Why UPDF has lived longer than other armies
Feb 24, 2004
On February 6, 1981, Yoweri Museveni, the then leader of the Uganda Patriotic Movement, led a small band of young patriots in a daring attack on Kabamba barracks that sparked off the “fire of resistance.â€
By Brigadier Kale Kaihura
On February 6, 1981, Yoweri Museveni, the then leader of the Uganda Patriotic Movement, led a small band of young patriots in a daring attack on Kabamba barracks that sparked off the “fire of resistance.â€
They were fighting the dictatorship, brutality and impunity of a government that had violated our people’s rights since 1966 when the limited constitutional gains extorted from the British at Lancaster House in 1962 were trashed down by presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin.
Thank God, this “fire of resistance†is still burning as the people of Teso, Lango and Acholi demonstrate. They have risen en masse in support of the UPDF.
Slowly but surely, the satanic Kony and LRA are being defeated.
Tarehe Sita was the day that the National Resistance Army (now UPDF), was born. The army is now 23 years old.
This is no mean achievement. All previous local armies never lived to this maturity. The Uganda Rifles existed for only two years from 1962 – 64. The Uganda Army lasted for 15 years while the UNLA lasted seven years. Such armies were stunted and could not grow into healthy adults like the UPDF is today.
The army salutes the commander-in-chief and his young comrades, who irreversibly overturned the shameful course of history in Uganda.
The NRA built on the “bridgehead†established by earlier struggles, especially the removal of the apparently “invincible†Amin regime by our blood brothers and sisters of the UPDF under the leadership of the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
Indeed, the war of resistance was the second phase in the struggle against dictatorship in Uganda. Museveni rose up when all seemed lost in December 1980 during Obote’s dictatorial regime.
And that is why Museveni and his small band of fighters were eagerly embraced by the peasants of Luwero, (banakyalo) and why the late Luttamaguzi and his comrades and old peasants of Luwero, chose to die rather than give him away to the UNLA.
That is why when Museveni sounded the call to rise up in arms, people from all walks of life, and from different parts of the country stampeded to the “Luwero Triangleâ€. They did not need to be mobilised. Going to “the bush†was like second nature.
Our revolutionary song Kibonge chanini, vijana vinahamia musituni expresses what actually happened from 1981 until 1986 when we captured power. All the roads were leading to Luwero.
Personally, I was in London, but “walked†all the way from there and found my way to “Luwero Triangle.†I did not go there because I was desperate. I had finished a Masters in Law degree.
So I went there because of inspiration from Museveni, the hope to fight for our freedom. I refused to be in exile. And I believe I represent many others from different parts of the world, whether in Uganda or outside –– who joined the NRA in Luwero.
It is important to say these things because we are living in very interesting times, times of great pretensions and pretenders. There are even attempts to revise history by turning it upside down. The butchers of yesteryear now posture as the liberators of tomorrow.
But the banakyalo are still there to testify. We are still here, the students and youth who lived under the brutality and indignities of the Amin regime, and the Obote II regime.
The theme of this year’s Tarehe Sita was: “Rectification and Rejuvenation in UPDF.†The main activities were at the Mubende Rehabilitation Centre and focused on the welfare of casualties. The occasion was also used to launch a public health campaign in the UPDF that emphasises preventive health, again as part of rectification in the area of welfare.
Why “rectification� This is to recognise the great strides that we are making in rectifying our weaknesses and mistakes, some of which amount to outrageous criminality. It also underlines the urgency with which we must deepen the rectification campaign.
Why “rejuvenation� We chose the word “rejuvenation†because, as a consequence of this rectification campaign, the UPDF is clearly recovering and rising.
Even Onyango Obbo, a local columnist in his recent commentaries, was struck by the high morale of the soldiers in Pader District who had just killed Tolbert Nyeko, the army commander of LRA. The soldiers were singing victorious songs in spite of their ragged uniforms. While I do not apologise for the uniforms because new uniforms had just been delivered, I was impressed that Obbo was reminded of the victorious NRA soldiers in 1986. The UPDF survives because of our inner strength, not how we are dressed or live.
That is why I talk about UPDF rising and rejuvenating. That is our centre of gravity. That is our essence.
There is no other way. It was a protracted people’s war in Luwero, even the struggle to solve our problems has to be protracted. There is no short cut.
Since 1981 until today, there has been and will continue to be a struggle between narrow interests against broad interests; between elitist and mass interests; between interests of the few and interests of the many; selfish ideology (obunafusi) against selfless patriotic service; neo-colonialism against liberation; subservience against resistance; reactionary/counter revolutionary forces against revolutionary/patriotic forces. This is human nature. There are no quick fixes. It has to be a struggle.
But, gladly, the positive forces and the progressive forces, are prevailing over the forces of darkness.
Tarehe Sita celebrates the great values of self-reliance, hard work, patriotic service, courage, and great love for the people. That is the legacy that President Museveni and his comrades bequeathed to Uganda on February 6, 1981, and that we have come to call the “NRA Spiritâ€.
Museveni has announced his retirement from the UPDF. Lest others misunderstand this, it cannot mean retirement from the struggle. As one great African revolutionary said: “Revolutionaries don’t retire,†we can only hope and believe that this is merely a change of position, for the historical mission to transform Uganda to modernity is just beginning.
We salute Museveni and the comrades that showed our people the way when all seemed lost. Today is their day, as much as it is the day for the courageous peasants of not just the “Luwero Triangle†and the Rwenzoris, but all our people, especially in Acholi, Teso, and Lango, who have stood up in the same NRA spirit, and are supporting the UPDF, to decisively defeat the evil and genocidal forces of Kony and his LRA.
The writter is the UPDF Chief Political Commissar
On February 6, 1981, Yoweri Museveni, the then leader of the Uganda Patriotic Movement, led a small band of young patriots in a daring attack on Kabamba barracks that sparked off the “fire of resistance.â€
They were fighting the dictatorship, brutality and impunity of a government that had violated our people’s rights since 1966 when the limited constitutional gains extorted from the British at Lancaster House in 1962 were trashed down by presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin.
Thank God, this “fire of resistance†is still burning as the people of Teso, Lango and Acholi demonstrate. They have risen en masse in support of the UPDF.
Slowly but surely, the satanic Kony and LRA are being defeated.
Tarehe Sita was the day that the National Resistance Army (now UPDF), was born. The army is now 23 years old.
This is no mean achievement. All previous local armies never lived to this maturity. The Uganda Rifles existed for only two years from 1962 – 64. The Uganda Army lasted for 15 years while the UNLA lasted seven years. Such armies were stunted and could not grow into healthy adults like the UPDF is today.
The army salutes the commander-in-chief and his young comrades, who irreversibly overturned the shameful course of history in Uganda.
The NRA built on the “bridgehead†established by earlier struggles, especially the removal of the apparently “invincible†Amin regime by our blood brothers and sisters of the UPDF under the leadership of the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
Indeed, the war of resistance was the second phase in the struggle against dictatorship in Uganda. Museveni rose up when all seemed lost in December 1980 during Obote’s dictatorial regime.
And that is why Museveni and his small band of fighters were eagerly embraced by the peasants of Luwero, (banakyalo) and why the late Luttamaguzi and his comrades and old peasants of Luwero, chose to die rather than give him away to the UNLA.
That is why when Museveni sounded the call to rise up in arms, people from all walks of life, and from different parts of the country stampeded to the “Luwero Triangleâ€. They did not need to be mobilised. Going to “the bush†was like second nature.
Our revolutionary song Kibonge chanini, vijana vinahamia musituni expresses what actually happened from 1981 until 1986 when we captured power. All the roads were leading to Luwero.
Personally, I was in London, but “walked†all the way from there and found my way to “Luwero Triangle.†I did not go there because I was desperate. I had finished a Masters in Law degree.
So I went there because of inspiration from Museveni, the hope to fight for our freedom. I refused to be in exile. And I believe I represent many others from different parts of the world, whether in Uganda or outside –– who joined the NRA in Luwero.
It is important to say these things because we are living in very interesting times, times of great pretensions and pretenders. There are even attempts to revise history by turning it upside down. The butchers of yesteryear now posture as the liberators of tomorrow.
But the banakyalo are still there to testify. We are still here, the students and youth who lived under the brutality and indignities of the Amin regime, and the Obote II regime.
The theme of this year’s Tarehe Sita was: “Rectification and Rejuvenation in UPDF.†The main activities were at the Mubende Rehabilitation Centre and focused on the welfare of casualties. The occasion was also used to launch a public health campaign in the UPDF that emphasises preventive health, again as part of rectification in the area of welfare.
Why “rectification� This is to recognise the great strides that we are making in rectifying our weaknesses and mistakes, some of which amount to outrageous criminality. It also underlines the urgency with which we must deepen the rectification campaign.
Why “rejuvenation� We chose the word “rejuvenation†because, as a consequence of this rectification campaign, the UPDF is clearly recovering and rising.
Even Onyango Obbo, a local columnist in his recent commentaries, was struck by the high morale of the soldiers in Pader District who had just killed Tolbert Nyeko, the army commander of LRA. The soldiers were singing victorious songs in spite of their ragged uniforms. While I do not apologise for the uniforms because new uniforms had just been delivered, I was impressed that Obbo was reminded of the victorious NRA soldiers in 1986. The UPDF survives because of our inner strength, not how we are dressed or live.
That is why I talk about UPDF rising and rejuvenating. That is our centre of gravity. That is our essence.
There is no other way. It was a protracted people’s war in Luwero, even the struggle to solve our problems has to be protracted. There is no short cut.
Since 1981 until today, there has been and will continue to be a struggle between narrow interests against broad interests; between elitist and mass interests; between interests of the few and interests of the many; selfish ideology (obunafusi) against selfless patriotic service; neo-colonialism against liberation; subservience against resistance; reactionary/counter revolutionary forces against revolutionary/patriotic forces. This is human nature. There are no quick fixes. It has to be a struggle.
But, gladly, the positive forces and the progressive forces, are prevailing over the forces of darkness.
Tarehe Sita celebrates the great values of self-reliance, hard work, patriotic service, courage, and great love for the people. That is the legacy that President Museveni and his comrades bequeathed to Uganda on February 6, 1981, and that we have come to call the “NRA Spiritâ€.
Museveni has announced his retirement from the UPDF. Lest others misunderstand this, it cannot mean retirement from the struggle. As one great African revolutionary said: “Revolutionaries don’t retire,†we can only hope and believe that this is merely a change of position, for the historical mission to transform Uganda to modernity is just beginning.
We salute Museveni and the comrades that showed our people the way when all seemed lost. Today is their day, as much as it is the day for the courageous peasants of not just the “Luwero Triangle†and the Rwenzoris, but all our people, especially in Acholi, Teso, and Lango, who have stood up in the same NRA spirit, and are supporting the UPDF, to decisively defeat the evil and genocidal forces of Kony and his LRA.
The writter is the UPDF Chief Political Commissar