Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces-UPDF’s chief of training and recruitment Brig. Matthew Gureme on Saturday challenged officers to exhibit explicit leadership and professional skills throughout their military careers within the army, as a major driver in enabling them to fight modern criminality.
Gureme was addressing 111 officers of course 32/2021, who graduated after undertaking a three months’ leadership training course, at the Jinja-based Junior Command and Staff College -JCSC.
The officers were sourced from different units within the UPDF.
The officers were further trained in service writing, combat support, general leadership skills, counter insurgency management, general UPDF operations, Law of armed conflict and political orientation.
JCSC’s commandant, Brig. Winston Byaruhanga says that the students were equipped with the mandatory skills required in analyzing the army’s core role, during their support to civil authorities.
Byaruhanga further challenged the graduands to be innovative enough, so as to continuously contribute to the efficiency of the army and also enable themselves fit within the ever dynamic society.
On his part, Gureme stressed that, officers ought to practice individual professionalism, by understanding and timely executing their assignments within the force.
Gureme also tasks officers to exhibit high level ethical standards by living morally upright lives, submitting to centers of authority, harboring professional leadership skills to their subordinates and staying loyal to the state.
Gureme further says that, UPDF is the definition of a true standby force, which over the years has been directed to boost country civil authorities in addressing emergencies like covid19, floods, locusts, among others, and it is only through consistent training, that officers will acquire the necessary skills needed in supporting different communities to overcome daily challenges.
He stresses that, UPDF is always on call to reinforce police’s efforts of ensuring security sanity within the country, due to their organizational setup and submission to authority, therefore, officers aught to maintain discipline as the major driver of safeguarding the force’s public trust.
Gureme adds that officers ought to be competent enough and ready to support civilians in addressing community challenges, much as they were never directly inducted with such skills during their trainings in the force. URN