UPDF Tarehe Sita celebrations excite Masaka 

UPDF Armored Brigade troops marched through Masaka Municipality singing and chanting war songs as part of the 39th Tarehe Sita celebrations' climax in Greater Masaka region.

The troops which earlier cleaned markets, Health Centres and urban areas in Masaka, Ssembabule, Kalungu, Bukomansimbi and Rakai districts were led by the Masaka Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Herman Ssentongo. 

They converged at the Kasijagirwa army barracks and prayed for the fallen comrades who died in combat during the 1981 bush armed struggle and other army officers who lost their lives during foreign peace duties in Somalia.

The Brigade Training and Operations Officer (BOTO), Col Griffin Katinti, said UPDF will continue to focus on maintaining the gains got from the liberation struggle.

He said the UPDF is a professional disciplined force that cannot commit atrocities done by the former regimes and their brutal forces. 

"Our annual celebrations as the army are justified by a pro-people force that has significantly participated in the transformation of the country, a reputation we cannot ruin," he said.

He said the former regimes had turned Kasijagirwa barracks into a deadly black spot where many people lost their lives. 

"The UPDF has values and ideology strategy that must be jealously guarded to ensure that the nation sustains its development progress," he said, also urging officers to keep their physical fitness and health to ensure that they are always on alert for operations.

Ssentongo, the Masaka RDC, warned Members of Parliament against turning funeral sessions into platforms where they speak recklessly about security matters. 

"One murder incident doesn't mean that the nation is insecure as portrayed by the MPs," he said.