Avoid corruption, Museveni warns cadets at Kaweweta commissioning
The officer cadets who were drawn from different formations and units of the UPDF received training in officer basic military skills and knowledge
The Commander in Chief of the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF), President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has strongly cautioned officer cadets commissioned at Oliver Reginald Tambo Leadership School Kaweweta in Nakaseke district to avoid corruption, a vice he said will taint their good name.
In the same tone, the President also advised the commissioned officers to emphasize patriotism in their service and maintain good health.
“Don’t allow any corruption near you because you’ll lose your good name, we shall get you and you’ll be in trouble. If you see the corrupt and keep quiet, we shall lose trust in you,” Museveni said and called on the officers to put Uganda and Africa first rather than emphasizing tribes and religion.
“With those, you’ll be able to go very far because UPDF is a good army. It is free of those other diseases which have killed other armies,” he added.
Museveni was speaking shortly after commissioning 782 officer cadets for intake 05 2022-23 Short, at Oliver Reginald Tambo Leadership School Kaweweta in Nakaseke district.
Fighting is like cooking
“Fighting is like cooking. If you cook matooke only and you serve it without vegetables we say olidde maluma (food without source), it’s not a complete food. Food must have sauce – enva (in Luganda) or emboga (in Runyankore) but the source must have salt.
“That’s why we tell you about the combined arms. They make the work easy. Once you master that you’ll not fear, especially when fighting a just war which is on the side of the people, not the war of aggression,”
The Chief of Defense Forces Gen Wilson Mbadi told the president that every time they train, they follow their purposeful intention of creating a whole personality of an officer who is mentally, physically and combat-ready with the required proficiency and confidence to lead others under them.
Professionalizing the army
The Commandant Kaweweta Military recruit training school Brig Gen James Barigye Muheesi informed the gathering that of the 782 commissioned officers, 3 provisional officer cadets were from the royal military academy of Sandhurst and 2 from the Tanzanian Military academy.
The minister for Defense & Veteran Affairs Hon Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja informed the president that his Ministry is seriously taking his advice and directives especially in professionalizing the army.
Kaweweta Military training school also known as Oliva Reginald Tambo Leadership School Kaweweta is charged with the core duty of teaching and training the Defence Forces Leadership and preparing them ideologically so as to have the necessary competencies to conceptualize, analyse and understand the Global Dynamics of yesterday, today and project the possibilities of tomorrow.
