advised graduands to always put ideology at the forefront of whatever they undertake to do.
“To an officer of the army, the guiding element is ideology; without ideology, any force would be a disaster,” Lt. Col. Katabazi said.
According to Col. Justus K. Rukundo, the Commandant of the Leadership School, the aim of the course was to impart ideological knowledge to enable the newly commissioned junior officers to be change agents in their respective units and formations.
“The aim of the course was to impart ideological knowledge to enable the freshly commissioned junior officers to be change agents in their respective units and formations,” he said.
The group had 485 participants, 47 of them female, and the court started on March 21, 2023.
Col. Rukundo encouraged graduands to always strive for the betterment of themselves and society, beginning by changing themselves so that what they wished to see in society would start happening.
Participants were taken through a number of training programs that included skill at arms, body physical fitness training, ideological clarity and consciousness training at the individual, institutional, and national level, and Kiswahili language training, among others.
Maj. Gen. Nabasa planted a tree in recognition of the UPDF leadership’s call to save the environment.
The function was attended by several senior and junior officers of the UPDF.
