CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba interview

INTERVIEW:

TEN questions for the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, (UPDF), Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba

*****

THE INDEPENDENT: Briefly tell us about the role of the office of the UPDF Chief of Defense Forces as you see it?

CDF MUHOOZI: The job of the CDF is to command, control and administer the UPDF. He is the professional head of the UPDF. His responsibilities include setting the strategy for the defence of the country. This involves the future development of the UPDF. He directs the conduct of current operations and leads the military’s defence diplomacy efforts.

IPL: This office wasn’t always called the office of the CDF. Why was it changed from Army Commander to CDF?

CDF MUHOOZI: The name of the Office was changed after a process of Defence Review that went on from 2002 to 2004. This Defence Review culminated with the release of a White Paper on Defence Transformation in 2004. The Defence Review and White Paper tracked the history of NRA /UPDF, the global security picture at the time and the threats facing the nation. Their recommendations for restructuring led to the enactment of the UPDF Act of 2005 that created the Office of CDF.

IPL: What do you consider the most significant achievements of the UPDF over the years?

CDF: UPDF has accomplished a lot over the 43 years of its existence. However, I think there are 4 principle achievements that stand out. First was the defeat of the dictatorships in the Resistance War from 1981-1986. Second was the defeat of the insurgencies in Northern, Northeastern and Western Uganda from 1986-2006. The UPDF defeated a total of 30 rebel groups during this period. An incredible achievement probably not equaled anywhere in the world. Third was the upholding of the spirit of Pan-Africanism through the support of the struggles of liberation movements in South Sudan, Rwanda and Congo. Fourth has been strong involvement in peace support operations in brotherly African countries like Somalia.

IPL: What are some of the major things you would want a young officer or young person joining the UPDF to learn or keep at the back of their mind?

CDF: I would want any young person joining the UPDF to know that this is not a place to make money. The military is not for careerists. If your interest is to sit in comfortable offices or drive in good cars, please don’t bother to join. You will face dangers as a matter of course in the military. You might be asked to risk your life for the security of the country. I always tell young people that military life is a vocation not a job. It’s a calling. You really need to love it and want to make the sacrifices otherwise you’ll be quickly found out.

IPL: As a leader in the UPDF you have encountered several challenges, I imagine, what can soldiers in the UPDF today learn about what has kept you going as a leader?

CDF: I think for me I was inspired from a very early age by the great soldiers I was privileged to be around. These were primarily three or four men. First, was the President, His Excellency Yoweri Museveni. Second was General Salim Saleh. Third was the late Maj. General Fred Rwigyema and fourth was the late Major Fred Rubereza. These gentlemen had a profound impact on my early childhood development. I looked up to them and wanted to emulate them. Secondly, I think I just had a natural affinity for all things military. I found it easy to learn all I needed to because I was passionate about it. So these two elements; the examples I experienced as a child and my natural love for the profession have kept me going.

IPL: The element of troop welfare is very important to you, how has it been important in the transformation of the UPDF and how do you see it changing over the coming years?

CDF: Good welfare of the force is a sine qua non for professionalisation. It is an essential and indispensable condition for having a professional military. You cannot have one without the other. Of course, you can have a very effective, disciplined and powerful force that sleeps in ‘Mama ingia poles’ just as we did for decades, but that must be a temporary condition. A professional military must have good accommodation, good schools, good medical facilities and good training facilities.

Good welfare boosts the morale of soldiers and helps reduce absenteeism and desertion. It also helps attract higher caliber personnel. We are in the process of recruiting more scientists into the UPDF. Well cared for soldiers are also more effective in terms of operations. So, overall, we can only reap good things from improving the welfare of our officers and men.

The President has said that our priorities going forward are to ensure good housing for all our soldiers, ensure a primary school at each battalion headquarters, ensure a secondary school at each brigade headquarters, establish good health centres at unit and formation levels.

IPL: You recruit from across Uganda, different cultures, languages, and traditions. How are you able to ensure discipline amongst these people from all these various backgrounds?

CDF: Yes, our recruitment is national. That is a constitutional requirement. The UPDF must reflect all the communities in Uganda and we are proud of it. But once they join UPDF they are incorporated into the UPDF ‘tribe’ so to say. We have our language, Kiswahili, we have our military culture (utamaduni wa jeshi) and our very great history and traditions. So whatever part of the country you come from once you enter the UPDF and go through our training and political education, you acquire a new identity. That of the UPDF ‘tribe’ and ‘clan’. This new identity takes precedence over your original identity.

IPL: What would you describe as the UPDF’s biggest challenge and how will you go about overcoming it?

CDF: The biggest challenges the UPDF faces today I would say are two. One is to prevent the corruption epidemic that has affected the civilian departments of government from spreading to the military. Here, we will have to stand firm and punish anyone in our force who has become infected.

The second is to study the changing nature of war in this era of great power competition and potential conflict. A decade or two ago, we were talking about the global war on terror (GWOT), now we are talking about the decline of a unipolar world and the rise of multipolarity. We see the great powers are in conflict in places like Ukraine and Taiwan. So the tools we used to confront terrorism (Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al Shabaab, ADF etc) cannot be the same we use to hold our own in this new era of great power competition. We need to carry out a thorough estimate and readjust our strategy, priorities, resources and forces in order to continue to fulfil our constitutional mandate.

IPL: And lastly General, given the history and present state of the UPDF, what can we as Ugandans expect from their army in the near future?

CDF: Ugandans should expect that the UPDF will continue to modernise and get more professional, that we will fight corruption vigorously, that we will re-orient our forces to meet the challenges of the new global and operational environment. In accordance with our Pan-Africanist orientation and background, we will continue to help our brothers in other African countries confront their security challenges when asked to do so. This is an important continuation of the principle of ‘Collective defence’ first started by the OAU during the period of decolonisation. When one African country is insecure, we are all insecure.

IPL: Today the UPDF is into infrastructure, construction, agricultural production. What explains this shift in your mandate?

CDF: Now I have to rush for another engagement but let us find time to talk about this another day